Passat (B5) :: Temperature Gauge Needle Will Randomly Drop On Dash Cluster
Dec 28, 2007
Last fall I had my radiator flushed and at the same time my coolant overfill canister with built in temperature guage sensor was replaced with a new unit. (The service station replaced the resevoir canister with a new unit in the engine compartment, because they felt the sensor is prone to failing after 7 years.)
Ever since, my temperature gauge needle on the dash will randomly drop (even when the car is up to FULL OPERATING TEMPERATURES) showing the engine being cooler than it out to be. In other words the needle drops signifying to a much lower water temperature. After a period of time the needle will recover back to the normal full operating temperature mark on the dash gauge.
What could cause this? Inside my radiator do I have a "diafram" temperature valve that could be failing /"sticking?" In other words could a temperature valve in the radiator be sticking at odd or random times??? I also notice that my heater does not put out the usual full furnace heat that a Passat is know for. The temperature is about 1/3 cooler now that we are into winter temperatures.
Is my heater core clogged?
Could the new coolant sensor in the new coolant overfill chamber not be working well? This whole situation began AFTER my radiator was flushed, and AFTER I had the coolant reservoir canister and sensor replaced.
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So recently (past few weeks) I've noticed my temperature gauge on the dash cluster doesn't jump up to 190 as it had before. It just sits there when I start the car, and then eventually builds up as I start driving. Reason this concerns me is because I don't remember this ever happening.
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I have a 2003 Passat and the engine temperature gauge will read 190 normally and then suddenly drop to almost zero, stay there for a while then head back up.
I purchased a temp sensor to replace the old but for the life of me I can seem to locate it. I know it's in the back or rear of the engine somewhere.
BTW, the car has the 1.8 engine.
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I recently had the radiator on my car replaced and wen I got it back the temperature and gas gauge needles are both blown past the HOT sign and past the full sign on my gas gauge and is sitting under the little black piece under the the cold side and under the empty side. it was obviously messed with and completely turned around but why is it like this? will it reset itself or should I take i.e., back to the mechanic to have it fixed by him?
2000 buick park avenue....
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Ok I was driving home right know from work, and looking at the speedometer, i notice that my temperature gauge turns off (the needle goes all the way down). what can it be?
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Resurrecting my 940 TD after it's been sitting for a year and the temperature needle now doesn't rise as the engine warms up. Is there any trouble with sensors on these or should i be concerned about something else? It was working when I stopped using the car.
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The needle is moving up and then back down. This mostly happens while at a stop and simultaneously the ac compressor kicks off.
Recently new radiator and temp gauge, plus coolant flush.
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I have a 2003 Buick LeSabre Limited, and everything was going fine with it till recently. The Fuel gauge started to go haywire as in the needle would go to full, then go back down to a Quarter, then back to 3/4, then drop all the way down to Empty, this is still occurring. At first I believed it to be the fuel level sensor, but then I started to notice something else.
A warning message came on stating that the oil level was too low, but when I checked the oil level it was fine, and last night when I was driving with the air conditioner on, I hit a bump and the air conditioner stopped working. I pushed the off button, and was successfully able to make the air conditioner to come back on with out having to restart the car.
The horn has also started to go in and out, and I do not know if they are all linked together by a type of computer or if they are separate.
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My car recently turned over 120,000 miles. I have owned her for 5 years. Currently, the engine temperature gauge needle is moving all over the place. It typically registers the correct temperature (I think), but sometimes it goes all the way over to the red, then peaks and falls back down to the midline.
Before this started happening, the needle would lie just below the midline when traveling on the highway and just above the midline when driving in town. Yesterday, it was lying between the 1/4 mark and the midline -- much lower than normal. Is this as simple as just replacing the temperature sensor?
My mechanic noticed a month ago that the transmission hoses are all swollen and in need of replacement. Is this related?One more thing, within the last week, the electrical system fails while driving, but just for a second. I can tell because the radio goes out. Once, it went completely dead, then came back on within 2 seconds. It made me think of the alternator, but it seems if that were the case it would go dead and not come back on, no?
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This weekend I was one a trip in my '98 Civic, and I noticed some movement in my temperature gauge. It didn't really overheat; the needle never got near the red, but it did go a little higher than usual.
Normally, once the engine heats up, the needle on the temperature gauge doesn't move, not even a little. It sits right under the squiggly lines on the temperature gauge icon. However, on Friday, when I got off the highway, the needle rose into the upper part of the icon, to the part with the thermometer.
As soon as the car started moving, the needle on the temperature gauge went back to its normal spot, so I assumed it was a problem with the radiator fan and I kept on driving, prepared to turn on the heat if the needle on the temperature gauge started going up.
Saturday morning I took the car to a local shop in Jacksonville, and it turns out the engine needed a new fan and a new thermostat.
The first lesson that comes to mind is that keeping an eye on my temp gauge might have saved me an engine. It certainly saved me a head gasket. Since a head gasket or new engine would have been worth more than the car, catching this before it became a problem saved me from having to buy another car.
The next lesson is that my Civic had two things wrong with the cooling system, and yet it barely showed any symptoms. The air conditioner doesn't work I guess since a working A/C would probably have made it overheat. In any case, I've probably been driving without a working radiator fan for some time.
The final lesson is that if I had tried to diagnose this myself, I'd probably be driving around with a new radiator fan and a bad thermostat. I paid about $435 for a new fan, thermostat, and fresh coolant (I declined the cooling system flush) and it was worth every penny.
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Car is a 2012 GTI 6MT with APR intake.
Within the last couple of days, my engine temperature gauge has been acting a little strange. The needle will fluctuate depending on if I'm accelerating or at speed. I've actually seen it go down several times before going back up to normal temp. On a couple of days, it will go up to about halfway to normal temp, and just stay there for a lot longer than it usually seems to.
There have also been times when the car is at normal operating temp, I'll go into a store for maybe 15 minutes, and when I come out, it shows the engine temperature is maybe halfway to where it should be. Then it will go back to normal after a few minutes of driving. I would think that if the engine is warm, it should stay there for more than 15 minutes, even if the car isn't on.
We haven't had any abnormally cold days lately, and I'm not getting any CEL, but I was wondering if anything to worry about, or if it's normal.
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The needle has always stuck dead on 190f when it gets up to temp. About a week ago I took the center grill of to paint, I put it back on and the check engine light came on ... code p2433 secondary air pump problem. I figured I had just disturbed something etc. Now the coolant gauge is going up to around 240f during normal driving, the fan stays on for about a minute when I turn off the ignition.
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The needle in temp gage on my 2005 Toyota is now facing the opposite direction. This happened right after the most recent oil change. Is this a gauge or a sending unit problem?
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I have an 05 s10. The gas gauge will read correctly and then randomly it will drop to no fuel and light the low fuel light. then after a few minutes will pop back up to the proper reading? band sending unit? bad wire? where to look?
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I have a 2007 f150 with the 5.4 in it and today I was driving it and my tempreture gauge randomly shot to cold and check engine light came on. Also can't even find the dam radiator cap due to too much plastic!!!
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MY 2000 300M has a problem with the fuel gauge. When over 1/2 a tank and just under the full mark the gauge will randomly drop down to empty and turn on the low fuel light then go back to the correct reading and will do this over and over again. my mechanic has looked at the car believes it's the sending unit. Just wanted a second opinion before I spent the money for a fuel pump module for the car.
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I bought my son his first vehicle, a 98 Bravada. We've had it less than a week and so far the major problem we have come across is the lights in for the gauge cluster in the dash are not coming on. First I thought it was a blown bulb so we replaced that. When we were putting the dash back together, I turned the truck on and turned on the headlights and got nothing. So I jiggled some wires thinking that it might've been a short or a loose wire and still nothing. It was getting dark so my son decided to put everything back together and try again in the morning. When he reconnected the connector for the dome/fog light, everything came back on. But when he moved the dashboard to put it back in place, everything went back out again. Again, I jiggled wires and nothing, not even a flicker. Now there's no lights in the dash and when he turns on the headlights, the radio lights go out along with the compass/MPG gauge located overhead.
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I have a strange problem, my boost guage needle is jumping like crazy, there is no vacuum leak and the max boost i get is 0.5 bar, when the guage needle is not jumping I get a boost of 1.4 bar. I have mechanical boost control.
97' passat B5 1.8T AEB with FMIC,K04-15,2.75",chip (that was made for the original k03).
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Last night while driving I saw the needle at zero and was surprised because I refilled a few days earlier, there was also no warning light to refuel the car. When reached home turned the car off and then on and the needle moved in position.
It happened again this evening and restart cured it ... only for the gauge to fail again while driving. The fuel-to-empty indicator was not showing any distance.
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I have 1998 Plymouth neon. It does this more in the hot month than the cold month but I drive down the road and the dash cluster will go out no tach, speed, no gauge, mileage will not work but all dash light, signal light, high beam all will work.
It seems that when it cools off some, some time a minute sometimes a few minutes when it comes on the seat belt and airbag light come on or you can turn off the key for a few seconds and it will come on, bums will not make it go out or come back on.
What can it be?
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Passat TDI: Occasionally the needle on my gas drops to zero, stays there for awhile, then returns to an accurate setting. THE SAME THING is happening on my '99 Jetta GLX. Bad gauge on both cars? Could water from a gas pump due this?
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