I used to have a 94 accord and the temp gauge NEVER said more than 1/4. Well i just bought a 95 accord and if it is sitting still or driving under 40mph it reads 1/2 (not normal but still safe) however if you drive 45-70 it will quikly read just over 3/4 (still semi safe but worries me) But NEVER Overheats to Danger Zone. and it flucuates very quickly within just a few seconds. And there is no smoking, and you can grab the top Radiator hose with your hand i mean its hot but not overheating hot. And fluid is not boiling......But heat coming out of my vent could burn your fingers. Also the fan does kick on but takes a long time.
Anyways Heres what i i have tried to resolve this so far.

*Brand New Radiator
*Brand New Hoses
*Brand New Thermostat
*Brand New Water Pump
*New Fan
*New Fan Relays
*2 New Temp. Sensors

What could this be?

I grabbed my old gauge cluster out of my old one i had to try and see if maybe its just the gauge but i am not counting on it. HELP!

Oh also it Warmed up yesterday from dead cold to 1/2 full temp in less than 3 minutes??

 

Flush it to make sure there aren't any bubbles still in the system (I assume you did that with the radiator though)

Do both fans come on if you turn on the AC?

My car overheated when I put the AC on because the AC fan was dead

 

Could be mistaken but i think just the one on the drivers side did....

 

like Muffinman asked.BOTH fans need to come on,, driver's side fan is the a'c condensor fan
passenger side fan, is the main cooling fan .. chk the fuse, chk to see if you get power and ground at the plug .....( quick test) get a big screwdriver and bang on the fan motor, if it comes on ,, you got a bad motor ( car running a/c on ) ..
if still not coming on and you got power and ground at the connector , you got a bad motor,
Also chk the lower radiator hose should be almost as hot as the top hose,, if lower hose is warm or cool, you got a sticking closed t-stat.

if t-stat is ok,,

Let the engine warm up, t-stat opened, both fan should work,

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Honda-Master &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">like Muffinman asked.BOTH fans need to come on,, driver's side fan is the a'c condensor fan
passenger side fan, is the main cooling fan .. chk the fuse, chk to see if you get power and ground at the plug .....( quick test) get a big screwdriver and bang on the fan motor, if it comes on ,, you got a bad motor ( car running a/c on ) ..
if still not coming on and you got power and ground at the connector , you got a bad motor,
Also chk the lower radiator hose should be almost as hot as the top hose,, if lower hose is warm or cool, you got a sticking closed t-stat.

if t-stat is ok,,

Let the engine warm up, t-stat opened, both fan should work, </TD></TR></TABLE>

Boingo

Wire the fans to the battery directly (just unplug and use a decent gauge wire) and put to the battery terminals.

If the fan spins up , it's good to go, if it doesn't then you've got a bad fan and you've found the problem

 

Also just noticed something if car is running and warmed up neither fan is on and i kick on the ac both fans Run immedieatly. Does this mean anything? Car sat running for about 15 mintutes and warmed to 1/2 temp and stayed (as it does when it sits still) But the fans NEVER came on by themselves. However its 31 Degrees outside.


Modified by Dressed Accordingly at 1:52 PM 12/11/2007

 

i had a problem like that... i changed all the sensors on the head and fan switch, and bought five therostats, still overheated... found out my head gasket went (had a small crack) causing the temp gauge too rise and fans didnt turn on... had the head resurfaced and new head gasket.. no more problems.

 

i am assuming you replaced the cooling system parts yourself, so i didn't see where you said you bled the system of any excess air? if not then there's a bleeder screw (looks just like a break bleeder screw) located just above the thermostat housing, its kinda hidden by the the throttle body cable guide (after a few years gets surface wear like everything else under the hood so look deep and you shall see). just turn the bleeder screw a few turns to open the port(id use a 12 mil 1/4 inch drive socket so not to round the screw off since it sits at an awkward angle) and remove the radiator cap when its cold and let it sit till you see the coolant run out in a full stream, once its a full stream close the bleeder screw and top off the radiator and reservoir. if that doesn't work then id start looking at either 1) wrong sensor data or 2) a failed "new part" which happens from time to time.

 

i will try that tomorrow and i diddnt do any of the work it was done right before i bought nthe car. however the block looks real dirty but the head looks brand new clean silver in front.

 

Any idea how old the water pump is? Was the radiator cap replaced with the radiator?
Maybe the pump is not moving the coolant around and overheats when you're moving. That may expalin why the temp gauge gets up there after only 3 minutes.

I would do a compression test, leakdown test, and/or have your radiator sniffed for gases just to be safe, but I would think the headgasket leaking would cause it to overheat even when it's standing still. Of course the quick up to temp shows signs of a head problem as well.
Are the hoses really hard?