I've got a 98 A4 1.8T, just today when driving home the blinking center thermometer light came on out of nowhere and started beeping. I wasn't paying attention so I can't say if the Hot/Cold ticker slowly moved toward H or all of a sudden just flicked on to the top.

Anyway, I pulled over, turned the car off, let it sit and cool down. When I started it up again I blasted the heat and started driving towards my local autoshop which is actually closer than my house. At a really shitty spot with no place to pull over the light came on and started beeping again. Kept on driving and either smoke or steam came from the hood. Sorry again for lack of descriptions but I was stressed at the time and during this whole encounter the ******* behind me was laying on his horn...

I ended up coming to a parking lot literally half a mile from the autoshop since the whole car started shaking and making noises. The closest comparable thing I can think of is that point when you almost stall the car but then give it enough gas and it stutters forward a bit... except this time it was doing it constantly. Shut the car off for a good hour before starting it up and driving it up the road to drop it off at the shop. During this final half mile after an hour of inactivity the ticker was where it normally it was, nowhere near the H, though as I got closer to the shop it was starting to creep to the right and get hotter, definitely abnormal.

I was talking to my father who owned a Jetta that almost everything went wrong in, and he was thinking it's the thermostat. I've never really had serious car troubles in my Audi before (though I've only had it for... ~7000 miles now or so?).

So assuming it is the thermostat (though if you have another theory, shoot) what can I estimate this cost to be as I'm a bit tight on cash at the moment and want to know how much this is going to hurt. My local shop is pretty by the book and the labor rates, if I had to guess, are probably like $50/hour. I have no idea what A4 thermostats (as in the part itself) is going to run me.

Oh by the way when I was pulled over I did look and I was fine on coolant.

 

Thermostat is a pretty inexpensive part, its around $15 at napa auto parts. It is also pretty easy to change, it took me about 10 minutes to,change mine and i Didn't have to move my Alternator either. But im pretty sure you have a more serious problem than just a bad thermostat.

 

Same sort of thing happened to me. I went into the engine and replaced the water pun, one way to test if its you water pump is take out your thermostat and stick your figure where it goes. If you can move the impeller with your figure, your water pump is busted

 

i dont know where a tstat is on an 058 block (not even kidding) but the shop rate will be more than 50$ an hour. there arent many shops left that are at 60$ even. but it does sound like one of three things: tstat, coolant temp sensor, or waterpump.

 

Except you actually know an idea what you're doing.

What makes it sound like a more serious problem than a bad thermostat?

 

well the fact that you drove it while it was overheating and it was shuttering to the point where you had to turn it off... that will do some damage to your engine big time

 

Did you happen to glance at the oil temp while this was all happening? I think your water temp sensor is okay as it was reading high when it boiled over. Therefore, it's either the thermostat, the water pump or a blockage in the system. Hopefully it's the thermostat, as that's the cheapest deal to fix. If it turns out to be the water pump, thats a bit more involved, but still not terrible. It just requires the removal of more stuff to get to it, hence more labor. I would normally advise that you change out the timing belt at the same time as a water pump is replaced because it's basically the same amount of work.
Fingers crossed that it's just the thermostat though as funds are tight. If you did look at your oil temp during this period, let us know if it was high. If it was, I would change out the oil while you're at it.

Hard to give a good estimation of cost without knowing labor rates. If it is the thermostat, I would guess at $20.00 for the part and about 2 hours for the labor. It doesn't take 2 hours to do it, but I'll bet that's what they'll charge. If it's the water pump I would guess about $400.00 all in.

 

I looked into labor and the place I take it to seems to charge between $55-60. They're actually priced pretty fairly, at least in comparison to the stealership.

I did look at oil temperature while this was happening and it was fine. If it matters the only thing ever used in the car was 100% synthetic oil.

And yeah I'm now hoping it was the thermostat. I'm going to call them tomorrow and if it does end up being the water pump have them change the timing belt as well being as I'm at around 76,000 miles and it's due in the 80,000-85,000 range anyway. Been doing some research and asking around though and everything I've seen or read so far points toward the thermostat so here's hoping...

 

Okay just got news today- its the water pump. The place I took it to won't even attempt it. They recommended me to another place that would do the timing belt, water pump, and serpentine belt for $1300. I don't have $1300.

I'm trying to argue with my parents about doing it myself. I haven't ever attempted anything like this before. I've got an uncle that replaced it in his Cutlass and a friend that replaced it in his Wrangler that are willing to help me with the job, with this tutorial I found posted on the forums here.

I know I'm inexperienced with this but it seems like the far better alternative to sending out $1300.

 

holly crap $1300! Dam am in the wrong career !

dude don't sweat my car got oil sludge and destroy my head and am rebuilding the entire engine and i don't know much if not anything about Audi yet equipped with a manual and this forum is going ok so far lol it cost me about $800-$900 to rebuild the entire thing.

i have not put my belt or my water pump yet am doing that today.