Coolant leak warranty repair refused due to remap

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mikejsing

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Hi all,

Coolant leak investigated today at my local Audi on my 2015 S3 (Audi used car so in warranty) Confirmed thermostat needs changing but are refusing to make a warranty claim based on drive chain being modified. Im stage 2 and the leak was spotted when the intercooler and down pipe were fitted.

Given this is a known issue i am going push for a change of position. Anyone had similar refusals/go ahead despite remap?

Cheers


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I'd doubt they'd replace it under warranty due to the modifications you've made, however it is a common fault and had mine replaced a couple weeks ago (stock car)

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mikejsing said:
Hi all,

Coolant leak investigated today at my local Audi on my 2015 S3 (Audi used car so in warranty) Confirmed thermostat needs changing but are refusing to make a warranty claim based on drive chain being modified. Im stage 2 and the leak was spotted when the intercooler and down pipe were fitted.

Given this is a known issue i am going push for a change of position. Anyone had similar refusals/go ahead despite remap?

Cheers


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Click to expand...

I thought they would only refuse if the modification was related to the problem

I.e Remapped engine and gearbox fails - no cover

Would the drive chain make any difference to a thermostat especially as it's a known issue and was spotted when that mod was being made

Seems a little unfair
 
The warranty wording is very clear - exclusion from cover only occurs where there is a link to the failure and the modification.

Hence you go in with a window fault and no one interested if you have a remap. Absolutely agree if I had a uncommon or clearly linked issue - then I would be first to say not covered and that’s the risk I have taken.

My gripe here is ultimately there is plenty of evidence out there that this occurs on unmodified cars and is common.

To refuse to make a claim to Audi on my behalf at this stage is somewhat ridiculous. If Audi uk rejected the claim then of course I would then have to challenge them to demonstrate the problem is linked to the mods to evidence their position to exclude my claim from cover.

Just trying to drum up a feeling if my Audi franchise are acting similarly or differently to what others have experienced.




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I'm not surprised TBH. Dealers get paid at a much lower hourly rate for warranty work.

I can also see that performance mods put the engine under more stress conceivably making a coolant leak more likely.
 
Just picked mine up after coolant leak, car 5 1/2 years old!

No warranty.....

Leaked cause ecu to fail then throttle body needed replacing after ecu wouldn’t code!
Had the car 2 weeks!

Final bill £2,380!


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mike170 said:
Just picked mine up after coolant leak, car 5 1/2 years old!

No warranty.....

Leaked cause ecu to fail then throttle body needed replacing after ecu wouldn’t code!
Had the car 2 weeks!

Final bill £2,380!


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I hope you didn’t pay that £2k+ bill after only owning it for 2 weeks.
 
mikejsing said:
The warranty wording is very clear - exclusion from cover only occurs where there is a link to the failure and the modification.

Hence you go in with a window fault and no one interested if you have a remap. Absolutely agree if I had a uncommon or clearly linked issue - then I would be first to say not covered and that’s the risk I have taken.

My gripe here is ultimately there is plenty of evidence out there that this occurs on unmodified cars and is common.

To refuse to make a claim to Audi on my behalf at this stage is somewhat ridiculous. If Audi uk rejected the claim then of course I would then have to challenge them to demonstrate the problem is linked to the mods to evidence their position to exclude my claim from cover.

Just trying to drum up a feeling if my Audi franchise are acting similarly or differently to what others have experienced.




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Not trying to be negative here but you modified the car from factory so Audi would be in their right to refuse and it will be for you to prove.
The argument from Audi could be you got more power out of it therefore the engine would need to work harder hence hotter so the thermostat failed cause of it. It’s all part of the workings of the engine.
It’s a different story if they rejected a window switch cause you modified the engine then your argument is a lot easier.
Ive seen and been in these arguments before and the wording of these warranties is never on your side.
Good luck anyway.
 
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The car would be flagged as TD1, so warranty void on all engine/gearbox & drive train parts. TD1 fag would not affect other parts of the car like the interior.
 
Easiest option is to just go to another dealer. If they’ve not put a claim in then it’s sinply their decision rather than Audi’s.
 
Interesting range of views. Story has now moved on and the dealer claims now that Audi UK have rejected the claim. Collecting the paper work and car today so will see what’s in the detail.

Cheers for your thoughts and will update on any progress.


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I had a water pump replacement approved under the initial 3-year warranty by Audi UK. The main dealer had detected the remap TD1 flag on the ECU scan that they have to do before carrying out warranty work, so they had to refer it to Audi UK for authorisation.
 
Sorry this is a given to me, I’m no stealer (dealer) supporter by any means, but if you remap any car there’s more “pressures” on every component.. this is just the way they have to work it.

So... how bad is the leak.. if it’s just a hose issue or whatever - surely an average £40 an hour labour decent mechanic will sort you out???

Also @HTB, assuming you were stage 1 at the time?


APR Stage 2+
 
If your going to play, be prepared to pay.......

Yes, you may get away with it, but Audi have been tightening their TD1 rules for a while now, so there is an increasing chance that you'll be denied (some) warranty work based on unauthorised modifications.
Even removing your tune before inspection is not good enough as it can still be detected by Audi. :scared2:
 
Yes agreed, i don’t think there’s a map out there nowadays that is less than prob 25% of an increase. Now I think about it when I went Stage one even, I had an increase on BHP alone of 28.67% lol. If you wanna convert that increase into potential, although I’d be more urged to say the word likely pressures on all the other components, I’d say the answer equals warranty cover squat.


APR Stage 2+
 
Janice_3S3 said:
Also @HTB, assuming you were stage 1 at the time?
Click to expand...

Yes, no hardware mods. The warranty work was done about 9 months ago.

The dealer said engine and powertrain problems would no longer be covered by the warranty, due to the TD1/remap. However, because the leaking water pump was not directly attributable to the remap, Audi UK had authorised the warranty repair.
 
Last edited:
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Janice_3S3 said:
Sorry this is a given to me, I’m no stealer (dealer) supporter by any means, but if you remap any car there’s more “pressures” on every component.. this is just the way they have to work it.

So... how bad is the leak.. if it’s just a hose issue or whatever - surely an average £40 an hour labour decent mechanic will sort you out???

Also @HTB, assuming you were stage 1 at the time?


APR Stage 2+
Click to expand...
More than likely yes. I had mine done under warranty, according to the paperwork took 3 hours and came to £800. Most of that I'm sure is the extortionate Audi labour rates.

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If they can get out of paying then they will, and they could easily argue that the increased rev limit (which I think all remaps have) has put extra strain on the pump and caused a leak. You would have no way of proving otherwise.
 
Update as promised. 20 mins spent on Saturday constructing a quick email to Audi pointing out the warranty T&C’s wording, that there was no evidence the mods caused the defect and that there was no grounds to apply the exclusion clause.

Received a response today confirming agreement and that the works are now approved as a warranty repair.

Can’t fault the speed of resolution. The initial decision making process leaves a lot to be desired obviously.


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@mikejsing . Great result. You clearly handled this situation in the correct way.
 
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