Hi everyone. I am a relatively new owner of a 04, Allroad 4.2. Extremely pleased with my purchase thus far.

I have however been experiencing an issue that I cannot figure out, and wanted to see if anyone had any insight before I had it checked out. When I first start the car in the morning or after after an extended time idle, the coolant warning light comes on. I get a chime along with the light for a few minutes then it goes away. Looking at the manual, it says that this is for either a low coolant level or overheating. The engine is cold when this happens, so I know its not overheating and I looked at the coolant tank and it appears to me I have a sufficient level of coolant. And, the car does not get overheated as far as I can tell (needle rises to about the mid range of the gauge).

Is there something else that this warning could be indicating? Thanks for your thoughts.

 

My A4 used to do this when I had air bubbles in my coolant system. As the car warms up they expand faster then the coolant expands, causing the reservoir to become filled with air for a bit. I'm not entirely sure how to bleed the system on the Allroad but on the A4 you remove the plastic near the battery to find the heater core hoses (highest point in the coolant system) and you pull back one of them to where a small hole is that is already drilled in the metal pipe. Exposing this small hole allows air to escape as you pour coolant into the reservoir.

Hope this helps.
-Tyler

 

Coolant warning at cold start only means one thing....time for a new coolant tank assembly. Your correct part number is 8DO 121 403M.

The internal level sensor goes out, sending intermittent, false coolant warnings while driving, cold or hot.