hi i have a 96 audi a4 2.8 and yesterday i drove from NY TO NJ and on the way back my watertemp sign came up you know the lil boat with the flag it kept blinking... i checked and saw that the hose for the raditor/watertemp or whatever you call it im not sure
has a crack and its been leaking. i didnt have much left so i added some antifreeze coolant and cooled it down for like 30 minz.. but after a while i kept driving i had smoke coming out my hood.. any1 know if this is going to cost alot to fix is getting a new hose expensive i think i need a new tank too im not sure if the hose is the only place thats leaking is this a big problem and can it be a easy diy can some1 plz help me.. i need my car fixed quick. and how much am i looking at to spend sorry this is so much...
thanks

 

nah it shouldn't be expensive, go to the stealership and get another one. If you wanna make sure its just the faulty hose get a mechanic to do cooling system pressure test...wait you said you had smoke coming from under the hood! Umm...you do realize that you overheated the engine right? Start your engine to see if it turns over, if it doesn't, well lets just say your fvcked. If it does then walk/run/get a cab and go get a hose lol

 

ohh thats good.. is it hard taking the hose and tank out and putting new ones on it didnt look like it had too many hoses but hopefully there isnt i cant really afford much ive spent so much on this car already wayyyy more than what i payed for this car

 

yea after the smoke i parked it right away cause i had to stop and cool it down like every 30 minz on the way home then like 3miles away from my house i started to see mad smoke and parked it right away and took a cab... tom im gonna go to the stealership and buy it ...but i checked it out today and i drove it like a block and it was still running tho thank GOD!

 

The smoke might be the water evaporating from all the coolant that leaked out of your system but if it was all at once then maybe not. Most of the coolant system is pretty easy to fix if you decide to do it yourself and you can easily find a piece like that at the junkyard.

 

Don't replace it with a used hose. Hoses are important and not going to break the bank. Buy new and get some piece of mind.

 

if the pipe burst then you will see lots of white smoke lets hope you stopped it in time before cylinder head damage was done

 

Or water hitting the manifold - don't know if that can happen in the A4 hose config, but that can be pretty spectacular if it does...