silverkris

My car overheated yesterday - the temp gauge got pretty hot and the high temperature warning light came on. Pulled off the side of the road after exiting the freeway, smelled coolant. Opened the hood and saw the coolant bubbing away, and surging out of the coolant recovery tank - I think there is an aperture that allows boiled over coolant to get released to relieve pressure. Fortunately I was really close to home, and after a moment, I was able to limp back to the house. Afterwards, I noticed that the coolant had pretty much boiled off in the recovery tank - I will need to add some G12 and water to it, ran out of the G12 I had in garage, will need to get some early Monday morning. In any case I am going to take the car to the shop Monday (tomorrow).

Problem could be as follows:
1) water pump failure (I had replaced this at 70,000 miles together w timing belt, car now has 139,000 miles on it), bad impeller (I've heard that these things break easily)
2) bad thermostat (also was replaced at the same time as WP & TB)
3) coolant temperature sensor (just replaced a month ago when the temp gauge started soaring high even when car was cold).

My question - do you think it would be safe to drive the car to the shop, which is about 2.5 to 3 miles away, in town, on surface streets, or should I get a tow truck??

monkeytronic

Anytime the engine overheats there is the chance of engine damage. Driving the car even a short distance when it is known that its engine has overheated is just asking for a more expensive repair bill.

Just Me

If you can get there without the temp approaching the red, go ahead. But note that the temp will rise very quickly. It is possible that you would need to go part way, wait 1+ hour and continue.

A tow is of course safer. But its simply a matter of not allowing the temp to rise.

The t-stats in these cars are notorious for failing. Sometimes open, sometimes closed.

Mine was closed last time.

G

Airbag

you can always try it . get it and go . put the heater on MAXIMUM and prey to good you hit every green light ... then if it overhats or hit the red get a tow from there .. personally I would go for it .. but that's just me .

Redneck Truck

responded to the wrong post, sorry!

my buddy's battery light came on while he was driving his 99 528I. he drove for 10 more minutes, and then noticed the temp gauge was at the top. turns out he threw the accessory belt that drove the water pump. when he pulled over, the car shut itself off. bad things.

when i wrecked my golf TDI, it broke one of the radiator hose fittings off. i watched the gauge and kept driving, and it only got over 190 when i was going up a hill. pulled over, smelled hot motor oil, grabbed a water hose and sprayed it in the radiator hose, got a blast of steam and the gauge jumped to the top of the range. OOPS!

don't pull a Chernobyl. stop driving, take the money you'd spend on a new motor and buy a cheap japanese car and drive it while you fix whatever damage has occurred already.

2.7Lturbo

heres my experience... DONT DRIVE IT. notice how alot of people say the temps will rise quickly? thants not good, dosent matter of you overheat, temps rising too fast can cause bad thing ie warped head... dont believe me ? just talk to my jetta track car.... oh wait, its gone......

silverkris

Thanks for all your replies. In the end, I opted to call AAA to get the car towed - it worked out because my membership allows for a free tow under 5 miles (and it's 3 miles to the service garage). I also didn't have enough coolant in the system - I ran out of G12 and I didn't want to have to run to the Audi dealership to buy a gallon (about $23 - pretty pricey).

I'm waiting on word from the shop to see what the problem is. And after a number of service trips, my wife is strongly urging me to dump the car and get a new vehicle. But that's another story...