Audi A3 - coolant warning puzzle

[jrlkavanagh]

Dear all

When starting up my 04 Audi A3 in very cold weather, I get the coolant warning message on the dash for a few seconds, then it disappears.

The manual says this warning means either overheating or low coolant, but neither is the case.

Has anyone else experienced this, and do you know what it means?

Many thanks

[00161wj]

Put a new bottle onit. Wont be expensive and 9 times out of 10 will cure the fault.

[UpTheIron]

Two of my three A3's have done this...topping up the coolant to slightly above Max sorted it.

[Vee]

Open the coolant reservior and take out the sensor - 2 metal probes.
Give them a clean as they're probably covered in dirt or lightly corroded.
My Golf did this & so has my dad's Bora.

[AAT1981]

I had same issue with B6 A4, the coolant plug at the top of the engine was also leaking on mine and the pump was starting to fail.

Luckily, it went before my warranty (used car) run out......

[jrlkavanagh]

Hi AAT1981

Do you know what I should look for to see if my Audi has the same problem as yours had? It's also under a used car warranty, but not for long, so would be very helpful to know.

I guess it might be just a question of watching the coolant level?


Thanks

[Tame Technician]

As mentioned above, needs new coolant reservoir. Its a fault with the sensor within the bottle,give fault low reading first thing when cold. We change rather a lot of them for this fault, A3 and TT's.

Think there about £6 + Vat. Two screws two hose clips. Easy

[AAT1981]

Tame Technician said:

As mentioned above, needs new coolant reservoir. Its a fault with the sensor within the bottle,give fault low reading first thing when cold. We change rather a lot of them for this fault, A3 and TT's.

Think there about £6 + Vat. Two screws two hose clips. Easy

Yeah the engine plug was also faulty along with the water pump, just take it in, Audi should be able to diagnise this as they pressure check the system and that finds the fault is what I was told.

The fluid res was also part of the issue.

[missing the VR6]

My 8L A3 did this last week. I checked the level and it was low, topped up and nothing wrong with it since.

[matt3001]

Glad I found this thread, my A3 has been doing this off and on for the past 2 weeks, it's under warranty still so i'll let the dealer do this as I can't be bothered but nice to know for the future.

[niffty]

I got the same problem on my A3 8P.

Hopefully its just the sensors inside rather than anything major.