After replacing my thermostat with a new OEM one on my 94 Integra I went for a drive. The temp guage stayed in the middle except for when I got home and the car was idling in my drive way. The guage went 80% of its range but did not hit the red zone, before I shut the car off. I traced the problem to an air pocket, the temperature now never goes past half way.

My question is, did I do any damage to the engine letting the temperature get up close to the H. I shut the car off as soon as I saw it get near the H but I was wondering if I did any damage. The guage only shows red right at the H. How sensitive are the guages?

 

you might be safe. usually when passing the red, your headgasket is an issue....just make shure there are no air bubbles coming out of the radiator...well alooot of bubbles for that matter since bubbles do occur when the car is shaking...

 

As long as it runs fine you have no worries, its when your on interstate or at the track and you have it at redline and it overheats that you have to worry....at idle, not so much.

 

if your really worried about your car, then get a compression test and a cylinder leakage test... just to make sure your valves or rings didn't get a chunk burnt off of it.

but besides that, you car should run fine.. and you shouldn't have to worry about air bubbles because your thermostat should have an air bleed on it. (correct me if i am wrong)

 

Ya the car runs fine, I am curious though does anybody know the sensitivity of the temperature gauge. What is the difference between middle and full H?

 

I know "normal" is a range from like 160-240 or something like that....the before and after normal is pretty exact....like the cold mark is 120 and the high mark is 260 or something like that. Honda puts a huge range on "normal" because when the thermostat kicks open/fans kick on the range will vary 30-40 degrees normally and they dont want people freaking out because the temp meter is moving around.