my temp gauge is very screwy, lemme give ya the run down.
background: 96 si/ 94 jdm h22a m2b4 swap

OCCASIONALLY(not all the time) the temp gauge rises above normal. when this happens i turn the car off and turn it back on, the temp gauge will be back to normal(sometimes cooler) when the car is restarted.

yesterday i changed the two temp sensors and thermostat. the old temp snesors looked kinda burnt? on the ends(dark in color compared to the new sensors) anyways i flushed the all the coolant when i did this also following the honda shop manual my friend got me from a dealership(bled the air out of it and all and filled everything back up)

today i was driving and it started doing its shitty overheating scenario again. i pulled over, turned it off and on(gauge did the usual) check the collant level, everythign was good) oil looked great too.

CODES: now, my car IS throwing a code 12, EGR valve(only comes on after the car is fully heated up and it goes off everytime i turn the car off), i was thinking maybe the egr valve is stuck open? and is constantly heating the intake charge with exhaust?

FANS: now my fans do come on(ive seen em come on a couple times) but when the temp gauge goes up i pop the hood and look for the fans, they are not spinning. maybe replace the thermo fan switch or something?

RADIATOR: there are some signs of the radiator begging to leak, burnt up coolant around hte top lid of the radiator in certain spots. maybe replace radiator?


whats everyone suggest? i just want to get some opinions before i throw more money at this replacing the fan switch/radiator or even taking it to a dealership to just let them fix whats wrong

 

OK.... so I had a problem with my stock temp gauge last summer. Sort of inconsistent like the problem that you have described. It would read hot. And like you, I threw lots of parts at the thing. Two switches, thermostat, hoses, multiple coolant flushes, and even a water pump! And no matter what... it was never fixed.

I would laser temp the top and bottom of the motor; only to find normal temps. After time, and no boil overs I dismissed it as a bad gauge and decide to wire up an Autometer electric one. As I expected it to... it read normally while the stock gauge ran hot(pegged at times!). Honda wants 500 bucks for a new one!

As time went by, the plan was to "black out" the stock gauge and just rely on the Autometer. No biggie.

Well, then I installed an Autometer A/F gauge only to have some strange problems with it. [THIS WILL TIE TOGETHER IN THE END] With all of my accessories turned off the gauge would read fine. But as soon as I turned on ANY accesory(lights, radio, etc) the A/F would read leaner and leaner. Hmm?????

I tried a different power source. No luck. I tried a shorter ground from the gauge. No Luck! At this point I am stumped. No one else had any ideas. I was frustrated to have a busted A/F and water temp gauge.

Well...... one day I decided to replace the ground wire that goes from the valve cover to the frame with a braided one just for looks.(I'm a dork like that). And low an behold! I start my lude, and after a couple minutes of driving I had noticed my stock temp gauge working normaly... along with my A/F! Hooray!

It has been 8 months now and have yet to encounter anymore problems. The ground strap cost $4. Try it!

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=931882

^^^ man i had the same prob as you .....check out this thread of mine... it has a surprising solution at the end LOL

 

:bow to h-t: i am def gonna try this as soon as i get home from work today! thanks a ton guys

edit: i had forgotten to mention that the water pump was replaced also


Modified by SPN BB2 at 8:38 AM 8/26/2004

 

Please let us know how it turns out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boxerpower from preludeonline.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i had the same prob w/ my 4g where it would "look" to overheat - go all the way up into the red. I would turn the car off, then back on, and it would be fine.

I ended up have a bad radiator. 1/2 the fins were pretty much toasted, and fell off the unit. It also had a bad fan relay, they weren't kickin on all the times. I do have an extra thermo fan switch if you want to give that a shot.

with the egr, could pull it off the car, and clean it w/ some carb clearner, make sure it isn't stuck..

wish i could give more advice...</TD></TR></TABLE>


same exact problem im having and the solution somes more realistic...im gonna replace the radiator..(gonna rpelace the cap with it though

 

also today i noticed that when i floor it and hit vtec and dog on it it stops overheating, WTF.(i just got pissed off at it and decided to floor it when the gauge was rising, yes very smart i know)

 

hey alan i have some spare radiator caps if you want to try that

 

Did you replace the ground wire? It's worth a shot before the radiator IMO.

 

upon further investigation in my honda shop manual(from honda dealerships ) ive found some unreplaced sensors that i shall order from honda and replace and see if that solves my problems...



ect switch A is located on the thermostat housing

now...whos knows what ect stands for? electronic control temp? anyways if someone with an h22 engien could do me a favor and take a pic of the ect gauge sending unit on their car i would greatly appreciate it, becuase it looks like on mine it is back out of the block somewhat( i can see the threading on the bolt including white teflon tape used for gasket purposes) id like to see how far in the bolt is supposed to be before i try and tighten it.

its located under the distributor

 

sorry i don't have a pic but i assure you it's under the dissy closer to the front of the car though. I broke the ect sender last year when i was doing my clutch and had to replace it.

 

yea i know where its at, im asking how far its supposed to be screwed in there..nvm im just gonna se how much i can tighten it right now

 

SPN BB2, first of all, you say you were beginning to overheat at low rpms?
Well, it's common knowledge (and I'm sure you know this) that if the timing in your gears are off, it can cause the pistons to beat too quickly at low rpms, if you have this problem, then I'm sure you can see how it would cause your motor to overheat quickly.

Second, I'm actually planning on buying a digital camera tomorrow, as soon as I get it I'll be sure to take a pic of my ect gauge for you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H22A-AllMotor &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">SPN BB2, first of all, you say you were beginning to overheat at low rpms?
Well, it's common knowledge (and I'm sure you know this) that if the timing in your gears are off, it can cause the pistons to beat too quickly at low rpms, if you have this problem, then I'm sure you can see how it would cause your motor to overheat quickly.

Second, I'm actually planning on buying a digital camera tomorrow, as soon as I get it I'll be sure to take a pic of my ect gauge for you.</TD></TR></TABLE>

if the pistons were beating quickly....wouldnt that no longer be low rpms?

did you even read any of the posts?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H22A-AllMotor &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Well, it's common knowledge (and I'm sure you know this) that if the timing in your gears are off, it can cause the pistons to beat too quickly at low rpms, if you have this problem, then I'm sure you can see how it would cause your motor to overheat quickly.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

What in gods name are you talking about??? Cam gear(if that's the gears you're referring to...) timing does not make the pistons "beat" to quickly.

Perhaps learning about an engine before you give advice will be a better choice for you next time.

 

w00t, ok so my car broke down and wouldnt start, it was becuase of a ground wire, this ground wire had also been know to display faulty/wacky readings in the temp gauge. now that its fixed it starts up great and no more overheating

i still gota pepboys radiator sitting in my garage that i bought though...im still gonna put it in thoguh because my radiator is leaking SLIGHTLY around the top

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by five-0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did you replace the ground wire? It's worth a shot before the radiator IMO.</TD></TR></TABLE>

^^^ i guess you were right all along

for fixing the problem

 

Hot = Bad

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jacen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hot = Bad</TD></TR></TABLE>

Gasp! He's a genious!^^^

Hey... Nice job. That ground wire messed with me for a while too. I know it feels good to have your gauge read normal now. Congrats.

 

def. the damn gauges were blowing my mind and i was getting fed up with it, hopefully this thread can help out people with the same problems in the future