Audi Value Service - £149 - question

[danclyon]

So I had this done today. One observation - weeping driveshaft on NSF - which is warranty with the insurance company as they replaced it after SWMBO re-modelled the car in December last year.

But this time, there's Coolant on the invoice. Total still comes to £149, which given the 2 hours it took and the coffee and biccies I consumed and the fact they've done a damn fine job of cleaning it in and out is fair - but just wondering if anyone knows what unit the coolant is sold in? It says Qty 1. I'm assuming it's to replace the amount they take out to test (as I saw them do that and it was a decent size mug of it!)

Anyone know if this is now normal practice?

Oh and I nearly had them on the "things that needed doing" - tyres were priced at £11.70 each. I said do all 5 ;-) They realised their error though sadly )

Cheers,
Dan.

[mikeybutch]

I think what the did was to test the strength of antifreeze and then if it was too low remove some coolant so they could add antifreeze to boost the strength probably up to a litre.You should have had this explained but if it was an agreed price and it didnt cost you then I would liked to have known what their results were and was the coolant very low cos this may need you to check it in case theres a leak

[danclyon]

Well it's not got a leak as it hasn't moved a mm on the reservoir - suspect they just took some out, charged for topping it back up and the numbers wouldn't add up to $149 dead if they charged less than 1.0 of that unit

[rhencullen1989]

I would have thought a dealer would be buying in their coolant/anti-freeze in large size containers, at least 20 litres, if they had to use some to top your car up i would assume they just put down for 1 off unit regardless of how much they put in, unless of course it's a complete change of coolant.

When the strength of my coolant was checked, a pipette full was taken out and put into (i think) a refractometer, this gives a reading of the temp it will freeze at.

[white.akita]

I thought refractometers measure salt in water?

[OVI82]

The G20++ I bought last month from main dealer came in 1.5l bottle.

[danclyon]

Cracked it - after a quick phone call. The coolant was tested to -29, they want -30 so they replaced some. Re-tested now good to -35 apparently

[rhencullen1989]

I thought refractometers measure salt in water?

It was definately called a Refractometer, and can be used to measure the strength of anti-freeze, strength of windscreen wash and battery acid.

[mikeybutch]

Cracked it - after a quick phone call. The coolant was tested to -29, they want -30 so they replaced some. Re-tested now good to -35 apparently

As I thought long as they didnt charge you for any antifreeze otherwise -29 would have beenOK for most