202 Checking and filling
Checking the engine coolant level and
adding coolant
Be very careful when adding engine coolant.
Fi g. 1 77 En g in e c ompart men t: C over on the coola nt
ex pan sion ta nk
Fig. 178 Engine co mpar tment : ma rkin gs in th e coolant
ex pan sio n ta nk
Before you che ck anything in the engi ne com
partment,
a lwa ys r ead and heed all WARN
INGS c> A in Working in the engine compart
ment on page
195.
The "M IN " und "MAX " mark ings a re found o n
the bi -level disc in the in terior of the coolant
expansion tank
¢ fig . 178.
.,. Pa rk you r vehi cle on a level sur face .
.,. Turn off t he igni tion.
.,. Let the engine coo l down .
.,. Place a thick rag over the coolant expansion
tank and
c a refully turn the cap cou nte r
clockwise
c> _&. .
.,. Read the eng ine coolant level inside the
coolant expans io n tank
c> fig . 177,
c>page 197 , fig. 174 . With a cold engine,
the coolant level sho uld be betwe en the
" M IN " and "MAX " ma rkings <=>
fig. 178
-arrows- . W he n t he eng ine is wa rm, the lev
el may be slightly
above the "MAX" marking . .,.
Add coo lant mixed in the correct rat io, if
necessary
c> page 201 . Coolant may be a
maxim um of 1 mm above the MAX marking .
.,. Twist the cap on again
tightly.
The location of the coo lant expansion tan k
can be seen i n the engine compartment illus
tration
c> page 197.
T o obtain an acc urate reading, the engine
must be sw itched off.
T he ex pan sion ta nk in your vehicle is eq uipped
with an ele ctric coo lant level senso r.
When the coolant level is too low , the wa rn ing
li ght in the Au to-Check System <=>
page 17 will
blink u nti l yo u ad d coolant and the level has
been restored to normal. Eve n t hough t here i s
an e lectri c coo lant level senso r, we still rec
ommend you check the coola nt level from
time to t ime.
Coolant loss
Coolant loss may indica te a leak in the cooling
system. In t he event o f coolant loss, the coo l
i ng system shou ld be inspected immediately
by your a uthorized Audi dea ler . It is not
eno ugh mere ly to add coolant.
In a
sealed sys tem, losses can occur on ly i f
the boili ng point o f the coo lant is exceeded as
a res ult of overheating.
Adding coolant
Rep la cement engine coo la nt must conform to
exact spe cificat ions
c> page 201, Cool ant .
We recommend using only coolant add it ive
Gl 2++ , Gl3 or in an emergency G 12 +. Do not
use a diffe rent add itive. In an emerge ncy use
plain w ater until yo u can get the correc t addi
tive a nd can res tore the cor rect ra tio. T hi s
sho uld be done as soon as possib le .
If you have lost a considerab le amou nt of
c oolant , the n you shoul d a dd cold an tifreeze
and co ld wate r on ly w hen the e ng ine is cold.
Always use
n ew engine coo lant w hen refilling .
Do not f ill coo la nt
above the "MA X" mark. Ex-
cess coolant will be forced o ut through the .,,_
