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Tdi Overheating?

1.1K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  jmeselby  
#1 ·
Had a strange experience the other day with my Tdi (1500 miles). Drove for about 20 miles at 50-60 MPH (narrow country roads and slow traffic), no warning lights up on dash for hand brake or water temp or anything else. Got home stopped on drive left car running, to open garage and house doors about two minutes, drove car into garage and switched off engine.
Temp outside was under 60 deg F. Got out of car, engine fans running full blast for about 5 minutes and a strong smell of burning plastic, opened bonnet, nothing obvious, coolant level OK and not boiling, but a lot of heat coming out of engine compartment.
Have tried to replicate condition without success on several similar runs.
Anyone had a similar experience or any suggestions?
Should I call the dealer or would I be wasting my time as I can not replicate the condition?
Concern is that I might damage the engine if it happens again.
Any help gratefully received.
 
#2 ·
Its normal - the fans often run on after the engine goes off (all engines).
Nothing to worry about.
 
#3 ·
Mine did the same the other day.

Had driven probably about 50 miles on Sunday but actually stopped a couple of miles before home at McDonalds as I was starving.

Parked the car on the drive and the fan was on so just left it.

I'm not worried about it, as it's just one of those things.

My car has about 5K on it by the way.
 
#6 ·
Not the normal fan over run when the engine is hot, in fact I have not had the fan run on after engine stopped on TTD before, but was used to it on Saab and Honda so this is not my real concern.
My concern was the excessive heat and small of burning rubber/plastic that was coming out of the engine compartment after such a short run (or really any run) with no warning lights up on the dash.
I have not been able to get the fan to run on again after the engine is stopped in current outdoor temps in the UK.
The smell and heat from the engine compartment for a car that has already done 1500 miles was not in my opinion normal, lets see if anyone else gets this burning smell and heat problem, if they do I hope they will post on the forum.
 
#7 ·
I've had the same symptoms with my TDIQ when it was about a month old,stopped the car after a short run , after i switched off the engine , which was showing the temp to be normal,the fan was running and there was a strong smell of burning.Only had this happen the once, it's now 5 months old with 1900 miles on the clock, looks like it was a one off.
 
#8 ·
Had exactly the same thing happen to me on Saturday. It was the excessive fan noise and the burning smell which made me aware. Checked all over nothing apparent so I took the car for a further spin. Nothing wrong so drove home and switched off engine, fans stopped straight away. Haven't been able to replicate since. Car has done <1000 miles and only a month old.
 
#11 ·
No, but it may have been from the PhanTTom Air Force One taking off from Brize as I was close by at the time!!!!!!

Seriously though, my stealer has said better be safe than sorry, what ever that means in Audi talk, bring it in (a 50 mile round trip for me) and we will put it on our smoke and mirrors machine and see what it tells us while you have a cup of coffee.

I think I know the answer, so why bother? well at least their records will show I reported the problem after it happened and they investigated.

Should it develop into anything more serious, at least the ball is in their court now.

Anyone else get a similar problem of unexpected strong burning smell from the engine and fans going full blast for no apparent reason, please do post in case this is the early signs of something more serious than 'sagging seats' on TT Tdi's
 
#12 ·
Strangly I read this post yesterday and then the same happened to me. Just a normal 5 mile journey. Got out and the fan was going mental for approx 5/6 minutes. No burning smell though I don't think. Car 1 month old - 950 miles.

If it happens again I'll have a good sniff round.

:)
 
#14 ·
rwb said:
No, but it may have been from the PhanTTom Air Force One taking off from Brize as I was close by at the time!!!!!!

Oh no i live near Brize i hope it was not my PhanTTom my Boss has accused me of low flying sometimes. Which dealer are you using if it is Swindon Audi they are generally very good good luck

J
 
#15 ·
Dealer (Oxford Audi) could find nothing wrong with the car which is great news and to be honest what I expected.

They suggested it could be the particulate filter regenerating it's self, normally I would not be aware of this when driving along they say, but suggest I may have stopped it mid cycle when I parked in my garage and turned the engine off, they said this could account for the fan going hell for leather and the strong burning smell being the designed process to clean the particulate filter when it has reached a certain level of clogged upness!!!!

So now I know.
 
#16 ·
I see, that could also possibly account for the louder noise we all occasionally experience?