S3 waterpump and thermostat

J

JFH

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Hi all,

Last weekend 3 of the Audi's in my family had red coolant lights pop up all on the same day (I own a 2015 S1, parents have a 2018 S3 and we also have a Q3 in the family). When we looked under the bonnet, all three had empty coolant reservoir but when you untwisted the lid, the coolant level shot straight back up to normal levels. The S3 has just been in for a service today and we received the car back with a note from the service advisor saying that the water pump and thermostat housing needs to be changed at a charge of £1200. The car was also delivered back to us with an engine warning light, the delivery driver and service advisor failed to tell us that there was a light on the dash, but heyho. I know it is a very common issue on the EA888s, and there's obviously a TSB on it. I was just wondering if this is a common sign of thermostat housing failure as I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to get my S1 inspected for a leak too. The Q3 we also have in the family ended up needing a new pump and thermostat housing too, so not looking too great for the S1 . Any info would be great!
 
I had the same issue I have a 2015 s3, took it in for an oil change and it came back with a note from the health check that there is a leak from the thermostat housing and it needs replacing. Price they said was £1017.
I had driven to Audi 20 minutes on the motorway and the low coolant light did not come on. They topped it up for me so drove back home ok.
Came home and remembered previous owner still had a month left of the extended warranty so phoned back and let them know, they said they will check and get back to me. After a couple of days of phoning up and chasing it finally got the news today that the warranty will cover it thankfully. Already booked in for next week and I think it includes the water pump too.
 
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SepangBlue said:
I had the same issue I have a 2015 s3, took it in for an oil change and it came back with a note from the health check that there is a leak from the thermostat housing and it needs replacing. Price they said was £1017.
I had driven to Audi 20 minutes on the motorway and the low coolant light did not come on. They topped it up for me so drove back home ok.
Came home and remembered previous owner still had a month left of the extended warranty so phoned back and let them know, they said they will check and get back to me. After a couple of days of phoning up and chasing it finally got the news today that the warranty will cover it thankfully. Already booked in for next week and I think it includes the water pump too.
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Lucky with the warranty! All 3 of our cars ended up needing water pump and thermostat replacements, the S1's water pump and thermostat housing replacement cost me £850 from my Audi dealer in the end. Before I booked it in for an inspection I decided to drop the splash guard and check for any leaks, found a huge coolant leak that had dripped down onto the oil sump and stained it stained pink and white and you could see a sizable crack in the housing.
I explained the situation to my dealer and mentioned how common the issue is and asked for the possibility of a goodwill discount from Audi UK (wishful thinking considering the car is 7 years old, but I thought I may as well try) and they told me it isn't a common issue at all, which we all know is a load of rubbish .
 
Mine was replaced under warranty on the third service. I got the feeling the dealer did this and fitted an updated part as a routine on this engine coming up to the end of warranty period.
 
I had the same thing Audi saying it wasn’t a common issue, both Audi UK and the dealer. The best comment was that I shouldn’t trust what I read online as they aren’t qualified Audi mechanics, I pointed out a large amount had been diagnosed by Audi…

Can’t remember how many but I think there’s quite a few part number revisions, guess they’ve tried to make it reliable, grrr.
 
When I take my S3 in this Friday, I will ask the service team if there is an upgrade to the thermostat housing (as far as I am aware there isn’t). Yes, definitely is a common issue there’s loads of threads and even YouTube videos about this issue.
 
SepangBlue said:
When I take my S3 in this Friday, I will ask the service team if there is an upgrade to the thermostat housing (as far as I am aware there isn’t). Yes, definitely is a common issue there’s loads of threads and even YouTube videos about this issue.
Click to expand...
As far as I am aware there isn't, think they are on something like revision K for the part number. Really ****** me off how Audi take no responsibility for this, even a discounted labour rate would be nice. My car is a 2017 with full Audi service history, absolutely no flexibility from them.

Worth noting I don't think Audi will replace the waterpump when in there. I took mine to an independent set up by two ex dealer techs and they told me this. They offered to change it whilst there for about £80.
 
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