iggawiggy

So I just got my 30k service on my 2018 A4 (only 27k miles on the car) and they had to replace the thermostat housing, swapped the water pump, and put in a new gasket since it was leaking coolant pretty bad.

Is this a common thing that needs to be replaced before 30k miles? This is very concerning I do love the car but I'm starting to doubt if I want to keep it beyond warranty.

PghRich

I haven't heard of that on an A4 recently, but I've had it on other cars. Things happen - sometimes you're the unlucky one in 10,000 that sees an issue. One issue wouldn't make me question the entire vehicle.

DeXel

This is a known weak point. There are several revisions of the housing, and you probably got the latest one after the swap. I haven't heard anyone who had a leak with the latest revision. My 2019 A4 has latest revision, but then my 2017 didn't leak either with roughly 30k miles when I returned it. It's not that expensive to replace imo out of warranty if you like this car otherwise.

iggawiggy

Thanks for the replies yeah I guess it was just one of the unlucky ones but like you said hopefully this new revision will fix any older version issues.

Versprechen

I have a 2017 and just last week brought the car in for an oil change at 25k miles and asked for a coolant pressure test due to this topic coming more than once here (plus my coolant level seemed to be on the low side), and they confirmed a leak and replaced only the thermostat and seal, reinstalling the water pump. Never saw any fluid on the ground, I guess because it was a slow leak and the underbody shield covers a fairly broad area on this car.

black.cat

Had mine changed at 35K. I complained about the scent of coolant after long drives and they checked and replaced it... but they didn’t tighten the clamp on the charge pipe after removing it for clearance, so the change pipe blew off the turbo housing when I left the dealership and got on the ramp and the boost kicked in. I had to pull over, find the issue, then figure out how to place the gasket back into the charge pipe and I just tightened it down and went on my way. Luckily I have good eyes flathead screwdriver in my trunk.

ovidiu45

Black.cat,

I thought the turbo's were oil-cooled in our cars. Why would there be a coolant interface to the turbo?

black.cat

No it just looked like they loosened the clamp on the charge pipe to gain clearance to the thermostat at the engine block, but didn’t secure the charge pipe clamp after reassembly, so it blew itself off the turbo inlet when I fist reached boost. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

ovidiu45

Ah, that makes a lot more sense once I took a look at where these pipes are/connect. Thanks!

NJRoadFan

VW just had to pay out a class action lawsuit on water pump failures on the EA888 engine across various models, including the previous generation A4s. The gen 3 engines in the B9 have a redesigned waterpump housing, so this is disappointing. You'd think they would have had this fixed after a lawsuit.