First car breakdown in 9 years, Advice :(

[paullec]

Well after 6 cars and 9years tonight i had my first breakdown in the LCR Gave it some welly up this hill and the engine temp needle swung round to 120 and did its rude beep noise on me. Anyway iv had a dodgy needle reading for a while where it reads anywhere between 0-90 and on occasional days its lazy and decides it doesnt even want to play.

My question is if the needle was really on 120 and red light on. i have no loss of power or such and the climate control diagonosis (51c) reads a nice constant 90deg can i put it down to the dodgy sensor or what symptons would/should i have if the needle was really reading 120deg?

 

[Tyler Owen]

Maybe the Waterpump has died ?

From what i've read they are the 1.8T engines weak spot

 

[GrayT]

Engine will be hot! Are the fans cutting in? Be worth checking your fan fuse as it is a known fault that they burn out (one of the set of 3 on top of the battery).

 

[Ruddmeister]

It's almost certainly the water pump, do not drive the car if possible or drive it slow (below 50mph) the impellar on the pump is breaking up to be specific

If you drive it the pump could totally fail which will mean a new engine

Get it to a garage pronto

Oh and new pump = new cam belt and tensioner too

It's not unusual for the temp to stay normal below 50mph but when the turbo starts working it rockets to 120deg and the light comes on

 

[paullec]

I would of said the engine was as hot as normal :S not over hot. Was no hiss when i took the coolant top off to have a gander.

 

[Ruddmeister]

read the last line of my post and be carefull

 

[paullec]

Was just typing it while you was typing yours lol i'll have to get it down the garage then

 

[stpete]

Get a brass impeller pump while your there!!!

 

[paullec]

What does (51c) on the climate control diagnosis temp read then ? as this was a constant 90deg. Oh well now i have to phone up a garage on see what happens

 

[andycupra]

water pump is a weak point.

however, you have said the gauge had played up before and that you are getting a different reading from the climate control...
which does point the finger at the gauge being possibly at fault.

but on the other hand you dont want to cook the engine.
id get it to a garage and drive it very gently.

 

[paullec]

yeah will take it in. Strange but after doing loads of searches the temp does go up with the revs thinking about it, even tho the climate control temp reads 13 at start and 90 constant while i was limping home : ( Had a temp sensor on order for the 27th looks like its going to haunt me.

 

[bigjode]

the 51c temp display is read from somewhere other than the coolant system. I know this for a fact because when I had only half a thermostat in the car and the coolant system was underheating and dropping temp between 90 and 60c, the 51c stayed at 90. My guage wasn't faulty, it was accurately reading the coolant temp and even when the guage said 60, the 51c display stayed at 90.

Also tried this once - took the coolant temp sensor out of its hole and dropped it in a cup of water while still connected to the loom - the guage dsplay shot up to 100c or so (because the water was boiling hot) but the car was stone cold. the 51c reading didn't match at all.

 

[Ruddmeister]

yeah will take it in. Strange but after doing loads of searches the temp does go up with the revs thinking about it, even tho the climate control temp reads 13 at start and 90 constant while i was limping home : ( Had a temp sensor on order for the 27th looks like its going to haunt me.

I doubt there is a sensor issue here, I think once the water pump is replaced all will be fine.

I wouldn;t rely on the climate display readout for anything other than the speed (KM/h) which seems fairly accurate

 

[Sam20v]

I had a dodgey needle too, sometimes reading 0 sometimes off scale hot, but no overheating detected under the bonnet. wasnt my temp sensor, it was the Sender gauge, apparently its different..........

 

[Bogwoppit]

Depending on your mileage, whilst replacing the water pump it might be worth replacing the cambelt as well.
The cambelt has to come off anyway to change the water pump.

 

[paullec]

Well it went in today there doing the full pump, cam, tensioner and sender and brakes all at once lol and only at 31k oh well at least io dont have to worry about a cam belt change at 50k lol lets just hope they find nothing else apprently it a very very very common fault you would of thought audi volks seat or whoever would of done something about it.

 

[Dodson]

Have you upgraded to the metal impeller rather than sticking with the plastic?

From what i have heard its a must

 

[Ruddmeister]

I was told the OEM part from VW still has the plastic impellar.

You would think this must have cost VAG a fortune in warranty repairs

 

[Dodson]

Probably got it to last just outside of the 3 year warranty period

 

[paullec]

well at 33k its gone kapult just outside warranty 3yr 1 days shelf life lol