civic is running hot.....sometimes??

[BJackson08]

I have a 98 civic with the stock Y8 motor in it. I had been driving it all day and everything was fine, but all of a sudden the temp started creeping up. Not fast, but it would go about 3/4 of the way up the guage. I checked the radiator and resivoir and they were both fine and had plenty of coolant. I burped the radiator thinking that it was maybe a bubble in the line somewhere. It ran fine and at normal temp the rest of the day. The next day, after I had been driving it for a while and stopped at a red light, it did it again. Any suggestions on what it could be, the thermostat maybe?

[tank500999]

could be are your fans coming on?

[BJackson08]

could be are your fans coming on?

Yeah, the fans are coming on like they should, so thats why I thought it was the thermostat. I didn't think about it being the head gasket. I thought the symptoms of a bad h/g were smoking and loss of power? I haven't had either of those.

[FasTech]

Could be thermostat, Head Gasket, or cooling fans are messing up!

[Barefoot]

that could be a bunch of thing like stated above. id try a couple of things check fans. let the car warm up see if they come on. if they dont pull the connection for the sending unit if the fans come on replace the unit. check your rad. for small bubbles or carbon floating around. u can try your thermo its a cheap item to replace. after u do these it should tell u where your problem is.

[Tech5]

that could be a bunch of thing like stated above. id try a couple of things check fans. let the car warm up see if they come on. if they dont pull the connection for the sending unit if the fans come on replace the unit. check your rad. for small bubbles or carbon floating around. u can try your thermo its a cheap item to replace. after u do these it should tell u where your problem is.

[slammedvw]

a head gasket will not always show loss of power or smoking. infact it can sometimes increase power slightly (starts leaking very slightly into cylinder(s) and causes a slight power gain from the introduction of water to combustion mixture). best bet is to do as the others have stated and check the obvious things. next do a pressure check on the radiator to confirm that its not losing pressure through a headgasket or minute leak. if your not losing any cooling in the reservoir and/or radiator i would suspect a sticking thermostat.

[9ussy]

low on oil maybe??

[turbob20]

or a faulty slipping waterpump rotor...

[suprapower]

thermostat good place to start

[mitch lab]

everything already been mention above. Check the water pump to see if it leak out from the drain hole.