On my way to work I was about a mile from work and my low coolant light come on! I finished driving to work and worked my ten hour shift and I remembered to get a gallon of coolant when I got out to my car there was a wet spot about the size of a basketball I checked the reservoir and it was empty I poured some coolant in drove home and checked again... Almost empty again and now I can see coolant running down the front off the engine and dripping off the oil pan!
I am trying to decide now if I want to fix the 2.8 v6 or park the car and put my truck back together and wait for me to find a 4.2 v8 for the car?
Or to sell the car...
The car has less than 115,000 miles

 

Whatever you decide, don't drive that car until the water pump seizes. The TB will break shortly after and then the whole thing is a basket case. Is that the original WP? If so, maybe the original belt and rollers too? A whole kit is $179 at Germanautoparts.com for example, and the job isn't that tough.

 

I believe the engine is all original... I have done a little bit of work to it, and it doesn't look as if any of the bolts have ever been removed

 

That's really risky if those parts are all 17 years old. If you hear any kind of unusual noise from the front of the engine, I wouldn't drive it. If the belt goes, you instantly have bent valves in the cylinder heads.

The Blauparts kit is a good deal at $215 I think, because you also get a new serpentine belt, thermostat, coolant, and some seals for the cams and crank. For $50 more you can get a cam locking bar from Koch tools.

 

If I'm reading between the lines right, I'm betting not just the water pump is original, but the T Belt too. The Audi gods will punish you if you don't do a T-Belt kit along with the water pump.