First off, this is my 1st post on AcuraZine so greetings to you all. I've recently purchased an 03 CL Type-S 6MT in SSM. But most importantly, I have a question..

I noticed if I sit in idle for let's say... 10-15minutes? (maybe shorter) the temperature gauge on the cluster rises up from a few dashes under the middle to almost 2/3rd's of the way up. But as soon as I start driving (I'm presuming that the air is moving through the radiator) the temperature goes back down to the normal area... I was thinking maybe the thermostat is screwed up? Dirty coolant? (I was almost thinking water pump but I don't think that's it) Any ideas?

 

sounds like the temp sensor might be gone...and needs to be replaced.

another thing the the thermostat might be malfunctioning...and needs to be replaced...

or, your coolant might be low.

till you look.

 

That should sum it up!

 

What's the difference between the temp sensor vs. thermostat?

 

I also forgot to mention that the fans don't kick on when it goes up in idle. But when I first bought my car, I took it to my friend's house (Who actually has a 2G TL and showed me this forum) and the fans kicked on. I don't know if that bit of information would help deciding on what it is but I thought I'd throw that out there.

Sorry for post whoring.

 

you might as well do a coolant flush to get rid of any bubbles, and check the thermostat too. it's hard to diagnose already, so some basic maintenance would be a start.

 

how many miles maybe the waterpump or temp sensor.

 

waterpump works or fails completely and ud KNOW if that thing failed.

Check for low coolant, it could be slowly seeping out of a fitting or the rad cap itself (this happened to my bro's lude and took him 3 months to tackle it!!!)

1 check the fluid level, get some 50/50 mix and poor it in there with the car cold and running, and leave the cap off of like 15 mins and slowly little air bubble find their way out. You are gonna wait till car fully heats up and u'll see the fluid begin to rise/expand, then u close it up.....FLUID DONE

Thermostat is the mechanical device which has temperature sensitive coils in it which expand and contract due to engine temp. these can fail at anytime... GOOD WAY TO CHECK... there is a inlet and outlet on the rad, when car is warmed up grab each with ur hand to see if the temp is WAY off... iff so u got a STUCK CLOSED thermostat.

LASTLY replace the temp switch (but this is the rarest thing to need be replaced, those sensors are extremely reliable)

thermostat is like 15$ and 30 mins to and hour of ur time.

My guess would have to be fluid and or thermostat.

let us know what u find bro. u'll have her fixed for sure, it's no biggie

 

the same thing happened to my buddies car, check the connections to the fan. the reason its over heating at idle only is because the fan isnt kicking in. I`m not sure what runs the fan but check all the connections, then go from there

 

this is sort of happening to me again but in a way it just might be the way ive been driving the car for the last few days lol ill pull over to check if it happens again

 

If the fan doesn't come on I'd say that's your problem.
Could be simple air in the system too.

Things like thermostats & water pumps are not a common source of failure on this car.

 

the temp gauge never moves due to how u drive it...

not that i've seen on this car... or my other car that i beat the living piss out of.

if the gauge is moving it's cause ur generating too much heat for some reason...

and the harder u drive ur car the colder it get actually... cause of all that moving air over the motor.

my bro's lude would skyrocket at a red light on a hottt day and then u start driving and the temp just start FALLING...

soo none need be said

 

The car's got 93k, once I go home for winterbreak my buddy who has the TL and I are going to do all the maintenance (waterpump, coolant flush, belt, valve adjustment) and hopefully that will fix the issue. But in the mean time, I'll check the coolant level and maybe the fan connections (but it's f@#$ing cold it's 18degrees).

I appreciate all the advice and will you guys know.

 

does anyone know if both fans are supposed to kick on at the same time during hot idle? i think only one of mine does. is the other one related to the AC compressor perhaps?

 

well seems like he is up for maintenance. could be anything. we have 2 fans one for a/c condenser and the other for radiator.

 

Only 1. IIRC the one on the drivers side is when the AC is on.

 

this was happening to my car last summer. the ac fan plug was loose and needed to be pushed back together.

 

i had same problem this summer. check the coolant level and let the air out if this doesnt help chenge termostat thats what i did and this foxed my problem

 

Check the fan connectors. Also run the car until the coolant gets hot and place the temp knob inisde the car to the hottest setting and wait until the fans kick on. this should get out any air trap in cooling system.

 

Thanks guys

 

could anyone tell me before i go crazy
since were on this topic, im not thread jacking sorry op

here are my symptoms Car temp raises at idle so I replaced the thermostat ..... few weeks or months later happened again so i just recently replaced the Coolant sensor.Now its still doing the same thing but everytime I turn the car off the fan would come on for five mins and cool down. So why wont it come on when im driving? Im thinkin there is either a bad connection somewhere, or the fans motor is going bad by the minute