I have a 1994 Accord Ex 4 door sedan. It has 170,000 + miles. I replaced the radiator at 150,000. The radiator hose recently blew a hole and the wife decided to drive it home regardless. The temperature gauge was maxed out.

2 days later, I replaced hose, refilled coolant system.

Turn car on, and the temperature gauge goes to max. The engine is still cold to the touch.

Brought car to mechanic, they said nothing is wrong with the cooling system. I left the car running in my garage for 30 minutes and no signs of over heating. The built-in fans would cycled once.

I have driven 2,000 miles so far and nothing has happened as of yet.

I checked the exhaust for white smoke and their is none. The coolant does not appears visually not to have any oil in it. Likewise, I changed the oil and their was no coolant in it.

Do I really have a broken Temperature gauge? When you insert the key and turn it onto accessory, the gauge does not rise. It only rises about 10-15 seconds after the car starts to run.

 

had the same exact problem it states in the Helms manual to never let the needle go up that far or it could damage it so you probably have a broken gauge. Thats what was wrong with mine *(i replaced it a few days ago) and it is fine now.. Another fix which is cheaper that maybe you can try is the temp sensor thats on the side of your block under the dist. cap.

Id bet my money on the temp gauge sense she let the needle go way up to far and probably damaged your gauge.. your call though on which one you want to get first.

If you want to replace the temp gauge and dont want to buy a whole new cluster id go to a junk yard,ebay or ask on here because those things brand new are 100 bucks just for the gauge.

 

Got my new temp gauge and installed it a few minutes ago and it still goes to hot after I started the car for 10 seconds!!

I turned off car and just turn the key to the accessory position and the needle started to rise again.

I pulled the sending unit wire and tested it for a ground and their is none. The sending unit was also replaced a few months ago when I thought that it was the problem. (cheaper part to replace).

So now I'm out 160ish on a new temp gauge and sending unit. Any other ideas on what I need to test for?

I do have the original temp gauge and I'm very temped to replace the resistor in it with a higher value one, but that not a true fix, but a work-around/

 

I put a meter on the send unit after the car was warmed up.

I got a reading of 132.0 m. I presume thats 132 thousand??

Does anyone know what the ohm range should be for hot, warm and cold?

 

I did a search through AllDATA and here's the specs on OHMs from the ECT unit.

"The resistance of the sendng unit for the engine coolant temperature (ECT) gauge varies from 137 ohms at low engine temperatures to between 30-46 ohms at high temperature"

So the previous ohm rating I took previously of 132 is probably within spec.

So now I have no idea whats wrong. Sending unit is at the correct ohm value. And the temp gauge is brand new.

 

You can't return the temp gauge?

 

could you possibly need a thermostat? if it was stuck open would the fans constantly cycle? i dont know just throwin out an idea.

 

Temperature gauge working now.

I found two wires under the dash that were zipped tied and not connected to anything. A black and silver wire and and orange with gray silver dots. both wires are not connected to anything and I can find where they need to go. The ends were taped with electrical tape. The two wires were zip tied to the mainharness under the dash.

After cutting the zip tie and letting the wires hang, I decided to start the car and the temp gauge nolonger goes to max hot, but eventually moves above cold and then little below half after the car has been sitting idle for 10 minutes.


So now I have no clue what these two extra wires goto, they originated from the factory harness.

I had recently had the car alarm removed because is stopped working and the alarm guy who uinstalled it never mentioned the extra two wires. doh!