i have a 96 honda accord and my gauge stop working so i went to pic a part but there were no accords like mine but the civics looked the same as mine ...... i put it in but it acts like the car is over heating but i touch the rad cap and it not to hot what gauges work and what ones wont work

 

Ok, I have to ask. What was the old one doing? The sender is usually on the cyl. head. IF the t-stat is stuck closed, yes the gauge will show it but the rad will still be cool......
Without specific's on what civic it came from, the part numbers can be the same between an accord and a civic.

 

it was a hatch back prolly 95 idk i just got one of those temp guns and im now sure the gauge is wrong cause rad read 160 thermo house is reading 200

 

And we are sure the t-stat is opening and there isn't air trapped in the system.
I don't have my spec books at home so I cannot tell what the reading(s) should be off the sender. By your reply I can also assume the old one was showing the same reading?
I'm sure you have the same concerns, not knowing exactly what the temp in the engine is not good. Too many bad things can happen from overheating.
From here all I can suggest is a aftermarket gauge(mech or elect). Someone else might suggest more testing you can do.

 

you should cross reference the part numbers from the civic you got it from and your accord. Even if they are the same, a brand new sending unit is probably only $10-15. I would buy a new sending unit to be sure everything is correct with such a critical part.

 

the needle broke off on my old one its not the sending unit its the gauge plus i dont think its over heating cause the fan come on only for a few secs if it was over heating the fans would stay on right?

 

I doubt the civic gauge will be plug and play in the accord. I would really recommend you use the accord temp gauge since the circuitry in the two gauges may be different and it wouldn't take much resistance difference to cause the temp to be way off. Just get on ebay and look for a used cluster to steal the temp gauge out of. that way you'll have all the others in case any of your other gauges goes bad.

 

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if i were you, id keep looking around in junkyards to find another accord and swap out the whole cluster. if you drive an automatic, they are easy to find, 5spds are harder to find. i went through the same problem, but i have 5spd so took alot of searching but not impossible. i know 94-95 are OBDI and 96-97 OBDII but i dont think the clusters change so you can get it from any accord 94-97.

 

well untill i can find the right one cause the yard around here was missing a few ..i just bought one from auto zone i have to swap the sending unit tho will that affect my fans at all what tells the fans to kick on

 

I believe the fan temp switch is mounted on the head next to the sending unit for the gauge. There's one for the ECM and one for the fans I think. Should both be in the same area on the head.