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Just wondering because my 2005 civic's temp gauge doesn't move AT ALL once the car is warmed up, even though the SG2 will read between 179F-227F(!!!):eek:. I never noticed the SG reading this high, but then again I didn't start looking at coolant temp until this summer. What's the deal? I put a new thermostat in it a few months ago and did a coolant drain and refill. So is the car running hot or is the SG2 off? Fuel mileage has stayed the same.

Thanks for the help.
mits

EDIT: Forgot to add, I checked the radiator fan, and it comes on and off at the temps spec'd by the shop manual.

I made similar obversations driving my Insight from Dallas to Austin this spring.

The stock temp gage in the dash was the same at 195F and 227F (ScanGage readings). I'm presuming SG is more accurate.

Well whatever SGII reports is what the Engine "THINKS" the temp is. Most modern cars will do base lots of decisions off of coolant temp. So whether it's accurate or not, it is the value that your car is using to make it's decisions.

So if your using SGII to figure out if your car is in warm-up, or turning on an extra coolant pump, what value it reports is the value everything is looking at. Ultimately it comes down to how accurate the thermal sensor in your radiator is. This will vary from car to car and make to make.

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Just wondering because my 2005 civic's temp gauge doesn't move AT ALL once the car is warmed up, even though the SG2 will read between 179F-227F(!!!):eek:. I never noticed the SG reading this high, but then again I didn't start looking at coolant temp until this summer. What's the deal? I put a new thermostat in it a few months ago and did a coolant drain and refill. So is the car running hot or is the SG2 off? Fuel mileage has stayed the same.

Thanks for the help.
mits

EDIT: Forgot to add, I checked the radiator fan, and it comes on and off at the temps spec'd by the shop manual.


What you are seeing is Honda's decision to make their temp gauges normalise a wide band of temperature. I guess the logic is to dumb down the gauge so that the average user doesn't fret over slight movements.

A regular contributor at a Honda Element site I frequent charted the movement versus a separate temp probe and found that from around 170-220 the needle doesn't move. That's on an Element, but it appears Honda does this on other vehicles too.

Here's what he found.

Below 120°F needle below C.
120° to 170° - needle climbs linearly from C to slightly left of center.
170° to 220° - "normal", and does not move
220 to 255° - needle climbs linearly from slightly left of center to H
260° - pegged above "H"

Ok, I'm not sure of what to do. Could 227F possibly be "normal", or do I need to keep trying to diagnos the problem? I can't imagine that having a coolant temp that high is in the design of the car.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Ok, I'm not sure of what to do. Could 227F possibly be "normal", or do I need to keep trying to diagnos the problem? I can't imagine that having a coolant temp that high is in the design of the car.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Honda apparently doesn't think 227 is time to sound the alarm.

Is this typical or an abnormal peak? I know when I do a fas into a stoplight I might spike up to 210 from the normal 193 or climb to 205 on a steep extended grade. What's your normal temp?

It's hard to say. I know the thermostat starts to open at 177 and is fully open at 195. Then the fan is supposed to kick on at ~204 until the engine is 5-10 degrees cooler. This is all per the shop manual.

BTW, it was up to 216 on the way to work this morning with temps in the low 70s.

Thanks for the help.