So my car thinks it's overheating - 1.8T 2001, AUM engine. Changed the CTS (twice), water pump is almost new, thermostat is new. There's no smoke coming out of anywhere and there's no coolant loss. The temp on the dash and climatronic menu is screwed up, it goes from 30 (lowest point) to 121 (max) in the morning in 10 kilometers of slow drive. If I continue driving, it will eventually drop to the normal level all of a sudden. When the car gets to 121, both fans are running and the heat is coming through vents all of the time.
Today I got OBD wireless scanner and it's reading the coolant temp very different from what I'm seeing on the dashboard, or in the climatronic menu. I took a 10km drive in the morning (of course the temp went to 121 and both fans turned on), came back home and squeezed the top and bottom rad pipes. They were both warm and pressurized. I came back after one hour and turned the ignition on. The coolant temp according to climatronic menu was 110 while OBD was reading 45.
After 3 hours (when the car should be cold), the climatronic menu was still showing 55 degrees while temp according to OBD was about 20.
Went on another 1km drive in the evening when the car was cold as it could be an the coolant temp according to climatronic menu went from 30 to 92 and the temp on the OBD reader went up to 45 Celsius.
So, the OBD reading shows what would be a normal cooling and heating process. Is the cluster instrument screwed, or is there any other explanation for this? Also, I checked the error codes since my engine check light is on and I got "P0171 - system too lean". Could these issues be connected somehow? Tomorrow I'll clean the MAF and check hoses for a possible air leak.
The main thing that bothers me is this:
My mechanic told me that it's gotta be a broken cluster instrument. I'm buying some used parts currently and the guy who will sell them to me also said that it's gotta be the cluster instrument and that it's a "common failure" in A3 8L's. He said that his friend had the same problem. False overheating and normal temp reading through OBD. The thing that bothers me is that I've gone through the entire web and couldn't find a single same issue where a faulty cluster instrument would start a shitstorm like this.
Is it a faulty cluster? Any input aprechiated!
Today I got OBD wireless scanner and it's reading the coolant temp very different from what I'm seeing on the dashboard, or in the climatronic menu. I took a 10km drive in the morning (of course the temp went to 121 and both fans turned on), came back home and squeezed the top and bottom rad pipes. They were both warm and pressurized. I came back after one hour and turned the ignition on. The coolant temp according to climatronic menu was 110 while OBD was reading 45.
After 3 hours (when the car should be cold), the climatronic menu was still showing 55 degrees while temp according to OBD was about 20.
Went on another 1km drive in the evening when the car was cold as it could be an the coolant temp according to climatronic menu went from 30 to 92 and the temp on the OBD reader went up to 45 Celsius.
So, the OBD reading shows what would be a normal cooling and heating process. Is the cluster instrument screwed, or is there any other explanation for this? Also, I checked the error codes since my engine check light is on and I got "P0171 - system too lean". Could these issues be connected somehow? Tomorrow I'll clean the MAF and check hoses for a possible air leak.
The main thing that bothers me is this:
My mechanic told me that it's gotta be a broken cluster instrument. I'm buying some used parts currently and the guy who will sell them to me also said that it's gotta be the cluster instrument and that it's a "common failure" in A3 8L's. He said that his friend had the same problem. False overheating and normal temp reading through OBD. The thing that bothers me is that I've gone through the entire web and couldn't find a single same issue where a faulty cluster instrument would start a shitstorm like this.
Is it a faulty cluster? Any input aprechiated!
