Rep Power: 0

I've been having difficulties with my temperature gauge for a while now. Before, the symptom was that the gauge was randomly, then constantly, pegging to the top. I then determined that there was a link between the dash light dimmer. This eventually stopped, but the gauge still seemed to act strange - the needle very quickly rises to nearly the top of the gauge. I pulled the cluster and found a damaged trace to the temp gauge which may have shorted in the past. I replaced the entire gauge cluster and the problem still exists. After running for just a minute or two, the needle moves from normal operating temperature to near the top of the gauge. I'm wondering if this is an indication of a bad temperature sending unit(?). I believe I had already replaced that several months ago.

As a side note, I don't ever notice the radiator fan turning on. How frequently is the fan supposed to run? Is it possibly that the engine is actually that hot because the fan isn't running? I plan to do some testing with the fan in the next couple days to verify that it's not faulty as well as test the radiator fan switch. Any advice is appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 200

if the needle rises up
turn on the heater to max on hot
see if the needle drop
if so then you either have a bad thermostat or air in the coolant hoses

 
Rep Power: 200

i dont remember when was the last time my fan turn on i live in the northeast and we get cold weather i think the last time my fan turn on was last summer lol
honda engines runs cold hence why our civic have a small radiator