oil cooler pipes split

[voyager162]

typically on way back to staffs from stanstead, oil level light came on, used 10 litres of oil to get home

removed bumper and as expected a large split on solid bend before pipe enters oil cooler. corrosion actually really bad for a 4yr old car, the other pipe looks like its about to follow.

will go down to the stealers tomorrow to see what the dmg is for 2 new pipes

corrosion is so bad the pipe collapsed trying to undo the nut on the cooler, i had to split both nuts on the cooler to get them off as they were solid and i probably would have damaged to cooler trying to undo them.

to be honest i am really shocked how badly these pipes have held up, and of course my warranty ran out 4 months ago !!

will update when i get a price, which i expect wont be cheap as they are a fairly long and complex set of solid and swaged fittings.

[grizz]

Sorry to say its a very common problem ..

[adsgreen]

And very common for the cooler to be damaged too.

Expect a new rad.

[P_G]

wasn't sonny selling a set of pipes plus rad in the classifieds?

[sonny]

I dont think you can buy the pipes, they come with the rad. Think it was about 1200 from dealer(could be wrong). Mines still for sale and has slight corrosion on pipes. Not bad for 40 quid

[Dom81]

I'm sure a metallurgist can help me out (we seem to have every field covered on the forum) but I've been reliably informed that the combination of metals on the rad / pipe cause the corrosion issue by themselves - almost without external factors

It's beyond me, but from someone most of you would trust...

[lengster1]

A steel coupling nut mated to an alloy rad is always going be a problem lets ju st say they dont get on! The real problem is the quality of the steel pipe,they can be changed seperatly but the nut WILL be siezed to the cooler,i had to do one on mine and like the OP cut across the nut until see thethreads then carefully spread open the nut and let wd40 or similar soak in,The pipes are available seperatly @ over 100 ea if i remember correctly,i greased up the full lot when done.

[adsgreen]

From my understanding, best way to think of it - steel + aluminium + water + salt = battery.
The corrosion is a by product of the reaction - no different to the white crud that sometimes leaks out of batteries.

The crappy thing is this is really basic engineering and is always going to happen. You can protect it with an insulation compound but that's about it.

Wonder if you can get aluminium connectors?

[Pie]

Would something like Denso tape offer any additional protection?

Yes it would be royal pain in the backside having to remove to inspect but the stuff works a treat offshore.

[grizz]

The pipe is £112+vat ....

[adsgreen]

Would something like Denso tape offer any additional protection?

Yes it would be royal pain in the backside having to remove to inspect but the stuff works a treat offshore.

bit heavy duty... Personally I prefer an anti seize compond - Loctite do a lot of different applications and not just thread locker blue

[voyager162]

£227.27 for both pipes !!

although the left one has not split yet, the corrosion looks like it might give way anytime. i would have picked up sonny's pipe n cooler from used parts forum as its a bargin fer sure, but need to be up an running tomorrow and audi can get pipes for first thing in morning.
i did give the parts dept an earful, but they not really bothered. i mean steel nuts on alu cooler !! not rocket science is it.

if anyone has similar problems remember DO NOT TRY TO UNSCREW THE NUTS else you'll be ordering a new cooler as well. you'll have to carefully split the nuts with a grinder before you loosen them, then clean the corroded crud out of the threads.

[Pie]

So car has passed its MOT with minimal advisories although they have reported a slight weep from the oil cooler (early 2007)
Car is still under extended warranty and has FASH.

Has anyone experience of this being covered under the warranty or am I looking at a £1200 bill?

[CubeLtdRace]

I was just advised of £1200 to replace oil cooler and pipes after service last week. As it is corrosion it is not covered by Audi warranty

[Pie]

So car was in to replace the oil pipes and cooler yesterday, they kept her for two days and I was given a nice new Ibis A4 Avant 1.9TDI to trundle about in.

The servcie advisor lassie did note on the job card to try for warranty and failing that push for goodwill.

Audi Warranty weren't interested - they played the corrosion card even though its ultimately their own design fault with dissimilar metals thats the root cause!


Aberdeen Audi then phoned Audi UK who were also not really all that bothered and wouldn't cover it under goodwill.


The manager at Aberdeen Audi however made the call that they would take the hit of the oil cooler and I would just pay for the pipes, labour and VAT.


Top class service from the guys and gals at Aberdeen Audi.