A4 Heater Core issues
#1
02-11-2011, 12:15 PM
A4 Heater Core issues
New member here and hoping for some help.
I have a 2002 A4 Avant, Quattro. I am the second owner. About 2 years ago, at around 86,000 miles I began having problems with my heat, specifically, I didn't have any. I took to the local dealer. They first started with some small gasket that apparently can begin to leak and will cause heat issues. This little gasket was in a hard to reach place, so it cost $400 to replace. No change. The next conclusion was that my water pump might be going and while they were at it, replace timing belt. Now, I knew this was a repair that I was going to need to do fairly soon so I wasn't too upset. The pump did in fact show a damaged impelar. Unofortunately, that still did not fix the problem. My dealer then began to throw parts at my car. They replaced the same gasket, again, replaced the hoses and replaced the thermostat. Nothing. Finally, it was decided it must be the heater core. This did appear to fix the problem. Two months later a leak developed in the radiator, so that had to be changed as well. At this point, my entire cooling system has been replaced. Jump ahead to the following winter when I again began experiencing heat problems. I dealt with it for a while and finally took it back in. Their immediate response was heater core, which was of course now out of warranty. I had great heat again for about a month. I dealt with it for a few weeks and took it back in. They flushed the core and found scale in the coolant that was flushed. They pressure checked the system and saw no indication of leaks. Their conclusion is that the engine block itself must be starting to scale off and that is clogging my heater core. They recommend I unload the car. At 100,000 miles I just can't believe my entire engine is dying? Is there something else that could be causing this that they missed. I will mention that the heat does seem to improve the more I drive it around and the more the engine gets warmed up, which I see is a symptom others have mentioned on this forum.
I would appreciate ANY ideas. This thing is almost paid off and I was really looking forward to not having a car payment.
I have a 2002 A4 Avant, Quattro. I am the second owner. About 2 years ago, at around 86,000 miles I began having problems with my heat, specifically, I didn't have any. I took to the local dealer. They first started with some small gasket that apparently can begin to leak and will cause heat issues. This little gasket was in a hard to reach place, so it cost $400 to replace. No change. The next conclusion was that my water pump might be going and while they were at it, replace timing belt. Now, I knew this was a repair that I was going to need to do fairly soon so I wasn't too upset. The pump did in fact show a damaged impelar. Unofortunately, that still did not fix the problem. My dealer then began to throw parts at my car. They replaced the same gasket, again, replaced the hoses and replaced the thermostat. Nothing. Finally, it was decided it must be the heater core. This did appear to fix the problem. Two months later a leak developed in the radiator, so that had to be changed as well. At this point, my entire cooling system has been replaced. Jump ahead to the following winter when I again began experiencing heat problems. I dealt with it for a while and finally took it back in. Their immediate response was heater core, which was of course now out of warranty. I had great heat again for about a month. I dealt with it for a few weeks and took it back in. They flushed the core and found scale in the coolant that was flushed. They pressure checked the system and saw no indication of leaks. Their conclusion is that the engine block itself must be starting to scale off and that is clogging my heater core. They recommend I unload the car. At 100,000 miles I just can't believe my entire engine is dying? Is there something else that could be causing this that they missed. I will mention that the heat does seem to improve the more I drive it around and the more the engine gets warmed up, which I see is a symptom others have mentioned on this forum.
I would appreciate ANY ideas. This thing is almost paid off and I was really looking forward to not having a car payment.
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