Thermostat and brake pad wear indicator

R

russeleoin

Member
Hi All, long time no chat but I hope you are all safe and well. In order to avoid Brexit issues I relocated the old girl and two nippers to France. I am now a frontier worker and travel to England for work and then France for the weekends. Joyous with all this covid stuff. Anyway, I digress. The A2 has been sitting for about 3 months outside while I was using the van to ferry stuff over. As the move is now done and all the duty etc rules are in place I dont use the van and switched back to the A2. For the first time ever the thermostat seems to be playing up as the car wont get to 90degrees, sits about 60, but takes ages to get there. I did 300miles on the motorway at 85mph and it didnt get to running temp! The oil level sensor warning is up as well(I already have the replacement). The brake wear warning is also up, but the pads are almost new. I know the plug was worn and I have had issues with it before. I just read on here about joining the wires to remove the warning but there is also mention of a kit. Does anyone have any detail on this or description of what the wiring fix it? Thanks
 
My recommendation is to change the engine coolant when you change the thermostat so the new one do not get stuck at once. Flush engine and radiator properly. Fill up with red G12 no weaker than 40% if you mix it yourselves. Not too strong either. Engine coolant contains a certain amount of anti corrosion additive's and they "age" so the corrosion protection do not last for ever. No reason to push it more than 3 years. This is wrong place to save money. Vent the system properly, if your car has a Webasto, ensure to remember the vent plug an inch from the Webasto unit..

Cheers
dieselfan
 
I had the same problem when I bought mine about three years ago. Would only reach temperature in slow traffic, but drop right down as soon as you took it on the motorway. Thermostat was the culprit.
 
Not having a diesel I had better not comment too much on a TDI coolant temperature issue except to comment the TDI thermostat seems to warrant an entire forum by the number of posts!!! [BUT it will be the faulty thermostat or temperature sensor (or both!). The sensor can be ruled in or out with a VCDS scan and/or by monitoring the outputs with VCDS, if faulty collective wisdom suggests only replace with a new Audi sensor. If this leaves the thermostat to replace, only costs a few pounds but by all accounts a pig of a job. Many advocate a belt and braces philosophy and replace both sensor and thermostat, might as well while you (or your garage) are "there".]

I do know a bit about the brake pad wear warning but before the effort of going into detail try the simple thing first = an inspection of the loom at the wheel hub. The plug you say that has an iffy history would be my prime candidate, the red and yellow wires that go through this plug do seem susceptible to severe corrosion. Disconnect it, clean and blast pins with contact cleaner, but before reconnecting short the 'onward' plug with a short length of wire, solid core house wiring cable I think would be ideal, the idea being to test if it cancels the dash warning. If it does the loom is good, remove test wire, reconnect the plugs. Has the dash warning gone? Report back on findings.

Andy
 
Andrew said:
Not having a diesel I had better not comment too much on a TDI coolant temperature issue except to comment the TDI thermostat seems to warrant an entire forum by the number of posts!!! [BUT it will be the faulty thermostat or temperature sensor (or both!). The sensor can be ruled in or out with a VCDS scan and/or by monitoring the outputs with VCDS, if faulty collective wisdom suggests only replace with a new Audi sensor. If this leaves the thermostat to replace, only costs a few pounds but by all accounts a pig of a job. Many advocate a belt and braces philosophy and replace both sensor and thermostat, might as well while you (or your garage) are "there".]

I do know a bit about the brake pad wear warning but before the effort of going into detail try the simple thing first = an inspection of the loom at the wheel hub. The plug you say that has an iffy history would be my prime candidate, the red and yellow wires that go through this plug do seem susceptible to severe corrosion. Disconnect it, clean and blast pins with contact cleaner, but before reconnecting short the 'onward' plug with a short length of wire, solid core house wiring cable I think would be ideal, the idea being to test if it cancels the dash warning. If it does the loom is good, remove test wire, reconnect the plugs. Has the dash warning gone? Report back on findings.

Andy
Click to expand...
I have monitored the temp gauge as to when the needle starts to move 61dgs and my torque pro is spot on with this . I have found that today running round town holding it in gear 3rd instead of changing up to 4th with help it warm up quicker but it's still a very long while before it will get up to 90.. but then 90 on the gauge is only reading 80 on torque pro. So I'm going to try a new thermostat soon and see how it goes from there
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I replaced the coolant 2 years ago, but as I will have to drain a fair portion of the system to replace the thermostat, I will redo it. Not a huge cost. Following advice, I will do the sensor at the same time, if I am fiddling with things, I might as well do both. I will also try Andy's fix for the wear indicator. Its actually the plug that is damaged. When I installed the new pads I noticed that the pin in the plug was pushed in. I pulled it out gently with long nose pliers and put a spot of resin on the back, but it never really worked. I am now more interested in removing the warning altogether as I check the car regularly and pads are easy to see. On the drive today I also noticed that the car was a bit jerky at cruise( not under acceleration or engine breaking). I had this issue with the FSI and installed a metal blanking plate in the EGR( details on here I think) anyway, I am wondering if its the same symptoms on the 1.4 engine? If so, I will be blanking or similar again as it worked a treat on the FSI. Thanks again and regards
Russ
 
I was not advocating it as a fix but just a test. I vaguely remember you can buy the plug new but you will then have the joy of using a pin removal tool to remove the pins if you want to reuse them in the new plug, else it is a cut and solder job to new plug pins.

If you really want to remove the warning light and rely on regular manual pad inspection then put a jumper across two pins on the blue connector at the instrument cluster, enough detail here..

Blue connector Instrument cluster

Hi can someone please advise which two pins should be bridged to stop the brake pad wear light showing in the dash - is it 2 and 24 or 29 and 24 as per image.
www.a2oc.net

Andy
 
Andrew said:
I was not advocating it as a fix but just a test. I vaguely remember you can buy the plug new but you will then have the joy of using a pin removal tool to remove the pins if you want to reuse them in the new plug, else it is a cut and solder job to new plug pins.

If you really want to remove the warning light and rely on regular manual pad inspection then put a jumper across two pins on the blue connector at the instrument cluster, enough detail here..

Blue connector Instrument cluster

Hi can someone please advise which two pins should be bridged to stop the brake pad wear light showing in the dash - is it 2 and 24 or 29 and 24 as per image.
www.a2oc.net

Andy
Click to expand...
Can you not just bridge the wires that go to the pad sensor .?
That's what we used to do ages ago
 
WayneoA2 said:
Can you not just bridge the wires that go to the pad sensor .?
That's what we used to do ages ago
Click to expand...
Yes, many have done so but any bridging at the wheel hub is still subject to corrosion and the rigours of the wheel arch environment and seem to fail after some time, coupled with the possibilities other new faults higher in the wheel arch loom. The cluster blue connector bridging removes all this.

Andy
 
I bought a new plug a few weeks ago from eBay, yet to fit it. If you need a link let me know.

Ian
 
Hi Ian, if you wouldnt mind sending me the link, I will have a look. If its a simple fix, I may do that, otherwise I will use a jumper and use visual inspection only.

Thanks
Russ
 
Thanks Ian, at that price I have ordered one. Will be better to do the job properly and if it arrives in time I will do it this weekend weather permitting.

Thanks again.
Regards
Russ
 
Hi all, popped on the new plug kit from ebay. It was quite easy and worked well. It was then that I noticed there is actually a metal clip that the plug fits on. It is now in its correct place and working. Thank you. While I was out there I also tapped the side of the thermostat lightly with a small hammer. Did it quite a few times and the car got warm. I now know its the thermostat and maybe as its freed up, it will work until summer when car maintenance and repair is a a pleasant experience.
Thanks
Russ
 
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