Originally Posted by jr'sAudiA6

I thought I would add to this thread a recent experience. While driving back from Pahrump Nevada this past Sunday my wife and I noticed that the AC was not putting out cool air. After adjusting the temp and getting no change I look at my instrument cluster and the temp gauge is about 3 bars above the normal range and a few miles later it moves into the red and I get a warning to stop the car and let the engine run to cool it down. I do find a safe place to pull off and let the engine run for a few minutes but eventually turn it off. May be 10 minutes go by the temp is back to the normal point. Continue on going up a slight grade and it overheats again. Pull of at a safe point and wait again for it to cool down. Only need to go about 15 miles to service station. Once it is cooled down we take off again but this time the drive is primarily down hill to the service station so I can get some gas. Make it with out the temp gauge moving above the normal range. Put some gas in the car and take off again, ever so slightly up hill. Make it about 1/2 mile before it overheats again so I turn around and return to the service station only this time because I did not stop as soon as before I loose some cooling fluid from the expansion tank. I wont bore you with the story of having to get it towed home which was 216 miles, the failure occurred in an area where there is no cell coverage so really happy I was able to get to the service station. Anyway took it to the dealer today and they are replacing both the water pump and thermostat.

I have 41470 miles on the car and it has been rock solid for the 2.5 years I've owned it. Hopefully this is one time event for this car.

Originally Posted by NightCrawler

JR I noticed you have a GIAC tune. Have you been flagged TD1? Has your dealer ever given you an issue getting warranty work such as this done?

Originally Posted by kdagher

At 15K my temperature gauge went all the way up to the red zone, DIS indicated i should park the car due to an overheat, fans were on HIGH MODE. It got towed to the dealership, and they told me they changed the thermostat and that it is a common problem on the 3.0T.. i find it a bit weird to have a failed thermostat after a year and 15k of driving...

Originally Posted by jr'sAudiA6

The dealer is aware of the tune. As far as I know I have not been flagged but this may change after this service. No issue getting these problems addressed under warranty. This is the first issue since the tune requiring warranty work.

Originally Posted by 2008A6

So, is the common failure isolated to the thermostat on the 3.0T's or the water pump as well. Some folks seems to have had to replace both. I'm considering a preowned C7A6, and want to make sure the thermostat gets replaced while still under warranty, so wondering if water pumps are failing at the same time..

Originally Posted by jr'sAudiA6

The computer was indicating a fault with the coolant pump but not sure what that really means and how the fault is generated. In my experience a water pump usually starts leaking but I have never had one stop pumping.

Originally Posted by tenspeed

The A6 water pump is a bit more complex than the "pulley spinning the impeller" type of olden days. I suspect that they are regulating the speed for a constant flow through the RPM range. It might slow down the flow when the thermostat is closed.