My temperature gauge (stock) wouldn't go past 1/4 of the way up from C, so I replaced the thermostat with one from autozone. Now, it would only go up to just a little under 1/4 of the way up. After reading some posts about autozone's reputation with thermostats, I bought an OEM one today and it's doing the same thing. When I'm on the highway, it will get down to 1 or 2 clicks above C.

I've gone through 2 OEM and 1 aftermarket, so I think I've weeded out the thermostat as being a problem. What else could it be? I bled the system after each install as instructed in the helms. At idle, the fan kicked in first at like 1/4 of the way up, then again between 1/4 & 1/3 of the way up. But when I'm driving, the temperature goes down between to between the C and 1/4 of the way up.

To be one the safe side, I've replaced my radiator cap too (1.1bar).

Please help, I'm trying to break in my motor and it's running rich at idle.

 

Where does the ECU get the information about if the car is warmed up or not? Is it from the temp sensor? Because in stop and go traffic, when I come to a light, it will idle at 1500RPMs...

The other day when it was running "normal temperature," it would idle at 700-1000 at idle....

Does the ECU designate whether it's warmed-up or not by getting a reading from this temp sensor?


Modified by Takumi Fujiwara at 2:40 AM 6/1/2005

 

The temp gauge and the ECU use two different sensors. The one wire sensor is for the gauge, the two wire is for the ECU.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b19coupe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The temp gauge and the ECU use two different sensors. The one wire sensor is for the gauge, the two wire is for the ECU.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Since the idle is acting like when you first turn the car on and warm it up, and gauge is giving a reading that is under normal operating temperature, I guess it's pretty safe to assume that my car is in fact not warming up...

what else besides the thermostat could be the cause of my car running as described in the initial post?

 

 

Did you check the ECU for codes?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Oyvind Ryeng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did you check the ECU for codes?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's not throwing any codes.

 

b

 

could it be your actual gauge? mine did that but it kept overheating,so i got an autometer water temp gauge and it is way more accurate.

 

I'm going to change out my temp sending unit today, the 1 wire sensor... so I'll guess I'll see what happens... my thinks it's still trying to warm up though. when I come to a stop, it revs at like 1500...

 

yea thats what i used,i tapped right into the top hoses entry point on the head for the sensor.thats wierd that it revs like its trying to warm up.the only possible thing i could think of that that thing wouldnt be warming up quick enough is the thermo is stuck open or something like that.

 

exactly what I thought too about the thermostat.... but I couldn't have got 3 bad thermostats... it's gotta be something else...

 

 

so what exactly makes u say its not warming up?its prolly one of those sensors..after runnin the car for a while measure the water temp somehow..and please dont open the rad cap after driving..use a infrared thermo or somethin if u have it

 

I was having this same exact problem...
and i had code 6 (which is some temp sensor) (ONE WIRE SENSOR)
on the head right under the VTEC silenoid (wish i had a pic)
after reading up on it this sensor apparently screws up
ur timing/idling issue you are having...change this ASAP
get back to us...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kool305 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was having this same exact problem...
and i had code 6 (which is some temp sensor) (ONE WIRE SENSOR)
on the head right under the VTEC silenoid (wish i had a pic)
after reading up on it this sensor apparently screws up
ur timing/idling issue you are having...change this ASAP
get back to us... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not throwing any codes, but it's worth a shot. I'll post back after I change it out.

 

This is very odd. I drove my car today, and the temperature gauge went to 1/4 of the way, and the fans kicked in, and it idled correctly. It also did this yesterday. Both times this has happened, I was in rush hour traffic.

After I let it sit for a while to cool down however, I can't get it do idle correctly. So this would seem to be an intermittant problem in regards to the idle... not so much so with the temperature gauge, since it still won't go over 1/4 of the way up.

It seems that once the car actually does get warmed up (rush hour traffic), the car will run like normal... the problem is actually trying to get it up to operating temp. I could ride 30 minutes on the highway or roads with not much traffic and my car will not get more than 2 clicks up from the C, and as a result, the idle stays around 1600 rpms.

I won't have access to the thermo unit (1 wire sensor) until tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure things about before I keep swapping parts where are more variables.... not to mention more time and money.

 

I was able to get the 1 wire thermo unit today. But before I swap it out, I decided to hook up my heater hoses (It was looped from the water pipe to the side of the head up to this point).

My fan turns on before it even hits 1/4 of the way up, upper hose gets hotter than the lower hose, and my heat has been hotter than ever before...

But the gauge is still acting the same way... at it's hottest, it hits 1/4 of the way up, and as I go on the highway or somewhere that is not stop & go, my needle goes down to 1 or 2 ticks above the C. Idle issue has gotten a little better (revs lower) but it's still not "normal"

When my car cools down, I'm going to swap out my thermo unit and see what happens. I'll change out the 1 wire one first and see if it alleviates my problem.

 

my car is only 1/4 of the way up and when im driving on the freeway it drops down pretty low. i have an eg hatch with itr fullsize radiator.
my normal temp is like 75-80C when going fast on a highway it drops to like 70C and when im stopped with the fan kicked on its like 90C
also my buddy has a gsr with a fludine radiator and when hes driving his needle is almos sitting on the C on the temp guage, and our cars run just fine. mine only does the high idle for a few min after starting it, but i also run an apex power fc

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by drunknbass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my car is only 1/4 of the way up and when im driving on the freeway it drops down pretty low. i have an eg hatch with itr fullsize radiator.
my normal temp is like 75-80C when going fast on a highway it drops to like 70C and when im stopped with the fan kicked on its like 90C
also my buddy has a gsr with a fludine radiator and when hes driving his needle is almos sitting on the C on the temp guage, and our cars run just fine. mine only does the high idle for a few min after starting it, but i also run an apex power fc</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm running a C&R radiator with mine, but I've had it for atleast the past 3 years, and this is the first time it started acting like this. It used to stay right under 1/2 way.... anyway, I'm off to change out the 1 wire thermo sensor...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kool305 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was having this same exact problem...
and i had code 6 (which is some temp sensor) (ONE WIRE SENSOR)
on the head right under the VTEC silenoid (wish i had a pic)
after reading up on it this sensor apparently screws up
ur timing/idling issue you are having...change this ASAP
get back to us... </TD></TR></TABLE>


changing out the thermo unit (that 1 wire sensor) fixed my problem! Thanks.
My car now warms up to just under 1/2 way up and stays there...

 

hehe glad i could help ...