overheating

[Nikon44]

So I was driving and all the sudden my coolant temp shot straight to hot. I pulled over and shut her off. I started her up dorve her a bit and the temp slowly started to climb. So I will be getting her towed home tonight and start ripping her apart tomorrow.

Sorry for any spelling errors I am posting this from my blackberry.

I figure the problem lies in the water pump. Any input would by great.

I did a search and came up with possibilities

Thermostat
Water pump
Fan switch
Fan

-Sean

[04QuattroTurbo]

T-Stat would be my first check. But I think you covered the list very well, maybe coolant level? BTW, turning on the heater may lower your engine temp, to prevent it from getting way too hot, in time for you to pull it over and have it towed.

[AudiA4Turbo22]

same happened to me, my waterpump blew and no matter what i did temp went straight up!

[LampyB]

add Temperature Sensor to the list. this is a very inexpensive and easy part to replace, and is especially common in B5 models. but overall your thermostat is probably stuck in position causing the car to run hot. i doubt it's a bad water pump. more often than not when this goes bad your engine will react much more severely than just overheating. blowing a water pump will cause thousands in damage...

how many miles do you have on the car?

[Arclight]

H2O pump....

[windyctyaudi]

Could also be a bad head gasket.

[Nikon44]

77k on the car. I don't know if the timing belt or water pump have been changed. I bought the car with 76K on it. I was planning on ordering the kit monday to for the water pump, timing belt and everything else. Hopefully I prevented a potential major issue.

If I recall correctly if the head gasket blew my exhaust would be bellowing white smoke? Which it was not doing.

Also I talked to a couple people and was told that if the water pump had completely failed the coolant temp would have gone to hot more quickly then the gradual heat increases that i was getting.

-Sean

[absolutegtr]

Dont scare him with the whole headgasket crap, lol

Most likely the plastic water pump, broke apart....sounds like u know what your doing anyways

[diagnosticator]

It's academic, but when coolant temp climbs to Hot at above idle speed, and can be somewhat cooled by using the heater on High, then it's likely the coolant pump impeller is cracked and slipping on the pump drive shaft at speeds above idle. The other case of the broken plastic impeller is when the coolant temp climbs no matter what the RPM, or if the heater is ON, instead of being cracked, it's actually broken in two, and separated from the drive shaft completely. In that case the heater can't help because there is no coolant flow at all. Never add coolant to an system that has overheated/boiled over, without allowing the engine to cool down for at least a half hour or longer first.

[windyctyaudi]

Dont scare him with the whole headgasket crap, lol

Most likely the plastic water pump, broke apart....sounds like u know what your doing anyways

lol it was just a suggestion... ive had mine goout on me before

[B6 Dude]

Someone selling a car at 76K most probably did NOT have the timing belt replaced, so def do that.
The B5 also had a problem with the coolant flanges cracking, especially after the car overheats (this according to an Audi tech), and it's a low cost part. If this is common with B6's (I'm not sure if it is though), then perhaps replace that as well.

[kampfer]

OK, well you scare me when you say don't scare him with the head gasket crap, I was just told a few minutes ago I have a blown head gasket.

[tbaggs]

Could also be a bad head gasket.

+2 check for a blown gasket asap before anymore damage is done