standard oil temp guage and light

[Jay4424]

Hi, I know this has prob been asked before and your all sick of replying to it.... I have performed a search and nothing popped out at me so I'm forced to ask (sorry).


The MFA I beleve is workign correctly so I'm not worried for the engine, however as soon as the key is tunred (engine not started) the analog oil temp guage goes full scale and the light for hte oil temp flashes... and it does this continously through out the drive... its a pain, livable but it'd be nice to have it sorted.

hope someone finds it in their heart to reply another time to prob a common fault.

...I own three VWs, I'm ok with most jobs, but I've never had an injection model, nor an MFA so I don't fully know the workings (whats tied in where etc!).

Cheers in advance, Jay.

[rubjonny]

there isnt an analogue oil gauge, i think you mean the coolant temp right?  if so the symptoms you describe can be casued by a wire short to earth, or a faulty temp sensor.
since you dont mention what car it is I'll have to list all possible sensors it might be 

1.6-1.8 8v engines will have the sensor in the flange on the front of the head, either a large black 2 pin or a small black single pin. On the carbed 1.0-1.3 engine the sensor is in the flange on the side of the head, and on the 16v its screwed directly into the side of the head, single pin close to the coolant flange.
Either way it has a red/yellow wire, so check the wire(s) and make sure its plugged in. 

If it looks ok unplug it, if the gauge doesnt read at all its the sensor.  If it still shoots to full the wire is shorted somewhere, or the dash itself is faulty.

[Jay4424]

brillant, perfect information, thank you.

...sorry, its a 1.8 8V.

looking again, its the coolant temp!

thank you very much, Jay