6,000 Miles in and coolant on min. Should I be worried?

[marcgti6]

Checked my oil yesterday on my S3 and noticed that the coolant was sitting on the min line.

It was bought in March and has just covered 6,000 miles. I've never noticed the coolant move until now.

Should I be worried? Ok to top it up with tap water?

Cheers

 

[paradigital]

I'd probably use distilled rather than tap, less possibility of contaminants reacting with the rest of the system then, but I'd not be overly concerned, especially if you mainly do short trips.

 

[Pook]

Same happened to me after about 4000 miles so I just ran it into local dealership and they topped it up for me FOC and hasn't gone down again since so all good.

 

[richinsoton]

Wasn't there a thread about this a few months ago?... (Specific to the S3).

 

[Martinbanshee]

Same here, mine dropped to minimum after a blast to Inverness so I went to the dealer and they gave me a free bottle of G13 to top up. That was about a year ago and it hasn't budged since. There was some rumours of air in the system of some cars because of bad filling at the factory.

 

[Daveotto]

Similar happened to me after about 6-7000 miles (also happened on my 2.0 TDI), so I topped up with some coolant I had from my experience with my 2.0 TDI and kept it in the car for a few months but since then level has not dropped any further, currently 14, 500 miles.

So have used about 400ml from a 2,5 l container in two cars over the last 3 years

seems like it might just be normal only us observant people notice and panic!!!!!

 

[davc]

Happened on mine a few times. Pressure checked and came back all clear each time.

It is now filled about an inch above the max line and hasn't dropped since the last visit to get it checked.

Seems to be a "feature" of the car

 

[marcgti6]

Cheers guys - sounds like there's no reason to panic then, which is good!

I'll pop into Audi and get a bottle of coolant

Cheers

 

[Martinbanshee]

Remember to request a FREE one to complete the job the factory started.

 

[RS3 S.]

Is the coolant a ''sealed for life'' item now?. I'm Shure there is no service life/miles for it?.

 

[Tej13]

Same for me - hit minimum at c. 5k miles, popped into the dealer and they topped it up.

Just coming up to 14k now and it has hardly moved since. Audi Tech mentioned the same thing to me - bad filling at the factory means dissolved air in the system...

 

[rams_s3]

Same here, mine dropped to minimum after a blast to Inverness so I went to the dealer and they gave me a free bottle of G13 to top up. That was about a year ago and it hasn't budged since. There was some rumours of air in the system of some cars because of bad filling at the factory.

Impossible, was told this by Audi, they self bleed. A technician took half an hour off me explaining.

 

[Martinbanshee]

***, What's impossible? The fact that mine went to minimum directly after a fast run in the car, was topped up by me personally with G13 and hasn't dropped since?
Yes, it was at the correct level previously as I do actually check the fluids in my car hence noticing it had dropped.
So, no, it's not impossible.

 

[azibux1]

Impossible, was told this by Audi, they self bleed. A technician took half an hour off me explaining.

Yeah it would be extremely odd if 'air' was just in the system for months then randomly escaped causing this issue.

Doesn't explain @Martinbanshee's situation though... Hmmm

 

[Martinbanshee]

If anyone wishes to use the search function they'll discover many cases like this. Some were faulty water pumps and some were a one-off drop in coolant that never happened again.
Obviously it's not normal, but it's happened to a few people here and very possibly more people that never visit ASN.

 

[rams_s3]

The impossible part I was referring to was the air in the system. As I said they self bleed. Had endless water pump, sensor, coolant bottle problems towards the end of my ownership of a pre facelift s3.

 

[Martinbanshee]

Luckily no such problems here, just a one-off drop in coolant and a warning light that the 'Tech' at Aberdeen Audi suggested was air trapped in the system. The coolant bathed exhaust manifold was the suspect, regardless, he gave me a free bottle of G13 and was confident I wouldn't be back. I wasn't.
Anyway, to be fair they're possibly meant to self bleed but there's been many reports of unexpected loss of coolant, free G13 dished out and no more issues.
It'll be interesting to see how much of a problem it is with the FL.

 

[Rob2k68]

I had a very minor leak recently but replacing the reservoir cap seems to have sorted it touch wood (hand on head!).

 

[jaypers777]

Mine was doing this on and off for the first year or so. Pressure test showed nothing. All settled down now. My theory is some sort of minor air lock from new which has now gone away.