by Erin (Wisconsin)
2005 Honda Civic Heater Problem
Have an 05 Honda Civic, last winter when driving at normal speed everything worked fine, then when drop down to city speed the heater would blow cold air at times. When go back up to highway speed the heater would blow hot air again. Then the temp gauge would rise up to mid way, drop down, go up to 3/4 and then all the way to red and then drop down. going up and down. Took to shop and they bled the cooling system and said there were bubbles in there and called it good. Said could not find any leaks or problems with pressure. Car drove fine all summer and now as the weather is getting cold and using the heat again the car is doing the same thing that it did last winter. Mostly if at 55 mph heater is fine, and temp gauge is fine, then when drop down to city limit (25-40 mph) the heater blows cold air and the temp gauge starts climbing and lowering again at all speeds. Car does this sporadically and not every-time that I drive it. I have taken to mechanic and is telling me it is the headgasket that is cracked or is the seal that is bad. Also have been reading that could be the sensor, thermostat, water pump, timing belt.What is causing this 2005 Honda Civic temp gauge and heater problem? What needs to be fixed? Mechanic told me would be between $1400-1800 to fix the head-gasket, but have seen that it might not even be the issue, how can we know? Thanks!Mark the Mechanic Responds: It is real hard to say what is wrong with your Honda civic. especially because the problem is intermittent. I have been a mechanic for some time and can not recall ever seeing an intermittent head-gasket problem. Although air getting into the coolant system will most certainly cause this kind of problem. The question is how is it getting into the cooling system.To answer your question of how do you know its the head gasket there is an answer. Whenever compression or exhaust gases leak into the cooling system it leaves signs. There are a couple of ways to confirm this. One of the most reliable signs is hydrocarbons. They should not be in the cooling system and can be tested for. You can use an emission analyzer to sniff for hydrocarbons above the open radiator. Or they make a dip strip that can be dunked into the engine coolant and will change color if hydrocarbons or exhaust gases are detected. These test strips can be had at most parts stores. Also signs of a head gasket leak would be milky oil or milky deposit on the oil fill cap.
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2002 Honda Civic radio intermitent
by Alan Brandman (Toronto, Canada)
2002 Honda civic image added
The car is a 2002 Honda Civic. The SRS light was going on and off. Also the radio was going on and off. The service station replaced the ignition switch. The next day the radio occasionally had the same problem and the car stalled. We couldn’t restart it, the battery would not turn over. After 10 minutes we were able to start the car and it was fine. We took car the next day back to the service station and they could not find any thing wrong. The car was also checked thoroughly at a Honda dealership with the same results. The car seems to be fine since this incident, however, the radio the odd time intermittently goes on and off.