Oil in coolant Followup

[James N. Friedman]

97 A4 Quattro manual 1.8T 83k miles USA (Maryland)

Oil got into the coolant, probably from the oil cooler.

The recommendation from the dealer after talking to Audi, was to trade the car.
Dealer is now offering $4000 for the
car in trade toward a 2001 A4 1.8T Quattro (that means 20000 in depreciation in
less than 4 years). Audi, so far, is no help. Since the mileage is beyond the
warranty, Audi as a manufacturer says they can't help.

The beginning of a repair estimate was 5600 "to start" including Turbo, heater
core, radiator, oil cooler and all
hoses. They also said there was likely damage inside the crank case where they
had not yet looked, probably to main bearings. They hadn't looked in the crank
case because such bearing damage from antifreeze wouldn't  show up for 5 - 10
thousand miles, they said.

If the car had been worth 10 - 11, and the estimate is 5600 to start, with
uncertain costs from other damage  beyond that, I have to conclude it makes more
sense to trade.

Someone on Audiworld A4 web bulletin board suggested buying a wrecked A4 for
parts, and having some independent shop fix it.

However, I can't wait for that to get accomplished. It's my only car. I gave the
dealer back their rental car when they said
 they wouldn't pay for it anymore after two weeks. I'm using a borrowed car
right now (my father's), but I can't ask
for that to continue for the time it would take to accomplish that task of
turning two non-running A4s into one that runs.

 Besides, that would still leave me with an 83K miles car with no warranty, and
with used parts in it.

 And two shops bills and towing bills etc. etc.


  So I've reluctantly decided to trade it.

  Audi has already said no, they can't help, but I'm going to keep pursuing the
problem with them even after I  make the expensive trade in. Audi calls it
Client Relations, and the title of the people there is Client Advocate.  I'm
hoping that with repeated phone calls I'll eventually get to talk to somebody at
Audi who can live up to the sound of those names.


> 97 A4 Quattro manual 1.8T 83k miles USA (Maryland)
>
>  Oil got into the coolant. Apparently a lot of it.
>  The dealer is saying what's in the coolant system is so thick it won't drain,
> and flushing it won't fix it.
>
>  They say that what's required is to replace the oil cooler (they think that is
> where the leak was) the turbo, the heater core, the
>  radiator, coolant bottle and all the hoses.
>
>  I don't have a precise estimate yet, but it sounds like I'm looking at a
> decision to spend something around 5 - 6
> thousand dollars on a not-quite 4 year old car with 83K miles vs. whatever I can
> work out with the dealership to trade it on a 2001  A4 Quattro 1.8T.
>
>  Anybody have experience with this sort of problem?
>
> Are they correct that the heater core can't be flushed out,  has to be replaced?
>
> Dealer service writer said they tried the usual head gasket leak test, but are
> uncertain of the results since the
>  thick stuff gets in the way of seeing coolant wherever it is they look for it.
>  He said it probably isn't the head gasket, but not certain.
>
>  But can the oil cooler leak enough oil to clog up the heater core so badly it
> stops making heat and needs to be
>  replaced? Why would the heater core have to be replaced rather than flushed?
>
>  I had the temp at HI to try to keep the car from overheating even worse as I
> limped it to the dealer. It had been
>  blowing hot air but began blowing cold air in the last 2 miles of the trip to
> the dealer.
>
> Anyone have experience with Audi Client Relations on such a situation,
> indicating whether they would absorb some of that cost? I'm leaning toward
> trading the car as is.  Does anyone have experience with how helpful Audi Client
> Relations would be in improving the economics of that trade in?
>
>
>
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