glauben

I recently had my TB and water pump replaced on my 2004 A4 with the 30v engine at 90k by a reputable independent. My odometer now reads 96,500 with what has been described by me as a failing water pump. I feel the indy is trustworthy and honest, and is eager to replace the water pump under full parts and labor warranty (their warranty for labor).

Prior to the initial repair, I had questioned them about upgrading to a WP with a metal propellor, rather than the plastic propellor, after doing a bit of research on the forums. They were quite insistent on using the more recently updated 'factory' water pump as a replacement which still used the plastic propellor.

Not wanting to be uninformed and inappropriately inconvenienced in the future with possibly another failing water pump down the road, should I be concerned that they recommend replacing the failing pump with the "same" item, OR should I insist on the pump using the metal propellor? At this point, they have not determined 'why' the pump failed.

TIA

Peter Badore

Is the water pump noisy or leaking? If leaking maybe the previous replacement
didn't cleanup the gasket sealing surface correctly, or folded the gasket or didn't torque the attaching bolts correctly or broke a bolt off and did not replace it. I have so many botched repairs that almost nothing surprises me anymore. In my own company's experience (not VW or Audi) there was a time when 50% of all warranty repairs had to be done over. I would still use a Hepu water pump with a metal impeller instead of the factory plastic impeller design in spite of the improvements in the plastic impeller pumps. However, the Audi V6 engine plastic impeller pumps last longer than the 1.8l turbo fours which have had a very poor record for durability.

glauben

Thanks for the info. These guys have a decent reputation for good work. Doubt they would half-axx it only to waste another day of tear-down and repair 'over again'. They were insistent this time on the metal impellor version. To answer the prior question, the check coolant level verbiage showed up on a routine AM startup, while the reservoir was almost empty. This occurred without the expected premonition of the fragrant scent of coolant. Oh how I love that smell.

Car is parked in the stable until said water pump arrives. The shop is owning everything.