Good Morning Everyone! I need some help understanding and possibly fixing this issue. I have a 2004 Honda Accord EX 2.4 L about 90 K miles. I have had it for a little over a year. There are few issues with the car, one of which is the temp gauge. I noticed since I bought it, the engine temperature gauge fluctuates between halfway to below the C(old). This behavior occurs mostly on city streets. Usually on the highway it says at the halfway point, which I think is normal. The temp gauge used to go towards H(ot) when I tried to park and turned the steering all the way to the extreme right and left. But Once I turned the wheel straight the temp gauge would come back to halfway point. Recently, the radiator blew and I changed the radiator and installed new radiator fan assembly. The temp gauge still fluctuates between cold and halfway point on city roads. I read through some of the posts online with similar problems and decided to change the thermostat. After replacing the thermostat there is no change in the behavior of the gauge. It stills fluctuates as before. I hope I provided enough information for you smart folks to give me some wisdom. Please let me know if I failed to provide any critical details.

 

The temperature gauge is controlled by the engine computer, so there is no sensor on the engine that controls it.

Does the check engine light turn on while driving? I'd have the codes scanned at a parts store, just to be thorough.

 

Yes sir the check engine light is also on. Today I observed another interesting fact which is when the temp gauge was reading cold I pulled over and parked the car and popped the hood to see if the fans are on. I saw both the fans are on and they stop and turn back on all while the gauge is sitting around cold. I will take it to autozone and check the codes for the check engine light.

 

Post the actual code on here. It will start with the letter P and have four numbers, like P1234.

 

I think PAhonda meant that there is no direct connection between the engine sensor and the gauge. The PCM receives the signal from the ECT sensor and then sends it to the gauge.

It sounds like power and grounds at the PCM need to be checked as well as the sensor itself.

Here is the ECT sensor.

 

Thanks guys after taking it to the mechanic as it seemed that I had a ton of codes and the whole issue with the temperature gauge I learned that my head gasket was blown. While researching about this I read about that particular situation and I had all the symptoms. I dreaded it but had to count 1400 in order to get a new engine.