I just bought a 95 Accord LX and found that the temp. gauge doesn't work. It just sits at the bottom. I know that It should have moved up because i've climbed some sick hills when the temperature was well over 100 outside. I'm not exactly sure what the problem is. Any advice?

 

no idea, i'm guessing the gauge itself is messed up, in which case you can pick up a replacement at any junkyard for a few bucks. dont take my word on that though, it might just be some kind of a electrical problem, but doin so would help narrow down the possibilities at least.

 

If it is the gauge that is messed up how do i go about fixing it. Is there anything else it might be?

 

check the sending unit first,it is below your distributor in the head,a single wire connector

 

yeah I'd bet on the sender being bad not the gauge.

 

How do I know if the sending unit is bad? What do I need to do to check it?

 

just reolace the Coolant temperature gauge sending unit.
That will fix your problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spliff101 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How do I know if the sending unit is bad? What do I need to do to check it? </TD></TR></TABLE>First, make sure the wire is attached to the sender. Don't mistake it for the ECT sensor which has 2 wires.

Take off the wire, short it to ground. When you turn on the ignition, the temperature gauge should climb up towards 'hot'. Make SURE you TURN OFF the ignition before it gets all the way up there! You could fry the gauge if you let it go all the way. Or maybe someone's already done this and they didn't stop??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jago &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just reolace the Coolant temperature gauge sending unit.
That will fix your problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Unfortunately that didn't magically fix all my problems like everybody thought. Any other suggestions?

 

Did you ground the wire to see if the gauge responds? (Remember, don't let it go all the way up.) If it doesn't respond, then you have to figure out whether it's a bad gauge in the cluster or just a broken wire somewhere. You'll need a wiring diagram & a multimeter.

 

I grounded the wire and the gauge didn't respond, however the check engine light came on after a few seconds. I tried to get to the gauge cluster but there must be a screw somewhere i'm missing. I've taken out the 2 on top and one underneath. Thanks for your help so far. Sorry i'm so handicrapped when it comes to this.

 

Now you'll need a wiring diagram. My Helm manual shows where all the screws are to take out the cluster, often there's 1 or 2 cleverly hidden somewhere. You might even be able to find a Helm manual at the library...

Find out which wire (at the cluster) is for the sender. Ground it there, see if the gauge responds. The gauge also needs +12v power, see if that's OK. (Got a multi-meter?) Hopefully you'll find a broken wire somewhere, even if it's a broken wire within the cluster. Otherwise it's a bad gauge.

 

I got the wiring schematic finally and got everything taken apart. When you said cleverly hidden screws you weren't kidding. Everything seems to be fine except for the gauge. I've been looking around the salvage yards for a new cluster. Do I have to replace the whole cluster or can I just replace the temp gauge itsself?

 

there could be a way of switching it over but u risk messing it up cuz the needles are very delicate. id just swap it over and change ur mile recorder...what ever its called!!

 

I dicked with my gauge cluster on my 4G Accord. Wasn't a pretty site once you take out the needle. Don't do it.

 

I've never had to take a cluster apart on a Honda. On our '89 Saab you could separate the 3 pods of the cluster (tach / speedo / other3) from each other. The problem was actually buying only one of them...

 

you could just replace the temp gauge. I have a 94 accord and my friends and I tried installing indiglo gauges and busted the needle on the temp. I went to a junkyard picked up a cluster and changed out the temp. It's four different pieces. Temp, Tach, Speedo, Fuel. It's not really that hard.

 

Here's the deal. I bought just a new temp gauge. It was a really easy install once i figured out how to get the thing out of there. Quite a few screws. Anyways I was excited to see the results and when I cranked up the car there were none. Thats right, after all that, nothing. I then got fed up with it and took it to a honda specialist who determined that my circut board that the gauges are hooked together on is crap so i sent the gauge back, put the old one back in and bought a seperate pod and gauge. I now have a carbon fiber temp gauge sitting in the corner of my dash that works and it cost me half the price a stock one costs. I would highly reccomend that option over any other one to anybody. This is now the end of a very long standing saga. Easy install and cheap price. Cheaper than a junkyard gauge cluster even. Thanks to all for the help on what turned out to be a lot bigger deal than it should have been.