audijim113

i just read all the follow up posts to my original question because my internet connection hasn't been working for snot.

there are a couple responses that i'd like to re-respond to.

never in the hottest of summer days with the AC on, has the car overheated or barfed or even lost any coolant. level stayed same all summer. if there was any crap in the block, it would have over heated or at least ran in the upper temps. never did that. stayed pretty much at the bigger dark mark all summer.

i cannot believe that two brand new "correct temp thermostats are bad. no way am i changing it again.

the suggestion to go 70/30 sounds like the best answer although i don't know why i need that heavy a mix.

partially covering the radiator does work. the rad has X amount of cooling fins and square inches. reducting the air flow through those fins will lessen the cooling capacity. truckers do exactly that. in fact, some have louvres that operate from inside the cab. others have a canvas zipper thing in front of the rad.

if the 70/30 doesn't work, i'm getting a piece of thick plastic and experiment with how much to put in front of rad.

Wagonmann

If you have crud in the cooling system that is keeping the thermstat from fully closing, that would lead to nominal (normal) temps in the summer and cool temps in the winter. I agree that the heater core can act as a secondary radiator, and in an emergency I have used it that way, but it will not draw so much heat out that the engine runs cold if the thermostat is working. I agree that 2 new thermostats must work. Everybody gets worse gas milage in the winter. I have in every car I have ever owned. If your engine is showing cool, but the radiator fans are comming on, that would be another clue to consider. When you get home from your commute, turn the CC off and run the engine at 3000 rpm. See if your fans come on, or if the temp gauge goes up. A couple of minutes should be plenty. Let us know what happens.
Jim
'97 A6qw
Quattro value package
it was perfect today

wisconsin_quat

If your coolant fans are running since you start up the car, then your rad temp sensor is bad. Your fans are cooling the motor/coolant before it's even hot! The rad fans are supposed to kick in either when
a, you have your a/c on, or
b, when the temp of your coolant in your radiator is at or over 95 degrees celcius

By the way what I meant technically is a 60/40 mix of water and coolant, just wanted to stress that you use more coolant than water.

Rick 601

CHECK IF THE FANS ARE RUNNING (as 2.7 said) Mine are- I've unplugged the harness for today and I'll see if my temp comes up- if so I guess I'll replace the switch (15.95 at blaufergnugen-ymmv)

Can I run without the switch today - it's 8 degrees F outsid!?

audijim113

ok, saw the other guys who reply posted last time and mentioned fans coming on all the time.

getting back to mine, fans are not on all the time. to check this, are you saying that i run the car, temp is cool, then come home and run at elevated rpms to see if temp come on and if fans come on?

at what reading )on the temp gauge should the fan come on? also if anyone has a pic of the temp gauge so we can all be talking about the same large hash mark when we describe it. that would be helpful.

if the fan comes on when temp shows upper end of normal, what does that indicate? if the fan comes on and gauge still shows low (lower) than norm, what does that indicate.

it's down in the low teens today and i'll give it a show and repost tonite.


i'll take a pic with my dig cam, but it (cam) is so cheap i think it will be lucky to make anything out in the pic.