I just finished my gsr swap and my temp gauge isn't working at all. The head didn't come with a ect sensor so I used the one out of my old ls which I know was working just fine before the motor was pulled. I also swapped the ect sending unit from my ls tonight just in case since I know it was good. I was getting cel 6 when I jump the plug but now it's cleared and isn't back yet. If I un plug the ect sensor the car revs up and the CEL becomes solid. If I unplug the sending unit nothing happens. If I use a test light attached to the positive terminal and check the metal connector on the ect sending unit. The light does come on but it's very faint. So this tells me it's getting a signal through the wire. It doesn't seem like it's a strong signal since the light is very faint. If I test the ect sensor it self. The light is very bright. I'm gonna pick up an ect sensor from the junk yard if I can find any hondas with the motors left in them but I know that's not it at all. Anyone else have any ideas of what it could be since I already swapped out both sensors? The fan is working fine and both rad hoses get warmed up so I'm not super worried but I'd like to get it figured out soon since I'm trying to go get tuned here in about a month.

 

wait, what?

the ECT is ecu only.
the sender is gauge only.

unplug the single wire bullet connector sender and use a piece of wire to jump it straight to ground. if the gauge goes all the way to hot it is ok.

 

I unplugged the single wire connector and ran a wire from the negative on the battery to the end of the bullet connector and nothing happened. The gauge stayed on cold.
So what's my next step? Could I run a wire from that single pin connector to the back of my gauge cluster plugs and splice in there to bypass the wire and see if that does anything?

 

I don't know I've had enough for tonight. I'm going to the bar to drink my sorrows away lol.

 

yes you should do that to rule out a broke wire. find a wiring diagram and directly off the cluster do the same thing. jump it to ground.

 

Yeah I'll pull out the helms manual and trace it down. If it does go straight to hot then I know the wire is broke. I'll just run a new one into the bay and put a new connector on it. Call it a day. If that's not it then I have no freaking clue what is causing it.
I don't think this has anything to do with the problem but I'm running an obd-1 LS harness on a gsr.

 

Picked up a new water temp sensor today from advance just to try it out. I know it's probably not going to fix anything but it's worth a shot. Also going to borrow my friends chipped P28 and but my crome chip in it and see if it changes anything.

 

night - I jumped it straight from the back of the cluster to ground and the gauge still didn't move at all.

 

Would possibly swapping out the ecu eliminate a problem? Someone said something about burning up q31 or some place on the board.

 

well, u gotta make sure that individual gauge is getting power, and other than that it has to be the cluster.

 

I installed the ls temp gauge into my gsr cluster tonight just for ***** and giggles and everything is working now. Don't ask me since the Ls cluster is the one that wasn't working to begin with. Oh well IDK anymore cause it's fixed. Finally!

 

Im having the same problem as you with my LS/Vtec swap.. I have an integra dash in my 94 civic hatch... Di you try running a single wire from the sending unit to the cluster? If so did it work that way... Im thinking i have a bad wire, cause the car came with a chasebays harness tuck.