stevetwigs
New member
I have been struggling for ages with two annoying problems on my Mark 3 Golf (TDI) and I need help, begging to lose hope with it all.
1) Temperature gauge is showing erratic readings, according to the gauge car heats up way to quickly (compared to what it did before) and regularly goes up and over the 110 degrees mark.
2) The instrument panel randomly does one of the following. (especially when parked up for a few days)
a) All the instruments light up when put the key in but when I start the engine the panel goes blank and a whirring sound is heard.
b) Sometimes the panel comes back to life while driving and the same whirring sound is heard.
c) Same whirring sound is heard on start up and clock resets to zero put instrument panel functions.
Firstly when the temperature gauge was showing high readings I thought it was the heating system. Fan didn’t seem to kick in when gauge was showing over 100 degrees so thought it was fan switch so replaced and topped up coolant. Still, gauge showing high readings with fan not cutting in. So thought it might be a thermostat/radiator problem. So bit the bullet and took it to a garage to get heating system looked at.
Garage hooked up the car to the computer and all readings were fine and fan kicked in at correct temperature and the temperature stayed stable. However temp gauge was fully over to the right with the warning light on. So no problem with my heating system just a problem with the gauge. Garage suggested that it was a problem with my cluster and would be good to look out for a replacement.
So relieved that I wasn’t in danger of overheating, and seemed logical that it was the gauge as I kept an eye on it over the next few weeks and it goes randomly up and down between 90 to 120 degrees and car runs fine (would have expected to have broken down/overheated by now.)
Spotted a second hand cluster with the correct part number and installed today. Still erractic temperature gauge and after much cursing I have got on line and posted this.
Not sure if the cluster cutting out has disappeared as it can be random so will see what happens over the next few days.
Any ideas about either problem?
Could ignore the temp gauge thing but how will I know if I am actually overheating. So want to get it sorted.
I notice someone has recently posted something that sounds similar to my cluster problem, they mention replacing the interior light fuse. But not sure if this would work for me as interior lights have always worked fine.
Any help really appreciated.
Thanks
1) Temperature gauge is showing erratic readings, according to the gauge car heats up way to quickly (compared to what it did before) and regularly goes up and over the 110 degrees mark.
2) The instrument panel randomly does one of the following. (especially when parked up for a few days)
a) All the instruments light up when put the key in but when I start the engine the panel goes blank and a whirring sound is heard.
b) Sometimes the panel comes back to life while driving and the same whirring sound is heard.
c) Same whirring sound is heard on start up and clock resets to zero put instrument panel functions.
Firstly when the temperature gauge was showing high readings I thought it was the heating system. Fan didn’t seem to kick in when gauge was showing over 100 degrees so thought it was fan switch so replaced and topped up coolant. Still, gauge showing high readings with fan not cutting in. So thought it might be a thermostat/radiator problem. So bit the bullet and took it to a garage to get heating system looked at.
Garage hooked up the car to the computer and all readings were fine and fan kicked in at correct temperature and the temperature stayed stable. However temp gauge was fully over to the right with the warning light on. So no problem with my heating system just a problem with the gauge. Garage suggested that it was a problem with my cluster and would be good to look out for a replacement.
So relieved that I wasn’t in danger of overheating, and seemed logical that it was the gauge as I kept an eye on it over the next few weeks and it goes randomly up and down between 90 to 120 degrees and car runs fine (would have expected to have broken down/overheated by now.)
Spotted a second hand cluster with the correct part number and installed today. Still erractic temperature gauge and after much cursing I have got on line and posted this.
Not sure if the cluster cutting out has disappeared as it can be random so will see what happens over the next few days.
Any ideas about either problem?
Could ignore the temp gauge thing but how will I know if I am actually overheating. So want to get it sorted.
I notice someone has recently posted something that sounds similar to my cluster problem, they mention replacing the interior light fuse. But not sure if this would work for me as interior lights have always worked fine.
Any help really appreciated.
Thanks
