From what I've been told by a VAG tech, they also will only change the offending item when doing warranty work. So the water pump probably wasn't changed so there's a chance that can now leak. Except as Audi hope, it'll be your problem now, not theirs!Add me to the list. My facelift November 2016 registered Audi S3 was bought by me from an independent dealer in Edinburgh. Alba motor company (such nice guys that run that place). The vehicle was just a few days short of its third birthday so they put the car into Edinburgh Audi for a MOT and health check a couple of days before I collected it. The dealer noticed the leaking thermostat/housing so did everything under manufacturers warranty just in the nick of time. The mileage back then was on 28,000 and the work was done in Nov 2019.
It’s an absolute farce that there is no recall on this. Has anyone ever had to do it twice? Can I expect mine to fail in another 3 years/28k miles or has the offending part since been redesigned?
That should be a word of warning to anyone else who has this issue...Ask for the pump to be replaced at same time...The extra cost would be minimal compared to another strip down.From what I've been told by a VAG tech, they also will only change the offending item when doing warranty work. So the water pump probably wasn't changed so there's a chance that can now leak. Except as Audi hope, it'll be your problem now, not theirs!
That should be a word of warning to anyone else who has this issue...Ask for the pump to be replaced at same time...The extra cost would be minimal compared to another strip down.
I meant for the owner to stump up the extra..Makes sense money wiseTrue but Audi won’t authorise it and the dealer won’t foot the bill so unless you pay for the additional, unlikely they’ll do it. Their hope is the next fail is out of warranty!
Good call by your indy.FL S3 (67-plater) owner here and I have had thermostat housing leak repaired under warranty earlier this week. This is becoming a farce for A3/S3 8V owners. I'm grateful to the Indy VAG specialist who spotted the problem during a major service and advised me to take back to Audi asap and get it repaired before my warranty expired (Sep 2020). It has certainly saved me a bob or two! The car has only done 33k miles.
What year is your car? And how many miles mate?Well mine has leaked too. Spotted by my independent garage during a main service. Done under warranty glad I took an extra years manufacturers warranty at the time of purchase.
Phil.
Hi, I know it's a while.... What the green marks on the housing?Just booked the S3 in to get the coolant leak sorted. It was May last year I first got aware of this but because of my extended warranty I wasn't in a hurry to get it sorted, but the level seems to drop more rapid now.
I'm just posting some pics for people to know what to look for and where to look at the engine since it's pretty hard to find the leak from underneath the car without removing any hoses if you're not knowing where to look - fortunately I did manage to find the leak without disassembling anything (see the last pictures).
The first two pictures is the water pump/thermostat housing position on the engine and the next three pictures are illustrating where I got the leak.
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I was told by an Audi dealership that this was only for the 1.8, not 2.0 units in the FL S3’s. Is there any way to confirm this visually or via VCDS? When I got told it’s not on an S3 I was disappointed, but your comment has made given me hope that the coking issues are preventable by design nowIt’s the thermostat housing design on the EA888 Gen 3 engine - not just S3. The only other spec to use that engine design is the 1.8 (and it suffers too), but the 1.8 was only on sale in UK for 2 years during PFL.
On the flip side, the EA888 Gen 3 excluding USA in both 1.8 & 2.0 (S3 up to MY19 / pre WLTP) has 8 fuel injectors: 4 direct and 4 indirect. Apart from the performance/economy advantages, the indirect injection means intake valves are less likely to get coked up. Indirect injection was removed for MY19/WLTP.
Haha i have a slow decrease of coolant issue i do 60/40 mix or 70/30 topped it up just above required middle of min & max but has dropped in like 3 weeks to like just above min is this a major or could it be an airlock not sure but i may have to ring audi for inspection i have S3 65 plate Pre facelift.Cmon then folks any s3 owners without a leak
Whole coolant system on these cars is a weakness as its all packed into such a tight area. Everyone I know with a S3 8V has had something go wrong with the coolant system one way or anotherMy MY18 S3 has started leaking from the thermostat housing. It’s only 2 years and 363 days old. Luckily still 2 days inside warranty.
Despite the part revisions, it seems this weakness hasn’t been engineered out over the years. They must be on revision M, N or P by now...
Whole coolant system on these cars is a weakness as its all packed into such a tight area. Everyone I know with a S3 8V has had something go wrong with the coolant system one way or another
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I don’t think space is the primary issue - RS3 survives.
My money is on extra heat load from integrated exhaust manifold, thermostat built to a price point, and ECU coolant settings too conservative. Redesigning the part is one thing - ECU dealer flash with new cooling parameters would be cheaper.
I have had two 8V EA888 Gen 3s. Both have had thermostat issues. The other was a 1.8.
I was told this could be the case on my 8V late 2019 - Had the same warning had dropped a little - My mate topped it up for me and I took it in and they pressure tested, checked for leaks etc but found nothing - I said well it had to go somewhere and was then told that might be when filled at the factory it then gets an air lock.So after 19 months (9K miles) & after thermostat being changed at Audi I got a “Low coolant Stop, switch off Engine” warming on dash last weekend on motorway.
Pulled over and was quite below MIN line. Topped up when finally arrived at destination about 100-200ml, not much to bring it between MIN & MAX.
Took in to Audi under warranty to investigate and they can’t see any leaks and again they topped up small amount.
They say there is a TPI been released in regard to when being changed after 20k miles the coolant can have an air lock in the system and they think it could just be that.
Has anyone heard of this before?
Mine is PFL and 65 plate.No idea why 2019s would be called out in a TPI but there must be a reason.
If thermostat changed then a drop in coolant could be air introduced during the drain/refill working its way back to the expansion tank or air naturally dissolved in the new water/coolant mix coming out of solution.
Assuming the repair was done properly and nothing else broken in the process...
I had a similar discussion when mine failed at 18k miles in 2019. Car bought from new and always serviced at same dealership etc. I argued that it was a regularly reported issue on forums and I would not expect that sort of failure on a well maintained car. They did go to Audi UK who refuted that there was any issue. Had a bit knocked off for being a regular customer but still not much change out of £1k. Don’t really understand why it isn’t a recall.Reading this thread as mine failed on a 66k plate 25k on the clock. I commented to Audi about how it was a common failure to which I was told "in my 9 years of Audi I've never heard of it".
Contacted Audi UK who told me it's down to me to sort it because parts fail. I'm struggling to comprehend how this isn't a recall.
Anyone thought of trying to escalate this further up the chain, I guess the Motor Ombudsman could be a start.