Need Advice - 2012 A6 3.0T Issues

[vthanki]

Hello,

I have been a long-time lurker first-time poster. I have a 2012 A6 3.0T Prestige with roughly 95K miles on the ODO. Below is my story since last year:

2021 - $7000+ in repairs
- Had both sets of front upper and lower control arms replaced (indie)
- Had front left axel replaced (indie)
- Had PCV replaced, along with pipes and stuff due to a coolant leak (dealer)

2022 -
Last week $1300 in repairs
- Had the transmission cooler valve and wiring replaced (P2753) (dealer)

While driving last weekend I got the dreaded "Coolant temperature too high! Please let engine run with vehicle stationery"

Latest $2600 estimate from the dealer (overheating issues)
- Water pump replacement
- Thermostat replacement

My Indie mechanic initially told me to get the vehicle fixed. These jobs are too complicated for him. But when I mentioned that the vehicle overheated he said that most likely there's going to be irreversible engine damage and I would be better off getting rid of the vehicle. At this point, the car is a money pit to me and I still have a deferred front right axle that needs to be replaced which will run about $1500.

I need advice, should I fix my vehicle or should I sell it?

Thank you for your advice!

[nick1980]

You can buy the water pump and thermostat and tools if you don’t have them ,and with minimal wrenching you can get this all done very cheap by yourself
Did the car actually overheat or just get the coolant warning?

[jbain2]

No offense but you need to find a new indie mechanic. I did the water pump and thermostat on my car as well as other maintenance. I have zero formal experience as a mechanic. These jobs are bread and butter and should easily be completed for no more then $1000 including parts (and that’s on the high side). Same is true for your axle job.


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[vthanki]

No offense but you need to find a new indie mechanic. I did the water pump and thermostat on my car as well as other maintenance. I have zero formal experience as a mechanic. These jobs are bread and butter and should easily be completed for no more then $1000 including parts (and that’s on the high side). Same is true for your axle job.


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Thank you for responding. Do you think my engine could have suffered significant damage by overheating?

I am considering looking at other mechanics

[Valpo A7]

Your dealer is overpriced and the indie shop is incompetent if they can’t do a water pump and t stat on these engines.

$1300 for the coolant valve is highway robbery. Valve can be bought at FCP Euro for $70 and it’s less than 2 hours of work. Suspension parts from FCP should be less than $2000 for all parts.

I totally get being stuck paying for labor but still you got screwed in the bum with those prices. Also a good mechanic should have suggested to do the water pump and t stat since they had to pull the supercharger to do the PCV. Now they have to pull the SC again to do the work.

[vthanki]

The engine did overheat, once where the temperature bar reached all the way to red and I got a warning to pull over and idle. Hoping that I didnt destroy my car on accident

[vthanki]

I totally agree with you, had I known I would have had the water pump and thermostat done along with the PCV when they pulled the supercharger off. Didnt know that these also fail quite frequently on Audi's

[sepheroth86]

I'd swap the parts and see what happens. The 3.0t is pretty tough.

Find a GOOD shop or maybe someone from the forums who knows what they are doing is local enough to help you?

I just did most of what you have listed and more by myself in the garage.

[paul-g]

i say this fix it no matter what. then you need to make a choice if you want to keep it or not, if your not secure in your mind with it go trade it in. I've come to realize as i get older that if i don't feel secure the car i'm driving will be reliable i send it down road cause i won't enjoy driving it any more. On the other hand you've put alot of money in it and one could argue that you fixed a lot of things so should be good for a long time. Only thing i don't see on list is timing chain guides, with 95k on it i say run it to 130-150kish and send on its way.

[Valpo A7]

Reading this again on my work computer with a decent screen instead of my phone.

What is wrong that they say the axle (right) is bad? These axles are pretty decent and should not go bad unless the CV joint went bad. You can get an aftermarket axle for $500 from Europaparts.
https://www.europaparts.com/axle-ass...g0407271f.html

A couple hours of labor and its swapped out WITHOUT taking front suspension apart. If they take the suspension apart then they will jack you for another alignment.

[Valpo A7]

The engine did overheat, once where the temperature bar reached all the way to red and I got a warning to pull over and idle. Hoping that I didnt destroy my car on accident

If it happened just the once and you immediately pulled over to idle then the engine should be fine. It sucks but you can turn the heat on full with full fan and the heater core will act as a supplemental radiator. Mine went out maybe 6 weeks ago and I used that trick to limp it home and to keep the temp bars out of the top dots and never got the pull over warning.

[vthanki]

If it happened just the once and you immediately pulled over to idle then the engine should be fine. It sucks but you can turn the heat on full with full fan and the heater core will act as a supplemental radiator. Mine went out maybe 6 weeks ago and I used that trick to limp it home and to keep the temp bars out of the top dots and never got the pull over warning.

It happened while on the freeway with the heater on....it was a hot day here in southern california....I put the car in neutral and limped off of the freeway. Pulled over and let it cool a little before getting home. My biggest concern is that I may have warped something on the engine with the excess heat

[vthanki]

i say this fix it no matter what. then you need to make a choice if you want to keep it or not, if your not secure in your mind with it go trade it in. I've come to realize as i get older that if i don't feel secure the car i'm driving will be reliable i send it down road cause i won't enjoy driving it any more. On the other hand you've put alot of money in it and one could argue that you fixed a lot of things so should be good for a long time. Only thing i don't see on list is timing chain guides, with 95k on it i say run it to 130-150kish and send on its way.

Thank you, I appreciate your response. I love this car but the recent costs have really soured things for me. The overheating and potential engine damage is what is scaring me off at this point which may lead to even more repairs in the near future. I do want to keep the car around a few more years until the market isnt so crazy and then move on

- - - Updated - - -

I'd swap the parts and see what happens. The 3.0t is pretty tough.

Find a GOOD shop or maybe someone from the forums who knows what they are doing is local enough to help you?

I just did most of what you have listed and more by myself in the garage.

Thank you, it is my goal to find a mechanic thats local that can work on the car and get a high level estimate today

[vthanki]

Reading this again on my work computer with a decent screen instead of my phone.

What is wrong that they say the axle (right) is bad? These axles are pretty decent and should not go bad unless the CV joint went bad. You can get an aftermarket axle for $500 from Europaparts.
https://www.europaparts.com/axle-ass...g0407271f.html

A couple hours of labor and its swapped out WITHOUT taking front suspension apart. If they take the suspension apart then they will jack you for another alignment.

The axel boot is torn and leaking, similar damage last year and had the entire axel replaced based on recommendation. Will find a local euro shop to see what they can do for me. Thank you

[jbain2]

I wouldn’t worry about the overheating. What you describe is similar to what many of us who have had a t-stat and/or water pump fail occur.

If you like the car, you should be able to have all this fixed by a competent indie shop for $1000 I’m guessing including the axle rebuild.


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[Valpo A7]

The axel boot is torn and leaking, similar damage last year and had the entire axel replaced based on recommendation. Will find a local euro shop to see what they can do for me. Thank you

If the boot is leaking and you caught it early enough the CV joint will still be okay. As long as its not clicking as you turn then it has been caught early enough. You can actually get a speed boot for most applications where you put a new split boot over it and just re-pack it with grease. Even if the CV is clicking you might be able to find a shop that can rebuild the axle for less than a full replacement.

If you don't mind shopping on partgeek.com you can find a complete aftermarket axle for under $100 as well. https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/20..._assembly.html

[RedS-line]

Until you confirm engine damage, there is NO engine damage. Fix the car as cheaply as possible, meaning avoid the dealer, and then drive it.
Pull codes from it and do some logs once its fixed and you should know whats up.

[yeuchau]

I had PVC, thermostat and water pump all replaced at EMD auto earlier this year for like $1500 if I recall on the price.
Thermostat/water pump wasn't bad, but since it's already easily accessible, labor on the is minimal, so I decided to get it done as well.

I believe I also have CV boot replaced there at one point, check them out, Thomas is very good and price is very reasonable.

[quattroism25]

As others have stated your dealer is a ripoff and your indie guy is not a real mechanic. It sucks you have to do double work. The dealer should have known to change the thermostat and water pump at the same time of pcv change. If you were close by I would do it for gas and beer money. The 3.0t I'd really not that really not that hard to work on. I did carbon cleaning, pcv, injector cleaning, water pump and thermostat on a weekend.

I say fix it if you plan on holding on to the car for few years. My 2012 A6 went 206k till I got rid of cause I wanted something new.

[jrsAudiA6]

Hello,

I have been a long-time lurker first-time poster. I have a 2012 A6 3.0T Prestige with roughly 95K miles on the ODO. Below is my story since last year:

2021 - $7000+ in repairs
- Had both sets of front upper and lower control arms replaced (indie)
- Had front left axel replaced (indie)
- Had PCV replaced, along with pipes and stuff due to a coolant leak (dealer)

2022 -
Last week $1300 in repairs
- Had the transmission cooler valve and wiring replaced (P2753) (dealer)

While driving last weekend I got the dreaded "Coolant temperature too high! Please let engine run with vehicle stationery"

Latest $2600 estimate from the dealer (overheating issues)
- Water pump replacement
- Thermostat replacement

My Indie mechanic initially told me to get the vehicle fixed. These jobs are too complicated for him. But when I mentioned that the vehicle overheated he said that most likely there's going to be irreversible engine damage and I would be better off getting rid of the vehicle. At this point, the car is a money pit to me and I still have a deferred front right axle that needs to be replaced which will run about $1500.

I need advice, should I fix my vehicle or should I sell it?

Thank you for your advice!

I see that you reside in OC, CA. I also have MY12 A6 with many mods (see signature) and tracked a bunch of times. I did have a thermostat failure at around 42K miles, so still under warranty, when returning from a HPDE(track) event in Nevada. I got the same warning you did twice while trying to make it to the chevron station in Shoshone CA. There was no damage to the engine since it now has close 120K miles, yours is fine. As others have said you got ripped off for the work you have had done so far. Once I was out of warranty I started using an indie shop in Murrieta and now use one much closer to me in Riverside. The name of my current indie is Kormodiv. I have been very happy with their work. Dealer labor rate have gotten way to high imho. Walter's Audi, my local dealer, last time I checked was about $225/hour. Kormodiv labor rate is about $160/hour.

My thermostat has not failed since the initial failure as it was replaced with a revised part. My water pump on the other hand has been replaced about 4 times. The first time the dealer replaced out of caution and it was under warranty. The next time the dealer noticed it was slightly leaking coolant after about a year, they went 50/50 with me on the cost. The remaining 2 times was for the same reason, a small leak. I believe it was replaced while performing other work requiring the removal of the super charger.

If you have any other questions issues PM me. I have VCDS if you do not.

[vthanki]

Thank you so much jrsAudiA6. Actually getting it fixed right now. Using a mobile repair tech. Gave me a killer deal on the labor and parts

[vthanki]

This is an update for everyone that posted or has been watching this thread. After looking for mechanics for quite a while and getting some very high estimates to replace the water pump and thermostat I found a mobile mechanic who was VAG trained from Portugal. He showed up at my house and worked on my car while it was in the garage. Took him a grand total of 3 hours.

My final cost including OEM Thermostat, Water Pump, Coolant, and labor was $860. My car runs great, everything seems to be just fine.

If it hadn't been for this forum I would have dumped my vehicle and would have been shopping for a new vehicle. So glad that is not the case because I love my C7 A6.

If you are looking for an honest hard working Indie that will come to you check out VAG Mobile Mechanic. Fred specializes in VW, Audi, and all types of Diesel engines

[quattroism25]

Glad it worked out well for you

[sepheroth86]

Glad to hear that you found a competent mechanic who also seems to have reasonable prices!

[RedS-line]

This is an update for everyone that posted or has been watching this thread. After looking for mechanics for quite a while and getting some very high estimates to replace the water pump and thermostat I found a mobile mechanic who was VAG trained from Portugal. He showed up at my house and worked on my car while it was in the garage. Took him a grand total of 3 hours.

My final cost including OEM Thermostat, Water Pump, Coolant, and labor was $860. My car runs great, everything seems to be just fine.

If it hadn't been for this forum I would have dumped my vehicle and would have been shopping for a new vehicle. So glad that is not the case because I love my C7 A6.

If you are looking for an honest hard working Indie that will come to you check out VAG Mobile Mechanic. Fred specializes in VW, Audi, and all types of Diesel engines

Thread TL;DR- Dealer = expensive, Indie =cheap.

Glad your car is back up and running. I just had similar repairs done at indie, of course. The PCV stung the most.

[Valpo A7]

Thread TL;DR- Dealer = expensive, Indie =cheap.

Glad your car is back up and running. I just had similar repairs done at indie, of course. The PCV stung the most.

OP tried the indie route but wound up with an incompetent indie to start with. Later found a mobile indie that got his work done at a very good price.