My 92' accord overheats when I idle after getting off of the freeway or driving up a hill.

I have replaced the upper/lower radiator hose, thermostat, radiator cap, radiator, and coolant. I also have flushed the cooling system and tested both thermal switches A and B, condenser fan relays, radiator fan relay, fans, and temperature sending unit, temperature gauge, a/c diode, and cooling timer unit.

What works: Radiator fan comes on after I turn off the engine. I have jumped both the condenser and radiator fan and they both come on. When the car overheats I turn the heater on full blast and step on the accelerator. This brings down the temperature back to normal. My car doesn't USUALLY overheat on the freeway (rarely). No coolant leaks under the car or in the engine bay. Water pump doesn't make any funny noises. Not loosing any coolant either. Ignition timing is at 17, 2 degress retarded. Just had timing belt, accessory belts, and water pump replaced 15k miles ago.

What I have noticed: During idle after getting off the freeway or driving up a hill I noticed that the upper hose is hotter than HELL and the lower hose is only warm. Warm to the point where I can keep my hand on it without worry of burning it. It feels like I can keep my hand on it forever. It's not cold or cool. Both hoses are very firm. The car at idle will then start to overheat. At this point, the fans have not turned on. I will accelerate and turn on the heater. The temperature drops back down to normal. About 10 seconds later, both fans will turn on and the car will never overheat again. Both fans at this poin will turn on and turn off regularly.

If you guys have any questions for me about my problem please post them or
e-mail them to me at sendittome@san.rr.com Thank you.

 

Damn that is somer weird shit. Sounds like an internal electrical problem. Is the ECU throwing any codes????

 

How many miles are on the car? Have you ever over heated the car before? Sometimes the your heads get warped and it causes your car to run very hot or even over heat even after you replaced everything. If the heads are warped it will still over heat or run really hot unless you get it machined or replaced with a new one. If it is not your heads check your head gasket for any leaks. I would just take it a certified honda repair shop and see what they say.

 

No codes from the ECU. The car has 177k miles. It overheated once before, but the head gasket did get replaced and the works. I haven't seen any leaks. I checked the coolant for oil in it and vise versa and I didn't see anything. No white smoke or anything. Thanks for your help.

 

water hot on top... but not on the bottom tells me it is not circulating,,, you replaced the thermostat, and barring any other blockage in the coolant system... i would say your water pump is bad,,, even without the normal noise.

 

i have the same problem on my prelude

everything works great but the stupid radiator fan doesnt come on when the car gets hot while idling at a stop for a long period of time.

if i turn off the car the fan comes on and will cool the radiator

if i turn my heater on full blast while the car is running and its hot it will come back down to normal.

i dont know what the problem is. does anyone have a clue?

 

Ever change the water pump??
Its a wear & tire item, and it definitely sounds like the water is just not circulating like brettybaby said. Get it checked out ASAP, and dont drive the car. Same thing happened in my old Nissan Sentra.

Water Pump failed --> Crack in Radiator --> Blown Head Gasket. With an aluminum head, these cars warp their heads in the blink of an eye.

 

LOL no i figured it out

im so stupid i forgot to plug in the temp relay to kick the fans on for the radiator

anyways it works great now