I guess I could consider myself lucky for not being on the side of the road right now, my car literally died in my driveway when I got home from my evening work commute. As I put it in park, the coolant light came on and steam started pouring out from under the hood. I turned the ignition off, and popped the hood to have a look. The steam was coming from the back of the engine, up the firewall in the center. I took the cap off the coolant tank and it released the pressure. The steam immediatly quit, but the coolant tank was empty. I filled it back up, started the vehicle and the steam started again. The coolant drained right out of the bottom of the engine, towards the back on the right side, about 1.5 feet in from the tire. Does anyone know what may be causing this problem or what I have to look forward to? I had it towed to the dealership right away, but it was after hours so I will not know anything until the morning.

2003 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro Automatic Tiptronic

97,055

 

coolant flange

 

Yup. You have a fairly inexpensive part, and some bloody knuckles to look forward to.

 

Is that covered under warranty?

 

Depends on the terms of your waranty.

 

if you still have the origional factory warrenty, it might. but yea you have to look at your paperwork and see whats covered. your getting to the end of the warrenty at close to 100k miles, so it may not be covered. its not really an expensive fix tho.

 

I don't think bloody knuckles are covered under warranty!

 

Thanks everyone. I hope the stealership doesn't rape me if it's not covered... I'll post a followup when I have more information.

 

In the future, do not take your radiator cap off when the car is hot. Its a great way to get badly scalded.

 

Warranty covered all repair work. Flange, as stated above. They also replaced several different hoses and washed/waxed my car for me.