Tifosi

Unfortunately, the thermostat claimed me as a victim today. My car is a 2011 S5 Cabriolet, the recall for the thermostat on the 3.0T engines was performed on April 15, 2011 with ~7,700 miles on the dial. And as of today, the car has ~43,800 miles on the dial.

It also started with the engine fan being on constantly as soon as the engine reaches operating temperature about two days ago. It was much more apparent yesterday and did a quick search to find this and a couple of other similar threads. I did not have an appointment with the Barrier Audi but decided to go ahead and take the car in this morning at 7:00, hoping that the advantage of typical Saturday morning light traffic will help in keeping the engine cooler. The drive to the dealership is about a 15 min driver on the I-405 and during the drive, I kept an eye on the coolant temperature gauge to monitor the cooling status of the engine. I noticed that it did start to climb as I was approaching the I-405/520 interchange, and by the time I am about 2 miles out, it reached the red zone and the center display showed the message that the engine is overheating and I should pull over and shut the engine off ASAP.

I contacted Barrier and explained my situation, and that I will be having the car towed to them. I then called Audi Roadside Assistance but I was placed on hold for some time. I decided to call AAA instead and was able to arrange for a tow almost immediately. I checked the coolant level in the reservoir and there is no significant loss and well within normal range. During my wait, WSP and three other drivers stopped by and see if I was okay. One was a VW owner and two others from the dealership that I was heading to. Speaking as a stranded motorist on the interstate, my appreciation of the three civilians that took the time to stop and see if I was okay is greater than words can say. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch one of the gentlemen's name, Mr. Matthew Thacker is a sales associate at the Barrier and he contacted the dealership to make sure that there will be a service loaner waiting for me after he made sure I am okay and a tow truck is already on the way.

The flatbed truck came by within about 45 minutes and I was transported to the dealership. I checked the car in at the service department and a 2013 S4 loaner was already waiting for me in the parking lot. Mr. Thacker happens to walk by as I was checking in the car at the service counter, I expressed my appreciation to him again for stopping earlier and for setting up the loaner vehicle for me to use.

As I sat here and recall my adventure from this morning, I must say that I am very disappointed in Audi regarding the thermostat. I understand that the internet forum is an extremely small sample size, but it is very apparent that the new thermostat is still at risk of failing. And the fact that it is a small sample size also means that there exist a possibility of a even greater number of thermostat failures that was not made public as well. However, I can not be more pleased with Barrier Audi, and the people, more specifically Mr. Thacker and the other gentleman, that made it a successful dealership here in the Greater Seattle/Bellevue area. I am also very thankful for the VAG community here in the Pacific NW, and more specifically, the gentleman that was willing to stop and see if he can help a complete stranger.

GunterA3

If you have Barrier license plate frames, their employees are required to stop and check on your status if you're disabled on the side of the road or highway. It's a nice touch from an already excellent dealership. I can't say enough about the professionalism of their service staff!

Tifosi

That's the thing, while I did purchase the car from Barrier almost 4 years ago. I have AudiSports plate frame on both front and back so there is nothing to indicate where I purchased the car from at all.