89 accord says its overheating but isnt...

[Goddess2Egypt]

Hi, I have 89 accord and the temp gauge says its overheating, but when I turn a hard corner or brake hard the guage goes back to normal.
I have checked the fans, both rad & ac fan, they work jus fine. I am not low on water or 'anti-frez'. I have changed the rad sensor 3 times already, Im about to change my wp cause the circulation is a bit slow. I have had this problem for about 4 months now.
The car will ride and say its pipping hot, but when I pull over to check it, its jus fine, no boiing no steamin no leakin no nuthin. Then I start the cr back up and its on normal again.
Its driving me crazy!!
Im thinkin its the guage or temp sensor. Does anyone have any clues. I would GREATLY GREATLY apprecite it!!
Thanks, Sara

[StealthSnake36]

Originally Posted by Goddess2Egypt

Hi, I have 89 accord and the temp gauge says its overheating, but when I turn a hard corner or brake hard the guage goes back to normal.
I have checked the fans, both rad & ac fan, they work jus fine. I am not low on water or 'anti-frez'. I have changed the rad sensor 3 times already, Im about to change my wp cause the circulation is a bit slow. I have had this problem for about 4 months now.
The car will ride and say its pipping hot, but when I pull over to check it, its jus fine, no boiing no steamin no leakin no nuthin. Then I start the cr back up and its on normal again.
Its driving me crazy!!
Im thinkin its the guage or temp sensor. Does anyone have any clues. I would GREATLY GREATLY apprecite it!!
Thanks, Sara

sounds like the coolant temp sensor could be goin bad

[jeffcoslacker]

Originally Posted by StealthSnake36

sounds like the coolant temp sensor could be goin bad

I agree, but the symptom changing under sudden change in G-load seems to suggest a possibility of a problem with a wiring sag causing an unwanted grounding, or a problem with the gauge itself...

I saw this happen ONCE with a customer's 1986 Ford Escort, exactly the same, was brought in to fix an overheat, but after checking it out we found the car was running a normal temp, fan cycles, good flow, etc...the gauge was just lying...and like this one, it would sometimes go back to normal after hard braking, cornering, or sometimes even hitting a bump.

This one would go all the way over to hot within like 2 minutes of starting the car cold, before there was even any real measurable heat in the motor...yours?

We tried a temp sensor and then chased wiring back to the gauge, which was fine, so the gauge got replaced and the problem was resolved.

But I've noticed on a lot of older Hondas like yours the engine wiring harnesses have become brittle and are cracking/shedding insulation, lotta problems with false grounds and circuits trading voltage through bare wiring...

Anything else happening that you might have thought was unrelated?

One I worked on (1988 Accord) was running the battery dead because the fan would never shut off after the car shut down...the owner happened to mention that around the same time the headlights quit retracting...turned out there was a lotta scrambled wiring in that one...