Daltron

Ok so I have a 1997 Audi a4 2.8 Quattro sitting in my driveway. I first noticed my problem a week ago. I asked my friend who owns an Audi a6 what could be causing my car to overheat and blink the coolant light. He mention a bad thermostat.

I bought this car used from a private owner back in late December of 2008. I had the same coolant in it up to a few months ago. I started to develop a crack in my coolant expansion tank so I ordered an OEM to replace. This is the new stuff I just learned! A few months ago I swapped tanks and put some all make all model coolant in my car. I recently found out that a g12 based coolant is required. This is not what is in my car now. I plan to flush the car and replace the coolant before any further travels. Anyway my car is overheating. I bought a new thermostat to replace the old but I let the car warm up and the rad hose gets very hot. So I think it is still good. What else could be causing my problem?

I also have a cylinder 1 misfire and also looking into it.

Audi enthusiast I call upon you to help me with my troubles please help me out!

AudiMick

Where is the temp gauge pointing?

Does it overheat in traffic or on the highway?

Is the secondary electric fan operating? The fan should run all the time when the Ac is on or if the engine starts to overheat.

The viscous cooling fan tends to fail at high miles. This causes overheating in traffic.

Has the water pump been replaced recently? The original water pumps had plastic impellers that break. Engine overheats at speed.

Replacing the thermostat is about a 4 hour job. 90% of a timing belt replacement so if the timing belt is due, now's the time.

The universal coolant is not the problem. I have used G05 with no problems in my A4.Peak Global Universal works well also. If you want to do a full flush then replace with G12 but otherwise don't waste money until you fix the problem.

Daltron

The temp gauge idles at the middles but when I drove it down the street it pointed to the H and the coolant light flashed on.

It overheated going down the road not far.

I ran the car up and down the road and the second fan did turn on. When I ran it this time It ran at the first mark after the half mark.

I dont know if the water pump was replaced. I never did but not sure if the previous owner did.

AudiMick

Water pump should have been replaced along with timing belt at about 75,000 miles. If the car has lower miles than that it probably should be checked as it's 12 years old.

If you don't know the history you should consider replacing it ASAP. If the pump fails you will pretty much wreck the engine when the pump seizes then the timing belt jumps several cogs and all 6 pistons collide with 12 valves. (not pretty)

The water pump is the weak point on the V6. As I said some of the originals have plastic impellers that break and cause this problem.

Your other options are the viscous fan clutch and they are kind of $$$ or a plugged radiator.

Daltron

Ok so Now for another question. I have been looking into water pumps and want to by one tonight. Ive been reading about the OEM plastic water pump and also the New metal water pump...what should I go with please recomend and possible links to a 97 audi a4 2.8 12v water pump.

AudiMick

Buy a complete water pump kit. This includes all the belts, tensioner, themostat and gaskets/ seals.

ECS Tuning
Blau
Pure MS
Autohaus AZ

Here's a page from ECS.


http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...h/Timing_Belt/

This is about a 4-5 hour job.