Coolant reservoir cap...

T

thespringfield

Member
Hi everyone,

I was under the bonnet checking the coolant level today and noticed the reservoir cap was loose. Tightened it up and went for a drive. Noticed that the temp reading on the dash was at the minimum (60?) after a while of driving and it usually goes up to mid-way within a few minutes.

Anyway I whacked on the windscreen blasting option on the air-con and this seemed to push it up a notch, but still not to midway. Disengaged blast and the temp gauge remained stagnant.


Does this mean there is something dodgy with the cooling system? I ask this because I have had a new radiator installed within the last year and I'm wondering if the guy who did it took a shortcut or two :confused:.

Cheers,

M
 
Hi M,
The most probable causes of the low running temp are a faulty thermostat or coolant temp sender. I can't think of any 'shortcuts' which would result in the engine running cold - unless they forgot to put the thermostat back in - but that would have shown up long ago
If your Webasto heater is working ok and the cab heater is reaching normal temperature then the temp sender would be the first thing to check

Cheers Spike
 
spike said:
Hi M,
The most probable causes of the low running temp are a faulty thermostat or coolant temp sender. I can't think of any 'shortcuts' which would result in the engine running cold - unless they forgot to put the thermostat back in - but that would have shown up long ago
If your Webasto heater is working ok and the cab heater is reaching normal temperature then the temp sender would be the first thing to check

Cheers Spike
Click to expand...

hi thanks,

It's really strange because once I unscrewed the reservoir cap again the problem disappeared and the temperature seemed to reach perfectly midway. I'll look into the temp sender thing though. I'm not totally sure what that is right now. I was also wondering if the guy used the right coolant. I believe the Audi recommended stuff is pink and this coolant is a light pink right enough. Hmm... Is it not normal to keep the coolant reservoir cap slightly unscrewed?

Cheers, M
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Can't find the darn tempsensor.

I thought I had it but the part I tried smelled of diesel when I had it out. Had a look on my ELSA and I think I see where it's meant to be but on my car it is black where as the replacement is green and I read someone else who said it should be green.

Also it's not in a 'plastic housing' as reported by others.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin.
 
Is this it?
The first shows the housing, the second the sensor which is UNDER the housing.
 
Thanks. I don't have my elsa on this PC but I emailed myself the diagram from my other PC. It definitely looks like the location that I suspect where the tempsensor is. You can see that by comparing it with my picture earlier in this thread.

I had this issue when bleeding the clutch. Other members seemed to have the bleeding valve on the end of a tube but my bleeding valve is attached to the clutch slave cylinder. Maybe it's because it's a 2001 vehicle.

I'll go out and have another look shortly. Just waiting for my painted brake drum to dry before refitting it.

Thanks for the info.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for getting the connector for the cables out of the sensor?

Cheers,

Martin.
 
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