patf0 Posted May 6, 2014 Report Share Posted May 6, 2014 Hi, I acquired a C5 A6 Avant 1.9 TDI 130 SE 2003 about 3 months ago and it drives great but I have one annoying issue. The Oil Temperature gauge has never moved apart from very slightly once or twice when idling. I tried a local garage who first replaced the Oil Temp sensor with an aftermarket part which didn't work, then with a genuine OEM part with no luck either. Next to a local tuning centre who couldn't find a fault. And the last was a free fault diagnosis by Audi. The diagnosis report suggested a new instrument cluster for starters at £1,000+ and then on-going repairs if this didn't work! The report mentioned the gauge would not hold it's value when a test signal was sent to it and the software reported a resistor fault. They also said they had seen signs of mice damage! So, my questions are. Is there anything else I can try as the Audi suggestion is not very economical considering the age of the car? Can anyone suggest a garage around the South Yorkshire area who could take a look at this kind of issue. Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted May 6, 2014 Report Share Posted May 6, 2014 Sounds like you've already had your answer, the gauge itself is faulty, which probably means a whole new cluster. You should be able to get it changed cheaper elsewhere though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_C Posted May 6, 2014 Report Share Posted May 6, 2014 Best bet is to rig up a secondary oil temp read out. Isn't there a trick you can do on Audis of that era to display the exact oil temp in degrees centigrade in the climate temp display? Nik_W has a phone screen rigged up to display all sorts of data like rpm, mpg, would I'm sure be able to display oil temp. Its an app on a mobile phone from memory, not sure how its wired up, seeing him tomorrow so will ask him and point him towards this thread. He's got a 2001 A6 2.5 TDi quattro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuprabob Posted May 6, 2014 Report Share Posted May 6, 2014 (edited) Best bet is to rig up a secondary oil temp read out. Isn't there a trick you can do on Audis of that era to display the exact oil temp in degrees centigrade in the climate temp display? Nik_W has a phone screen rigged up to display all sorts of data like rpm, mpg, would I'm sure be able to display oil temp. Its an app on a mobile phone from memory, not sure how its wired up, seeing him tomorrow so will ask him and point him towards this thread. He's got a 2001 A6 2.5 TDi quattro Probably an ELM327 wifi/bluetooth dongle plugged into the OBD port and using an app like Torque or Dash Commander. Edited May 6, 2014 by Cuprabob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted May 7, 2014 Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 Have a look on ebay and you'll find loads of A6 clusters. Very easy to replace, BUT you need to code it and set the mileage etc etc. However, if there is mice damage, it might mean it isn't the actual cluster and might be the wiring too the cluster? If it was the cluster, surely more stuff wouldn't work? The mouse/mice would have nibbled away at more than that? See if you can find, see and trace the cabling and put some e;ectrical tape around it first. That might be a much cheaper option to begin with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drpellypo Posted May 8, 2014 Report Share Posted May 8, 2014 These clusters are known to fail. My Skoda doesn't beep or make the indicator click noise for the same reason. What fails first is quite random. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted May 8, 2014 Report Share Posted May 8, 2014 I have had 3 of these A6s and the cluster never failed on any of them. All were well over the 100K mile mark. The only issues I had was with the DIS readout and fading/missing pixels - which after attempting to fix, I just lived with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patf0 Posted May 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2014 Thanks guys for the suggestions. If I get to the bottom of it I'll let you know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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