Hi everybody! I have a question that I'd like to ask, so I'll just get to it!

I have a 2003 Honda Civic that has roughly 83k miles on it.

I live in Southern Missouri, and was on my way to visit my girlfriend in Iowa. About 160-190 miles on the way up there, my car overheated, I pulled over to the side of the road, looked and my coolant had spewed out. I called a tow truck, they towed me the rest of the way to Iowa, and I took the car to a AAA approved shop.

That was on a Sunday, they started looking at it on a Monday, and I got it back on a Thursday. The shop told me that they did 2 pressure tests, they refilled the coolant and tried to make it overheat, but they couldn't get it to repeat it, so they crossed it off as a fluke. I drove the car another 9 days without overheating, I though my problem was fixed.

I left on a Sunday (2 weeks after it first overheated), and I made it almost all the way home! I got to about 90 minutes from home, and when I pulled over for gas, I noticed my heat rising a little bit. After gas, I pulled out, and it was overheating. So I pulled over to the side, I called my Papa, he said to turn on the heater, roll the windows down, and go as fast I could go to rush air into the engine compartment effectively keeping it cool. Before I left, it still had plenty of coolant, the fans wouldn't engage and there was just a little bit of coolant over by the tank. I was able to go about 70mph for about 30 minutes, then I hit a town I had to go through, and I knew that I was in trouble.

I eventually had to pull over, and call a tow truck to take me the hour home. Now, while I was sitting waiting for the tow truck, I turned my car back on, opened my hood and tried to see if I could see anything happening. The fans engaged, but it kept overheating, so I turned it off.

The day after I get back, I took my car to the shop, I just got it back today, about 4 days after it was in the shop, and he said that he couldn't get it to repeat the problem again either. He says that he's completely stumped, and has no idea what the problem is. So I'm at a complete loss as to what could be going on. Any help would be appreciated!

My only possible guess would be that it's the thermostat. And it's just getting intermittently stuck. Is this possible?

Other Notes:

My car always runs just a little under 1/2 on the temp gage.

I just had my Timing belt and water pump replaced.

My mechanic said that my fans ran fine, my radiator wasn't leaking, my water pump was working, and there were no blown fuses (I had already checked).

 

Welcome in,I hope they flushed the rad when they did the timing /water pump and not refilled it,I would replace the thermostat,very cheap start and they do malfuntion at times,also replace the rad cap.Check the hoses to see if they may have collapsed.