oil in coolant tank
 

Disaster !
I discovered that the coolant in the coolant tank has become muddy and sticky, like melted chocolate !

What is the fault and how to fix ?

Sounds like someone topped it off with non-audi fluid
 

...flush and fill and repeat a few times (water will do). I had the same issue with my 1993 S4 and the procedure pushed my water pump over the edge so I had to replace it as well. It was most likely damaged by the sludge anyway.

The Pink coolent is the only coolant to use and it will coagulate when combined with the traditional green stuff.

Check this out and see it it helps...

GL

Tom

Re: Sounds like someone topped it off with non-audi fluid
 

the point is, my car was serviced by the dealer less than 2 months ago, when a new coolant tank was also fitted. Sure the dealer should have filled the tank with the correct coolant.

BTW, my cars mileage is only 60,000km.

I just checked mine and i have a bit of brown in there... hmmmm

Is there oil in it?
 

Are you describing oil or something else? If it's oil, you could have a head gasket or oil cooler leak, if you did, when you check your oil on the dipstick it would probably be overfilled and milky.

If not, than what Tom described might be the problem, that they didn't put the correct coolant back into the car. It needs to be the red Audi/VW coolant G001200 (red), it's made by Pentosin.

<img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/tbp74.JPG">

Oh boy.
 

I know my oil cooler is leaking, i can smell it. do you think this could be the cause.. My oil dip stick is dark oil. No milky substance.

Re: Is there oil in it?
 

Paul W : good top have your advise.

Yes, there is oil and I can smell the oil after I dip my finger into the coolant/oil emulsion.

My A8 is a 97 car with only 60,000 km on the clock. How could this happen to my car ?

Probably just the wrong coolant then
 

If you dipstick doesn't have a milky substance on it and is not overfilled from coolant getting in there.

Skiracer had the wrong coolant type in his car too when we did his timing belt, we flushed it a few times with water and drained it with the engine block drain plugs then filled it with the correct stuff. He's fine ever since.

pw

Re: Is there oil in it?
 

Could either come from the oil cooler leaking coolant at the block or internally in the oil cooler, or a head gasket is bad.

Check your engine oil level and see if it is black (which it should be) or is it milky and over filled, then report back.

pw

Re: Probably just the wrong coolant then
 

I checked the dip-stick and the oil level and oil are both ok.

I just hope it is not a gasket problem.

As you may remember, I already spent US$8,000 on re-conditioned gearbox......