Nfire247

I've got a 97 civic body thats been sitting for almost a year that i just put a motor in (D16z6 w/ jumper harness and P28 ecu) and my temp gauge doesn't work, the speedo jumps sometimes and even worked for roughly a day, but always quits working in the end.

All gauges worked a year ago when this car/wiring/cluster had a different motor and tranny.

Already replaced the thermostat, and the heat works, so i'm thinking the gauge just isn't registering. wondering what my next step should be?

Any ideas about the speedo are good too. just a bad speed sensor?

thanks

EKing

I had the same problem on my old 96 civic and it turned out to be the speedometer itself so i just bought a new cluster and it worked fine.

Nfire247

hmmm i'll look into that, hoping its a speed sensor to be honest haha.

what about the temp gauge?

itsnotfast

The temp gauge is probably just not hooked up in the engine bay. If it is, it may be a bad sensor.

Nfire247

where does it hook up? I've got both of the temp sensors (near the in and out coolant lines to the radiator) hooked up, if its a bad sensor, which sensor does the gauge use? thanks

Nfire247

so does anyone know which sensor runs the temp gauge? i don't want to replace both of them if i don't have to

i got another speed sensor today, I'll put that in soon and see if that fixes it.

ehammer314159

have you checked the fuse... theres a ten amp fuse under the dash that controls that... its the one for the back up light... i had the same problem and thats what fixed it

Nfire247

hmm no i havent checked that. thanks man i'll give it a shot!
any body else have any ideas?

Nfire247

i checked that fuse but it was fine.

any other ideas?

mhohisel

If it ends up being a sensor problem keep in mind it may not be the VSS itself. I had a similar problem. Bought a new VSS off ebay, installed it, nothing was fixed. Went to a junkyard, bought the VSS harness for $5 with about 4 inches of lead coming off it, and butt-spliced it in. Worked like a charm. Turned out the VSS harness itself had a little corrosion on it. Just a thought.

Nfire247

hmm thats a good point! thanks alot. but actually the speedo has been working for the last day or two! haha

I'm more worried about the temp gauge right now. any more ideas on it?

Nfire247

thanks for the help guys! fixed the temp gauge, it was the sending unit.

also the speedo has been working for a few days, so maybe it fixed itself too, if not i'll try another speed sensor.

thanks for another answer honda-tech!