audimotion

vital components of my engine. Here in MN it has been near zero every morning for about a week, and my operating engine temp only gets to the first line on the temp gauge.(and it takes a while before that even happens) Is my thermostat stuck, or is this common due to the outside temp? Note that when it is above 30 degrees, the cars engine temp is at normnal level. any adice would be great....Todd
if it is a thermostat issue, is it something I could replace, or is it best to have a tech do the job, if so how much am I looking at for installed price???

audimotion

Forgot to add: 1995 A6Qa approx 135,000 miles

QCRAZY

...it's normal. As long as it's rising some and it's cold outside then everything is fine.

My CQ does this and it has a new: water pump, main radiator, coolant, coolant hoses, multi-function sensor and thermostat.

Some people swear this isn't correct and blame it on the sensor or the thermostat. This is normal as long as it registers some temperature. Around town one should get upto the "normal" 87C; on the highway it may be a little lower. The colder it is the longer it will take to reach temp; 5-10 minutes would be normal (depending on driving speed).

It's fine to drive it like this. Until it warms up just drive it "easy". The owner manuals in the "newer" Audi's state that you should drive, rather than idle, to warm them up.

The thermostat in that car is behind and t-belt and is a little work to replace.

20VT90q

I live in rochester. How long does it take to get to the first little mark on the gauge. Mine takes about 5-10 min. It was -5 this morning though. It takes a little while to get to running temp.

HenryK

even at minus 10C the engine comes up to operating temperature. It may take 10 minutes of driving but it does get to normal temp even in the severe cold weather. The moral of the story is that regardless of the temp outside it should operate at approx 90c plus or minus a bit. As said above drive it easily until operating temp is reached.

audisrock

Do any of you have the engine block heater? Or do you keep your cars in the garage?

Decolliber

Last November I had my thermostat replaced ($230) because of classic symptoms of it being stuck open: coolant temp would rise to normal mark when car standing still, and then quickly drop in to the low range when I start moving, even at slow in-town speeds of 30-40mph.
In the last few days it has been very cold in SE Iowa: 5 degrees F and _minus_ 10 F wind chill. Now I notice that the coolant temp will rise to normal at speeds under 40 mph, but once I get out on the highway and up to 70 mph, after a few minutes, the temp drops to about 2/3rds of the way from the series of markers at the low end to the normal marker.
So now I am wondering if my new thermostat is partially sticking open, or if this is normal for such low outside air temperatures.
Is it possible for a thermostat to just partially stick open, or does it either work properly or just fail completely and be fully open all the time?

QCRAZY

P.S. This isn't "very" cold. :-) This has been a warm winter for Iowa. This snow storm better drop some snow tonight too!!

ShoppingKartRacer

I got the same thing on my 97A6Q. 86000 miles

yooperbikemike

My '96 A6Q's Check Engine light has been coming on repeatedly. My mechanic (non-dealer) said the codes indicated that the problem was temp related. Also, the temps would't some up to normal operating range on the guage. So... we replaced the thermostat ($150) and this cure the problem... for a while. The CE light has come on a couple of times since then, indicating the same code. Further symtom: I live in the Upper Peninsula of MI where it *cold* ... So I go out and start the car up 10-15 min B4 I leave for work. The temp will not rise on the gauge during the stationary warm-up period but will after about 5 minutes on the road. Any ideas/conjecture/theories/WAG's?