Great fun then....not so funny !

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FatLad

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Had a whale of a time last time coming home during which I battled with a Lupo GTI and new shape Celica, evenually showed them a clean pair of heals, so it was fair to say i was driving the car hard.

Having slowed down to take my bow from the catching opponents I noticed the temp guage rising rapidly - ****** ? Normally it sits at 12 o'clock yet now it began to head towards 10 past. I slowed and let things cool. No liquid loss or anything, not a drop - huh !? Temp warning light now comes on when I start the car and it warms quickly with temp gauge settling around 5 past. Checked under bonnet, nothing sprayed anywhere yet fans not working, any ideas anyone ??
 
any idea which one that is, I'm a complete novice with such stuff, I just wash and polish it !

Cheers
 
audi upgrades
Sounds like the water pump impeller has failed which is a common fault on the 1.8T.

Basically the impeller wheel cracks and the pump shaft just turns inside the impeller wheel which means your coolant is not being circulated.

You may as well get a new cambelt fitted when its in bits.
 
Thanks to both of you who have replied, I'd like to think it's a fuse yet given my luck it's likely to be the pump ! There has been a very faint whining noise of late from somewhere yet I've just ignore it as the car has been running really well, might that have been it on it's way out, do they make any noise when they go or are about too?
 
audi upgrades
strangely enough, its about the only component that breaks completely silently...
 
Temp sensor might be screwed too....Check the ECU with VAG-COM or similar for fault codes.

Rich
 
impeller sounds unlikely, but not impossible. The idea i think is that if the impeller isn't circulating the water, then it will remain cold in certain areas, preventing the sensor from working. However, i think the convection currents would be enough to trigger the fans onto high-speed eventually.

However, what model A3 do you have? if it has the dual fans, then i'm sure one is supposed to be on permanently, then the other comes on when you have the AC on, or the car gets too hot.

Fan fuse sounds like the most likely.
 
I'm clinging to dear life based on your reply ! It is much appreciated so is everyone's for that matter - I will certainly post the outcome when I know for sure ! My car is 1997 R reg 1.8 T sport (registered in dec '97) and has covered approaching 62.5K miles. It does have 2 fans side by side and neither want to come on.
 
Hi just had this happen to my 1997 1.8t turned out to be a melted fuse & holder situated on top of the battery just lift the cover and Check. It was sorted by diverting wiring to a new fuseby my AUDI specialist-- didn't even charge!!

Jimbo
 
Thanks for the reply, just looking at the handbook and and it only mentions fuses in passenger compartment and doesn't list one for radiators, I will take a gander - thanks again.
 
jimbrogrey - was that Audi specialist in Surrey? Be interested to hear who it was.
I have used 2 local to me: one in Guildford (AHAutos) and one in Walton (Wheelbase).

(apologies for the quick thread hijack)
 
I'll put a post into the dealer forum in a sec - it's not right to hijack this thread with a dealer discussion.

So people - back to the radiator fan problem for the rest of this thread ! Apologies.
 
i had exactly the same problem, what happened was the impellor on the water pump shattered into bits. so looks like new pump for you.

the impellor is made out of plastic!!!
 
When you say you slowed down... exactly how slow? If you were doing over like 30MPH you woudlnt have needed the fans to come on anyway, the air rushing through the grill should hve been enough to cool it. Almost certainly the pump that has gone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Good luck
 
Check the small box above the battery, it contains all the heavy duty fuses for the ar as well as the fans. You will clearly see the fuse if its ok or if its melted.
 
I'm not sure I understand why everyone seems to be saying it's the water pump (which it could well be) if the car is overheating the fan should come on, I would have thought the cut in point is anything above 90 (or whatever dead centre is on the temp gauge) unless the fans are controlled by a different sensor to the temp gauge I'd definately start with why the hell arn't the fans working and the fuse next to the battery seems to be the place to start!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/noidea.gif
 
If the pump is kaput the water in the engine will be boiling while the water in the radiator stays cool. You need the pump to be working to circulate the hot water through the rad, especially as the fan thermo switch is in the rad
To check the water pump when the car is cool remove the header tank cap. Start the engine and the water pump should pump water into the top of the header tank through the small pipe(at least it does on our golf but have never checked it on the S3)
 
but on a dual fan arrangement, 1 fan should be on permanently anyway....

if its not, then its fcuked...
 
do all the turbos have 2 fans? I thought one was for the aircon. In my old golf, the fan came on when the radiator got to a certain temp. In my case I thought the thermostat had jammed shut and wasnt letting the system open as the radiator was still cold. Turned out to be the head gasket was away and was causing back pressure but a symptom of that was that there was no heat coming out of the blower.

I'd warm it up to 90 degrees and check the radiator to see if it is hot.

If it is, I'd try to put 12volts to the fan and see if it works, test for 12volts at the fan ( I assume it is earthed via the temp switch)

If it is cold and the car is warmed up properly probably will lie with the pump or (if it has one??) the thermostat.
 
I'll add abit more detail. to my post i made yesterday, but FatLad it sounds like exactly the same symptoms I had.

I own a 99 A3 1.8T, I was travelling up the M40 towards Birmingham, having abit fo fun on the way up.

I turned onto the M42 and then took the next junction off to go to South Birmingham, At the Junction I stopped at traffic lights and took off quite rapidly from there. After about a couple of minutes, my temp gauge rocketed up.

I stopped opened the bonnet the coolant was boiling in the system, at the time the rad was quite hot, as I was booting it up the motorway, I managed to get the very short distance to my friends house and called out the AA.

( Very good service by AA, came within the hour)

One the car had cooled it was started and almost immediately the car gave the temp warning. The top was off the coolant resevoir and as the engine was gently revved coolant was overflowing out of the top.

The rubber pipes were squeezed and manipulated to see if the water was running to the Rad, it was not.


I got the car home on a truck and took it to my local garage, and after a look the found the water pump impellor had shattered. So the system had to flushed to ensure no bits of plastic where in the system and a water pump replaced.

cost bout 250 quid ( mostly on labour ).
 
if it is the pupm you might as well go for the cam belt change too as its all linked. had my cambelt done and found out pump was cracking up. Midland vw replaced the pump wuth a stell bladed one did whole job for £320 before i had job done my temp warning sensor kept comin on now theres no probs in that dept

still check fuse but sounds true what nickel101 says as it makes sense if no water is getting to the rad, and giving it loads would purt a lot of strain on a dodgy water pump
 
[ QUOTE ]
impeller sounds unlikely, but not impossible.

I have had 2 Water Pumps on my A3 1.8T due to the damn impeller giving up.

Its definately that!

which I fixed myself for about £36 for the pump, labour whats that? I have never put my baby into the garage. You don't know what they are doing with it and the will probably take it out and thrash it :-(
 
must admit it's looking like the water pump as have checked all 3 fuses (30 amp) on top of battery and they look fine to me. What an Alan B!stard !
 
still think somethings wierd, yet perhaps not as I'm certainly no mechanic....pulled all 3 fuses out on top on battery as already mentioned then checked coolant level....I had lost nearly all the contents of the container other than a small amount in the bottom, it appeared to have bubbled over as evident of coolant in engine bay. I topped it up in readiness for trip to the dealers tomorrow am yet now I don't get the temp warning symbol coming on when I restart the car. Went for run then let car idle and felt pipes to and from radiator, thick one to left of engine bay hot yet thick pipe to right of engine bay leading back towards engine was cold ??? Checked oil, not creamy and oil level not budged a whisker.
 
water will only flow through the radiator once it has reached a certain temperature.

If water isn't flowing through the radiator, it's likely that the thermostat has stuck shut, and is preventing flow through the radiator.

This may explain the fans not coming on, and your loss of coolant.

If water cannot flow through the radiator, then the fan switch will never register a high temperature situation. If the temperature contiues to rise, pressure will build up, and will be vented out of a valve, along with your coolant (is this still in the cap or elsewhere?).
 
Just got back from Derby Audi who have said It is the water pump so pat on the back for those who suggested it. Having it plus cambelt changed since latter due at 80K anyway and car done 62.5K - not cheap though, quoted £538 to do everything @ 4.5 hours labour.
 
Thats a crazy price mate, i would suggest finding a specialist who should do the same work for < £300 i would have thought.
 
I paid 330 quid to get belt and pump done, and had oil change included in there too. That was just over 2 years ago though.
That was with a local specialist, and I had tensioner and related gubbins done at the same time.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Just got back from Derby Audi

[/ QUOTE ]

Off topic what's the new Derby Audi like? As I was going to go the other day before I went the UCI cinema, but found out it had moved so didn't bother!
 
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