So, in the last week or so I started noticing that sometimes when I drive my car the temperature gauge drops a little (drops to 1 bar, as opposed to the normal 2 bars (half)). Anyways, for the previous 5 years I've owned the car it has never dropped back to 1 bar after driving it.

So, after thinking about it for a while I thought "Stuck open thermostat". So I got a new OEM Honda T-stat. I installed it last night, but the car still does the same thing. I tested both the old and new T-stat and they both are operating properly.

Next, I'm thinking maybe it's the gauge. Since I have an extra board (with the gas and temp gauge on it) I decided to put that in. Still the same.

Fans, also seem to kick on and off properly.

Any ideas?

I found this thread https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=788958 that seems to describe the same series of events.

Anyways on to my question.

Does anyone who has a 4th gen ever see there gauge fall to 1 bar when driving around normally?

 

i believe the normal water temp for when the thermostat opens is 78*c... at least that's what it said on my thermostat..

Does it only drop for a lil while before it goes back to the middle? if so i wouldn't worry about it too much.. might just be the sensors..

 

Once my car warms up to the halfway point - it sits there forever no matter how hard I drive it or how long I sit in traffic on a hot day with the A/C on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtec_lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i believe the normal water temp for when the thermostat opens is 78*c... at least that's what it said on my thermostat..

Does it only drop for a lil while before it goes back to the middle? if so i wouldn't worry about it too much.. might just be the sensors..</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, my T-stat (old and new, both oem) says 75C.

If I'm at a stop light it will go back to normal. If I'm driving for a while it will go back 1 bar after a period.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jagan’92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Once my car warms up to the halfway point - it sits there forever no matter how hard I drive it or how long I sit in traffic on a hot day with the A/C on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, this is the way my car was for the last 5 years.... until a week ago.

 

According to Hondata Datalogging:

If I drive on the freeway on a chilly night, once the car has been running for awhile, my temperature is around 190 - 195F.

On a normal day and on the streets, I can drive as hard as I want, and it'll stay at 200F.

On a hot day driving on the streets, I might be sitting at 202F, and the stock temperature gauge is still below half.

Once the temperature hits 204F, the needle on the guages rises above half. I usually find a freeway to get onto (cool cruising air cooling it down), or just stop at that point if it gets that hot, shut down the car with the fan on until it cools down.

 

I'm starting to get the feeling that the gauge just ins't reading right. I'm gonna replace the sender later this afternoon. I'll post the results.

 

Got another sender put in on Friday. Went to an autocross over the weekend and things have been fine ever since. So, I'll consider the issue solved.

 

On my boosted 4th gen vtec at 7.5 psi, I was hitting about 210 - 220 degrees F if I recall correctly, and that was under daily driving and boosting around most of the time on moderate to hot days of about 20 degrees C.

Umm...sorry for the mixed readings of C and F, but that's what my gauge reads!! haha