gregmag

Funny thing, it's about as cold as it's been today as the time that CEL #2 showed up (1/12/05) and I'm positive that the car warmed up a hell of a lot quicker. I remember driving around last week and wondering why the temp gauge didn't get past about 1/3 scale. Today, after sitting in the dealer lot for about 3 min idling and then driving for 2 1/2 miles, BANG mid scale.

This had me wondering if I'm again looking for things too much or over thinking things but the car also seems a little snappier. After CEL #2 showed up (temp in teens in Chicago) the car seemed a little sluggish. When I VAG-COM'd the car after CEL #2, the text was:
18613 - Performance Malfunction in Cooling System
P2181 - 008 - Implausible Signal
I'm wondering if the logic in the controller has "default" values for certain inputs if they're out of limits, that allow the engine to operate in a form of "safe" mode, in the middle of it's capability curve where it won't approach any extremes. Then, when the data becomes available and is within range, the controller optimizes the engine operation.

Just a thought.