inkstrat

I mistakenly put ~ 150ml of engine oil (Pennzoil) into the coolant instead of putting it where it should go. This was on Feb 27. The shop told me all I needed to get done was flush out the coolant. The car worked fine. Last week I got the coolant flushed (several rounds of flushing etc) within minutes of driving out of the shop the temperature started to climb and smoke started coming out.

I got the car towed back to the garage and I'm told that the rubber hoses and plastic has got brittle and the entire coolant system needs to be replaced, which will cost $4600.

There is a leak in the bottom of the resorvoir which is causing the car to over heat quickly. Is there an alternative? Is the price he's asking fair?

Thanks.

Riley's A4

That doesn't sound right? A simple flush is all that should have been needed. If the oil cooler let go, then you would have coolant being pushed out the tank as the oil enters the cooling system which would cause smoke in the engine bay but this doesn't sound like what is happening.

How many miles on the car?

Either case, have it towed to a good independent garage for a more reasonable quote.

inkstrat

Thanks for your response.

Initially my regular mechanic guy told me that all it will require is a flush and when I got it flushed and drove off with it. There was smoke coming out of the engine and within a few seconds the temperature started to rise.

Its got 65K miles on it

inkstrat

I went earlier today to take a look at the problem - and there is a crack at the bottom of the reservoir and oily deposits if you look inside the reservoir.

My mechanic advise is to replace the reservoir, together with all the hoses in the coolant system because they are soft and brittle. Can someone advise if I need to replace the entire cooling system or just the reservoir which has the leak?

Thanks.

AndyA6

I'd say it's just a leak, the coolant reservoir is known to start cracking/leaking. Check the other collant lines, maybe you can see where the leak(s) are and replace those hoses?

Riley's A4

You commented on how the temp climbed quickly after the oil incident and flush. I had a friend who had an oil cooler let go on a B5 A4 (128k miles) and we ended up replacing the radiator because the oil clogged it so much, we could pull the lower hose and nothing would come out. Have they check the flow through both the heater core and radiator?


I doubt you need all new hoses with only 65k miles. You need a lot of miles on before the hoses go.