Hey guys,

I have a that when driving, never overheats. When I stop in traffic for more than 10 minutes, the temp gauge starts to creep slowly. This car really has me stumped as I put a lot of money and time into it already. Things I've done: head gasket, wires, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, replaced all belts, water pump, radiator, upper and lower hoses, oil pan gasket, flushed the core, changed the thermostat, replaced the 3 temperature sensors (under distributor, next to thermostat, and for the single wire gauge cluster), new exhaust, brand new coolant and oil (obviously), radiator cap, fuel filter, air filter, cooling fan relay, and changed the heater valve. I do not have any milky residue in the reservoir or on the oil cap. I do not blow out any white smoke.

I did the in phases as the radiator, flushing, sensors, and oil pan were just done as the last projects. Now the check engine light is on after I completed the radiator and sensor jobs, I jumped the wire under the glove box and it flashes the check engine light 6 times which is the water temperature sensor. I just changed that freaking thing. I changed the sensors thinking that would help my issue of the gauge fluctuating as well. All of the sensors are brand new. I have also tried resetting the CEL by pulling the 7.5 amp fuse and disconnecting the battery...still nothing.

Along with the check engine light, the has a tough time starting (which it NEVER had before) and it used to start right away with no hesitation. The battery is an older (not sure how old) but it holds a charge, and I checked the battery and the alternator with a volt meter and everything is normal output. The I hear working when I turn the key to accessory, so I know that's ok. I watched the cooling fan turn on as well while bleeding the air out of the system, so I know that is ok now.

I'm just stumped and I'm hoping some of you car gurus can help me out. This is my daily driver for work and I kind of need it. Besides this new issue of having trouble starting, the car runs perfectly fine.

CEL code(s) please?

Did you bleed air from coolant system per service manual?
Does the radiator fan turn on during idle? If so, how often (minutes)? Does the radiator fan come on when you turn the air conditioner on?

Have you tried resetting the ECU ?

Place a hi-temp thermometer in the radiator opening from cold start, set climate control to max heat, recirculate and fan on low..start engine and let idle, note thermometer reading at operating temp. Afterwards, set climate control to max cold, fan off and note thermometer reading as/if temp climbs. Turn engine off if dash temp gauge goes past halfway mark (prior to overheating).

While you checking temp with thermomete carefully (not too close) look inside radiator opening at operating temp and see if coolant is flowing. Rev engine while looking at coolant and see if it flows faster during higher revs..if not flowing then possible waterpump issue.
Is the thermostat a genuine Honda part?

Coolant level dropping in radiator and rsing in reservoir?

I will have to get back to you on some of this but, I have put an oem thermostat and gasket in. I have been driving the car for a few days, and I don't believe it is overheating any longer, and am not losing any coolant. When I used to stop in traffic for a while, the temp would start going up. I think that was caused possibly by a bad relay which I have fixed. The fan came on 1x for about 10 seconds when idling when I was bleeding the coolant and then turned off. It was a steady flow of coolant coming out with no bubbles. I haven't tried turning on the A/C yet. As I said in my post, I jumped the 2 prong wire and turned it to Acc and the check engine light flashed 6 times (ECT) along with the SRS light flashing non-stop (which is not my concern right now). I have removed the 7.5a fuse from the engine compartment, along with the (-) terminal of the battery as that's what some other forums have told me to do with resetting the CEL code. This did not work (if there is another method of resetting the ECU that they failed to tell me, please advise).

The water pump is brand new as well.

That's a good sign..seems to be engaging normally. Did you bleed air with front of car on jackstands as high as possible (radiaotor higher than engine)? Also, did you set the climate control to max heat and fan off while bleeding air from coolant?

The procedure I use is:
* Get engine to operating temp
* Turn off all electronics (headlights, interior lights, stereo, etc..)
* Disconnect negative terminal from battery
* Turn on headlights and press brake pedal a few times to drain any residual charge. Afterwards turn headlights off.
* Reconnect negative terminal (all electronics still turned off)
* Start engine, idling only, wait until radiator fan engages twice
* Shut off engine.

I did not bleed engine on stands as I did not know I needed to do it this way. I will bleed again when I get home and put it up on ramps.

I did have the heat on when I was bleeding. I was told to put the heat on, when heat starts coming from the vents, turn off the heat and let idle.

I will definitely try your method of resetting the ECU.

Download a copy (free) of the '92-'95 Honda Civic Service Manual..that's the best guide for repairs.

You didn't fix the ECT problem? Gotta fix the problem before you can expect the code to stay gone.

What am I fixing then? The I literally have just installed brand new sensors. Everything is brand new.

You replaced the three coolant sensors, but it still sets a fault code for the ECT sensor? You erased the code, and it still sets the same code?

Do you know which of the three sensors the fault code points to? (ECT is 2-wire, red/white and green/white)

Have you done voltage and resistance checks at the wiring connector for that sensor, to check the integrity of the circuits involved that go to the ECM?
red/white = 5v (key on/engine off)
green/white = ground



The ground strap or cable that runs from the drivers side headlight area to the valve cover area, is it in good shape? I've heard if that's broken, missing or bad it can cause the temp gauge to read wrong at times.
Same with the other ground cable that goes to the top of the transmission.

I just tried resetting the ecu, again.... I tried your method and the light is still on. I tried another method and light still on. I checked the resistance of the ect wires (near thermostat) and they gave me a reading of 195. I checked the voltage and it's 11.9 volts, not 5 like you had mentioned.

Did you verify the wire colors I mentioned?