Well here's my problem. I bought an A4, then got orders to be deployed to the desert. A week before I was shipped out my car started giving me problems on the start up. It would crank to 1300 rpm or so and the rpm would immediately drop off to zero. It would always work eventually, and I never had time to have it looked at.

Also, my coolant was almost empty, so I threw some autoparts store coolant in there to last me. I filled it to the rim, drove it for a few days, then I was on an airplane to the desert. My friend is looking after my car, cranking it every now and then and driving it to keep the battery juiced up, and he told me that when he went to crank it up that the coolant was empty. I know the system is supposed to be airtight and never lose fluid, so obviously there is a leak somewhere. I was wondering if anyone knew common places I could start looking? I haven't had the car long enough to toy around with.. any help is so much appreciated!

 

You will need a coolant flush to begin with. Our cars use G12 coolant which is a lifetime coolant that cannot be mixed with other coolants. Most common place for the coolant to leak would be the flange. You would be able to see gunked up coolant on the passenger side of the trans when youre looking from the top of the bay. 2nd most common is the thermostat which is below the intake manifold and behind the alternator. Then there is the head gasket which is less common.

Any CELs?

 

thanks for the feedback.

The only CEL I noticed was low coolant coming up on my dash display. any ideas for the engine losing rpm on startup? a friend told me it could be a vacc pump?