I have a 1997 Honda Civic hx. The temperature gauge does move, but not properly. It will begin to rise but never gets to running temperature. When I come to a complete stop and let the car idle the gauge will rise a little, but when I start moving it goes back down. When I am driving down the highway the needle does not move far from the bottom line of the gauge. Last week I had an issue with my car that cause it to run hot, but the gauge never went that high. Instead the "dummy" light came on to tell me it was overheating. So my question is where to begin? Does it seem more of a problem with the cluster, or maybe a sensor?

 

what overheating dummy light? does your radiator fan turn on?

 

The light came on last week. My cat. convertor was plugged up and causing my car to run hot. I have had this issue fixed, but the temp gauge never did rise when my car started running hot. And yes the fan is working properly.