2009 A4 Thermostat Assembly

[MTrain13]

Took my car to the dealership and they told me I needed to replace my thermostat and turbocharger. They told me $3500 they can do both, but being a broke college student, can't afford it until I find a real paying job. The turbocharger can wait, but is it important to replace the thermostat? The guy at the dealership didn't sound it like it needed be replaced immediately, and if so, is it an easy thing to do on your own or is there someplace that can do it cheaper?

[richardm0025]

You can do both of those yourself. Find a used oem turbo for 200-300$ and or screw around with the actuator rod. It would be ideal to replace the t-stat as soon as possible. If your not over heating then I guess you can drive on it but you also do not want the engine to not heat up to operating temperature.




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[van462]

What was the original reason for the dealership visit? P0299 code for the turbo is not a hidden code and always illuminates if it is losing pressure. I believe that a stuck water pump codes as cooling system performance as it senses the system taking too long to come to temp. I do not know if it will store as a hidden code or not. They may have noticed some light leakage at the water pump and suggested it due to that and the 09 has turbos that came with bad bushings and is a fairly common fail and one they are likely to look for to drum up business/new sales.

[MTrain13]

Sorry for the late response, I was at work. But I had my engine recently rebuilt due to the oil consumption and after a month, my check engine light went off, so I took it in. They told me the turbo was a common problem and their was a 70,000 mile warranty on it (I'm at 79,000).

Is the thermostat an easy fix? I don't know what operating temperature is, but it never gets to red, the temperature goes up to the halfway mark

[Elmsb8]

I recently replaced the thermostat and water pump on my B8. It isn't that hard to do it yourself. It is a bit time consuming though.


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[van462]

If you have the service ticket look to see what codes they read. Due to the age of the original water pump they may be suggesting replacement to prevent another dealer visit down the road or they may have see dried pink coolant indicating its a weeping leak. The thermostat is part of the water pump assembly.