2000 Civic is Overheating?

Question

Ok, so a month ago, my car was overheating. Took it to a shop and they said that I had a blown head gasket. Fast forward to today, car has been running fine without a problem after replacing the gasket. I go up an incline and it does fine but as I get to the light, my car's temp gauge goes near the red again. I paniced to get back to the office. When I got there, I kept the engine running. No apparent leaks, no white smoke and the engine was actually relatively cool. Just felt like a normal engine would after running for 10 minutes. I feel like I have a sticky thermostat that needs replacing or the temp gauge has shot craps due to the previous incident. Could this be the case or did I blow the gasket again?

My car is a 2000 Civic VP with the 1.6 SOHC engine and an automatic transmission. Apparently, no problems with the radiator or water pump. I am also a little skeptical and think it could be the water pump.

FYI: When it had a blown head gasket, it struggled to accelerate properly. No such issue here this time around.

Answer 1

I would check for air in the system, just an idea since it overheated while you were going up a hill. Its possiple that when the head gasket was replaced the cooling sytem was not flushed properly and a air pocket got left in the system.  

Answer 2

If you pay attention to your temperature gage you will see that the needle fluctuates, it will get hotter than (normal) and cooler than (normal) depending on the airflow thru the radiator and the load being placed on the engine.     It never quite goes into the red(as the rad fan comes on and starts assisting in cooling down the radiator.

   A stick thermostat would remain stuck closed or open.   In this case, you were going up an incline.  Either you were following behind other vehicles closely and no air was flowing on a relatively hot day....or you were loaded towing a boat or trailer.

Answer 3

The most common cause of overheating is the thermostat and you can replace that yourself.

Answer 4

I'd be looking at the water pump, or the radiator. Sounds like it isn't circulating the coolant properly under a load.

Answer 5

joe g's answer is more realistic...but it could be that the thermostat is bad or the water pump...but then agian whe the your motor over heated and you took it to the shop...did they check to see if the head was warped...it could be that the head was warped and the gasket solved the problem temporarly...

Answer 6

Wow, I wish you would have asked that before you had your head gasket replaced.  A simple check would have been,,, is there oil in your radiator or is there water in your oil.  If you had a blown head gasket, the b*****d should have changed you thermostat.  but probably not.  Its easy to change.  Two or three bolts to remove, scrap the old gasket off, take out thermostat, and put new gasket in, new thermostat in , and bolt down.  replace antifreeze fluids that are lost when changing it. and bam you are done.