My temp gauge on my 97 Accord 4cyl has never worked properly since I've owned it, (it never moves beyond the blue/first mark when driving) but I've recently found it does respond when the engine overheats. I had a coolant leak while driving and I knew something was wrong because the needle went to the middle mark on the gauge (where it should be normally). Fixed that and it's stuck down in the blue again like usual. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

a simple temp sender change is in order.

 

My uncle is a mechanic and he replaced the sending unit. That's all we've tried so far (and it didn't fix it).

 

Sounds like the thermostat is stuck open. To test, with the car completely cold, start her up and just idle her and see if the lower radiator hose starts getting warm almost immediately, or within a couple minutes. If it gets warm almost immediately then get a new thermostat from Honda. Do not get an aftermarket. The Honda ones have built in failsafes. Make sure to bleed the system properly when installing it.

A normal car will take about ten minutes or so for the lower radiator hose to start getting warm.

 

I thought I had ruled out the thermostat because my heater works good and doesn't take that long to warm up, but I'll try that and see! Thanks

 

Felt the hose this morning, to no avail. Any other ideas?

 

Temp sensor or cluster

 

Check this tread: https://honda-tech.com/honda-accord-...andom-3190203/

I had the same issue and I went through numerous diagnostic procedures outlined in the tread. Mine ended up being that the soldering came loose on the circuit board.