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Pulled the car out of the garage this morning and the coolant light came on. It was fairly well below the 'Min' level on the header tank so I topped it up. After a short 7-8 mile journey, returned home and noticed slight steaming above the bonnet on the offside. The coolant level had dropped slightly so I pulled the lower plastic grille off, and sure enough the auxiliary rad matrix was wet and there was some coolant on the deflector lip on the undertray.

Just a few question guys:

1. I assume it's a bumper/grille off jobbie, but is it a fairly straightforward job to replace it?

2. Is it worth replacing both rads at the same time? As far as I know, they're both original.

3. I topped up with tap water, then read Murph's 'coolant' thread and realised I should have used the proper stuff Should I drain the entire system down and refill with the proper coolant?

As always, any advice would be appreciated

3.

Offside aux rad can be replaced with the CAF. Expense is less and will help the car breathe better.

IIRC replacing the rad will need the coolant dropped anyway so might as well replace.

If your going to just replace the rad I would do both,i had the same problem a few weeks ago so just done away with the drivers side one and put a caf in and changed the passenger side one.

Passenger side wasn't leaking but wasn't in great condition and would probably have failed within the next year so what with having the bumper off and having the coolant drained anyway I just changed it to save doing it all again in the near future.

Bought the rad from Stoke audi for about £180,everywhere else I tried was wanting just over £200.

Well I'm off work this week so thought I'd crack on with the aux rad replacement. Decided to stick with the original twin rad set up. New rad from Stoke Audi arrived Monday (£189). I already had one I got from Aberdeen Audi in a sale last year ((130).

Being an Audi the swap over is predictably a PITA. Obviously it requires bumper/grille removal, then take plastic shrouds off and there's quite a few brackets to remove too. To get at the hose clips it's necessary to take the headlight units out too. Because it's so tight to get at the clips I got some special pliers to remove them - much easier than pratting about with pipe pliers or mole grips. I also needed a replacement o/s shroud (£24) as the flange on the bottom was cracked and the bolts were very badly corroded. Got everything connected back up today so time for a fire up tomorrow.

What can possibly go wrong ?

Should give the oil pipes a once over and paint to hold off corrosion

Btw both rads are the same but the passenger one has a bung In one inlet

Rick_RS4 wrote:Should give the oil pipes a once over and paint to hold off corrosion

The pipes and connectors are fine Ric (they're JSM I fitted last year with shrink wrap and grease to provide added protection).

Fingers crossed it all works and its leak free!

Wy are Audi's a really pain to work on when doing ANYTHING!

Rick_RS4 wrote:Should give the oil pipes a once over and paint to hold off corrosion

Paint with what?

I think some guys give the original steel connectors a couple of coats of Hammerite or similar.

Audi Pardner wrote:I think some guys give the original steel connectors a couple of coats of Hammerite or similar.

@gt2 - yes, this. Smoothrite or alike. Galvanic corrosion won't be stopped so a pipe switch at some point will be on the cards...

neilparf wrote:

Audi Pardner wrote:I think some guys give the original steel connectors a couple of coats of Hammerite or similar.

@gt2 - yes, this. Smoothrite or alike. Galvanic corrosion won't be stopped so a pipe switch at some point will be on the cards...

Definitely. Just delaying the inevitable.

Audi Pardner wrote:

neilparf wrote:

Audi Pardner wrote:I think some guys give the original steel connectors a couple of coats of Hammerite or similar.

@gt2 - yes, this. Smoothrite or alike. Galvanic corrosion won't be stopped so a pipe switch at some point will be on the cards...

Definitely. Just delaying the inevitable.

Yep. Ridiculous really!

Finished it this afternoon. Two new aux rads installed, fired up, no leaks temp up to a steady 90. Bumper/grille back on and new rads sprayed with chain lube (thicker than WD-40) so fingers crossed all looks OK. Nice to get behind the wheel again after a two week lay-off