Need help: temp guage? overheating?

[lilpanda07]

I have been driving my brothers 2000 Civic lx b/c my teggy is out of order currently. I just started to notice the other day that the guage for the temp. is acting funny. If I drive normal it is perfectly fine. If I try to gun-it to get over an intersection or speed up to pass someone on the road - the guage goes all the way to the H as if it were over heating. Then once I go back to normal speed and drive normal it goes right back down to where it normally is (in the middleish). I dont know much about civic's so I was wondering if anyone could help me on what that might be?? (Yes I did use the serach section first but didnt see anything on this particular problem.) btw-its a manual if that makes a difference.

I also had one other question about that maintance thing where it turns from green to yellow to red. It was yellow and now its red. The car had an oil change about 1,000 miles ago - is this like a service indicator that can be reset? or is it for something else? I dont have that on a teggy so dont really know why its red. (no I didnt serach but figured someone could give me a quick answer with my other question - if thats a problem then I am sorry. )

Thanks in advanced for any help.

 

[TheRealPeterman]

That's a toughie......the sensor itself is a PTC type (positive temperature coefficient) of sorts, meaning that as temp goes up, it sinks more current to ground and allowing more needle deflection. so if you just take a wire from the sensor cable to ground, then needle should go to full HOT; WARNING!!! do not do this for an extended period of time, as it will toast the gauge/sensor circuit!!!! If measuring the sensor body with an ohm-meter, resistance is inverse to temperature.

The connection might be loose, or ultimately the sensor might be bad as well.

I just got my civic, and the maintenance indicator was/still is green, so have not had to deal with it. i imagine that it can easily be reset.

I'm positive one of our many intelligent members can tell you that and much more... Good luck, buddy.

 

[d-blackjack]

from what i understand for your problem, it could be the water pump or thermostat (not sure whether civic US equipped with this part). i experienced the similar problem and found out that the water pump leaking which causes bad water temperature control and lead to overheating. as for the termostat, it was not functioning even the temp shoot up to more than 100degree.

hope it helps.

 

[green_ace]

Maybe your coolant is low can not keep up cooling your engine at higher rpms? Check coolant level

 

[lilpanda07]

Thanks for the suggestions =] I just checked the coolant (which I obviously should have been smart enough to do in the first place) and the coolant is at min. so I am going to add more and just hope that it being low is my problem, I'll let you guys know. Also today it started to overheat if I Idled to long.

Yes I figured it may be just a normal service indicator I can reset I just dont know how. I am still getting used to the civic it's quite a bit more different form a teg then I thought it would be.

 

[Jersey8]

if it starts to overheat when you idle for too long, could be your thermostat

 

[SpazzCivic00]

It is an indicator telling you to check and replace certain things at certain mileage on your car. With mine, I just take a pen cap to reset it or a key.

 

[adm_civic]

from what i understand for your problem, it could be the water pump or thermostat (not sure whether civic US equipped with this part). i experienced the similar problem and found out that the water pump leaking which causes bad water temperature control and lead to overheating. as for the termostat, it was not functioning even the temp shoot up to more than 100degree.

hope it helps.

1more...
can also be the radiator q this obstructed and accumulate a lot of pressure!!

 

[lilpanda07]

Well thought I would update, the Civic is running good I added more coolant and so far it has not overheated but I havent been driving it as much lately. I appreciate the help if it happens again this will give me a few ideas as to what it may be. =]

I figured out how to reset the indicator and checked everything. lol thanks!!