RubinAudi0106

So i just bought a 01 S4 with 96k miles. Runs great and haven't had an issue with it...so far. We have had it a week now and on my way home i started to notice a funky smell in the car when the vents were on. I thought it might have been a car around me. I didn't notice any temperature spikes, nothing was flashing no codes or warning lights.

I parked the car and went inside my home. When my husband came in, he said the car was smoking in the driveway and all the coolant was dumped on the driveway.

From reading on this form, alot of people have the same issue? What was the outcome? Was it a waterpump issue? Aux. Oil Cooler? burst pipe?

I just want to know what I'm looking at. It's been a very stressful two weeks after we had to sell our last car to carmax due to some unforseen HUGE engine problems (we bought from a private seller). We got the S4 because i love cars and i was giving my jeep to my hubby. We just had to get some repairs on the jeep as well and it seems that our car crisis never ends.

Any help would be GREAT! This is my first Audi. Not my first German made car (had a BMW...long story, and not a good one).

Flyboy

The aux. coolant pump underneath the intake manifold is a common failure item on the S4's. The waterpump could fail if they hadn't replaced it, but if that were the case you'd probably have more significant problems than just leaking coolant.

RubinAudi0106

yeah, all we have is that all the coolant dumped out of it. Upon looking at the manual, we noticed that the coolant tank was brown and the tap had brown goo on it. I know that's not supposed to be like that. Could it just be that the coolant dumped because a line burst? There are no other problems. The car has run great for the past week, actually it ran really cold. When i noticed the smell today, the temperature was just to left of center and i've never noticed it ever get higher than that before, it always runs pretty cold.

So all in all, the temperature never spiked, there are no warnings running on the dash, even with no coolant in it. ???

DeYellowS4

I would guess the Aux Water pump from what I have studied here on Audi World. Very similar situation to mine last week. Had to call tow truck last Thursday. I will let you know what my mechanic says when he calls. I have had my car since 2003 or so...great car and lots of fun. I also had the coolant reservoir crack, but as fast as you lost your fluid I would say that is not the problem.

audikidS4

I had the same problem when I got my S. First the hoses at the tank on the T fitting were cracked and weeping coolent. I replaced the suspect hoses, but was still loosing coolent and engine was steaming when parked hot.

As suspected the dreaded Aux water pump under the intate mani was leaking. Just kept adding coolent for about a year or more, then last fall, just as it was getting cold out, the bastard let go and was pissing so much coolent it was basically undrivable.

I obtained a new pump from ECS prior, but had not yet installed it. I had to grab the pump and scramble the biotch out from under the intake mani. I did it without removing the intake mani, but the job was tricky due to tight access. My big bet is Aux water pump - common failure! GL...

Lucky736

If it all dumped at once, did you check the lower radiator hose or the radiator itself? My radiator was damaged when the car was being serviced, by a huge B5 tuner, and would lose coolant from the puncture in the radiator once parked after a couple of mins. Anyway, might want to check out either of these 2 scenarios. Maybe you picked up a rock or something in the rad and have a puncture. Remember too, only replace the coolant with the pink stuff.

RubinAudi0106

The coolant dumped from the back of the engine. It wouldn't be the radiator. We haven't looked under it yet since we have that plastic cover, which is highly annoying when trying to find out what's wrong under the car. My husband doesn't want to mess with it in case it voids a warrenty...but i'm going to take a look when i get home to see what it might be. From what everyone and what i keep reading, it must be a AWP. There are no other problems with the car at all. It must have blown when i got home because I didn't notice anything when I drove it.

Yeah, I know about the pink coolant, i'm thinking that the dealer we got it from mixed in the wrong stuff before we bought it.

thejulex

It is 99.9% of times the aux coolant pump. The brown goo you see in your expansion tank is most likely due to somebody adding common green coolant to audi specific pink coolant (such a mix gels and foams). It would seem like it was leaking before and some moron (yes, I meant it) added green stuff.

The car needs to be serviced and aux pump replaced. It is not an easy DIY so you should have the dealer fix it and make sure they replaced it with Audi coolant. It will be pink.

RubinAudi0106

We're going to call our warrenty place and have it towed to be looked at and fixed. I sure hope its covered. Thanks! That's what everyone's been saying that it must be the AWP, can't find any other explaination why the coolant would just dump like that from the back of the engine when it was running fine before.

Yes, that's the first thing we looked at was the manual to see what kind of coolant it needed, that's when we looked at the tank and saw the brown goo.

DeYellowS4

My Mechanic called today and said it was the AWP. I will let you know how much it cost to fix. Good luck.