i have a 98 accord and my temp gauge will start out fine go to operating temp and then out of nowhere drop to the very bottom and i have to knock on the dash for it to jump back up to where it should be and it is very intermittent. Ive replaced the gauge and the ECT (AKA engine coolant temp) sensor and it still does this. i also have no air in the cooling system and the car does not over heat at all it runs just fine. and help would be appreciated.

thanks

 

Is this a V6 or 4-cylinder accord?

Does hitting the dash always correct the problem?

Did you just replace the temperature gauge in the car, or the entire instrument cluster?

 

its a 4 cylinder f23a1 and when i hit the cluster it always fixes the problem ive changed the gauge only not the the whole cluster ive also changed the ECT sensor to make sure its getting proper data since i just put a new distributor in and the sensor is right under the distributor and an OEM one is about 25 bucks i figured why not

 

The ECT sensor has two wires and sends a signal only to the PCM. Your accord has an coolant temperature sending unit, that only has one wire going to it and only sends signal to the gauge in the car. The CT sending unit is near the ECT sensor. IIRC, the CT sending unit is on the same part of the block/cylinder head, just closer to the front bumper. With that said, which sensor did you replace?

Hitting the dash and fixing the problem makes me think that you have a connection issue between the temperature gauge and the main cluster board. Carefully inspect the solder joints/connections where the gauge touches the board. I've read where corrosion causes poor contact between the main board and the gauge.

 

i replaced the 2 wire ECT sensor im actually going to be taking it to an auto electrical place to have them figure it out so i will keep you posted on what they find and what the fix was