Hey you can also pretty much flush old coolant out of the engine using a hose while the radiator is out just spray the hose down in the coolant reservoir and it will run the water through the engine (let the car run while you do that)

 

The good: I started the replacement of the radiator finally and I have to say, it's not as bad as I was expecting. Audi did a great job in the design for replacement. Kudo's to them.

The BAD: The radiator I received in the mail from AutohouseAZ was the wrong one. My radiator that I took out only has three connections while the new one has four. I sent a request to get an RA number. They gave it to me and told me that they didn't have a replacement one for me. I thought ****. 5:00 on a Monday night looking for a replacement. Car is out, not that it matters, I have others to drive, but I started looking around online. Found that every place listed three replacements. So I called the Audi dealer to get some information on what they charge, although I knew it woudl be high, and asked about the part number I had. The parts guys was nice and said that's the OLD part number, you need the new one with the two other hoses that go with it. I said what new hoses. He indicated that they did a bulletin and changed out the radiator and added a couple of hoses. Great! Now I need to go to the dealer and get these two hoses to complete my job. Oh well, story of my life.

Question: Has anyone else come across this problem with a replacement radiator?

Just curious. Also, I will be posting the whole procedure for everyone or giving a pdf of all the procedures as soon as I'm done.

 

If you read one of my previous post i told you that you will need the updated hoses which has the quick release connectors. They are about $80 each. I also could have told you that chances are they would send you the wrong radiator lol. You will need the one that has two big holes on the right side and a small hole on the left side. Good luck with the rest of the work and good job tackling it Remember to run a hose through the reservoir and get out all the old coolant out of the engine

 

jamm220 - I did go back and re-read all the old posts and noticed what you indicated before. My bad, LOL. Oh well, such is life. I'm on my way to the dealer this afternoon to get the hoses. Doesn't seem that hard, but what a PITA. Already got it covered on the resevior. Thanks for the info.

 

I'm looking forward to the write-up. You're a trailblazer and a pioneer!!

 

Just curious what your mileage was because my 05 needs a radiator and it only has 72k on it, very small leak right now underneath it.

 

Mdeeze - Your car did better then mine. I only had 55K on mine before the radiator went bad. Come to find out there was a service bulletin put out on our cars and unless your car had the updated radiator installed you will have to do just what I did. New updated radiator($250) and an additional three hoses($200) from Audi plus new G12 Coolant.

I will be doing the write up shortly with pics and full Audi Service manual instructions in the next few days. It's not as bad as you think just a little time consuming. I think the hardest part is getting the front bumper off, so an extra pair of hands is a good idea.

Let me know if you have any specific questions you want to know.

 

Car is almost due for timing belt so thinking about doing both at once with some help thanks for the info I'll watch out for the post

 

Did you ever create a write-up on the radiator replacement? I have the same questions regarding the hoses as you do. Did you simply cut the bands and pull?

 

Diskman- Come to think of it I never did do the write up. I will try and get to that tonight when I get home. I took all kinds of pics.

Also, as for the hoses, DO NOT cut the bands! It's very easy to get them off. They have clips on them that allow you to disconnect them from the radiator. Think of the hose as the female end and the radiator as the male end. The clip requires you to take a long small flat blade screwdriver or similar and pry up. Once the clip pops up you can pull straight back and the hose becomes disconnected from the radiator. The bands are actually installed from the manufactuer and are crimped on. The new hoses already come assembled and you just need to push them on the radiator and push the retaining clip down. It's pretty easy. I was worried since I never did this before but once I did it, I thought to myself that was pretty simple.

I'll see what I can do about getting that right up done tonight. I'm working on another project in the garage and have been putting a lot of time into it to get it done for spring.

Let me know if you have any other immediate questions.