PROJECT: TOO HOT HONDA





 



 

This is my ol' girl. She's tough, dependable, reliable, and, well, old. She's a '97. She's got 202,000 miles on her. In fact, her only flaws are cosmetic. Ladies, you understand. She's got...



dings and dents

parts falling off

a deteriorating interior

even a bullet ricochet acquired years ago.

However, unlike every other girl I've ever know, she's never given me one, single problem... until yesterday.  On the way home from picking up Monk from daycare, she decided she would pick up a smoking habit. Mad? No. Concerned? Yes. After making it home, as she has for 13 years, I popped the hood for a peek. Coincidentally, a 'peek' is actually my most advanced mechanic move that I have acquired. After immediately seeing the problem, which was cleverly hidden by a smoking crack that was spitting lava-hot engine coolant, I did some research. Research, while not always an automotive skill, I can do and do well. 

After watching 15 YouTube videos, reading countless 'how-to' walkthroughs, and even studying some graphs of a radiator, I decided that I'd try my hand at some radiator maintenance. That being said, I would be completely remiss to not acknowledge some key sources (plus, it's just poor academia not to do so). To anyone with a Honda and considering undertaking a radiator change, I would highly suggest the following:

This is Part 1 of a two part video. This will help you get the radiator off.

,This is Part 2. This helps getting the new radiator in.

This E-How was awesome:  http://www.ehow.com/how_6088156_honda-civic-radiator-install-instructions.html

Finally, this diagram was a nice addition for finding the drain plug and fan make-up:

After taking MANY before pictures of all of the vital parts I would be removing in hopes of replacing exactly where they belonged, I began. (I'm not pointing, nor saying that this picture is #1. I literally am reminding myself that this is how it looked first... before I potentially screw this up. Also, this would prove to a real mechanic as Exhibit A that I actually tried to remember where the thingy-majigger attached to the doomaflitchit.

Luckily, much of the time, the worst part was finding the right tool. When I did, it went fairly quickly! Before long, the old radiator was out and... I was officially past the point of no return.
 

Next, I laid the two out beside each other and switched the old fan set and attached the new hoses to the new radiator.

After reversing everything with the new set up, I finally had the new radiator in and all the hoses reattached. It should be noted that I reviewed the videos AND the how-to's again... Yep. I'm a nerd. She sure does look purty, though.

AND, best of all... After 10 minutes of driving up hills, accelerating quickly, and running the AC at full blast the entire time...

I need a nap... and some Ajax to remove the crap from my hands and arms.