Thats a ghetto turbo civic trick, the next thing they do when the car STILL overheats is take the thermostat out completely and make the situation totally hopeless.

Drilling holes in the thermostat is really a bad idea. The theroy on cooling is that the hot coolant needs to be in the radiator for more that a split second to dissipate heat. Thats why the thermostat stays closed until it reaches 160-170 whatever it is on our cars. You drill holes in the thermostat you just sped up the rate at which coolant flows through the radiator and that doesn't allow enough time to disapate enough heat and eventually you would end up with a heaksoak condition where all the coolant is the same temp, too hot.

 

nice post AIRLINE

 

^^ 2 little holes, less than 1/8" diamater won't allow enough coolant to flow for that to happen

 

I'd start with the thermostat, since its so close, then check the water pump, followed by wires.

 

Well, I guess I fixed it. I changed out the thermostat. I waited awhile to post, I wanted to make sure I had the problem fixed.
There is a rubber seal in the middle of the stat that was all chewed up looking letting coolant squeeze by and not letting the thermostat open when it needed to.
I also added this stuff called "Stops Overheating" to the mix. Since I don't have a before and after temp gauge of the coolant, I don't know how well its working. But it definitely isn't hurting, so what the hell right?

 

Well, it's always good to hear when a problem gets fixed! Glad to see you be rocking now...

 

OK....I thought it was fixed but its not. Its weird, I did a super flush on it the other night and refilled it. Well, I let the car warm up and had the heater turned up all the way, but it wasn't blowing out any hot air. I started driving and it started to heat up. I thinking about changing the water pump. Any of you guys have any ideas?

 

You still have a bad thermostat. You flush out the system and the crud all has to pass through the thermostat, its sticky.

 

If it was your water pump you would be leaking water. There is a pin hole in the water pump that opens up when the bearing goes bad. It indicates that the pump is bad. See if your leaking any fluid!

 

Interesting, okay. I'll change out the thermostat again. That would be a whole lot better than changing the water pump.
And I'm not leaking water. I'm so glad I have this forum as a source, so informative.

 

Damn man, you need to get this thing sorted, the track should be opening up soon!
Let me know if you need a hand with something.

 

what kind of coolant are you using? if any..or anitfreeze?

 

Prestone 50/50

 

that sounds like classic "my water pump is about to take a crap all over my garage floor" behavior. How many miles?

 

I have over 50,000 miles. Are you saying its the pump?
Thanks for the help 2Devious, I would like to get some time on the track. I'll see ya at work.