My 2000 A-6 4.2 has 180K miles on it so this doesn't surprise me, I just need to get some suggestions. The first indication of a problem was the temperature guage pointing at about 1 o'clock instead of straight up 12 o'clock. It is now spending a lot of time pointing at 2 o'clock. During idle it moves back to normal and while driving at highway speeds it heats up but never gets to the point where it sends a warning or actually overheats. It probably isn't overheating because I live in Michigan where the average temperature these days is 0 C. The fans do not appear to be turning on, so I'm trying to figure out whether I have a problem with the: 1)thermostat, 2)temperature sending unit, 3)fan fuses (does it have fuses?) 4)something else. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I would assume its either a thermostat or water pump, both need to be changed together and the timing belt right along with it. I would just buy a complete repair kit from www.ecstuning.com to save some money and have a good shop replace everything all at once. The auxillary fans will only come on if the A/C is on most of the time, and they will only come on if the exterior temp reads over 50*.

 

I would also check the coolant temperature sensor.