coolant loss

[neil2975]

hello

i have an audi A3 20tdi 140 and i love it, it is a 2003 model, but over the last few months i have been topping up coolant levels, every few days now, the other day the car died on me when i went to overtake , it wouldnt rev over 3000 revs, i stopped, turned the ignition off , turned it bk on it was back to normal, it did that a couple of more times then the engine management light came on, had this checked out with my local garage, came up with a fault code of 16502, coolant temp signal too high, i asked if i should replace the sensor but he said it might not be the problem, any help would be much appreciated, also the fan kicks in almost as soon as the car is started

[bmac19872005]

i had a similar problem with my a3 and it only got worse.i thought i had a leak somewhere but i had a pressure test done on it and it wasnt the gasket or any hoses so thought nothing of it and then 1 day i checked my oil and noticed that it had mixed with the engine coolant. i was told it was the oil cooler and that there prone to go on them too, so i replaced it and its running fine now. so that could also be your problem it cost me £200 to get it done at a garage which isnt too bad really. gud luck ben

[neil2975]

thanks ben, every bit of help is much appreciated cos it is doing my head in, i jumped in the car this morning and yet it again it was asking for coolant, i went to top it up , but it was at its max limit in the expansion tank, very strange, i have a mate that works at audi and he did mention that, i am waiting on him getting back to me , as he was going to look into it, he even said it will be process of elimination, i think ill go for the coolant sensor change 1st, then if that doesnt work, ill give the oil cooler ago

[neil2975]

had coolant system pressure tested today, little bit loss, 1/4 bar in 20 mins, no visual external leaks, no oil mixing in coolant or, water mixing with oil, my mate who works at audi, says it mite be the egr cooler, he is going to test that for me, going to change coolant temp sensor as that was the problem witch came up on diagnostics , he said they get **** loads in at audi with head problems, especially the 20tdi, he checked oil and other stuff and he said that seems fine, but still, im not much further to to sorting the coolant loss problem

[jpk_ny]

I had exactly the same problem where it would die when accelerating 70+ and was fine once the car was stopped and restarted. It was also using all of the coolant in a week.

Took it in to the garage who said that it had a leak in the radiator which was causing the coolant leak (fixed for 300) and that the loss of accelaration was due to the turbo. Apparently the turbo is becoming a regular problem with 2.0TDis and so I had it replaced - about 850 quid. That has definitely fixed the loss of power problem.

However, the coolant continued to disappear so I took it back and it was diagnosed as the cylinder head. I did some ringing round and it seems like this is becoming another problem seen more and more frequently on the 2.0 TDi. Last week I had it done and it cost about 2,000 pounds. This was supposed to cure the problem but today I checked the coolant level and the level is down to below minimum again. If they fixed the cylinder head and it's still happening does this mean that it wasn't the cylinder head and I spent 2,000 pounds for nothing?

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[neil2975]

thanks for your reply, well itook the plunge, and my mate did the cylinder head gasket for me, unfortunately when the head got sent away to get skimmed, the found that the head was cracked, apparently its a big problem, lucky for me its just parts cost for me, still, i got a new head for 580 quid, from audi, so i got the water pump, timing belt everything changed while it was in bits, apparently the coolant was going down the exhaust side , so it was never to be seen, never once gave me problems in starting and overheating, now the problem is that i havnt got ant power lower end of the revs, my mate at audi is working on it as i speak, so fingers crossed, this car has been a nightmare, il let you know the outcome