Honda Car Forum

I asked this question a while back and the only answer I got was the
thermostat was stuck open, which I already tested, doesn't appear to be
the problem.

Here's the deal, 95 Accord's temp gauge slowly but surely has stopped
working. It started out only going up a 1/4 of the way, then only to
the blue part of the gage, down from about 3/8.

Now (after about a yr) it doesn't move at all.

A yr ago when this first started, I took out the thermostat and it was
closed, I put in a pot of boiling water and it opened, I let it cool
and it closed. I did this "test" 3 times with the same results.

The heater is working fine and the transmission shifts into O/D with no
delays.

It has two sending units which one of them could be bad but I don't
won't to start replacing parts for no reason.

Is there a way to test the gage?

I know on some (older) cars you can just ground the wire and the gage
will move all the way up but these sending units have 2 wires and I
don't want to screw anything up.

BTW, Tegger, you got me to thinking about this again after our
discussion about w/s repairs.. (the link in your sig)

BigELilE05@msn.com wrote:
> Is there a way to test the gage?
>
> I know on some (older) cars you can just ground the wire and the gage
> will move all the way up but these sending units have 2 wires and I
> don't want to screw anything up.

i imagine youd touch the wires together and see what happens.

Dude - Spend the $20 and replace with a genuine Honda Thermostat. Make
sure you bleed the air out of the system afterwards. I'll eat my hat
if your Thermostat is not the cause.

Challenged wrote:
> Dude - Spend the $20 and replace with a genuine Honda Thermostat. Make
> sure you bleed the air out of the system afterwards. I'll eat my hat
> if your Thermostat is not the cause.

Why does the heater work if the stat is stuck open?

I don't know what one has to do with the other. I have had one Honda
Accord and one Acura Integra with the same symptom. Since you've
already disassembled the thermostat, you might as well spend the $20 to
replace it. Make sure there are no air in the cooling system. Trapped
air bubble could cause thermostat to not operate correctly.

Challenged wrote:
> I don't know what one has to do with the other. I have had one Honda
> Accord and one Acura Integra with the same symptom. Since you've
> already disassembled the thermostat, you might as well spend the $20 to
> replace it. Make sure there are no air in the cooling system. Trapped
> air bubble could cause thermostat to not operate correctly.

Well, it's not disassembled anymore, that was a yr ago. I had a stat to
install at the time but it was an aftermarket one and that is why
(after testing it as described in my OP) I put the original one back
in. I wasn't going to put a POS stat in my car. Looking back I wish I
would of had an OEM one to install while I had it apart.

If the thermostat is stuck open, the engine will not get to the correct
operating temp and the water never gets "hot" therefore the heater will
not blow hot air.

Like I said, the heater works, it shifts into OD (which it's not
supposed to do unless the engine is at normal operating temp) the fans
still cut on to cool the engine, everything is fine except the gage
doesn't move anymore.

If it is the stat it just doesn't make much sense.