A4 2.7 TDI Coolant Leak - Top hose replacement?

[PJK]

Hi everyone,

I've owned my 2008 B8 A4 since it was 4 months old and it has been a joy to drive and up to now totally reliable.

Unfortunately over the last couple of days I have noticed a strong smell of hot coolant and on investigation the expansion bottle was more or less empty. There is a pool of pink liquid between the heads in the same area as the top hose which appears to run from the EGR cooler into the block. I say appears, because access is restricted and without taking off components such as the inlet manifold, it's difficult to see exactly what is going on. I can't even get my hand around the hose to tell if it is this that is the issue.

I've always had the car serviced by Audi main dealers, but now that it's well out of warranty and with 108,000 miles on the clock I am seriously considering attempting to fix the issue myself. I have accessed Erwin.Audi.com and printed off the relevant technical documents, but the amount of parts that need to be removed seems quite scary!

As well as the Audi, I own a couple of old Jags; so I am quite used to messing about with old cars and I have a garage that I can do the work in over a few days if required.

My big question is, has anyone actually done this job before and if so what are the pitfalls and things I need to know before I start taking it all to bits. Is it worth me doing it myself or should I just limp the car to my friendly local Audi dealer and open my cheque book?

Any suggestions / ideas gratefully received.

Paul

[PJK]

Well I didn't get any replies to my question or advice on how best to proceed, so decided to put the car in the hands of a specialist rather that give myself up to the local dealer.

I ended up using Dean Hill of 4 Rings Ltd in Dartford, Kent. Dean proved to be both honest and knowledgeable, quickly finding the issue to be a leaking EGR Cooler return hose end piece. This was replaced and the car is now back on the road where it belongs, at a fraction of the hourly rate that my local dealer would have charged!