2012s4

2013 S8 21,000 miles. APR tune since 500 miles

At 5000 miles had thermostat assembly changed plus a Audi recall to flash ecu. I had to go back to tuner to get flash back on.

At 15000 miles car same issue. Dealer replaced water pump and again applied factory flash. I when back to tuner to get flash back on.

At 21,000 miles it has happened twice again. Wife took car to dealer all they did was flash it back to stock. They did not change any parts. I feel it could be the thermostat or water pump.

Has anyone ever had this issue. Can the ecu tune cause overheating? APR said it can not.

Typically my wife waits 30 seconds at start before driving. She said in the last two overheating events she started the car and immediately drove off. Then in 10 minutes overheated. The car typically is garaged in 70 degrees. Can a cold start be the issue? I am not happy with the dealer just doing the flash and not changing a possible failing part.

OhNoMrBill

If the thermostat and water pump are good, it sounds like air is trapped in the system. I suggest a very good flush and refill

theanimala

Where is your dealer? I hope not one in CT, I've heard stories...

MP4.2+6.0

Given what has already been tried and changed, let me try a different tack: how do you know it is overheated? As in boil over? Or, high temp gauge? Or warning in instrument display?

Where I'm going is thinking whether it is something different. Given the things done and changed at early miles, I would not be inclined to think they would be bad a second time (or even the first most likely) if OE parts. Instead for example, how about simply a bad temp. sensor and it hasn't actually overheated? Or a cooling fan problem and it is overheating some? Logically those should generate codes and likely a CEL, but then so should a bad thermostat. Low circulation water pump could too, though that's a guess rather than specific experience. Meantime if by chance sensor basically simply reads high or erratically when it warms up, car may be getting false data. Variously with VCDS (or the dealer's similar equipment), they could look at water temp reading per sensor. You (or they) could also use an IR temp gun to check the surface temperature of the sensor or what it fits into as a cross check. Depending on where sensor is, may be easier to just change it out. They don't cost much, so mostly it is a labor question of how hard it is to access.

Said another way, water pump and thermo aren't only suspects. And if anything to me if already changed with dealer parts, less likely suspects now than some others.

Jack88

It could be the tune if it has interfered with any setpoints, like the one that activates the cooling fan. Otherwise, I'd go with what's already been said. Do you have the trouble codes from VCDS?

Ferrari27

I recently had my '13 S8 in for periodic service. The service manager called me and reported the car overheated during the test drive. He asked if I had experienced overheating before. I had not.

He called me back two hours later and said it was a software problem and that it was repaired. No charge.

2012s4

Exactly what I did not want to hear. So there was a fix to the factory ecu tune but the APR tune does not include the fix for overheating. I will drive for two more weeks on the factory tune before going back to the 1.1 APR tune.