The Audi Thread

StrontiumDog said:
So Ferrolli's said to top it up with water till I can get it to them or the place that will fix my accident damage.

I've done that, I don't see any leaking or new puddles. Will check again in the morning.
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edit: If no signs of leaking now or in the morning, then i would assume it's losing fluid whilst driving. Is that something to be more worried about, or less?
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All I've heard from many people in the know is modern VAG vehicles are very picky about their coolant, distilled water may be ok for a short trip but I'd google it just to be sure because needing a new engine after it overheats is pricey.

My sister's Golf 7 or whatever started losing water, some plastic part had cracked. I'd google your model + known issues or coolant leak + crack and see what comes up.

Have you checked for coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant?
 
airborne said:
All I've heard from many people in the know is modern VAG vehicles are very picky about their coolant, distilled water may be ok for a short trip but I'd google it just to be sure because needing a new engine after it overheats is pricey.

My sister's Golf 7 or whatever started losing water, some plastic part had cracked. I'd google your model + known issues or coolant leak + crack and see what comes up.

Have you checked for coolant in the oil and oil in the coolant?
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Thanks, I will check the dipstick for coolant, will checking the dipstick suffice? I will have to look in the coolant expansion tank for oil. Would it be quite obvious?

My intention is to only drive the car to the place that is going to repair the accident damage (8.5km away from home). If they can pinpoint the issue with the coolant then i will likely let them fix it.

If they don't fix the coolant issue along with the accident damage, my next driving trip will be to take the car in my normal workshop (9km away from home) to sort out and do a service on the car. Should be safe enough to drive for these 2 round trips if i take it easy and don't get stuck in any bumper to bumper traffic?
 
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Do any of the audi dealers in the cape do carbon clean up if the vehicle is still under the freeway plan?
 
StrontiumDog said:
Thanks, I will check the dipstick for coolant, will checking the dipstick suffice? I will have to look in the coolant expansion tank for oil. Would it be quite obvious?

My intention is to only drive the car to the place that is going to repair the accident damage (8.5km away from home). If they can pinpoint the issue with the coolant then i will likely let them fix it.

If they don't fix the coolant issue along with the accident damage, my next driving trip will be to take the car in to Ferrolli's (9km away from home) to sort out and do a service on the car. Should be safe enough to drive for these 2 round trips if i take it easy and don't get stuck in any bumper to bumper traffic?
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Check on the dipstick and oil filler cap, use a bright torch. Google to have an idea what you are looking for.

8km is plenty to destroy an engine if there are coolant loss issues, especially if there is a catastrophic failure of a cooling system component that dumps all the coolant.

When last had you checked the coolant level before you noticed it was low?
 
airborne said:
Check on the dipstick and oil filler cap, use a bright torch. Google to have an idea what you are looking for.

8km is plenty to destroy an engine if there are coolant loss issues, especially if there is a catastrophic failure of a cooling system component that dumps all the coolant.

When last had you checked the coolant level before you noticed it was low?
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I must still check the oil filler cap (worked a 13 hour day tomorrow and it will be the same tomorrow), the dipstick looked fine? What you see in the pic below on the right is light reflecting off the oil.

1606513635189.png

I will have to plead the fifth on checking coolant levels prior to this :X3:

Once i've checked for coolant in the oil and vice versa, my one friend reckons let it idle, probably won't be any leaks, have a look for any, then drive it around the block and then check again. Would that be safe enough to do?

I'm not driving the car at all. You were saying rather take it somewhere to get this seen to before the accident damage. I have a big service to do as well, my DSG oil is due to be replaced :confused:
 
StrontiumDog said:
I must still check the oil filler cap (worked a 13 hour day tomorrow and it will be the same tomorrow), the dipstick looked fine? What you see in the pic below on the right is light reflecting off the oil.

View attachment 962066

I will have to plead the fifth on checking coolant levels prior to this :X3:

Once i've checked for coolant in the oil and vice versa, my one friend reckons let it idle, probably won't be any leaks, have a look for any, then drive it around the block and then check again. Would that be safe enough to do?

I'm not driving the car at all. You were saying rather take it somewhere to get this seen to before the accident damage. I have a big service to do as well, my DSG oil is due to be replaced :confused:
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If there's water in the oil it will show as the oil being milky, there are so many reflections in that pic it's hard to tell but it looks pretty much ok.

The thing is if you can see water running out of the vehicle or a puddle underneath that means you literally are steps behind catastrophic cooling system failure. Typically it will start as a weeping leak and then suddenly give way and dump all the coolant out, with your engine promptly getting cooked shortly thereafter.

I'd take a bright light and look in the engine bay for any signs of coolant leaks, Google your engine to find where the water pump is and especially look there.

I'd have the coolant loss issue addressed ASAP before doing anything else, the other work can wait without any serious issues but if you leave a coolant issue it may cost you a mint in unneeded repairs, as with Rajah's R18k bill, and he came off lightly...
 
The best way to check for a coolant leak is when the car is hot and the cooling system under pressure. Cracked hoses, bottle, radiator or loose clamp will quickly be evident.
 
airborne said:
If there's water in the oil it will show as the oil being milky, there are so many reflections in that pic it's hard to tell but it looks pretty much ok.
<snip>
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Yeah the oil was black, not at all milky.

Sorry just a question (I haven't checked for oil in the coolant and vice versa yet, worked all day and night 2 of the last 3 days and had to go out on Sunday, I used Uber don't worry :) ) but to what level should top up with water up to? When I first opened up to take a look the coolant was at the red line, then i filled in about 600ml of water to get to the blue line which I thought was where i should fill to. But this youtube video shows the coolant level being much higher than what i filled it to. And the manual (bottom image) isn't quite clear as to what the max level is but it does say to fill up to between min and max.

1606775696408.png

1606776579048.png


I will try check for oil in the coolant and vice versa today and take the car in tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon) for a Thursday service and to sort out the coolant issue.
 
airborne said:
That puddle under the car you mentioned earlier could have been from the aircon.
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Oh regarding this, the car hadn't been driven for 4 days when i noticed the puddle, but yeah it doesn't mean it wasn't something other than coolant.
 
StrontiumDog said:
Yeah the oil was black, not at all milky.

Sorry just a question (I haven't checked for oil in the coolant and vice versa yet, worked all day and night 2 of the last 3 days and had to go out on Sunday, I used Uber don't worry :) ) but to what level should top up with water up to? When I first opened up to take a look the coolant was at the red line, then i filled in about 600ml of water to get to the blue line which I thought was where i should fill to. But this youtube video shows the coolant level being much higher than what i filled it to. And the manual (bottom image) isn't quite clear as to what the max level is but it does say to fill up to between min and max.

View attachment 964762

View attachment 964766


I will try check for oil in the coolant and vice versa today and take the car in tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon) for a Thursday service and to sort out the coolant issue.
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From what I can make out the blue line looks like the max, it's a pressurized system and the expansion tank needs space to compensate for the expansion and contraction of the coolant.

So was your coolant level at the Min line when you discovered it was low?
 
airborne said:
From what I can make out the blue line looks like the max, it's a pressurized system and the expansion tank needs space to compensate for the expansion and contraction of the coolant.

So was your coolant level at the Min line when you discovered it was low?
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Coolant was below min when the car's warning system kicked in. Lower than the red line I put in the image, so maybe 150ml to 200ml below min I'd say.
 
Captain Beer said:
They don't, they only remove the intake manifold. Best give them a call I reckon.
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Ah, thanks for pointing that out.

I did finally get a reply from the dealership I use, incase someone else wants to know.

Yes Audi offers a carbon clean @ 6hrs labour at R1207.5 per hour excl gaskets etc.
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Above is for the V8 4.2
 
StrontiumDog said:
Yeah the oil was black, not at all milky.

Sorry just a question (I haven't checked for oil in the coolant and vice versa yet, worked all day and night 2 of the last 3 days and had to go out on Sunday, I used Uber don't worry :) ) but to what level should top up with water up to? When I first opened up to take a look the coolant was at the red line, then i filled in about 600ml of water to get to the blue line which I thought was where i should fill to. But this youtube video shows the coolant level being much higher than what i filled it to. And the manual (bottom image) isn't quite clear as to what the max level is but it does say to fill up to between min and max.

View attachment 964762

View attachment 964766


I will try check for oil in the coolant and vice versa today and take the car in tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon) for a Thursday service and to sort out the coolant issue.
Click to expand...

Between the blue and red line should be fine ;) What I normally do is buy a bottle of G12/12+/13 from Goldwagen and then make a mixture according to manufacturer spec in another bottle that I keep in the back of my car. That way I always have the correct coolant mixture at hand.
 
StrontiumDog said:
Yeah the oil was black, not at all milky.

Sorry just a question (I haven't checked for oil in the coolant and vice versa yet, worked all day and night 2 of the last 3 days and had to go out on Sunday, I used Uber don't worry :) ) but to what level should top up with water up to? When I first opened up to take a look the coolant was at the red line, then i filled in about 600ml of water to get to the blue line which I thought was where i should fill to. But this youtube video shows the coolant level being much higher than what i filled it to. And the manual (bottom image) isn't quite clear as to what the max level is but it does say to fill up to between min and max.

View attachment 964762

View attachment 964766


I will try check for oil in the coolant and vice versa today and take the car in tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon) for a Thursday service and to sort out the coolant issue.
Click to expand...

Green line when the car is dead cold is just fine. Then it has room for expansion when it heats up.

Alternatively I have seen them sometimes top up coolant while the car is running and properly warm in which case it will lower down to an adequate level when cold, but none of that is an exact science.

Worst case if you are worried you overfilled it let the cap off and run the car and it will overflow what it doesn’t need.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys, so I checked for oil in coolant or coolant in oil and it all looked good / clean. Topped up the water a bit more to the halfway point of the expansion tank itself.

Drove to the workshop without issue, watching the temperature gauge like a hawk, and once it warmed up didn't go past 89 degrees.

We popped the hood once at the workshop and the coolant level was the same as when i left home, though i realise depending on temperature this can be misleading to compare to when the engine was cold. They will look at it tomorrow and report back.
 
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