Long story short, my car (95 prelude with F22B) came with an aftermarket gauges and pod, I attempted hooking up the temperature gauge and the car was on when I did. I expected to see it go up to normal operating temp but instead it rested the needle on the pin in the gauge as if the engine was cold. So i left that gauge unhooked because it really doesn't matter considering engine temp is displayed on the dash. But now according to the one on the dash my engine isn't warming up at all. ill shut the car off after a drive, then start it back up right away and the gauge on the dash says its at operating temp but then as soon as I start driving again the gauge goes back down to cold. Any ideas on what I might have screwed up?

 

check the temp sender thats located under the distributor... it is a ONE wire push on plug..is it plugged in??

 

yes its a 1 wire and yes its plugged in. ill shut my engine off after a drive then ill turn it on and it will say it is at operating temp (half) and then will go back down to cold. and stay at cold.