⚠️ALL S3 8V OWNERS COOLANT LEAK!!!!!!

[RSTHRILLER]

Hi I don't own a s3 but I thought I'd shine some light on this as it is a serious problem this affects most if not all EA888 engine which includes : audi s3 8v facelift /pre facelift
Vw golf gti mk7 /mk7.5
Golf r mk7/mk7.5
Seat Leon Cupra 280/300
Some of you owners may know that the cars using a lot of coolant this because of a leak but you can't see the leak as there is a lot of plasti trays and covers there if you don't know who tr ham zag is he has a facelift s3 which had this problem which he sent to the dealers and there was a leak the WATER PUMP had to be changed and the THERMOSTAT good luck il leave the vid below I wold get these changed under warranty asap

 

[Beery]

Surely Audi aren't going change parts if there is no leak?!

 

[Kingfisher]

number plate looks like a Camberley Audi car ?
No problems with my ( OK wife's ! ) 16 reg car - not actually heard about this either??

 

[Baldyone]

Surely Audi aren't going change parts if there is no leak?!

You would think not and go back to the original thread and post 8 from Mr V8 says exactly that. I'm not sure there is a single cause for this fault. I also suspect mine is caused by expanding air given that I haven't yet had to top up. All I do know is it's not right and the symptoms or those like it were at one time a big enough issue to warrent a few pages of chat. We shall see and I very much hope I'm a simple fix. Well In warrenty so its getting sorted whatever the cause

 

[Kingfisher]

Wow just read all the previous comments........ somehow missed all this !
Must pay more attention!

 

[S32B]

Hamza is already a member on this forum, recognised his reg before I read your post!

 

[PanamaS3]

I've had water pump replaced twice....thermostat (including bottle)....after 3 0r 4 attempts to fix it it turned out to be just air in system....as after doing all aforementioned "repairs" (none of the previous parts were faulty but the dealers just replace to eliminate what it could be) they gave it back to me but they forgot to remove the air after refilling.....so it came up immediately as "low coolant fault"....we topped it up....and voila....not been a problem since

 

[Jonno225]

My S3 had this issue too. Water pump and thermostat replaced under warranty less than 6 months ago.

Car is now just out of warranty but I'm sure I can now smell that familiar hot leaking coolant type smell once again !!!


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[Baldyone]

I've had water pump replaced twice....thermostat (including bottle)....after 3 0r 4 attempts to fix it it turned out to be just air in system....as after doing all aforementioned "repairs" (none of the previous parts were faulty but the dealers just replace to eliminate what it could be) they gave it back to me but they forgot to remove the air after refilling.....so it came up immediately as "low coolant fault"....we topped it up....and voila....not been a problem since

And that's why those highly skilled and trained technicians are so expensive per hour

 

[Dan Halen]

All my modern VW and Audi cars have had disappearing coolant. My 2006 Jetta and 2008 Rabbit would reliably bitch about low coolant during the winter months, and my S3 began doing it with less than 6,500 miles in the middle of summer. I topped it and haven't had an issue since. Over the years, I wrote it off as VWs being VWs. Like ignition coils. Or, of days gone by, window regulators.

Guess I'll do some further inspecting...

 

[Lehn]

My S3 had this issue too. Water pump and thermostat replaced under warranty less than 6 months ago.

Car is now just out of warranty but I'm sure I can now smell that familiar hot leaking coolant type smell once again !!!

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Don't you get 2 years of new warranty on the replaced components? Also if the nature of the problem is the same as before?

 

[richinsoton]

Don't you get 2 years of new warranty on the replaced components? Also if the nature of the problem is the same as before?

There's no warranty on parts fitted within warranty, so anything changed within the first 3yrs will not have a 2 yr parts warranty applied to it & the warranty will expire at the end of the 3rd yr as per normal.

 

[Lehn]

There's no warranty on parts fitted within warranty, so anything changed within the first 3yrs will not have a 2 yr parts warranty applied to it & the warranty will expire at the end of the 3rd yr as per normal.

Wow that sucks! I thought you got 2 years on all replaced parts in EU regardless of how long warranty there is left on the entire vehicle. I think we're just lucky here in Denmark then.

 

[Kingfisher]

IIRC you pay a lot more tax on your cars than other EU countries - perhaps that gets you extra warranty, although less warranty is probably much cheaper

 

[Lehn]

IIRC you pay a lot more tax on your cars than other EU countries - perhaps that gets you extra warranty, although less warranty is probably much cheaper

150% - high tax? Pfff naaaah The 2 years part warranty is actually not only on cars it's required by danish law to be on everything replaced under warranty.

Back on topic: Great with a thread like this so you know what to look for if the coolant drops dramatically (which seems to be highly likely). I must admit I will be fairly disappointed if it's something they haven't sorted out on the 2018 model.

 

[RSTHRILLER]

This should be recall what do you guys think

 

[mrksl]

My S3 8V 2015 plate has gone into Audi today to investigate water leak...nothing under car but having to top up, coolant smell and can see under tray wet when looking down into engine compartment...

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[Dan Halen]

My S3 8V 2015 plate has gone into Audi today to investigate water leak...nothing under car but having to top up, coolant smell and can see under tray wet when looking down into engine compartment...

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@mrksl, did they end up finding anything back in October? Mine is in today and they can't find any evidence of a leak. I'm getting the standard "we pressurized it and didn't find anything irregular."

Whether it's leaking or cooking doesn't really matter to me. The fact that the system is losing fluid is an issue. I had to top up again about four months after it was last well below minimum, and it's been maybe another two months since the second top-up and it's about halfway between the fill range now. I'm smelling it after short drives on a relatively routine basis these days.

 

[jaypers777]

For the first 6 months or so, mine seemed to drop a little and needed topping up, although never got a warning. Has been ok ever since and was put down to being an air lock from new.

 

[JohnM100]

It’s not just the S3. My 1.8 is EA888 and had this.

EPC light came on and on inspection the undertray was wet. Thermostat needed to be replaced but long outside warranty. Approx 47k miles from memory.

 

[bokoboy]

Cmon then folks any s3 owners without a leak

 

[Jassyo06]

Cmon then folks any s3 owners without a leak

Yip had my car 30 months nada on my second S3 none , been on this forum for over 3 years and not heard that many owners suffer from this

 

[s5joe]

Cmon then folks any s3 owners without a leak

Me not had any problems with mine and I am on 36k

 

[MikeParkin]

I have a friend that has this problem on his Golf MK7 GTD !

Not sure if they have the same pump etc.

 

[-Ju-]

When I had mine in for the oil service last month, I was informed I had a "small leak" from the thermostat housing that needed investigating.
I did have to top up the water level in August but never thought anything about it at the time.
I need to get it in asap to be looked at along with a growing list of niggles!

 

[S3GCN]

My S3's just over four years old now. Had the engine management light come on on mine soon after Christmas. First appointment Audi had to even look at the car was more than a 3 week wait - WTF!!!! - and they said I shouldn't drive it with the engine light on.

Local independent had a look and thought it might be a coolant issue. They cleared the fault but it came back about a week later.

Booked it in and sure enough it was a coolant leak. Strangely I've only put coolant in twice in two years of ownership and the last time was over six months ago.

Obviously the leak leaked over several parts which needed replacing so in the end I'm considerably lighter in the wallet department.

Would hate to think what the cost would have been at Audi though....

 

[mrksl]

Dan Halen....sorry missed your earlier question...yes water pump and a hose was replaced...coolant smell was a give away. Since replacement coolant level has not moved...glad I got it replaced whilst still within warranty!

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[ACWKGYTO]

Hi I don't own a s3 but I thought I'd shine some light on this as it is a serious problem this affects most if not all EA888 engine which includes : audi s3 8v facelift /pre facelift
Vw golf gti mk7 /mk7.5
Golf r mk7/mk7.5
Seat Leon Cupra 280/300
Some of you owners may know that the cars using a lot of coolant this because of a leak but you can't see the leak as there is a lot of plasti trays and covers there if you don't know who tr ham zag is he has a facelift s3 which had this problem which he sent to the dealers and there was a leak the WATER PUMP had to be changed and the THERMOSTAT good luck il leave the vid below I wold get these changed under warranty asap

If you dont own an S3 then X**X *X* ! with your sensationalist nonsense

 

[RSTHRILLER]

Oh sorry no need to get your knickers in a twist I thought help out a little

 

[ACWKGYTO]

Oh sorry no need to get your knickers in a twist I thought help out a little

HA HA....what do you expect, yes mate we all agree with you wholeheartedly its a terrible car with awful issues that cant ever be fixed

 

[4K]

Cmon then folks any s3 owners without a leak

Yup. Never had a leak on mine. Nearly 3 years at 32K going strong. Only thing I ever had was Coolant light on when I first had the car <1000 miles. Turned out to be nothing. Topped up and never had a problem since.

 

[Dan Halen]

Dan Halen....sorry missed your earlier question...yes water pump and a hose was replaced...coolant smell was a give away. Since replacement coolant level has not moved...glad I got it replaced whilst still within warranty!

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Thanks! The short of it in my case is that the coolant smell is deemed normal. Oh well... I have another two years of warranty left.

 

[TonyF1]

16 Plate S3 just gone in for the 2 year service and reporting back with the coolant module leaking at the front of the car. Would be £760 to fix if not under warranty.

 

[-Ju-]

16 Plate S3 just gone in for the 2 year service and reporting back with the coolant module leaking at the front of the car. Would be £760 to fix if not under warranty.

Mines in tomorrow for that investigating and a few other niggles so let's see what they say.
I did notice with all this snow we've had that there was a slight residue left under the car that looked like antifreeze!

 

[Lavalamp]

Hello all,

i was in for a first service yesterday at 27000 km and the first thing he noticed was that the coolant level was below minimum.
There is no leak to be found and the Audi technician told me that they are using some sort of new rubber material for the coolant pipes and that they expand differently under temperature and that the coolant seems to stay in the tubes after expanding or some magical trickery..
I should come back after another 1000km or a warning light obviously to double check.

 

[-Ju-]

Hello all,

i was in for a first service yesterday at 27000 km and the first thing he noticed was that the coolant level was below minimum.
There is no leak to be found and the Audi technician told me that they are using some sort of new rubber material for the coolant pipes and that they expand differently under temperature and that the coolant seems to stay in the tubes after expanding or some magical trickery..
I should come back after another 1000km or a warning light obviously to double check.

Really lol
New water pump/thermostat housing ordered for mine... should have it back on Friday.

 

[Lavalamp]

Fingers crossed it is as he said otherwise it's gonna be your route.. Mine is not an S so it might be normal on the slow coaches

 

[Dan Halen]

Hello all,

i was in for a first service yesterday at 27000 km and the first thing he noticed was that the coolant level was below minimum.
There is no leak to be found and the Audi technician told me that they are using some sort of new rubber material for the coolant pipes and that they expand differently under temperature and that the coolant seems to stay in the tubes after expanding or some magical trickery..
I should come back after another 1000km or a warning light obviously to double check.

Man, these jokers will cook up anything to avoid having to replace a part that GFF doesn't immediately out as being faulty.

Sorry, I'm still salty that I'm to believe the coolant odor after nearly every drive is “normal.”

 

[mfl]

Just before the end of warranty, at the 3 year service (about 30kms) thermostat was identified as needing replacement. before then maybe twice needed to top-up after a low coolant warning. Took 2 days for the repair. Drove it out of the dealer and the engine check warning alert came up. Then took the dealer another 3 days to work out why the engine check light wouldn't go off.

2 months later on a country drive, check coolant error comes up - a red warning light. A assumed a vapour lock and that the dealer didn't bleed the system properly (I could be wrong) as it was a hot day and its first long drive since the repair. No problems since - fingers crossed. With 3 water pumps replaced in 3 years in my GTI - its becoming deja vu.

 

[15audis3]

Joining the club, light came on just before I got to work. This is the 2nd time its happened and was a fair bit below minimum

Cant see any leaks so topped up and will mention on service in a few weeks..