P1B1C00 - Coolant Pump Mechanical Malfunction - Losing Coolant

[coop3422]

Hey everyone,

Just absolutely gutted right now.

I was heading home from work and my car threw P1B1C00: coolant pump malfunction. I pulled over and shut the car off, coolant was just below min, temp was normal. I'm terrible and hadn't checked it so was hoping it was just low.

Stopped at Audi on the way home and picked up some coolant hoping it was just low and threw the code. Temp was good the whole time so I topped off the coolant and drove home on the highway at 114km/h watching the temp like a hawk and stopping a couple times to check the coolant level.

Looked like it went down slightly but got home.
Cleared the code with my OBDeleven and started the car for a moment. Code didn't come back, but it didn't idle long. I put some cardboard under the motor to see if there were any drips.

The coolant level is dropping and nothing on the cardboard. I think my time finally came and I got hit with the 1 main B8.5 S4 weak point; PCV valve and other coolant items underneath the supercharger. I can't see any liquid in the engine bay and I don't notice a smell, but it's clearly losing coolant.

I'm guessing I'm gonna have to get it to the shop for Monday and hopefully someone can look at it eventually.

After 4.5 years of bulletproof reliability, I think I'm finally faced with an ugly German repair bill.
Thanks man, open to any thoughts. I did read on Audi zine about there being a T valve, but that might have only been for the Q5 SQ5 models. I don't expect to get lucky here at this point.
Thank man!


Up to this far is a copy and paste of what I've sent to my mechanic who I have a great relationship with and sold him Telco services for his new shop. He did the clutch on my old s2000 and I've trusted him ever since.

His quick reply was "Hey no worries, yep get it to the shop and we can check it out, depending which pipe it’s not hard to change the piping ".



My question:

Based on my code, losing coolant and nothing under the car, am I correct in expecting the PCV valve and other under supercharger items? This was the main repair I knew would be possible eventually based on research before I bought the car. 4.5 years and 45k km later (I'm at 133k km) , I'm not shocked as I'm at the mileage range that I kind of expected it. Just had timing as I changed jobs 1.5 years ago and it was a terrible change and I'm looking for something new, so things are thought which doesn't help.

Anything else I should know, or ask him to look at while he's in there? I've been putting off new plugs that I'll get him to do while he's in there. I could flush all fluids, but might push that down the road as I suspect this won't be a cheap repair.

Thanks everyone!

[Nillious]

Check your oil if you haven't. Take the oil cap off and look at it should be just oil residue no brown or white sludge or grease looking substances.

The pcv will drip externally but only after the valley fills with coolant and overflows. As far as the coolant dropping that's normal after being low as it probably has air in the system. Bleed your intercoolers and heater core hose. Run it for a while with the cap off to allow any air to escape. Any time it gets that low you pretty much need to bleed it out again and get it full before you establish a baseline for loss.

Slow leaking intercoolers will sometimes have no symptoms. You could check your spark plugs for signs of coolant as well.

[coop3422]

Check your oil if you haven't. Take the oil cap off and look at it should be just oil residue no brown or white sludge or grease looking substances.

The pcv will drip externally but only after the valley fills with coolant and overflows. As far as the coolant dropping that's normal after being low as it probably has air in the system. Bleed your intercoolers and heater core hose. Run it for a while with the cap off to allow any air to escape. Any time it gets that low you pretty much need to bleed it out again and get it full before you establish a baseline for loss.

Slow leaking intercoolers will sometimes have no symptoms. You could check your spark plugs for signs of coolant as well.

Thanks for your reply!

Interestingly I checked this morning and while the lever did drop, it's holding in between min and max. So it's possible that because it was below the min, I could be seeing it drop but potentially NOT have a leak as the coolant settles into the system?

I might take it around the block today to see if any codes come back. I was planning to fill it up and take it to my mechanic today, not sure what's best to do.

Appreciate your insight, I'll check the oil in a bit when I get home.

Thanks

[Fresh.S4]

how cold is it where you are at?
doesnt the coolant level sometimes move when the weather has extreme shifts?

[coop3422]

how cold is it where you are at?
doesnt the coolant level sometimes move when the weather has extreme shifts?

This weekend for cold, it's parked in a garage but the highs have been -15 C.

That or there was air in the system and it settled, causing the level to drop. There were never smells or any indication of a leak.

I cleared the code and left it over Friday night. I was expecting it to be empty by morning thinking worse case so was happy to see it between the min and max yesterday morning. I topped it off to max and ran it with the coolant lid off for 10 mins. Came to to temp and stayed at max after shutting off. Took it for a rip last night and everything was fine, I think I'm lucky and the error warning was just because of the low coolant.

I've been a bit neglectful maintenance wise getting stuck in a crap job. Should be remedied shortly so I'm going to get everything taken care of.

Thanks all.