temp gauge not working right

hey whats up was wondering if i can get some info the other day i went for a drive in the cold weather and my temp gauge only moved to 1 tick obove cold was driving for 15min and then went on the highway and then it moved to the 3 tick but got to the stop light it went back down to 1 above cold heat was on full the whole time and was not very hot went to honda they said that the thermosat was open and closing that was not the problem any help would be great.

No codes are being thrown which means it is working (temp sensor). This could be a bad thermostat or maybeeeeeeeee the cluster is malfuncioning. Best thing to do is check ur thermostat housing reseat the wires. Check then. You could replace the thermostat which could be an easy fix. If you wanted to get technical you could get a resistance meter and check the sensor to make sure the resistance is changing as the engine gets hotter. This will mean bad sensor, if nothing changes on the multimeter but the car would be throwing codes as stated above. If Honda told you what the problem was how did you determine it to be false?

all honda told me was that hey could not determin what the problem was the said that it was normal for the temp to drop while ideling.
but i have friends that have civics and theres don't do that. well i think im going to try and change the thermosate and see what happens. so how where can i get a resistance meter to check the sensor to make sure the resistance is changing as the engine gets hotter. and how do i check it do i just put it in the rad fluid? all i know that it is NOT normal for a car to take over 30min to get hot or if it gets hot at all

Connect to the temp sensor wire its a 2 lead wire.

thanks for the feedback i see where the temp sensor is but can you tell me where to get a resistance meter to check it so when i get one i just hook it up to the sensor and check to see if the temp is changing and if it is then thats not the problem?