RostyVyg

Just wondering how many owners of 2010-2011 A6 Avants had their thermostat replaced under warranty or after warranty expired?

Here is the scoop: I own a 2010 A6 Avant. She's been a nice girl overall, until the other day the engine started overheating after I left home. The coolant level was normal, the belt was OK, the fan worked, but the radiator was cold to touch. Thermostat, right? So I did the only thing I could to limp home - I opened all windows and set heater to max heat. This draw some heat from the coolant through heater heat exchanger, let the temperature drop and driving moderately I got home.

Went to a dealer (ANCHOR Audi in Lynvbrook, NY), got quoted over $1000 to replace the thermostat! Well, it appears one needs to remove supercharger and bunch of other parts to get this done - over 8 hours of work.

So, I did a search on the Internet and I found out that Audi issued a workshop campaign notice back in April of 2011 for all U.S.A. 2010-2011 A6 WAU_ G_FB_AN001608 - WAU_G_FB_BN030581, Production date: May 28, 2009 – October 01, 2010 where they admitted that "the wax expansion element of the thermostat may fail on Audi vehicles with 3.0 ltr TFSI engines built during that time" and "all affected vehicles must be checked and repaired during the next service visit"

Now, my car VIN number falls into the range above. It was manufactured within the dates above. It has the engine in question, but... the dealer claims it does not fall under that workshop campaign! More then that, when given the 19H3 number the dealer can't find any information in their computers.

I called Audi USA and they could not find anything about 19H3 workshop campaign in their computers. I provided them with link to NHTSA website and NHTSA ID# 10038758 which corresponds to Audi 19H3"Manufacturer Correspondence Notice". They still can't figure out why my car does not come up in dealer's computer as affected by this issue.

So, the working theory is, Audi sent out the letter to all owners of affected vehicles (and there are Q7's, S5's, S4's in addition to A6's) but somehow forgot to notify A6 Avant owners.

Please share your experience with your thermostat replacement if you are an A6 Avant owner, - we might be able to build a case and have Audi reimburse this huge out of pocket expense related to a faulty part...

Allroading17

I had a 2010 avant, ordered in 2010 and was the original owner. It had the 3.0T engine and they replaced the thermostat under warranty.

sb6r