2008 Honda Pilot temperature gage up and down

May have a head gasket issue maybe not before but now that it ran hot, 1 time is all it takes. Fan should of been on the whole time it was hot, I would however test the thermostat and fans, keep coolant full. Watch the coolant level. See if you have issues like white smoke exiting tail pipe and/or oil turning milky or milky color on oil fill cap, loosing coolant, bubbles or bubbling in radiator, continued over heating, temperature going down when on gas pedal, exhaust leaking from head gasket and/or coolant leaking from motor. Otherwise check for bad hoses. Bad connections on fans or relays, make sure the fans are working, See if you heater core is leaking, sound like you lost coolant so find the leak if any or replace the head gasket if that is where the leak is.

Hey bud, yours sounds like a broken Thenostat. You can get anyone to go replace it for about a hubdrend bucks give or take. I have 2095 honda pilot exl and I had the same problem because it was driven on low oil and got too hot and that can break your thermostat. You can get a replacement at auto zone and have a certified mechanic install it fir oretty cheap. It is very easy yo reach as the thermostat is roughly on the top fron part of the car. Do not let anyone charge you more than 200 bucks to buy the part amd replace it. Labor is at most 30 minutes with slow methodical approach and post installation check and drive test. Good luck my friend but be thankful as this is an easy fix and telativeky cheap. Lots of thermostats are broken by driving a car with low or no oil. Cheers

Let me know of that fixes it for you. If you let your oil or radiator fluid get low that is often the case. The thermostat can break and when it does, it behaves exactly as you are saying. Even with topped off fkuids and fresh oil, your gauge says it is running hot. As I said the good news is that the fix can be done by a certified mechanic at a jiffy lube next to an auto zone. Having done this fix myself, I can tell you it works. In essence what is broken is thr control and sensing mechanism in your car.

You can replace the thermostat for way cheaper then $100.00 it only take 15 minutes and it running hot may have been because of a stuck thermostat but it running hot does not break the thermostat. Take one and put in boiling water for 24 hours if it was working before it will be working after ward. Oil does not ever touch a thermostat. It has nothing to do with the oil. its in the cooling system.

I bet you also have a fan that stays on after you turn off the car too. That is also a sogn of a brken Thenostat. And it is usually broken by driving a car too long in low or no oil or low or no radiator fluid.

I totalky agree with engine creator. A good price for fixing it is 100 bucks

On the oil agfecting it, on this model car a dry engine takes the heat up amd does break the thermostat stat all the time. See it, fix it and it fixes things every time unless something much bigger is going on

Usually you will know if that is the case. But I would definitely get a free inspection for that before you start going into much more expensive and time consuming fixes. And if they do their job correctly and road test it. It will take 20 to 30 minutes. No more.

Well I filled up the pilot with the coolant and the gage hasn't gone up. As for the fan, I'm going to take it to my mechanic to see if it the thing you guys are telling me. Thanks