Hi

Occasionly when I start my car from cold the temp light comes on, beeps at me and flashes. If I turn off the engine and back on again it goes out then wont appear again for a few days or a weekish.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

Chris

Is is the coolant level warning lamp? If so unscrew the cap of the expansion tank (when cool) and have a look at the two metal wire probes in there. If they are covered in bubbles this may well be your problem. Given them a gentle scrape/rub with a screw driver and see if that helps.

Sounds like a common problem. The expansion tank houses the coolant sensor, which commonly gives sourious warnings. It's fairly cheap to replace the bottle, but some on here have managed to clean the sensor prongs curing the problem.

I see someone beat me to it.

I see someone beat me to it.

Sorry :P

My Octy had the bottle replaced by the previous owner (and reading on here, I know why now!) Seems that cleaning the probes is the quick win, and much cheaper than fitting a new bottle

Don't know if the Furby uses a different tank to the Octy, however you can't get at the prongs on mine or SWMBO's, but you can on the replacement that Lookers Seat offered me! :confused: The part itself is pretty cheap, but considering it requires a coolant drain and refill to do the job, I'm leaving it until next time the car's in the garage. In the meantime, I just put a resistor across the terminals of the sensor plug and reattached it à la Evry Mod. OK, so I now no longer have the functionality, however it's nothing a regular glance under the bonnet can't compensate for...

The part itself is pretty cheap, but considering it requires a coolant drain and refill to do the job

Not on the octy 1.8t it doesn't, I did mine in about 2 mins and lost maybe half a cup full of water.

HTH

Not on the octy 1.8t it doesn't, I did mine in about 2 mins and lost maybe half a cup full of water.

HTH

Must say, if you can get hold of the right part (f%^& knows why the one I was offered was different!), then I reckon all you'd need to do would be remove the bottom hose, put a bung in the old tank, hook up the new tank, drain old into new and then move over all the other connections. It was the fact that the new tank I was offered was different (same connections, but in different orientations) which meant I couldn't see a way of swapping the two without draining at least some of the system. :ne_nau: That, and the fact that there's so little space under the Furby's bonnet to catch any spills...

Thats how I did it. Just as you described

Thats how I did it. Just as you described

Well, if the VAG supply network can sort me out with the correct replacement, then I might give it a go! 'Til then, it's Resistor Time!

Or is that Ninja Hammer Time? *sigh* I'll get me coat - it's been a long day already...

This happened on my VRS as well. It normmaly happen when the weather got colder so would almost always come on if there was a frost. Seemed to then cure itself over the summer before reappearing in the winter. The main dealer said it needed a new expansion tank but as I was about to get a new car I never bothered.

It may also be a faulty temperature sensor. Mine had the same symptoms and cleaning the probes had no effect.

The only things with that are:

1. You'll get a warning even before you've started the engine (i.e. when the engine's still cold);

2. I've just put a new coolant temp sensor in, and it made no difference;

3. I reckon failure's more to do with oxidation rather than bubbles or anything else.

The bugger is that the sensor's moulded into the tank, so if it goes the tank goes! :thumbdwn:

This is def a common prob had mine done 6 months back under warrenty,

coolant expansion tank. and sensor!

Ta folks, I had the exact same problem and as it went away if I restarted the engine I just ignored it (well, the manual said it means low coolant level or overtemp and I knew neither was a problem. Did I just admit to reading the manual?! ).

If it comes back this winter I now know what to do.

Quick clean of the probes in the tank should sort you out :-)

My temp gauage was playiny up. Bought a new sensor, went to fit it to find out the connector was different.

Cleaned the old one whilst i had it off and all has been good since.

I have bought a new sensor incase, ready to fit if it plays up again.

What year is your vRS ?

Mines late 2004 on an '05

Thanks for all the replies guys... Sorry not replied for a bit, bloody internet has been down.

Will have a try at what you suggested this weekend.... Mine is an 05 too, an estate.

Cheers

chris

same problem,

late 04

spot the trend. if this isn't the case yet, I dare say this should be a sticky

mine (54 vrs) just did this for the first time this morning. fingers crossed cleaning the probes works . ta for the info.

Shorting the terminals with a resistor didn't work this morning!

cleaned them and tested, so far so good no flashing lights here.