# temp gauge on cluster reading wrong . . . Any way pn Vag com to change adaptation ?



## jason bouchard (Aug 25, 2005)

temp gauge on cluster reading wrong . . . Any way pn Vag com to change adaptation ?

I have checked the actual temp with the climate controls and the car runs well but is there a way to use vag com to change the readout onthe cluster ?

My cluster reads at cold or just a few hairs above cold when its fully warmed up . . . 

I am wondering if it is possible to do what this guy did : http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...the-displayed-fuel-gauge-level-with-a-VAG-COM 

But with the Temp gauge 

Thanks 

Jay


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## AudiMick (Sep 1, 2010)

This is a common problem, their were several recalls for it.

The best thing to do is send your cluster in for repair.


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## Charlie_M (Mar 23, 2011)

AudiMick said:


> This is a common problem, their were several recalls for it.
> 
> The best thing to do is send your cluster in for repair.


This :thumbup:

I sent mine to Nichols Speedometer in Greensboro NC. They were extremely fast, cheap, and thorough. Replaced my failing LED display and fuel gauge. http://nsifleet.com/home.html

The fuel level and temp gauge are common failures, as they share the same gauge stepper motor mechanism. There is some small fuel level adaptation you can do in the cluster, but it's not nearly enough to fix the problem. An empty tank indicated about half-full, and a full tank indicated way past full.

When I pulled the cluster from my 01 TT, I saw it had already been replaced once as it was made in '04 and carried a "X" at the end of the part number.


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## jason bouchard (Aug 25, 2005)

I wish there was a recall. . . I shouldn't have to pay for Yet another thing wrong/broken that audi decided to use an inferior part on . . .

01 audi tt 225 amu


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## Currancchs (Feb 24, 2011)

Same issues as everybody else. Tried Vag-comming the fuel guage, and even at max adjustment, I am empty before I hit 1/4 tank and it doesn't drop below full until after 200 miles of driving (I get about 430 miles to a tank on a 2001 225Q roadster). Don't think there is any way to adapt the temperature gauge, but mine read just a tick over center, and hits ~1 bar over center @ ~98 degrees indicated on vag-com. My LED display is also largely unreadable.

Maybe if enough people complain we can get a discount or something? (Probably not, but this is definitely not something that should be happening to 40k cars that aren't that old)


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## peter139 (May 4, 2005)

I had the same problem.

Try to explain in english.

The problem with the temp gauge and fuel gauge:
When you turn off the ignition, the needle hits the housing of the cluster. 
The needle is mounted on a little steel pin, so everytime it's hitting the housing, the needle is rotating a little bit. (After years off use, and abs/plastic of the needle that loses its strength, this will happen)

My solution: 
Delete the glass of the cluster with 6 torx screws,
Then connect vagcom to the car:
Go to -instruments 17- output test, you can calibrate the needles to the right place.
Tank 1/2 full, temp gauge at 90gr, speedo at 100km/h and rpm 3000. Use some superglue to mount the needle back on the steel pin (one change to do it right haha). 
Please wait a day for mounting the glass back together, because the glue needs so time to ''evaporate''. (otherwise there should be created a white fog on the inside of your glass of your cluster) 

For fine adjustment you can modify the tanklevelresistanse a little. with vagkom (17 instruments adaption)

hope this helps you


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## Currancchs (Feb 24, 2011)

Thanks Peter! That actually helps immensely. I have already had the cluster off and apart once or twice, and it should be simple from there, just never knew how/why this happened so I didn't mess with it.


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## BoostedLTH (Mar 19, 2014)

Sorry to revive this from the dead but I have a question about this. 
My temp gauge reads 1 line from C upon start up/ignition off, and 1 bar before H upon fully warmed up. My fuel gauge reads a little above a quarter tank at completely empty around 500 miles/tank. I have a spare cluster, but my question is this:
if i take the OEM cluster out, can I reposition the needles? do I have to do anything special, or just remove the lower dash and remove the cluster? I don't have VAG-COM, so I'm not sure of a way to log all of the values like one thread recommends? 
another question, can I just plug and play my spare cluster while I refurb my OEM cluster? or is there an immobilizer or something that will make the car undrivable/broken? haha. Sorry to ramble, but could use some guidance.


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## anderswhk (May 22, 2012)

Sorry for (yet again) reviving an old thread, but this is actually a nice thread. I have an '02 A3 (Essentially a Golf MK4 for you guys that didn't get the A3). I have the exact problem described in this thread for years. I tried following Peter's guide, but i'm lost at the glue part. What exactly does he mean. What is this pin he is talking about? Is it the one the needle is resting on when the car is off? Do I need to pull the cluster out, or do I just remove the glass?

Have anyone else besides Peter tried this where it actually worked? I'd love to hear from them. A speedo off ebay for the facelifted A3 is quite expensive. I'd rather not go down that route.

Say I do this, will I be able to drive the car like this without screwing with something (with the temp and fuel gauge pins glued) for a while until I find someone with VAGCOM willing to help me?


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## Currancchs (Feb 24, 2011)

*Post Clarified*



anderswhk said:


> Sorry for (yet again) reviving an old thread, but this is actually a nice thread. I have an '02 A3 (Essentially a Golf MK4 for you guys that didn't get the A3). I have the exact problem described in this thread for years. I tried following Peter's guide, but i'm lost at the glue part. What exactly does he mean. What is this pin he is talking about? Is it the one the needle is resting on when the car is off? Do I need to pull the cluster out, or do I just remove the glass?
> 
> Have anyone else besides Peter tried this where it actually worked? I'd love to hear from them. A speedo off ebay for the facelifted A3 is quite expensive. I'd rather not go down that route.
> 
> Say I do this, will I be able to drive the car like this without screwing with something (with the temp and fuel gauge pins glued) for a while until I find someone with VAGCOM willing to help me?


Hello, I had followed Peter's suggestion and resolved my dash issue on a 2001 Audi TT, but the basic concept should be very similar for your car.

The pin he's talking about is the post that turns the needle, not the stops. The post is right in the center, under the circular black part the needle protrudes from. To adjust, just pull the needle right off, obviously with the glass out of the way. The basic strategy is to set the gauge to a known position, which is easy to verify with Vag-Com/VCDS, but you can probably get really close without. If I recall correctly the cluster has to be removed to remove the glass. I don't remember this part being that big of a deal, just some basic trim removal.

To resolve a temp needle not pointing where it should, get the car up to normal operating temp, with the cluster plugged in, and then just pop the needle off, put a dab of glue into the hole the post goes into and pop it back on, pointing where it should point (the center if your thermostat and cooling system are OK and the car hasn't been idling too long, which can make the temp increase to one bar over center until the fans bring temps down). Since this is just a press fit and not keyed or anything the banging of the needle against the stop when you shut down the car, over years, throws the adjustment off. Removing the needles and gluing them back in place fixes the issue permanently, although also makes future removal, which may be necessary for things like cluster repair, difficult if not impossible without breaking things.

90C should be dead center on the temp gauge. This is the normal operating temp of these vehicles, although my TT fluctuated between 87 - 100C, was 90C +/- 3C while driving though, just went higher and was brought down by fans while idling. You can probably adjust the fuel needle by making sure the tank is full and gluing the needle to point at the full mark.


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## Currancchs (Feb 24, 2011)

If memory serves me correctly, the new cluster would have to be coded to work with the immobilizer system for that car, don't think the car will start without the recoding, but I could certainly be wrong on this one, its been a while.


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## anderswhk (May 22, 2012)

Currancchs said:


> Hello, I had followed Peter's suggestion and resolved my dash issue on a 2001 Audi TT, but the basic concept should be very similar for your car.
> 
> The pin he's talking about is the post that turns the needle, not the stops. The post is right in the center, under the circular black part the needle protrudes from. To adjust, just pull the needle right off, obviously with the glass out of the way. The basic strategy is to set the gauge to a known position, which is easy to verify with Vag-Com/VCDS, but you can probably get really close without. If I recall correctly the cluster has to be removed to remove the glass. I don't remember this part being that big of a deal, just some basic trim removal.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply. Where does calibration with VAGCOM come into play? What basically happens with my temp gauge is that it never reaches the needle stops. It just stays at around 70ish when the car is off, and actually goes beyond 120 when warmed up. I have verified with original VW software that it's okay. I will definetly be trying this out. Thanks for clearing it up.


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## Currancchs (Feb 24, 2011)

anderswhk said:


> Thanks for the reply. Where does calibration with VAGCOM come into play? What basically happens with my temp gauge is that it never reaches the needle stops. It just stays at around 70ish when the car is off, and actually goes beyond 120 when warmed up. I have verified with original VW software that it's okay. I will definetly be trying this out. Thanks for clearing it up.


Calibration only comes into play if you were a bit off in your alignment when you glued the needle down. With Vag-Com you can adjust the needles a hair either way to get them perfect without removing/reinserting the needle, which may be impossible after gluing. If you get the alignment correct before the superglue dries you'll be all set! Just keep in mind that superglue dries in about 5 - 10 seconds; this can be accelerated by exposure to moisture, i.e. high humidity or a damp towel. This is desirable in some cases, but probably not here. Also keep in mind Peter's comment that the superglue will take a day or two to evaporate and will cover your cluster glass in a white film if it is immediately reinstalled. Best to remove the cluster from the vehicle and leave it in a well-ventilated area for a day or two before reinstalling the glass.

You can also use Vag-Com to tell the needles to move to a certain position (i.e. move temp needle to 90C position) so that you know exactly where it should point before committing to gluing it on in that position, otherwise you risk that the temp was a little lower or higher. This isn't a huge deal since the temp gauge doesn't linearly move, it jumps every 10 or 15C change to cover up normal temp fluctuations from the average driver who might otherwise think there's an issue, so you should be able to get it pretty spot on even without Vag-Com.

Good luck!


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## anderswhk (May 22, 2012)

Currancchs said:


> Calibration only comes into play if you were a bit off in your alignment when you glued the needle down. With Vag-Com you can adjust the needles a hair either way to get them perfect without removing/reinserting the needle, which may be impossible after gluing. If you get the alignment correct before the superglue dries you'll be all set! Just keep in mind that superglue dries in about 5 - 10 seconds; this can be accelerated by exposure to moisture, i.e. high humidity or a damp towel. This is desirable in some cases, but probably not here. Also keep in mind Peter's comment that the superglue will take a day or two to evaporate and will cover your cluster glass in a white film if it is immediately reinstalled. Best to remove the cluster from the vehicle and leave it in a well-ventilated area for a day or two before reinstalling the glass.
> 
> You can also use Vag-Com to tell the needles to move to a certain position (i.e. move temp needle to 90C position) so that you know exactly where it should point before committing to gluing it on in that position, otherwise you risk that the temp was a little lower or higher. This isn't a huge deal since the temp gauge doesn't linearly move, it jumps every 10 or 15C change to cover up normal temp fluctuations from the average driver who might otherwise think there's an issue, so you should be able to get it pretty spot on even without Vag-Com.
> 
> Good luck!


Wow man, thanks for the lenghty and detailed explanation yet again. Hope I get time to try it out this weekend!


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