Cooling system warning on startup - went away when car warmed up

[JD09]

So I'm guessing this is something to do with the AntiFreeze/water ratio in the cooling system? I got the three/four beeps, no weird engine noises and within two minutes the warning went away...

It has obviously been minus temps today and was even colder yesterday when it occured, but it hasn't happened since...?

Coolant looks quite "rust" coloured, baring in mind this car has been through two Audi MOTs and an Audi service not two months ago...?

 

[s3dave]

Same happened to me the other morning and vanished, just keep your eye on it...i put it down to the extreme temps

 

[JD09]

Cheers Dave. Will do.

I don't trust that Audi actually checked anything so going through it one by one!!


Sent from my iPhone using Brown Bear

 

[finesse]

it's just the cold, don't worry, if you want you could drain the system and increase the ratio of G12:h2o

 

[PetrolAholic]

Could be the 2 prong sensors in the tank, I had this problem on a mk4 golf. Solved the problem by fitting a new coolant tank. £13 from the stealers. I did a coolant change when I swapped the tank too. Might be worth thinking about doing as the cost is very little I imagine will be similar priced to what I paid and very easy to fit/swap.

Also on a completely unrelated topic. Whats Brown Bear for iPhone?

 

[s3 Hoggy]

Could be the 2 prong sensors in the tank, I had this problem on a mk4 golf. Solved the problem by fitting a new coolant tank. £13 from the stealers. I did a coolant change when I swapped the tank too. Might be worth thinking about doing as the cost is very little I imagine will be similar priced to what I paid and very easy to fit/swap.

Also on a completely unrelated topic. Whats Brown Bear for iPhone?

This happend on my old mk4 golf started off only in cold weather, then happend more often, it's the level sensor (the prongs) ended up changing the bottle as mentioned above as the sensor doesn't come separate

 

[pj123]

In cold weather water contracts and takes up slightly less volume. If your coolant is on the low side anyway then you'll see the alarm. It goes away after a bit unless its really low. Adding a bit of water will fix the problem.

MOTs dont actually check coolant levels and a standard service would only check the level not replace the fluid. The fluid gets changed when you have a new waterpump and timing belt so you could wait till then to get some fresh coolant or might be worth buying some G12 coolant, flushing the system through and replacing the lot.

 

[Dani_B19]

Its nothing major, like said, its a fault in the expansion tank, the 2 prongs in the bootle start to become faulty and give signs of low coolant etc even though the levels fine, just change the bottle, ive just ordered one from eurocarparts.co.uk for £9, bargain lol.

 

[PetrolAholic]

Glad we all agree then I know the mk4 golfs seem to have been prone to it more in the winter months. In my case it was more of an irritation than anything, when the engine got warmed up I would restart the engine and the error would have gone. As for water shrinking in the cold yes that is true but the amounts you are looking for there are mi-nute!

 

[Breezey]

Im getting the same with my S3 only happens when its really cold.

 

[luke2702]

Same happens here, goes off after about 1 min.... Just changed my thermostat so got new coolant in there so not fancying changing the expansion tank at the min.... Will just see how it goes..