BikerBill

I have a 2000 A4 Quattro with the 2.8L V6 engine; the engine code is ATQ. My oil temperature gauge has been acting erratically lately. I've seen it rise to as high as 350 degrees but then it can drop 50 degrees in a matter of 10 seconds. I don't think the oil temperature can actually change that much in that amount of time so I suspect I have a problem with the sender or the wiring. My coolant temperature gauge stays dead center all the time as it always has so I don't think I have any cooling system issues.

I've done some archive searching and find two possible locations for the oil temperature sender. One is on the front of the engine near the crankshaft pulley. The other is a combination oil level/temperature sender that is located in the bottom of the oil pan. Can someone tell me for my engine exactly where the sender is located?

Also, if the sender is on the front of the engine do I need to drain the oil to replace it? I realize that if I have the sender on the bottom of the oil pan I'll need to drain the oil first.

ModifiedA4

because that is supposed to be the oil and level sender. the guage is still doesnt read.

ive been too lazy to run an output test on the cluster to see if its a shoddy guage or if its really getting a bad signal.

not really much help, but i believe for 2000 the oil temp is driven by the lower pan combo level sender. but i could be wrong

Coca-Cola

I have a 2000 1.8T. The oil temperature sender is also the oil level switch. Change the sender when you change your oil. Make sure when you buy one it includes the gasket. My oil temperature gauge would bounce around just like you described. I would pull the car over at the high temperature and would be able to hold the oil filter. If it was 350 degs. holding it would be tough. I also used a handheld temperature gauge for measurement and it was not reading what the car was describing and no change in water temperature. This led me to belive it was the sending unit. I went to two dealerships for help and found none there. Upon replacing the unit over a year ago the readings have been steady. My replacement unit was purchased through PureMS.

BikerBill

I called two Audi dealers and spoke to the parts guys. They say the oil temp sender is on the front of the engine. There seems to be no shortage of confusion on this issue. I guess I'll need to drop the belly pan and see if I can find a single wire sensor near the crankshaft pulley. It's good to know that replacing the sender fixed your problem. Now I just need to figure out where my sender is.