Honda: Car running hot?, first hope, honda accord

Question
I have a 94' Honda Accord that I am putting alot of work into right now. A few days ago I noticed my car running hot and filled the coolant and everything was fine. Now my car runs hot only when it's in park and running. I checked the coolant again and that was fine. I'm clueless. Any ideas?

Answer
Sametria,

The main cause of overheating for most cars is the Thermostat, a fairly inexpensive part. It is spring loaded valve and has a certain temperature setting that opens at a certain temperature range. After a while, it just doesn't open to allow hot coolant to go to the radiator to get cooled, causing the engine to overheat.

I would replace that part first. Hope this helps.


I also want to add that if it not the thermostat, it could be that the cooling fan behind the radiator is not running, this can be caused by either a dead cooling fan relay or a dead fan. You have to check to see if the fan is still good by running a straight line from the battery terminal to the fan while the car is off. If the fan spins when you connect it, then you know the fan is good. If the fan is good then it most likely would be the relay.