Hi. I have a 1997 A4 Quattro whose water pump recently went out on the freeway. I immediately pulled over and called a tow truck to get towed. I didn't want to do anything that would possibly cause the head gasket to go out as well. That being said, the car went to the shop to have the water pump, timing belt, rollers and tensioners, and drive belt replaced, to the tune of $1200.00. Picked up the car the next day, drove it home and to work the following days only to hear the dreaded "three beep", low coolant warning tone and the red flashing coolant warning sign come up on the dash. Okay, wtf is this all about, I say. So I take it back to the shop and tell the guy what happened and he said he'd take a look at it and do a pressure test and call me when it was ready. Later that afternoon I pick up the car, he said everything was cool and checked out and they must not have totally topped off the coolant before I picked it up. I am very skeptical at this point, but take the car home anyway. Three days later..... you guessed it, beeping, red flashing lights, etc, etc. Taking the car back, AGAIN, tomorrow morning to find out what the hell is going on. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem could be if the water pump and belts and tensioners have all been replaced, yet I am still loosing coolant? No visible coolant however, no puddles on the driveway or anything like that. Oh yeah, all the hoses check out for not having holes or leaks either, I checked them myself. What's going on? Please let me know if anyone has had the same problems or knows how to fix this. thanks, john

 

Have you noticed any white smoke out the tailpipe? Wouldn't hurt to do a compression test just to be safe.

 

It could be a failed sensor on the bottom of the expansion tank. Have you looked under there and seen a leak? It seems that you would actively see that much coolant missing