Overheated now engine light is on?

Asked by Heather Oct 15, 2020 at 10:24 AM about the 2006 Honda Civic DX

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

It had a slow leak of coolant, had it checked out and tightened a few hoses
and the leak was a lot better. I check the water every few weeks and top off. I
have driven it back and forth several times to Los Angeles from 3 1/2 hours
north, no problems, was beautiful! I did this during summer months in the
heat. Ran A/C no problems.
Monday- Oct 12 2020  It over heated after work. The outside temp was
about 95. I hadn't gone far, maybe 7 miles on the highway at about 75 mph.
It had overheated as soon as I arrived to my destination. I was at the car
wash, I pulled in, put it in neutral and turned off the engine.  Went through
the wash, when it ended I started it back up and the temp gauge went back
to normal.
I pulled into a vacuum space to check the water level just in case. I waited
about 5 minutes for the car to cool down and removed the radiator cap, there
was still some pressure built up so it spewed some fluid. I topped off with
water I carry with me at all times. I checked the oil and seen that maybe it
needed a little, so I stopped at Target and bought a quart and put it in,
checked the dip stick again and the level was perfect again. (Oil changed in
August)
Tuesday I drove it about 80 miles through out the day, turn on and off the car
several times throughout various stops, and it ran great, had A/C running,
hot day again about 94. No activity on Wednesday.
This morning, Thursday Oct 15th, I started it and it started funny. engine light
flashed and engine or fan sounded weird so I turned it off for about 1
minute.... the A/C was not on nor the fan or defrost. I started it back up, it
sounded right this time, but the engine light came on and stayed on. I drove
to work, about 35 miles, and it ran fine, stopped at 7-11 and turned off, then
back on and it was fine, other than the engine light being on.
Anyone have any insight, I have a friend that works on Hondas but he hasn't
contacted me back yet.

1 Answer

41,240

Drive over to an auto parts store and have them scan for the trouble codes or codes since your light is on. But you really should have the leak fixed. Overheating is not good for the engine.

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