I just bought a 2000 A4 1.8T
The temp gauge was working during my test drive and i bought the car.

Now neither temp gauge is working. and I believe the car is overheating after short drives (Smell).

Any thoughts.

 

Could be a bad sending unit or a relay and not necessarily the gauge itself.

 

I ordered a new sender unit off Ebay. Will be here on friday. But even if the sender unit is bad.
Why would that cause the engine to overheat?

And i'm also concerned because the Oil Temp gauge is also not functioning. Is this on the same sensor unit that i ordered or a new and different problem?
( VW Audi Coolant Temperature Sensor Kit 059 919 501 A | eBay )

 

I will reiterate the question.

Will a new sender unit, ordered off ebay fix my Oil Temp Gauge?

 

Sounds like a few different things going on here. There's two different sensors for the gauges an oil temp gauge sensor and coolant temp sensor gauge.

The over heating could be numerous things. We'd need more information to pin point.

Jason

 

Ok, So we will bullet this out haha.

Some more info, from driving the car around, and about problem experienced.

The coolant low light came on today. I topped off the coolant 50 miles ago and it is now empty, Like bone-dry.
- There is no White smoke coming from the exhaust
- There is no funny smell coming from exhaust.

The temp gauge seems to work intermittently, It will heat up to normal and hold after ~8-10 miles and work fine for 20 minutes or so. Then the temp drops off and stays on cold.

I don't know if the engine is overheating or not because it is only the smell, and i might be paranoid. With the coolant leak (i'm hoping) it may be that the coolant is spraying on the engine? Causing the smell when it heats up.

Plan of attack. Replace thermostat and Sensor, drop oil pan to clean and replace oil sensor. Pressurize coolant system hoping that the pressure drops indicating a leak.

Thats the plan. Any thoughts?

 

Toss that coolant temp sensor in the trash when you get it, when it comes to the cooling system don't even consider aftermarket parts, OEM or nothing. I bought an OEM sensor straight from the dealer for right around the price of that ebay part, and I'm in Canada where everyting car related is more expensive by default. The only aftermarket cooling system parts I'd buy would be rubber hoses or a rad. The oil temp sensor is on the bottom of the oil pan, you can't miss it. But don't replace it without going through troubleshooting steps since it's an expensive piece. And once again, don't go aftermarket because they've been known to fail soon after install.

Before you go around slapping on parts, find out where you're leaking coolant and whether you're actually overheating. Don't rely on your temp gauge, get a vagcom and check the temperature using that.