I bought a new CTS to try and remedy the warm start/misfiring problem. The part is $22 and probably worth changing out at 83k as maintenance anyways.

I thought it would be a simple 30 minutes or so thing...ha! They make it so tight between the back of the engine and the firewall. You can't see the temp sensor, as it is pretty hidden and can see a little green when shining a flash light in that area.

After getting the retain clip off, I was able to pull the sensor out. The "brass" part of the sensor was pretty much a dark orange/redish color. I put the new one in and put the clip back in, which is pretty hard since there is little room for two hands to work, really only one hand at a time. I thought I had the retain clip put in properly as there are two slots in the sensor recepticle to hold the sensor in properly.

Well, time for a test drive. Drove around for about 5 minutes until I saw white smoke pouring out from under the car. I knew that I had lost some coolant when taking the sensor out so I thought it was just coolant burning off. There is a good amount of smoke so something didn't seem right. I pull into a supermarket parking lot and open the hood. White smoke is pouring out the back of the engine and smelt of coolant. I figured the sensor had popped out allowing coolant to leak.

I turned off the car and let the engine cool down a bit, which didn't take too long seeing it was only 29 degrees out. Once the smoke died down and engine cooler, I looked and sure enough, the CTS popped out. I got the clip and tried to secure it again. It took about an hour of swearing and aggrevation to get it properly in the slots and secure the CTS. I dropped the clip once too and thank god it landed at the edge of the belly pan so I could reach under the car and grab it. An hour outside in 29 degrees does not work well with the hands in tight quarters.

The coolant tank was empty so I thought great. At least the supermarket is open 24 hours so I got some distilled water and filled up the tank. Now I need to find some G12 in the morning and put it in. Also a good time to see if the stumbling is gone with the new CTS. If not, I will throw new plugs in next.

The CTS install should be pretty simple if they had given more room to work with! For people with bigger hands, it may be a problem in such a tight spot.

Btw, thanks Jimmy for getting the distilled water!

 

out any more?

 

Did it in my work's parking lot in a pair of insulated coveralls. I hate that fing thing!

 

All is good again, just need to get some G12 in a few minutes, hopefully Brookline Audi parts has some in stock.

 

Especially at the angle and space, only my right hand could hold the clip in and not with an ideal grip either, kept worrying that I was goign to drop it again.

 

My 1988 Audi 80, 1.8, had it in the same location...

 

teh suck. you can snag some G12 at a VW dealership today.

 

a gallon jug of it, $36 yeesh.

I couldn't really drain any of the distilled water out so just topped it off for now, at least some G12 in there now.

How much you think I should put in there? Half a jug?

 

<center><img src="http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q33/x1rider/jettaect1.jpg"></center><p>When I changed the ECT sensor on my girlfriend's GLS, I couldn't believe it, you can see it from 10 feet away!!!

 

Lol otherwise you may want to find an indoor garage to work on the car