Etron Coolant Leak
Author
Discussion

Donbarto5

Original Poster:

44 posts

52 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
Hello everyone,

Looking for some advice. I have a 2020 Audi Etron and it was purchased from a car supermarket type dealer. Dealer said they serviced it and updated the car and app so next service is shown as 2026.

I had the car in for some extended warranty work and Audi flagged that the rear coolant cartridge had not been changed and the brake fluid service was not carried out. Contacted the dealer I bought it from and they agreed to do the coolant cartridge replacement and would pay Audi to do so.

Booked the car into Audi and while in the workshop it developed an electrical warning light that rendered the car undriveable.

I have Audis extended warranty and originally the dealer was saying that they didn’t think the warranty would cover it as the coolant cartridge had not been changed. After investigation it’s the front motor that has failed due to coolant getting through the internal seals.

Dealer then threw doubt on the selling dealer having done the inspection service and checked the front motor coolant drain plug. I believe they have done this and the selling dealer confirmed. They sent an internal invoice as proof showing they ordered an inspection service and pollen filter. Audi dealer said this wasn’t sufficient and submitted the extended warranty claim saying the car had not been serviced to manufacturer specifications.


Extended warranty team came back asking for more information on the services. So Audi dealer sent on the car service history and the invoice from selling dealer. They responded saying they want to send out their own engineer to inspect the motor.

Do you think it’s a positive sign that they have reviewed the service information and then decided to send out their engineer? As it’s at their expense they are sending the engineer out so would they go to that expense if they are planning on rejecting the claim based on a technicality?

Extremely anxious about this as I believe the repair can be around £10k and it’s causing me a lot of stress thinking about it

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated


PushedDover

6,747 posts

71 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
There was a similar thread here not so long ago with regards coolant change where someone’s friend had bought a car supposedly also serviced accordingly.
Not sure on the total outcome but worth a search

Good luck - quick question, have you legal cover as included on your home insurance should it become a case of pitting the supermarket against the audi dealer ? Some muscle may help

Meanwhile of course you’re still off the road so sympathy there as if your Audi dealer is anything like mine they say their next courtesy car available is 2026!

Donbarto5

Original Poster:

44 posts

52 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
PushedDover said:
There was a similar thread here not so long ago with regards coolant change where someone s friend had bought a car supposedly also serviced accordingly.
Not sure on the total outcome but worth a search

Good luck - quick question, have you legal cover as included on your home insurance should it become a case of pitting the supermarket against the audi dealer ? Some muscle may help

Meanwhile of course you re still off the road so sympathy there as if your Audi dealer is anything like mine they say their next courtesy car available is 2026!
Yes I have legal cover in my home insurance. Nearly identical with the courtesy car. Nothing available for the foreseeable

uktrailmonster

7,062 posts

218 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
If the “supermarket” dealer did the initial service inspection, I doubt their mechanics would have had a clue what they were looking at on the EV drivetrain.

I would never buy a used EV outside of the native manufacturer dealer network.

riskyj

496 posts

98 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
Is the coolant cartridge the item referred to on my service record as “collection tank” or is that something else? Photo is a first service from main dealer.

CrgT16

2,330 posts

126 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
What’s the mileage on that motor? It’s only 4 years old!

Donbarto5

Original Poster:

44 posts

52 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
CrgT16 said:
What s the mileage on that motor? It s only 4 years old!
36000

ashenfie

1,723 posts

64 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
The cartridge is a collection tank from my understanding. The seals on the motor can leak and a symptom of this is the cartridge fills up. This may have been missed in the inspection but also is not the cause of the issue either.

cuprabob

17,155 posts

232 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
Here's the other thread on the same subject that was referred to earlier,

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by cuprabob on Saturday 26th July 21:27

samoht

6,706 posts

164 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all

When did you purchase the car?

You may have a fairly good case for the supplying car supermarket to cover the repair if Audi won't, on the basis of the car not being of satisfactory quality as sold to you.

Cobnapint

9,201 posts

169 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
Donbarto5 said:
Hello everyone,

Looking for some advice. I have a 2020 Audi Etron and it was purchased from a car supermarket type dealer. Dealer said they serviced it and updated the car and app so next service is shown as 2026.

I had the car in for some extended warranty work and Audi flagged that the rear coolant cartridge had not been changed and the brake fluid service was not carried out. Contacted the dealer I bought it from and they agreed to do the coolant cartridge replacement and would pay Audi to do so.

Booked the car into Audi and while in the workshop it developed an electrical warning light that rendered the car undriveable.

I have Audis extended warranty and originally the dealer was saying that they didn t think the warranty would cover it as the coolant cartridge had not been changed. After investigation it s the front motor that has failed due to coolant getting through the internal seals.

Dealer then threw doubt on the selling dealer having done the inspection service and checked the front motor coolant drain plug. I believe they have done this and the selling dealer confirmed. They sent an internal invoice as proof showing they ordered an inspection service and pollen filter. Audi dealer said this wasn t sufficient and submitted the extended warranty claim saying the car had not been serviced to manufacturer specifications.


Extended warranty team came back asking for more information on the services. So Audi dealer sent on the car service history and the invoice from selling dealer. They responded saying they want to send out their own engineer to inspect the motor.

Do you think it s a positive sign that they have reviewed the service information and then decided to send out their engineer? As it s at their expense they are sending the engineer out so would they go to that expense if they are planning on rejecting the claim based on a technicality?

Extremely anxious about this as I believe the repair can be around £10k and it s causing me a lot of stress thinking about it

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated
This service they did - was it some tyre black on the side walls and top the washer bottle up?

DSLiverpool

15,747 posts

220 months

Saturday 26th July
quotequote all
It was my mate in the quoted post, it’s an Audi approved used car that was / wasn’t serviced before collection. The rear motor failed as cartridge not emptied and it’s been off the road 2 months with the dealer and Audi not accepting responsibility. Yes they sent an engineer out as well.
Still unresolved.

Donbarto5

Original Poster:

44 posts

52 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
DSLiverpool said:
It was my mate in the quoted post, it s an Audi approved used car that was / wasn t serviced before collection. The rear motor failed as cartridge not emptied and it s been off the road 2 months with the dealer and Audi not accepting responsibility. Yes they sent an engineer out as well.
Still unresolved.
It’s terrible they are using that to get out of it given a full rear collection cartridge is a symptom of the problem not the cause!

I had heard Audi were refusing rear motor replacements based on this. Which is terrible.

I am hoping because mine is the front motor and there is no collection cartridge to change on the front that it’s a more positive outcome.

Do you know how long it took for the engineer to come out to check?

Really sorry about your friend and hope they get a solution

SWoll

21,141 posts

276 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
uktrailmonster said:
I would never buy a used EV outside of the native manufacturer dealer network.
It's fine as long as you've done your research and confirmed the right work has been completed at the right intervals. Bought ours from a third party dealer for a significant saving against approved but checked beforehand that all of the servicing + additional work was up to date. Then put an official warranty on it.

Previous posters bought approved and still had the issue so appears to make no difference if you don't confirm the details.

Sheepshanks

38,049 posts

137 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
SWoll said:
It's fine as long as you've done your research and confirmed the right work has been completed at the right intervals. Bought ours from a third party dealer for a significant saving against approved but checked beforehand that all of the servicing + additional work was up to date. Then put an official warranty on it.

Previous posters bought approved and still had the issue so appears to make no difference if you don't confirm the details.
With digital service records it’s a lottery.

Is changing the coolant cartridge part of the standard service or one of those VW Group ‘additional items’? You’d need the service invoices to be sure as work often isn’t shown correctly on the digital system.

uktrailmonster

7,062 posts

218 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
SWoll said:
uktrailmonster said:
I would never buy a used EV outside of the native manufacturer dealer network.
It's fine as long as you've done your research and confirmed the right work has been completed at the right intervals. Bought ours from a third party dealer for a significant saving against approved but checked beforehand that all of the servicing + additional work was up to date. Then put an official warranty on it.

Previous posters bought approved and still had the issue so appears to make no difference if you don't confirm the details.
It’s much harder to prove that a 3rd party dealer did all the right work. Which is what the OP is now going through. If that service had been done by an Audi dealer, I don’t see how Audi could refuse a warranty claim, even if the Audi dealer didn’t complete the service properly. The dealer would have to take the hit. My father-in-law had a warranty claim on his Nissan and they tried to wiggle out of it by saying that a part had not been serviced properly. Then he showed them a full Nissan dealer service history and they had no leg to stand on, even though it hadn’t been serviced correctly. If the servicing had been done at a 3rd party dealership, I have no doubt they would have refused the warranty claim.

As soon as 3rd party dealers are involved, it gives the manufacturer someone else to blame in a warranty claim where it becomes apparent that something was missed during service. The paperwork might well show a part was serviced when it clearly wasn’t when inspected following a warranty claim.



Cobnapint

9,201 posts

169 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
Honestly, what a nightmare, theres always something isn't there.

Just when you thought EVs were virtually maintenance free and all of your life problems were solved, along comes Audi with their own version of Ford's Eco-boom wet belt issue, or Porsche's IMS bearing problems.
I'd never heard of this before but reading up, there's a few horror stories out there.

Are these cartridge-changing motors the same as those used in the Macan?

ChocolateFrog

32,844 posts

191 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
Why are seals failing after 4 years and less than 40000 miles in the first places.

Even BMW can keep the oil in an engine longer than that.

Sheepshanks

38,049 posts

137 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
Cobnapint said:
Honestly, what a nightmare, theres always something isn't there.

Just when you thought EVs were virtually maintenance free and all of your life problems were solved, along comes Audi with their own version of Ford's Eco-boom wet belt issue, or Porsche's IMS bearing problems.
I'd never heard of this before but reading up, there's a few horror stories out there.

Are these cartridge-changing motors the same as those used in the Macan?
I've been looking forward to EVs if only that rip-off servicing dealers were going get their arses handed to them, but it turns out they're adding trumped up work and making servicing an even more bonkers cost (for the work done) than it is for ICE cars.

Different make, but had a nightmare with our new Hyundai EV as one of the reasons for choosing it was 2yr/20K service intervals - only to find dealers are absolutely adamant it needs an interim service. It's taken months to establish that it doesn't but Hyunda UK said they won't honour the body/paint warranty unless it's seen by a dealer annually.

Cobnapint

9,201 posts

169 months

Sunday 27th July
quotequote all
I sort of guessed this would happen. I'm sure Porsche (if not Audi) have already dreamt up ridiculous service requirements for their EVs to maintain the lucrative income (daylight fkng robbery) that they'd rather not lose.