I have a 96 2.8 A6 Quatro Wagon and it is getting hot intermittently. I just replaced one of the fan motors and everything seemed OK for a while but the other day I noticed some steam coming from under the hood at a stop light. The temp gage was normal so I drove it to my shop and we checked it out. The coolent level was way low and I had just checked it a week before this happened. I also had the system checked for leaks about a month ago when I replaced the fan motor. The fans are cycling properly, I jumped them out and checked them, and I cant find any leaks anyplace. I dont have any leakage that I can see inside the car. I thought it might be the heater core. By the way, has anyone replaced a heater core and how bad is it. Like I said, I cant find any leaks anyplace. My shop guy told me to drive it around and keep an eye on it. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Any advise would be great. Thanks, TroyDA6, The FNG.

 

I have a 96 A6 wagon and noticed that my coolant reservoir was always low, even after I toped it off. I found that the small hose that goes into the top of the resivoir from the radiator hose was slowly leaking past the clamp. It was slow enough not to be dripping or steaming. I replaced the clamp (of course after the engine was cool and not pressurized) and that fixed my problem. You could check this.

 

the engine need to be run until the fans cut in to ensure they are working jumping the fans is no good

 

Heater cores are NO FUN, regardless of teh car...

Last one *I* did was about a decade ago, on a 518i. Took me two days, all by myself, but if I'd had help I prolly cudda done it in a day. I hadda stop and remove ALL teh bones in my arms, to reach all the places I hadda reach, under the dash. Which was kinda neat, until I want to scratch my back and cudn't get my arms back in FRONT of my body...[:@]

 

I forgot to mention the heater core job as AWDa says its a pig