Question: How many of you have noticed a coolant leak, and the dealer has charged multiple thousands to you for an oil cooler repair/or plate reseal job, which actually pulls all the intakes, EGR Cooler, it's guts and supporting coolant lines, etc. from the valley of the engine? TIA for your valuable feedback & details!

Our '15 TDI (Gen 2 TDI engine) slowly leaked coolant from the cylinder head coolant circuit control valve housing (thermoplastic housing), which I initially confused with being the EGR Cooler failing, since I'd just been through that on our Gen 1 TDI engine. The Gen 1 and Gen 2 TDI motors differ in where the coolant leaks emerge as they are different designs. It is leaking coolant slowly (into the engine valley), which is somewhat problematic, especially on this car that doesn't like to have any air in the system. They'd call me and say it's not leaking; we've pressure tested the coolant system several times and no leak indicated. Well, DUH!, it's not leaking from the primary coolant circuit, but rather the cylinder head coolant circuit, which also supplies coolant to the oil cooler and the EGR Cooler. I literally had to tell them to put a camera probe into the engine valley; bingo, then they found the coolant 'lake', said it wasn't going to be covered by the warranty, and how would I like to pay for the repair? Spoiler: I knew it was covered by the warranty, but I had to open an escalation case with 'big Audi' to move the repair forwards via the warranty.

I am constantly underwhelmed the North American Audi dealership's service competence, and I say that with a straight face. I really don't understand how they suck this badly, and at every dealership I've been to thus far it's the same...like I'm dropping my Q7(s) off and am teaching their service staff a class on the Audi TDI extended warranty for North American cars. Personally, I'd be embarrassed to work there...it's almost seems like they have forgotten what doing business ethically means, and how it promotes owner loyalty, and brings in new business from referrals, positive experiences shared by word-of-mouth, and the all important QA 'top-box' score being given during the follow-up survey.

 

Please excuse my ignorance, but is this leak something we owners can see visually? Can you smell the coolant? As many know I just jointed the TDI world last week. The reason I ask is that after my LONG drive home, I occasionally observed a very faint odor of possibly coolant....sorta...coming into the cabin. When I arrived home, and backed into the garage and exited the Q7...I also smelled it again. I looked all over the engine and underneath and didn't see anything. After a week of driving I have not smelled it again....but it's in the back of my mind.

 

NOTE: Yes, definitely check the engine valley for coolant if you are smelling it after a hot engine run. The TDI exhaust treatment also produces a faintly sweet exhaust smell, but it's also tinged with just a hint of diesel at normal operating temps. At cold start, the diesel smell will be more prevalent in the exhaust. If you backed your car into an enclosed space, then you are likely to get a whiff of the exhaust odor of a warm engine, which could be throwing you off track. Check the coolant reservoir level, as that is your 'canary in the coalmine'. Also, take a good sniff when you raise the hood and see if you can smell the coolant evaporating...it has a very specific scent/odor to it. If you need to set a baseline, take the cap off the reservoir and get a whiff to familiarize with it (do it when the engine is cold...it's a pressurized system).

 

You'll definitely know when its happening.

You'll start to smell the coolant leaking and burning off in the Valley of the engine. You can visually see it if you remove the engine cover and have a snake 'borescope' camera to see below the intake manifold. If you don't have that you can also dip a paper towel down there, wrapped around a long screwdriver. The issue is pretty significant in that the longer you let that coolant leak go, it will take out the oil cooler seals and then you're going to get a massive leak. It happened to me, when the dealer wouldn't listen to me saying there's a leak! They'll vacuum test it and that's fine, but the issue on the EGR Valve arm moving and leaking, the issue isn't the valve just leaking under pressure. I think mine took 6 months from first finding the leak, till it took out the oil cooler seal and that baby flooding the front and back of my engine with oil runoff. From there the Audi dealer denied it being a warranty item. The warranty clearly states all emission equipment, and the EGR in entirety is part of that. I ended up having to go to Audi proper and file a case. They agreed and also covered the oil cooler and seals, since they were collateral damage from the dealer not discovering the issue earlier.

I created a thread about it, parts, and the Audi resolution.

 

Follow-up: Big Audi said dealer should be fixing my EGR coolant leak. (Well, DUH) This is the result of filing a grievance against the dealer with Audi for their not honoring the extended warranty on the EGR system, and then following up on it consistently. Like Built4Sin stated, if the dealer fails to resolve this coolant leak issue, it almost certainly will impact the oil cooler below it, and create a much larger 'collateral damage' problem.

I'm still interested in collecting data around anyone that's been told or 'suggested' that they do an oil cooler plate reseal service, when they were trying to get an EGR coolant leak issue resolved, or possibly didn't know what was wrong, but certainly didn't expect to be paying for an oil cooler 'plate reseal'.

TIA, and if you don't want to post your details here, PM me direct. If you've been screwed over by Audi dealer service departments not honoring the warranty and selling you 'magic beans' instead, then you do have recourse to get reimbursed.

 

UPDATED: ISSUE NOT RESOLVED: Level of effort invested; 2 Dealerships inspected car for ongoing EGR System coolant leaking into valley of the engine - Total time w/o car: 45 days.

The steady coolant leak remains, even after I took car back to same Audi shop with proof it was still leaking/consuming coolant after they'd 'repaired' it. As it turns out, the dealership didn't actually replace any parts on the car that are known to leak coolant, but merely removed all the EGR Cooler/Oil Cooler Plate, and cleaned things up, replaced sealing o-rings and gaskets upon reinstalling same parts, so it actually makes really good sense that it is still leaking coolant consistently.

Such a huge waste of time and labor hours on their part, as it will need to all be redone again to correct the leaking part. This is fairly ridiculous that the Audi service techs are this inept.

Feel free to PM me with any questions regards to this repair, the escalations process, etc.

 

Hi there,
I am new to this and not very good with auto knowledge. I have a 2014 Q7 TDI, bought it new back in the day. Has about 88K miles on it. I have been having a coolant leak. About a year ago when the car was in for a service engine/glow plug light I asked them to look at it - it had to be leaking because I was actually adding coolant, it was not just that the light was coming on. Audi said they couldnt find a leak, it was just the sensor going bad. I was confused because why wouuld I have to add coolant if it was just the sensor and wasnt actually leaking somewhere? Not knowing any better, I said ok I'll just keep adding coolant when the light goes on.
Took it in this week because it's still leaking and getting me worried. They said it's the coolant shutoff valve - lots of work, it will cost me $2,600 (after a discount - originally said $2,900) The warranty does not cover it. I've taken this car to the same dealership/service for repair and generally like/trust them. But this seems like it should be covered by warranty and they say no, they checked. They put the borascope or something down there and it's definately leaking from the shutoff valve, it's not the EGR.
Is there anything I can do to push this with Audi US? From reading, i'm upset now because the fact that they sent me away a while back means there has probably been an effect on the oil seals and things? Suggestions?

 

You are correct; that Coolant Bypass Line Adapter, part # 059121737AM, located next to the oil cooler plate and bolted to the top of the engine cases, is a covered part.

Unfortunately, dealerships operate off the "I know everything, and you will believe what we tell you", even if it's wrong, principle...also called the profit motive. You have to escalate the case through Audi North America and they will tell the dealership it's a covered item under the TDI extended warranty.

One of the reasons for this confusion is the TDI 3.0L engine was completely redesigned. It entered service in 2013 model year, and some of the components in the EGR Cooler system are different from the Gen 1 TDI engine. Dealers are referencing to 'cheat-sheets' for the TDI 1.1 engine Audi sent out to dealers to assist them with a pre-approved parts for the TDI extended warranty purposes. This particular part# does not appear on that sheet, and so the dealerships just stop looking right there. It's the dealership's error, and of course, they'd much rather you pay them directly than it be a warranty repair.

You'll need to go through 'Big' Audi to file a complaint/open a case for reimbursement of a covered repair the dealer charged you for, etc.

 

What years does this EGR Cooling leak happen on?

 

Mainly the 'coolant leak' we are referring to is on the TDI engines, and it will happen to all of them; just a matter of time. Both our TDIs started losing coolant just past 100k miles on the odometer, but they can start earlier or later. It WILL happen if you have the TDI, no question on that data point.