A4 B8 Quattro Avant towbar. Why does my cooling system need an upgrade to fit??

[EX09]

Hi. New to posting here. Long time lurker!

So, I have an A4 B8 Avant 3.0 TDI Quattro and have ordered a detachable towbar and dedicated model-specific 13 pin wiring loom. I read in various places that this would require modifications to the cooling system. Before I abandon the kids on boxing day, get the car on the lift and fit the kit, can anyone shed any light on this statement? I could understand maybe an autobox needing a larger cooler for towing heavy loads and it only seems to affect 08 and 09 models. Where does my 6MT fit in to this requirement?

At the risk of sounding a bit thick, I thought cooling at front of car and towbar at the back so what is this mysterious modification? I have read it from multiple sources for different brands of tow bar and from multiple suppliers. At least one supplier suggests that an upgraded alternator may be needed. Again, I am struggling to understand the correlation. I have read the instructions that come with the towbar and I see no mention of it so I am presuming that this is a rogue statement from a company that normally supplies towbars for Veyrons or some other rear engined cars whose owners fancy holidays with the Airstream! OR is this alternator upgrade required because of the extra load of a split-charge circuit?

I was baffled and may have answered my own questions so if anyone can confirm I will be grateful.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

EX09

[zollaf]

stick 2 tons on the back of a car thats not built to tow and the try climbing a long hill, working the engine to its limit and it will overheat. if that 2 tons is a caravan with a fridge and leisure batteries then the alternator is going to be working overtime to keep them all charged, so upgrading may be required. in days gone by cars were built with this in mind so cooling systems tended to be bigger. a landrover for instance is built to be able to tow 4 tons flat out across the sahara, on a hot day. your car is built to sit on a motorway..

[EX09]

:thumbs: thought as much. Thank you for your answer.

[Jethro48]

The upgrades are only necessary for countries with a hot climate! Here in the UK they are not needed.

I did did a lot of research before getting mine fitted and all of the suppliers had different advice than a lot of the dealers. Got some good advice from friends who work with tow bars and had this confirmed by my tow bar suppliers PF Jones.

had mine on for 3 years now with absolutely no issues or problems and I tow a caravan 6 - 10 times a year!

[zollaf]

i do think there is a certain amount of backside covering . but then it does make it easy to turn down a warranty claim for a lot of things if you have a towbar fitted.

[EX09]

Thanks again. It all makes sense. I don't think Audi have ever matched the B4 platform for longevity and reliability. They all went a bit more fragile since around 1995. So in some ways it doesn't surprise me that would include some 'get out' clauses. The advice only covers B8s up to March 2009 iirc so I presume there were some upgrades to the production run at that point. At least to some models.