Rep Power: 0

Hi guys I have had my 95 civic LX for about a year. It has 158,000 and runs great. I have noticed since I bought the car the dash temp gauge does not read in the middle as my 98 does when its warmed up. its between the very bottem and middle. I do have a leaky radiator in the bottom right lower corner and I have to add some antifreeze about once a month to the reservoir. I plan on a napa radiator next week. Will this leaky radiator cause the temp to be low? The heat is good and I just had a honda TB and WP installed as part of maitanance. And it looks like the stock theromstat should be 170 degree? Any thoughts are appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 209

over cooling is normally a thermostat fault, that is assuming it really is over cooling and your temp guage is accurate

if so, i would replace your thermostat with an oem honda thermostat

 
Rep Power: 518

You cannot rely on the gauge for accuracy.

 
Rep Power: 0

It probably just has an aftermarket thermostat in it with a bypass valve on it, so a little extra coolant flows through. A leaky radiator wouldn't lead to under-heating, but typically will cause the exact opposite. Definitely get that taken care of ASAP.

Mine has one of these thermostats, and my temp gauge typically sits at about 1/3 of the way.

 
Rep Power: 308

Older Japanese temp gauges always read about there (and drove 95 Civics at a job I had for 2 years)

On later models they made them more towards centered.