andrewparkeruk
A2OC Donor
I have had my TDI 90 since 2009. It has always been superbly maintained by the same VAG specialist garage. I am not "mechanical": all I do is maintain a spreadsheet of what has been done and what needs to be done.
For the last 18 months I have had an issue with coolant loss. Whenever I check, there is spray on the coolant expansion tank.
Background:
I bought the car Oct-2009 from someone who used to post on this forum, it had 47,000 miles on the clock, full main-dealer service history, and was 5 years old. My VAG specialist garage changed the camshaft drive belt / coolant pump. Since then that job has been done another two times: Aug-2013 (102,000 miles); Sep-2018 (153,000 miles).
My car has fully-functional OpenSky, version 2. During the winter months climate control is always on and set to around 20ºC
Ironically the day before the most recent cambelt change, I had a dashboard coolant level warning, a first for me. I added 300ml to the header tank.
Summary of relevant work:
26-Sep-2018: coolant level dashboard warning; added 300ml to header tank (ironically the day before the car booked in for …)
27 Sep 2018: coolant pump replaced; routine service item with camshaft drive belt
27 Sep 2018: thermostat replaced; dashboard temp gauge had become slow to 90ºC with aircon on
11-Feb-2019: coolant level dashboard warning
12-Feb-2019: coolant expansion tank and cap replaced
26-Feb-2019: coolant level dashboard warning; expansion tank had lost 500ml. Due to new header tank, easy to see sprayed pink coolant
(Unseasonal weather! A really warm, sunny day. After an hour on motorway with aircon off and OpenSky open; warning occurred waiting in traffic queue at traffic lights; classic overheating. Thankfully this happened a mile away from home)
27-Feb-2019: radiator hose fan sensor (at bottom of radiator) replaced
Because we have changed everything else, garage convinced that the fault must lie with the radiator fan control unit; the fan is working at low speed but could not be made to run at the second, higher speed. It is an expensive component so we have replaced cheaper items first.
02-Mar-2019: routine check; some pink coolant spray visible from expansion tank safety valve before 100 mile motorway trip. Cleaned tank
03-Mar-2019: check before 80 mile motorway trip, cleaned pink coolant spray from expansion tank. On returning home pink coolant spray visible
11-Oct-2019: coolant loss diagnosed caused by overheating. Garage has run the car (presumably minus climate control) for a prolonged period and the radiator fan will not run. Garage reckons the only component which can be causing the issue is the radiator fan control unit. It is on back order at Audi UK
14-Jan-2020: radiator fan control unit replaced
Garage ran car for 4 hours after fitting and no overheating issues; hopefully issue resolved
21-Jan-2020: topped-up coolant to halfway point cleaned reservoir of any pink spill. Monitor ...
22-Feb-2020: checked coolant level; added 300ml to header tank
You will see that the garage has been really responsive. Whenever I have had an issue they have had my car in the very next day. Because I usually have climate control running, the radiator cooling fan runs. As a non-mechanic resolving this needle-in-a-haystack could cots me a fortune: I have never prioritised fixing it, and that garage has always helped me by working on it as a background task.
The issue I have is two-fold. We have never got to the bottom of the overheating / coolant loss, and far, far worse the VAG specialist garage owner who has looked after my car for ten years was tragically killed in Oct-2019.
What should I do?
The other day @Dean opened a possibly related thread https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/cooling-fan-not-kicking-on-fsi.42394/ but which was perhaps FSI-specific
I don't have VCDS
If you got this far, thank you
Andrew
PS I am not sure the mechanic who fitted the radiator fan control unit was able to run the car to confirm the radiator fan is now working at the second speed; it will have been parked-up and idling I presume. I haven't done it either as it is pretty antisocial (and illegal) to run an engine on the public highway with the car stationary: I don't have an off-road area in which to do this
For the last 18 months I have had an issue with coolant loss. Whenever I check, there is spray on the coolant expansion tank.
Background:
I bought the car Oct-2009 from someone who used to post on this forum, it had 47,000 miles on the clock, full main-dealer service history, and was 5 years old. My VAG specialist garage changed the camshaft drive belt / coolant pump. Since then that job has been done another two times: Aug-2013 (102,000 miles); Sep-2018 (153,000 miles).
My car has fully-functional OpenSky, version 2. During the winter months climate control is always on and set to around 20ºC
Ironically the day before the most recent cambelt change, I had a dashboard coolant level warning, a first for me. I added 300ml to the header tank.
Summary of relevant work:
26-Sep-2018: coolant level dashboard warning; added 300ml to header tank (ironically the day before the car booked in for …)
27 Sep 2018: coolant pump replaced; routine service item with camshaft drive belt
27 Sep 2018: thermostat replaced; dashboard temp gauge had become slow to 90ºC with aircon on
11-Feb-2019: coolant level dashboard warning
12-Feb-2019: coolant expansion tank and cap replaced
26-Feb-2019: coolant level dashboard warning; expansion tank had lost 500ml. Due to new header tank, easy to see sprayed pink coolant
(Unseasonal weather! A really warm, sunny day. After an hour on motorway with aircon off and OpenSky open; warning occurred waiting in traffic queue at traffic lights; classic overheating. Thankfully this happened a mile away from home)
27-Feb-2019: radiator hose fan sensor (at bottom of radiator) replaced
Because we have changed everything else, garage convinced that the fault must lie with the radiator fan control unit; the fan is working at low speed but could not be made to run at the second, higher speed. It is an expensive component so we have replaced cheaper items first.
02-Mar-2019: routine check; some pink coolant spray visible from expansion tank safety valve before 100 mile motorway trip. Cleaned tank
03-Mar-2019: check before 80 mile motorway trip, cleaned pink coolant spray from expansion tank. On returning home pink coolant spray visible
11-Oct-2019: coolant loss diagnosed caused by overheating. Garage has run the car (presumably minus climate control) for a prolonged period and the radiator fan will not run. Garage reckons the only component which can be causing the issue is the radiator fan control unit. It is on back order at Audi UK
14-Jan-2020: radiator fan control unit replaced
Garage ran car for 4 hours after fitting and no overheating issues; hopefully issue resolved
21-Jan-2020: topped-up coolant to halfway point cleaned reservoir of any pink spill. Monitor ...
22-Feb-2020: checked coolant level; added 300ml to header tank
You will see that the garage has been really responsive. Whenever I have had an issue they have had my car in the very next day. Because I usually have climate control running, the radiator cooling fan runs. As a non-mechanic resolving this needle-in-a-haystack could cots me a fortune: I have never prioritised fixing it, and that garage has always helped me by working on it as a background task.
The issue I have is two-fold. We have never got to the bottom of the overheating / coolant loss, and far, far worse the VAG specialist garage owner who has looked after my car for ten years was tragically killed in Oct-2019.
What should I do?
The other day @Dean opened a possibly related thread https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/cooling-fan-not-kicking-on-fsi.42394/ but which was perhaps FSI-specific
I don't have VCDS
If you got this far, thank you
Andrew
PS I am not sure the mechanic who fitted the radiator fan control unit was able to run the car to confirm the radiator fan is now working at the second speed; it will have been parked-up and idling I presume. I haven't done it either as it is pretty antisocial (and illegal) to run an engine on the public highway with the car stationary: I don't have an off-road area in which to do this
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