low oil temp

[toon vw 0]

just come back from work tonight & noticed that my oil temp was very low in fact it was 62 degrees by the time i got home (about 15miles) when normally it runs anywhere between 90 & 102 depending on how i drive, also when i turned the engine off the fan came straight on....whats happened :( ....please break it to me gently

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

Possibly a knackered temp sender?

[toon vw 0]

is that bad....? :oops:

[toon vw 0]

just an update as you might have guessed i am no mechanic, drove to work this afternoon & the oil temp was all over 60 to 92 degrees, drove home tonight & there is no reading at all, the water temp is fine & again as soon as the engine was switched off the radiator fan kicked straight in.

will i be doing any damage driving it, i'v never took it over about 2500rpm since i have noticed the low oil temp reading.

[Supercharged 2]

What engine is it??

 

Check the wiring to the oil temp sender...

[toon vw 0]

its the vr6

[diggerbucket 0]

Any chance you can get it on vag-com?

 

Mine always reads low oil and water temps, but on vag-com the readings look ok so I'm starting to think it's the instrument cluster itself :? Mine doesn't jump around like yours tho, and the fan doesn't kick in when I stop the engine.

[toon vw 0]

i've got a vw specialist just around the corner, i presume they would have one but everytime i go there it takes about a fortnight to get get it booked in, other than that i'm a bit snookered as far as vag- com is concerned :(

i was hoping it was just a fault in the mfa but with the fan kicking in i'm thinking not....hope i'm not cooking something !!!

[dr_mat 0]

Is it consistent, by the way, that the fan never comes on until you turn the ignition off ... ?

[toon vw 0]

yep, the last couple of days since i've noticed the oil temp the fans have been kicking in as soon as the the engine is switched OFF not before....bit weird like.

i have had a check on the wiring as far as i can see & it looks ok to me, mind normally the only time i lift the bonnet up is to fill the washer bottle up....so i definately don't know my way around an engine bay

[dr_mat 0]

So what's the water temps like during your drive home .. ?

[toon vw 0]

the water temp has stayed fairly much the same as normal around 80 degrees...although saying that is that normal because its never been over that since i've had it, about 4 months, even in traffic as far as i can remember.

could it have anything to do with the oil level as i've just checked it & its just on min. mark?

[dr_mat 0]

80 degrees water temp is normal, in fact that's a shade on the low side, tbh. How long does it take to reach that temperature? Does it increase if you get stuck in traffic? Does it ever go below 80?

Thing is, the thermostat isn't supposed to open at all 'till 80 degrees, so most cars run 85-90.

[toon vw 0]

it normally takes a good few miles to start moving up and never really goes much if any above 80 infact it moves between 70 & 80ish most of the time. i'm going to halfrauds soon to get some oil been reading an oil thread & a few recomendations for gtx 15w 40 high mile stuff,my motor's done 117k what dya reckon & do you think this might be part cause of getting no oil temp reading?...by the way thanks for thinking about this anyway. :)

just thought about it & not long had my car back because it was running crap & apparently my plugs were covered in oil, had them changed & told to keep an eye on them, running well now apart from the temp. problem, related do you think?

[dr_mat 0]

I think that your thermostat is stuck open.

[toon vw 0]

would that be expensive to replace bearing in mind i definately won't be doing it...will it be causing damage if i keep using it before its done?

[dr_mat 0]

Expensive, not in terms of parts. Labour is an hour or so, it's fiddly but it's not terminal.

Damage? Well you know low oil temp can cause problems..

But I'd get it sorted sooner rather than later, since it's only going to get colder this winter.

[toon vw 0]

ok thanks dr_mat you can close your surgery for the night now & thanks for the help :thumb right:

[toon vw 0]

i'm afraid i need to ressurect this thread...been to my local vw specialist yesterday but can't get it seen till next thursday, but he seemed to think it was more likely a problem with the electrics than the engine, but after today i'm not sure....drove about 10 miles to see my dad, same thing low water temp low oil temp, fan comes on after stopping the engine, came out about an hour later after driving for about 5 mins noticed the water temp flying up so stopped at a garage & the coolant level was fine , sat for about 15 mins & started back up & the water temp was still sky high, limped on a bit & pulled over & have left it on the side of the road about 7 miles from home.

while sitting for the mrs to pick me up (30mins) i started up again & still the temp went straight to the top...should it not have cooled down a bit in that time even???

sorry to go on a bit but i'm well unhappy especially where i've had to leave it, not exactly one of the nicest area in newcastle!!

[catch_twotwo 0]

Are you sure that the temp senders are working ?

 

Cheap enough and only 1 minute each to replace.

[toon vw 0]

i suppose the only way of trying them is to replace them & see what happens!!

any idea of cost & is VAG the way to go?

[dr_mat 0]

You never said your guage was behaving oddly before ... NOW I would agree with your garage. Gotta be an electrical issue with the gauge/senders.

[toon vw 0]

dr_mat everything was as i said until today :roll: on a journey back home this morning the water temp shot through the roof, coolant was all fine....no fans though. just been to pick it up tonight & it just about got to 90degrees when i got home again checked & no fans let it run up tp 110 & still no fans, turned the engine off & the fans kicked in :scratch: could it be t/stat open as you previously said, temp senders us, electrical gremlins or all of the above, could they be connected or coincedence all going together...?

oh & forgot to mention my speedo keeps intermittently go off as of today aswell :mad: :mad:

[catch_twotwo 0]

I'd get some new clocks in.... just to check if everything is going wrong on them.

 

Have you checked the fan thermostat switch on the radiator as this is what will get the fans going when the temp rises. The fan after the car is off runs from a different circuit I seem to remember.

[dr_mat 0]

I'd look for voltage issues .. maybe ECU relay even ..