OK. The car is a 2001 Mk4 V6 4Motion VW Golf. Recently I have noticed that the temperature gauge has a mind of it's own! When I start the car in the morning it immediately reads 90 deg. Then if I get stuck in traffic the needle slowly rises to around 120-130. I initially thought that this was an issue with the temperaure sender, so I plugged it into my VCDS-lite to see what happened. First of all I checked the engine temp. to make sure that gauge was correct and sure enough the engine after a run around was showing as 117 deg on the gauge and the same on VCDS! This made me think that maybe this wasn't an issue with the temp. sender. So I scanned all the modules for errors and then found one but I deleted by mistake before reading and taking note of it! It was something to do with the "intake manifold temperature sensor" thats all I can remember! and the fault is now gone! I have also noticed that it is very lumpy on idle when you first start the engine and there is a grinding noise from the rear of the car at around 2,000 rpm which goes away after a couple of minutes of the engine runnning!

Any thoughts please? I would be very grateful.

Grinding noise - haldex 4wd system needing serviced, if crunching already may need replaced

Grinding noise - haldex 4wd system needing serviced, if crunching already may need replaced

You could be onto something there. But strange that it only grinds at 2k rpm and only for a few minutes after start up isn't it?

Any thoughts on the overheating or temp gauge issues? Thanks for your input.

Are the fans working at the front?

These engines run hot and the fans are well known for going on V6 4 Motions. Get the car on and see if they do cut in when it gets warm.

Are the fans working at the front?

These engines run hot and the fans are well known for going on V6 4 Motions. Get the car on and see if they do cut in when it gets warm.

Yes. Fans don't seem to be the issue on this one. I have bought a new coolant temperature sender and going to change that tomorrow. Hopefully this will sort it out. Anyone else with any other ideas? I would really appreciate it?

Not sure on anything else chap. My dad has a V6 4 Mo and its been perfect aside from the fans going twice.

Sorry matey. :(

Not sure on anything else chap. My dad has a V6 4 Mo and its been perfect aside from the fans going twice.

Sorry matey. :(

Thanks for replying though. Appreciate your efforts. My money is going on a temp sender to be honest. Will change it out and see what happens.

Water pump breaking up?

Don't the Haldex clutches require oil and filter changes????? Could that be why it's only making noises at low speeds????.....Shot in the dark really!!! :S

Water pump breaking up?

I bloody hope not! Sounds like a big job and an expensive one at that! Thanks for all the replies. I have replaced the coolant temp sensor and all seems to be ok now. So hopefully that will be the end of issues for a while! Fingers crossed.