Coolant waterfall issue?

[chaos2984]

Ive seen other posts about this. I have had to set up my first 5k apt. Its going to the dealer monday for it along with a few warranty problems. I noticed when i washed the car last weekend the coolant when the car was fully cold was just under the low mark. When i bought the car it was at the full mark when "cold" 60F compared to 30F now. But thats not going to make the coolant expand 1/2 quart to hit the full mark. I know i can loose coolant to evaporation and escaping threw the cap. And i only have 5K miles on the car and there is now way it is going to loose that much coolant in that little time to evaporation. Maybe like 20K miles yea but not 5.

And now today i started it up when cold twice today i got the water fall noise from the dash when i started the car at high idle with out any throttle input.

Im going to take it in and see what they have to say. Has anyone else taken theirs in for this and what did they do? Im going to check the coolant level again in the morning and see if its lower again.

[Dr GP]

Yes, they are going to add coolant ant tell you to monitor it. I've noticed the same loss of coolant on all 3 of my B8 s4s.

[chaos2984]

Yea since I've worked at dealerships before. I know what they will do. But I'm going to monitor it again and if at around 10K its the same way I'm going to complain. Because their is a problem. Its going somewhere. Coolant shouldn't go anywhere. I can understand loosing a tiny amount over longer period but this is excessive. Hopefully ill chalk it up to small air bubbles left in the system that worked its way out. We will see what happens.

[brianc21]

I just took a glance at mine and it is right at, maybe a hair below minimum. Less then 3k miles.

[chaos2984]

I only checked mine because i was washing the car. I normally don't check it because it doesn't need to be checked really. But atleast I'm not the only one so far. If it happens again around 10K its going to be bs and their is a problem with the car using coolant.

[roadkillrob]

My wife's X3 had the same issue, brand new bought in May, as soon as winter hit, low coolant light comes on - no coolant leaks or anything, seems like they just don't put quite enough in from the factory and as soon as it shrinks a bit when it is cold, it is low. Audi seems to have the same issue, as soon as it gets cold the first time, the coolant is low.

[brianc21]

The manual specifically states that if it's losing coolant there's an issue somewhere that needs to be addressed and that you need to do more then just "top it off". I'm not sure where mine was at when I got it because I never looked. But sounds like it's something to keep an eye on.

[Dr GP]

If I remember, with the B6/B7s , the power steering fluid disappeared with no explanation from Audi. Their solution was to overfill the ps reservior

[roadkillrob]

The manual specifically states that if it's losing coolant there's an issue somewhere that needs to be addressed and that you need to do more then just "top it off". I'm not sure where mine was at when I got it because I never looked. But sounds like it's something to keep an eye on.

Definitely keep an eye on it - I was paranoid when my wife's X3 did it - it has to go somewhere, then after googling a bit, lots of people have the issue, I added very little, maybe 1/4 liter maybe a bit more and that was a year ago and it never had another issue (but I did keep an eye on it for a while)

[shizzrock]

My car is doing the same thing. At 11K I added about 4 oz., then at 18k i had to add another 4oz. I can still see the level is dwindling very slowly, but have hesitated bringing it to the dealer because tune. I can see white crust around the coolant cap though, i wonder if it is just evaporating.

[chaos2984]

yea I'm just going to keep an eye on it after this service and see what happens and go from there

[B8_Jim]

My car is doing the same thing. At 11K I added about 4 oz., then at 18k i had to add another 4oz. I can still see the level is dwindling very slowly, but have hesitated bringing it to the dealer because tune. I can see white crust around the coolant cap though, i wonder if it is just evaporating.

I've got the same issue with my '13 S5. Mentioned the low level (below min when cold) to them at the 5k service and they said it was probably an air bubble from the factory, and they overfilled the reservoir. So much that I pulled a little bit out since if the car got really hot it would have overflown (still above max when up to temp though).

I've added coolant twice since then (total of about 20 oz) and it again got below the min mark, so took it to the dealer - 19,500 mi and 2 yr/4 mo.

The pressure tested the system and said they couldn't find any issues, filled the resivoir and sent me on my way.

I'd like to know where it's going.

[S4'ed]

My theory : The 3.0T has some head gasket design issues.....a small leak of combustion chamber pressure forces air into the coolant passages, which cause the air bubble noises behind the dash in the heater-core, and the combustion gas slowly overpressurizes the coolant system until the pressure relief valve in the coolant fill cap releases it (and therefore causes a small amount of coolant to be lost). I also have the small amount of antifreeze deposit "crust" arounf my fill cap.

As the engine warms up, and the block and head expand, the headgasket seals better, and less combustion chamber air is forced into the coolant system.

[chaos2984]

I've got the same issue with my '13 S5. Mentioned the low level (below min when cold) to them at the 5k service and they said it was probably an air bubble from the factory, and they overfilled the reservoir. So much that I pulled a little bit out since if the car got really hot it would have overflown (still above max when up to temp though).

I've added coolant twice since then (total of about 20 oz) and it again got below the min mark, so took it to the dealer - 19,500 mi and 2 yr/4 mo.

The pressure tested the system and said they couldn't find any issues, filled the resivoir and sent me on my way.

I'd like to know where it's going.

If i was you i would call AOA on that. Im going to monitor mine and if its low again I'm going to call AOA. It would be unacceptable to me if its low again after another 5-6k miles. Mine went from the full mark when i bought it new to just under the low mark at 5k miles. I can see air left in the system from factory, but not the second go around. I know a pressure test won't reveal to much. I might do my own pressure test when its cold and see what happens. But ill deff be calling AOA if its low again. There is a problem if it keeps loosing that much coolant. Hell if they won't do anything. Ill just let it run low and melt the engine down and make them do something. They will have to fix it then.

[Skywagon]

My car is doing the same thing. At 11K I added about 4 oz., then at 18k i had to add another 4oz. I can still see the level is dwindling very slowly, but have hesitated bringing it to the dealer because tune. I can see white crust around the coolant cap though, i wonder if it is just evaporating.


Yep, it's evaporating Shizzshit, just like your mind!