Coolant warning problems on 1.8T

[Vee.Dubster]

Hello all!

Before I start  - a Happy New Year to everyone!

I was hoping that someone could shed some light on this problem with my Dad's '99 1.8T. Recently when the car is started from cold, you get a warning bleep, followed by a dashboard warning that the coolant level is low (which it isn't) the car drives perfectly. Over the last few days though, my Dad has noticed that no matter how cold the car is, the coolant temp guage goes straight to normal running temp as soon as the car is started, again the car drives fine, but we are worried that if a real coolant problem developes - then we won't know until it is too late! This sounds like a temp sensor problem to me, anyone have any ideas?

Cheers

Richard and Dad

[kniterider]

could be a temp sensor problem as i m not sure why temp guage goes straight to norm temp position, this indicates the sensor maybe faulty, as for the level 'bleep' this is caused by the float in the expansion/top up bottle stick, i think you need to drain the bottle off and clean the float then should be ok, the temp sensors arent dear from vw ?20 ish but a worth while fix!!! at least youll know what it is doing!!! ie hot/cold hope this info of some help

[Vee.Dubster]

Thanks for the reply kniterider, I've now checked some other sites, and the coolant level 'bleep' seems to becoming a common fault! luckily a replacement expansion tank that includes the level sensor only costs around ?15, although to me this seems very cheap for a genuine part!

I think that replacing the temp sensor is probably the best course of action regarding the problem with the temp guage, I just hope it fixes it! I will post my findings in due course!

Looks like I will starting 2004 with lots of car work, my Dads GTi, then a new exhaust for the wifes Lupo, a full brake service for the mk2, and of course I will have to clean the TDi in case it feels left out!

[kniterider]

spot on matey keep us posted and keep GolfGTI.co.uk as your prefered site!!!!!were alot more fun!!!!

[nrgizerbunny]

i think like you say the thermistor (or is it thyristor?) has had it. its passing the same voltage to the ecu no matter what, so the coolant instantly goes up to normal running mode.

as for the low coolant, that sounds like the level sensor has had it.

I fill my radiator with 1 part distilled water and 1 part antifreeze although i know a few people who use a weaker mixture and they tend to have these kind of problems (mainly because of increased corrosion). although it may or may not be down to that.

hope this helps

sanj

[Vee.Dubster]

Having checked my Dad's car this morning, I believe that the coolant needs changing.
It seems to have a darker colour and is less translucent when compared to my TDi or my wifes Lupo. The car is about 4.5 years old and has only covered 38K miles, our Lupo is about the same age though, and the coolant in that is fine. I hope that it is simply that it needs changing - I really hope this hasn't happened because there is a problem somewhere!

All I can do is flush and refill the system and see what happens!