I recently took my A6 1999 wagon to my mechanic for a tune up. Everything went great except that he tried to log into with his diagnostic computer and was not able to make a connection with the on board computer. As I looked at the dash board I noticed a - next to the temperature display so it looks like this" -38". Why has this happened and what can I do to fix it?

 

-38 - that's very cold =) I bet there is a temperature sensor somewhere in the car. It might be bad (unplugged) Also resetting computer might help.

 

how do I reset the computer? what is the ups and downs of it?

 

wait! before you go resetting the ecu, check to make sure it isn't just a vertical line of pixels that are burnt out. my a6 has a vertical line out right where the vertical part of the positive sign would be, so it actually looks like it's a negative with a dead spot in the center of it. might want to check that out before you do anything drastic.