hey guys, i just got the car a few months ago. it a 96 a4. lately, the temp gauge has been acting funny. works when it wants to. and when i turn the heat on, it blows cool air. but today, the temp gauge was right at the halfway point. both rubber hoses going thru the firewall are hot. i had read other posts about this similar issue, so im going to try to go outside and take the cap off the resevoir (sp) and see if there is any air in the coolant system. i will keep it topped off with water. anyone else have any other ideas if this doesnt work? like i said, both hoses going thru the fireway are pretty warm/hot, but inside the car it is blowing cool to luke warm...help! i got a 9 month old daughter!!

 

You have a partial blockage causing only some of the heater core to "Warm up" I'd assume. The best way to take care of this is to reverse flush it.

(Flush it in the opposite direction coolant normally travels)

 

i dont know which way the coolant travels, even though after riding around for a little while tonight one hose is quite a bit hotter then the other. im guessing thats the one going INTO the core? how do i flush the core? just take off the hoses run a water hose thru the core??

 

http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?t=349252

 

i flushed the core out and got some junk out of it, but it didnt help the heat AT ALL. still absolutely no heat. the guage stays all the way on cold too, like the car isnt even running. can this be one of the sensors? or should i go ahead and replace the thermostat?

 

If the temp gauge is reading cold its because you are not getting proper coolant flow over the sensor ( I would say bad sensor, but you also have no heat...) which means waterpump, or severe blockage somewhere. Or, bad T-stat.


Replace the Tstat first off, might fix it all.

 

is there anything else i can check before ripping my car apart? what about the coolant temp. sensor, does it sound like that can fix any of my issues?

 

car is overheating now...but the resevoir tank i was able to open up with no problem right away. without coolant going crazy and flying everywhere..wtf!?!?!?!?!?

 

i think that the coolant would only go flying everywhere if the car was warmed up and you opened when there was a lot of pressure inside. when its cold or just warm you usually can open it with no problems.

 

what color is the coolant temp sensor on a 96? and where the hell is it located