clintmeyer

My 1998 Cavalier stranded me on the side of the road after it basically rusted out. Ive had my eye on the A8, so I took the plunge and picked up a very clean 2001 A8 with 105K miles for $8K.

I found it locally off CL. Before I bought it, I took it to a local luxury foreign garage to evaluate it, they spent about 1.5hours looking it over. They thought the car was in great shape but noticed the rear diff might have a bad seal, a tie rod was fine, but the boot had cracked open so will probably fail within a year, they also noted the timing belt was in great shape but had an arrow on it so it probably had work done in the past, and they found some dried up coolant under the plastic shroud on the bottom of the car.

The previous owner stated that on an especially cold day he filled the coolant (with Audi fluid) and it spilled over the following day.

It is really cold here (Rochester NY) and I have found 2 puddles of antifreeze under the car over the past week. The level of coolant is now below the min level.

I have visually inspected all the hoses on top and the reservoir tank and from the top it all looks clean.

The shop said that a likely failure could be a plastic tube buried many hours of labor in the engine, but would have to look at it further to diagnose.

I am blessed to have a very resourceful father (he owns a 1990 BMW that he repaired in his machine shop in the basement after the timing belt failed). So I plan to do major jobs with his assistance.

I would like to limp it through till spring so I can work on it without the cold.

Any ideas/suggestions. Also I plan to flush the tranny fluid and replace the filter.

clintmeyer

Oh, BTW.

I LOVE THIS FREAKING CAR

I mean its a big step over the Cavalier, its kind of like going from walking to work to taking a helicopter. Its so fast, so quiet and amazingly comfortable. But I am preaching to the choir.

tozoM8

Check out www.audipages.com for more info on your car.

silverd2

Look to see exactly where it's leaking....near the oil filter, front passenger's side corner of engine? Could be a very common failure of a plastic water pipe between cooler and engine block. See audipages for repair procedure...dealer will charge upwards of $1000 for this $50-100 repair, IF that's your problem. It happens to most D2 A8/S8's eventually..esp by 100K miles.

TerminA8r

Here is a link to your likely coolant problem.

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...reinstall.html

Congrats on your "new" car.
Cheers!

clintmeyer

Thanks for the info. Sounds like that pipe in the cooler is the problem.

I would like to hold off until the weather is a little warmer? My dad is more than happy to help me do this repair. Actually I look forward to doing this type of thing with him as it gives us an excuse to spend some quality time together. Am I "rolling the dice" by waiting a few hundred miles?

great website that audipages

silverd2

You'll know

It's usually a slow leak and slow progression.

clintmeyer

I will cross my fingers and wait a couple weeks. I have been studying and it looks like a pain in the butt getting the thing in/out, but otherwise pretty straightforward.

I have read the audiopages tutorial. What I am wondering is if its worth it to remove the front bumper etc, or just remove the inner wheel well and work from the top/side. There is a real nice HD youtube video of a guy doing the timing belt stuff and he removed the oil cooler then as well.

Once I do this repair, can I join the club? A guy passed me today in his D2 burgundy S8 and he gave me a fist pumping thumbs up. My wife LOL'ed me as I thumbed him back and smiled at how much more awesome we were than everyone else.

This car is such a joy to drive......

silverd2

Anything taken out of the way can only help with oil cooler job...no fun at all. I did it with fender liner only out of the way, but extra elbow room and line of sight would have helped.

When you get to it, if that's the source of your leak, pay close attention to the AudiPages article...only use the right tools (even if you have to make em...I did and was worth the trouble)...You do NOT want to round out a mounting bolt.

Yes, everyone "should" receive a club patch for completing the oil cooler job...it's a bear...esp on the 40V motor.