Today, a nice warm morning and the Octy sat in the sun for a couple of hours.  When I got back, the interior was quite hot and when I started the engine, according to the dash display the temperature was 3 degrees external and the frost warning was showing.  I switched off for a minute and tried again, but the warning was still there.

 

That's not all!  In February, I was on a journey and SWMBO was cold so I moved the heating up to MAX.  After a few minutes, the heater ran cold.  There was no loss of engine coolant and the temperature gauge showed a normal reading.  After a stop of more than 2 hours, we started the return journey and the heater performed correctly.

So, where should I start the prodding and poking ;-)  ?

 

Cheers

Clive

I'd say the external temperature sensor is partly to blame, certainly for the erroneously low reading.

It is located on the outside, around the left fog lamp area.

You should see a hole and the sensor resides inside.

I can't say offhand how easy it is to get access to, not any harder than a couple of screws, prise a panel off sort of job.

The sensor/wiring/connections may just need a clean or it may indeed be faulty.

It'll have the part number embossed on it so you can search a new one if required.

re heater issue.

Try resetting the heater by pressing ECON and RECIRC simultaneously whilst the engine is running and up to temperature, you should see the temp indicators show gobbledygook while the heater cycles through all temperature/vent settings.

I gather it's not uncommon to require this doing every few months.

Yes, Mike and the temp gauge reading was steady.  I naturally wondered at first if I had lost the engine coolant and would expect the Temp gauge to drop if that occurred. A quick visual confirmed that the coolant was OK.

 

MicMac, I shall have a look for the sensor tomorrow. 

Re the Econ button - that's a puzzle as I don't seem to have that.  This is the 2011 VRS  (MkII) and has dual Aircon.  There's a temperature selector on each side of the central panel.  Maybe there's a similar combination of buttons that applies to this model?

 

Thanks both, for your responses.

 

cheers

Clive

Clive, I had the same issue with the external temp read-out a few months back.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/329682-external-air-temperature-sensor

 

I swapped the sensor (5 minute job) hoping that would cure it, but it didn't. Suspecting the new one might also be faulty I swapped it again, but once again no joy.

Bro-in-law, who has his own garage, told me that there is some kind of electronic module behind the glove box (?), that controls this, but reckons it costs around £200 to replace, so I've just left the sensor disconnected for the past few months.

Edited 7 April, 201511 yr by phillip

Correction:

It's the ECON + UPPER BODY vent selection (lower left of central 4 button cluster) combination to reset the heater.

MkII Dual Climatronic.