RacerZack

Hi everyone,

My Mom has a yellow 1997 A4 1.8T (not the Quattro) with 80k miles in Baltimore (I'm in Los Angeles) and it seems to be dead. I'm hoping there is an A4 enthusiast out there who can give some advice on the problem...

OK, so she was apparently driving home one evening when, while idling at an intersection a block from her house, she noticed the temperature gauge showing the car getting hot. She drove into the garage and took the owner's manual in to see what might be wrong.

The following morning, she looked under the hood and found a brown, gooey substance filling the coolant reservoir. Clearly this is bad, so she got in the car and started to drive to a local, non-Audi-specific mechanic.

About 3 miles from the mechanic, the temperature gauge again showed the car overheating. So, she pulled over and let the car cool down. Since she was so close, she decided to try and make it to the mechanic on her own. She resumed driving and within one mile the temperature gauge showed the car overheating again AND the "check engine" light came on. This time, she pulled over and called for a tow.

The mechanic opened the hood and proclaimed that the head gasket was blown and that she needed to go to an Audi dealer. So, she had the car towed to Tischer BMW/Porsche/Audi, where she bought the car (as well as her previous 2 cars, both Audis...an Audi 90 and an Audi 80).

Tischer first said that they needed to do an oil coolant system flush (about $800) before they could further diagnose the problem. This seems a bit steep, but I'm not very knowledgable about Audis (I'm a Mazda Miata enthusiast, but when I'm in MD I *love* driving Mom's A4). I am also questioning why the dealer isn't focused on the fact that there is obviously some problem, and instead believed that the car will be OK after the flush.

Anyway, she had them do the system flush and now they say that the oil cooling system has failed and must be replaced, a repair on the order of something like $1,500 on TOP of the $800 spent for the system flush.

Is this reasonable? Is this a problem that is typical of the early A4 1.8T? With only 80,000 miles, her car seems too "young" for this sort of catastrophic failure. She has had all of her scheduled maintenance done at Tischer, with the exception of some oil changes done at the local mechanic.

I (and my Mom) will appreciate any & all advice given. Thanks in advance. Please send thoughts direct (or cc'd) to racerzack@aol.com if possible. :-)

RacerZack

rigor

She may have had a leak, this leak pressurized air into the coolant system, resulting in critical meltdown temperatures in the head, which as you can guess, WARPS aluminum. The head warps, lifting at various points, letting oil in the coolant (glub glub).

Very common, if you overheat a VAG head even for a minute to warp it.. Aluminum sucks for this reason.

She will be VERY lucky, if no coolant got into the oil system. Coolant in the oil system will wash out the main bearings, and guess what, the turbo (Engine and turbo rebuild).

She will be very lucky if the head is true still.

It's unfortunate, but you never let your engine get to the red mark, by then the idiot lights are telling you its too late.

The worst part is, this could have all been caused by a pin-hole leak in a coolant hose. Ask me why I can conject this Been there done that.

I wish you the best, but don't be suprised if the costs go through the roof.

(notes to self to save up money for a good extended warranty plan)

bugbbq

they better have replaced the coolant with liquid gold for that price.

wws03

That is the most expensive flush I have ever heard of. $50-100 is more like it.

Zed 2.0

mmm... liquid gold....

98A4Turbo

i thnink you should argue that flush should be included in the new cooling system........
if not, u should complain to AoA for this absurb charge of $800

turboprincess

I had the exact same thing happen to my 97 1.8T about 20k miles ago. It cost about $1500 Can to flush the system and replace the oil cooler. This was where the pin hole leak was, they proved it by performing a pressure test on it, then they flushed the coolant several times. Mostly all of the cost was in labour. Your car will probably be fine. It sounds like your Mom knew what she was doing when she brought it in. If the red light was just comming on it won't be a problem, had she driven like that for a long period of time, then I'd be worried. That's what the red light is for, it wouldn't there if the moment it turned on the engine was already damaged, it is a warning light.

20k later, tonnes of 6000 to 7000 rpm episodes later, (yes 7000) and the car still bloody rocks. (88k miles now, very low oil use if any, no oil in coolant original turbo etc..)

(By the way, I'm using my wife's account, thus the "bloody" commentary)

DanH_PsyD

Maybe not. Mine did this at 55K. It has a leaking oil cooler. It never overheated. Head gasket was fine. The bill, with repeated flushes and the replacement of the cooler, was $700. AOA picked up most of the cost, even though it was out of warranty.

Good luck!

ssjazz

I had the same sort of failure in a '97 1.8T Q at 83,000 miles and less than 4 years.

Tischer said it was the oil cooler not the head gasket. Estimated over $6000 "to start" replacing the oil cooler, turbo, heater core.

That estimate convinced me to trade the car on a 2001 A4 1.8T Q sport suspension.

Since I didn't have it fixed I can't tell you what it really would have cost to fix it.

Audi of America didn't want to help at all because the mileage was too high.