Today i was driving my b16a swapped 92 dx hatchback. My temp guage worked fine this morning and now all of a sudden out of nowhere it dropped and isnt reading anymore. It was taking coolant from the overflow and when i checked after noticing the issue the overflow was below the min level. ive been driving the past week non stop with no issues and this happened outta nowhere.
Also, there's no CEL for anything and its a white face eg6 cluster. if anyone has any answers thatd be awesome,

Thanks

 

Bumpp ..almost 50 views nobody has a clue??

 

Test the voltage of the sensor lead behind the gauge. There's 3 pins. Positive (+), negative (-) and sensor. Put your ohm meter on sensor lead and negative lead. With key off and on. See if it changes the resistance. If it does, your gauge is dead. If it doesn't, your sensor is dead.

 

Thanks for the reply, first question is it safe to drive like this? how will i be able to tell if it's overheating? Also, my multimeter will be able to test for ohm readings right? I have one just haven't had the time to use it yet. Also, if the guage is dead i could just get some other gauges right? Like oil, water and trans temp and just hook those up? And what does it mean if it's taking coolant from the overflow?

 

It's not safe to drive if you had previous overheating problem with your car. You won't know if it's overheating and you could blow the head. Depends on how much driving you will be doing before you test all those things and get it fixed. You can't tell at all if your car is overheating or not without temperature gauge because by the time the symptoms showed up, too much damage has been done. I wouldn't recommend driving it tho. But if you are gonna do very short drives, let say 1 or 2 miles (maybe even 4 or 5?), then it's ok as long as you keep checking the coolant level before you start cold.

Yes. Multimeter should have resistance reading with the ohm symbol. If the gauge is dead, then just replace it with the same gauge. Screw in. But, I think 92 dx has one of those that has fuel and temp together on same faceplate. Not sure. You know your car. Installation is relatively easy if it's gauge problem. So, get it tested fast. It's easy to do. Cluster can be taken out in less than 2 minutes.

 

It also wouldn't hurt to inspect the wire that sends signal to the temp gauge. It's a single pin wire that plugs in near the bottom of the coolant feed neck on a Y7. It might be different for a B16, I'm honestly not sure, but it wouldn't hurt to at least start looking for it there.

 

Yeah. Testing the signal pin behind the gauge will lead to that. If there's no resistance or infinite resistance, he is gonna have to trace the wire all the way back to the sensor.

 

One test involves removing the cluster. The other involves removing and inspecting a single wire. I'd personally do the easy, 5 minute test before I did the "remove the cluster" test.

 

The cars never overheated at all. I also have the white face eg6 civic sir cluster. ill check the wiring asap for the coolant temp sensor

 

Yes thanks! im definitely going to be doing both tests tomorrow as soon as sunlight hits. Appreciate the responses and one thing is it weird im not getting any CEL's?

 

No. I'm telling him to check the cluster is because it's most likely the problem. He even mentioned that there's no CEL. Is it not true that when temperature sensor fail, there will be CEL since it's one of the most important thing for the car? Does that not make any sense?

Anyways, yeah. Just do both test. It's the same thing. Since you had faceplate changed and messed with the cluster, the gauge could just be dead. Make sure your CEL is working too. That's easy to notice. Should be on when key turns on.

 

alright thanks yeah im about to go check but i just swapped the whole cluster for the civic sir one didnt mess with the faceplate or anything but ill let you guys know how it goes.

 

No because the cluster reads off a different sensor. Not the ECT for the ecu/fans. Like said before, it is a 1 wire sensor in the head that goes straight to the cluster.