I have a 1.8T Audi which while an older car, drives well and is in good nick. I recently did a trip of around 200km during which the temperature gauge got up to 90 and stayed there all the way including city driving at the end of the journey. The following morning I had an early start and drove about 80km. It was very cold and I turned the heater on. it never got up to temperature, the needle barely moving. It was cold but not icy (Auckland- North Waikato) I stopped briefly and when I got back into the car the gauge read near to the normal 90 after standing for about 5 minutes, but soon dropped down once under way. It stayed barely registering for the rest of the journey,and also was like this on the way back to Auckland in the late afternoon. The next day it started out the same on the journey back north, and then suddenly it was back to normal 90 temp on the gauge.
I'm thinking it must be the thermostat sticking open rather than a sender unit or the gauge, because even the heater wouldnt come up to temperature when it was presenting that issue.
Does anybody have any insights to the problem?
mopeds,
Aug 3, 8:31am
Its likely to be a stuck thermostat given the heater wouldn't work on a cold day at motorway speed the engine was getting too much cooling, the high temperature around town etc was controlled by the fan thermostat.
budgel,
Aug 3, 8:54am
Thanks for your reply, that is pretty much what I was thinking.
tamarillo,
Aug 3, 9:31am
Since it's reasonably easy to change thermostat on that model some swapatronics sounds like it should fix it. If not I'd get it scanned as there could be a helpful fault code.
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 3, 9:33am
I am also in agreement, however I like to test things before replacing them. If you have a multimeter you can test the sender, likewise if you have a ir thermometer you can accurately test the thermostat.
I highly recommend getting a cheap ir thermometer, I use my regularly and it only cost about $14 delivered online.
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 3, 9:35am
I think he might be lucky with that one in that it probably has a re-usable housing too. So the price should be quite low if that is the case.
Yip, much the same on the B5. Quarter of an hour or so for someone competent and the job is done. Hardly a big deal.
robotnik,
Aug 3, 9:59am
Isn't 90C about normal with those? Been many years since I had one, so could be wrong.
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 3, 10:01am
Yes, but it should get to and then hold a steady 90c.
jmma,
Aug 3, 10:02am
Skim reading the OP again aye (o:
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 3, 10:03am
Petty trolling again aye.
budgel,
Nov 22, 9:38am
Thanks guys, you have pretty much confirmed my diagnosis. I'm so pleased they are designed to stick open rather than closed. The fact that it came back to normal the next day did make me wonder a bit.
Agreed, no big deal to change.
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