My 2000 A6 2.7T Quattro developed a leak which I believe to be at the water pump since it is flowing down onto the front of the oil pan and dropping to the ground from that. However, since I can't be sure, I need to know if there's a way to find out without removing everything in the way. Even removing everything would probably make it impossible to confirm the leak since I can't very well run the car with so many parts off. I don't want to have to replace the water pump only to find out that it wasn't the source of the leak.

And if it turns out not to be the water pump, what else could it likely be, keeping in minds the described location of the leak? If if turns out that it is the water pump, does anybody here know where I could get the cheapest one, but also maintaining a long life, for instance, another 100,000 miles past my current 101000 miles? I didn't realize how many different water pumps I could choose from until I started searching, and I'm only more confused with a price range I've seen from $60 to over $200.

Any help at all would be appreciated. Thanks

 

i have the same issue on an 2001 2.7t a6.... were u able to resolve??

 

Not resolved yet. This is the only place I've asked. I figured a forum would be better than a site like yahoo answers for this particular question.

However, now that I know I'm not alone, I can safely say that it probably isn't some small, insignificant part of the cooling system. With your reply, I can safely guess that the leak is coming from something with moving parts and produces heat from said movement. Just a guess. But if this reasoning is correct, the leak source is narrowed down to two options: the water pump and the thermostat. Both of these are recommended to be changed with the timing belt, which was on my to-do list. So, I'll just do it and see if it still leaks or not.

 

You might be able to pressure check the cooling system while you have the front of the motor exposed.

I have never had _this_ motor that far apart... any comments from people who have?

 

Blauparts TB kit comes with a nice metallic impellor water pump. Since you should change the TB every 80-90k, you're not going to make 100k on just a water pump.

 

Comming down the front it's the pump. the seals gone and you don't have long until it quits. They **** a little before they die. If it were a hose or the thermostat housing you would know it would be steaming and you could find it easier.

 

don't screw around - get the kit from Blauparts that includes the wp, thermostat, front seals, TB, etc before you have a real problem.

 

I thought the timing belt was changed (at least on the 2.7T) every 60K. Either way, it shouldn't be failing now assuming the water pump was done already in the past. I wouldn't know since I bought the car with 93K.

That means the pump either started failing in a short 40K miles or less, or my water pump did indeed last 101K and wasn't changed on the last TB job. I'll assume it's the latter.

Due to being laid off for a while, I've been comparing kits from both ECS tuning and BLAUparts to find the best value. I wouldn't normally be this frugal, I used to buy car related products without even looking at price; now I have to care. I've been trying to figure out which parts are absolutely necessary to change out. So far, the only ones I'm going to change are the timing belt, idler roller, and tensioner roller, thermostat, and water pump. Can someone please tell me the importance of the hydraulic tensioner, the relay lever for said tensioner, and the crank & cam seals. Are these also necessities? Can someone also give a price on tool rental from BLAUparts?

Thank you for the previous help and any help hereafter

 

Many people take the cheep way out and just do the TB -if at all - And there are no gurantees that your TB or anything else has been done.

You are into the "PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER" mode. Conventional wisedom and Mr. Murphy says that when you have it apart change all the things that could go wrong because the one thing you try to get by with will break and you'll have to do it again.

 

Even though I like to help, I always start by saying that I have no idea how a Quattro engine looks like.
Regardless, if the 2.7 resembles somewhat the 2.8, you should be able to take off the ribbed belt - it's tensioner is spring-loaded so is easy to loosen it up, pop off the timing belt plastic covers and have a look at the Water Pump's housing to confirm/infirm that there's indeed the leak source.
If it doesn't leak around the pulley (front), it may be that the back of the housing has a bad rubber O-ring. In that case, you would have the valley pan cover area flooded with coolant - which you can shine a light in there. The T-stat housing's back also has a rubber O-ring and the leak would sip the same in the valley pan cover area.

This way, you can check the condition of the timing belt, as you can physically inspect it.
If you don't know anything about car's past servicing, you should probably change the TB, T-stat, tensioners and idlers - as the guys already said.
If the camshaft seals and the crankshaft seal don't leak, I wouldn't mess with them.
One more thing: I would check JHMotorsports.com, as they rent the tools for an UNLIMITED period of time, they do have also TB kits, and they also have a $ 30 TB Replacement VIDEO.
good luck