audiguy1978

I have an Audi A4 1.8 Turbo, quattro. I turned it on today and the red coolant light was flashing on the screen behind the steering wheel so I turned the car off immediately. Two questions: 1. Is this something I can fix on my own if I don't know much about cars or should I take it to a mechanic and if I can fix it on my own what should I do? 2. Is the car driveable with the red coolant light on since I know with the red oil light on that screen you need to turn it off immediately. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Cybersombosis

First off check if there is coolant in the tank. Low coolant would make the light turn on. Did you happen to get or do an oil change recently? If so they might have disconnect the coolant sensor plug on the bottom of the tank. All you have to do is put your hand underneath the coolant tank and see if the connector is plugged in. If not, plug it back in. If it is plugged in and there is coolant in the tank then the sensor in your reservoir may be bad. Those are the obvious reasons that the warning light would come on. Check those first then get back to us.

Doug

audiguy1978

It appears the coolant take is close to empty, at least it is way below the minimum line. At this point should I just buy more and fill it myself or would you recommend I have a garage do it. And is OK to drive the car to either the store or a garage this way or should I not drive it until the problem is fixed?

jseklund

Obviously not a great idea to be driving the car around with low coolant. I have done it and nothing went wrong, but there is potential for issues. I'm not advising you do this, but also not gonna tell you the car will never run again if you don't.

You can fill it yourself with a 50/50 mixture of G12 coolant - but if you are low then you have a leak somewhere. Look for a white/pinkish crystaline powder - which is what the G12 coolant looks like when it dries- around the engine bay.

Some good spots to look are at the coolant resevoir itself and below it (three screws hold it down - unscrew it and lift it a little with the hoses attached). Look under the air intake manifold for signs of liquid/powder - the auxilary pump goes bad and usually gives off a good amount of coolant. Look down near the front of the engine by the pulleys (it may help to pop your head under the bumper if you can) for this same powder - a leaking waterpump or thermostat will leak on these spots. A pump, in my experience, doesn't usually leak - it explodes and coolant goes everywhere, but it can happen. Usually a leak in this spot is the thermostat.

Then look towards the back of the engine for leaks. Where the coolant pipe attaches to the heads and where the green coolant temperature sensor plugs into the coolant pipe are some typical leak points.

Check hoses.

If you are leaking, filling it again may work for weeks or even months, or (in the worst case scenario) a couple seconds. Since you have some coolant in the tank, it sounds like you are on the slow leak side. Fill it up and start looking for the leak and fix it.