I've never had this happen. There was a small leak in one of the coolant hoses. Apparently, after it was indicating that it was overheated, he kept driving and driving until the CEL came on, then started blinking, then the car died. I can't get it to start.

I haven't pulled codes yet.

Does anyone know what is likely to go wrong when it overheats in this extreme?

 

definately warped the heads... that sucks man... most likely your gonna have to get another motor... its horrible news, but its the truth.

 

get the codes, it might not be as bad as you think.... the car probably went into limp mode? take it to a stealership or a good mechanic.

 

So his car was literally trying to tell him something, and he ignores the warning? No offense, but your son seems a few sandwiches short of a picnic. He should've stopped the engine and at least give it a chance to cool down a little. Then he could've restarted, drove a little further and repeat the process. It's a pita but your engine will thank you for it. There's a likelihood (but not a guarantee at this point) of serious damage. Ground him!!!

Seriously, tell him next time it happens to roll down all the windows, aim all the vents towards the outside and turn the heater on full blast. The heater core will suck some heat of the coolant and that will at least prolong the distance you can drive before either you or the ECM shuts the engine off.

 

and kick you son's a$$. If he is old enough to drive he should be smart enough to pull over when the little blinking lights come on.

Sorry to hear about it man, hopefully you dont have spend to much.

 

Does it even attempt to crank over? If not then you're engine is siezed...

In either case you should probably look for a new engine.

 

If it is in limp mode, how do you get it out? Will clearing codes do much?

 

If you turn the ignition does the engine crank? If you your engine may be salvageable. If it doesn't crank then the pistons have siezed in the cylinders and you will need a new engine. Even if it turns over you could have cracked the block or warped the cylinder heads due to over heating. Have the car towed to a good VW/Audi mechanic and have him see if your engine is toast.

 

The engine does crank over.

The tow truck driver mentioned that some cars have an automatic shutoff when it overheats. Do audis have that?

It only shows 6 codes

0300
0301
0302
0303
0304
1559

It has had these codes before. I don't know that that has much to do with the overheating.

 

First one is mulitple/random cylinder missfire, next 4 are missfire's for each cylinder, dont know about the last one. Probably a bad ICM and the reason for the blinking CEL. The CEL is really only triggered for emissions related things, like ignition. Sounds like this car is being seriously neglected!!!