Pink Crud
 

My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant lines are
connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the inlet
and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The coolant
level does not appear to be changing.

Is this normal?

Thanks,

Ken

On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 06:14:24 GMT, "KWS" > wrote:

>My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant lines are
>connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the inlet
>and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The coolant
>level does not appear to be changing.
>
>Is this normal?

It sure sounds like coolant - if you ever notice pink chaff flying about
inside your cabin you'll know the heater core has gone to Heaven ;-)

I'd expect it's not normal to have coolant stains around the oil cooler, but
might they be the result of sloppy topping-off?

/daytripper
'00 s4 6spd

daytripper wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 06:14:24 GMT, "KWS" > wrote:
>
>
>>My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant lines are
>>connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the inlet
>>and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The coolant
>>level does not appear to be changing.
>>
>>Is this normal?
>
>
> It sure sounds like coolant - if you ever notice pink chaff flying about
> inside your cabin you'll know the heater core has gone to Heaven ;-)
>
> I'd expect it's not normal to have coolant stains around the oil cooler, but
> might they be the result of sloppy topping-off?
>
> /daytripper
> '00 s4 6spd
It *does* sound like coolant. Probably the hoses weeped a little at some
point, and the crud has probably sealed it. As long as the coolant
doesn't drop I wouldn't worry too much- check for any actual liquid
leaking though.

Thanks for the responses.

This is not a stain. It's a lump o' crud, actually many lumps o' crud at the
oil cooler. Since the oil cooler is just a block of something (looks like
aluminum), there isn't anything to specifically top off.

Also, the crud is at both the inlet and outlet locations, suggesting to me
that it is the nature of the thing to leak. If not, I would have expected
maybe one or the other would be affected, but not both.

Perhaps it has something to do with the aluminum interface. A casual check
around the rest of the engine compartment did not reveal similar gatherings
of the crud.

Another possibility may have to do with changing the oil filter. The car was
serviced by Audi for the first 50K miles of free service. Now that it's
beyond the magic mark, I do the stuff myself. The first time I changed the
oil filter, it was quite a job. Apparently, some gorilla socked it down real
good and I had to contort it quite a bit before it broke free. The stress
may have been transferred to the cooler lines and caused some weeping of the
coolant. Hard to tell.

That problem is cured by tightening the oil filter hand tight. Doesn't leak
and it doesn't take an impact wrench to get it off.

Another Audi item of note: the dealership consistently overfilled the oil.
I, of course, do not.

Best,

Ken



"Chris Bartram" > wrote in message
...
> daytripper wrote:
> > On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 06:14:24 GMT, "KWS" > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant lines
are
> >>connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the
inlet
> >>and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The
coolant
> >>level does not appear to be changing.
> >>
> >>Is this normal?
> >
> >
> > It sure sounds like coolant - if you ever notice pink chaff flying about
> > inside your cabin you'll know the heater core has gone to Heaven ;-)
> >
> > I'd expect it's not normal to have coolant stains around the oil cooler,
but
> > might they be the result of sloppy topping-off?
> >
> > /daytripper
> > '00 s4 6spd
> It *does* sound like coolant. Probably the hoses weeped a little at some
> point, and the crud has probably sealed it. As long as the coolant
> doesn't drop I wouldn't worry too much- check for any actual liquid
> leaking though.

Hola
"KWS" > escribió en el mensaje
news:4JTwc.62647$Ly.24744@attbi_s01...
> My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant lines
are
> connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the inlet
> and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The coolant
> level does not appear to be changing.
>
> Is this normal?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ken
>
>

Thing is, the only thing going through the oil cooler is oil - coolant
doesn't run through there. So why the oil cooler inlet and outlet would have
coolant around them is a mystery unless the physical location of the oil
cooler could make it prone to having coolant drop on it - I don't know the
physical layout of your car.

Mike.

"KWS" > wrote in message
news:vqvxc.17609$HG.9034@attbi_s53...
> Thanks for the responses.
>
> This is not a stain. It's a lump o' crud, actually many lumps o' crud at
the
> oil cooler. Since the oil cooler is just a block of something (looks like
> aluminum), there isn't anything to specifically top off.
>
> Also, the crud is at both the inlet and outlet locations, suggesting to me
> that it is the nature of the thing to leak. If not, I would have expected
> maybe one or the other would be affected, but not both.
>
> Perhaps it has something to do with the aluminum interface. A casual check
> around the rest of the engine compartment did not reveal similar
gatherings
> of the crud.
>
> Another possibility may have to do with changing the oil filter. The car
was
> serviced by Audi for the first 50K miles of free service. Now that it's
> beyond the magic mark, I do the stuff myself. The first time I changed the
> oil filter, it was quite a job. Apparently, some gorilla socked it down
real
> good and I had to contort it quite a bit before it broke free. The stress
> may have been transferred to the cooler lines and caused some weeping of
the
> coolant. Hard to tell.
>
> That problem is cured by tightening the oil filter hand tight. Doesn't
leak
> and it doesn't take an impact wrench to get it off.
>
> Another Audi item of note: the dealership consistently overfilled the
oil.
> I, of course, do not.
>
> Best,
>
> Ken
>
>
>
> "Chris Bartram" > wrote in message
> ...
> > daytripper wrote:
> > > On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 06:14:24 GMT, "KWS" > wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >>My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant
lines
> are
> > >>connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the
> inlet
> > >>and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The
> coolant
> > >>level does not appear to be changing.
> > >>
> > >>Is this normal?
> > >
> > >
> > > It sure sounds like coolant - if you ever notice pink chaff flying
about
> > > inside your cabin you'll know the heater core has gone to Heaven ;-)
> > >
> > > I'd expect it's not normal to have coolant stains around the oil
cooler,
> but
> > > might they be the result of sloppy topping-off?
> > >
> > > /daytripper
> > > '00 s4 6spd
> > It *does* sound like coolant. Probably the hoses weeped a little at some
> > point, and the crud has probably sealed it. As long as the coolant
> > doesn't drop I wouldn't worry too much- check for any actual liquid
> > leaking though.
>
>

Mike,

This isn't another radiator. It's where the oil filter mounts. Apparently,
cooling is done by exchanging heat from the oil, through what looks like an
aluminum manifold, into the coolant that circulates through the manifold. On
the A4 1.8T it is on the right side as you are looking at the engine from
the front. It's under the coolant reservoir (which I move to get to the
filter).

Best,

Ken

"Mike" > wrote in message
...
> Thing is, the only thing going through the oil cooler is oil - coolant
> doesn't run through there. So why the oil cooler inlet and outlet would
have
> coolant around them is a mystery unless the physical location of the oil
> cooler could make it prone to having coolant drop on it - I don't know the
> physical layout of your car.
>
> Mike.
>
> "KWS" > wrote in message
> news:vqvxc.17609$HG.9034@attbi_s53...
> > Thanks for the responses.
> >
> > This is not a stain. It's a lump o' crud, actually many lumps o' crud at
> the
> > oil cooler. Since the oil cooler is just a block of something (looks
like
> > aluminum), there isn't anything to specifically top off.
> >
> > Also, the crud is at both the inlet and outlet locations, suggesting to
me
> > that it is the nature of the thing to leak. If not, I would have
expected
> > maybe one or the other would be affected, but not both.
> >
> > Perhaps it has something to do with the aluminum interface. A casual
check
> > around the rest of the engine compartment did not reveal similar
> gatherings
> > of the crud.
> >
> > Another possibility may have to do with changing the oil filter. The car
> was
> > serviced by Audi for the first 50K miles of free service. Now that it's
> > beyond the magic mark, I do the stuff myself. The first time I changed
the
> > oil filter, it was quite a job. Apparently, some gorilla socked it down
> real
> > good and I had to contort it quite a bit before it broke free. The
stress
> > may have been transferred to the cooler lines and caused some weeping of
> the
> > coolant. Hard to tell.
> >
> > That problem is cured by tightening the oil filter hand tight. Doesn't
> leak
> > and it doesn't take an impact wrench to get it off.
> >
> > Another Audi item of note: the dealership consistently overfilled the
> oil.
> > I, of course, do not.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Ken
> >
> >
> >
> > "Chris Bartram" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > daytripper wrote:
> > > > On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 06:14:24 GMT, "KWS" >
wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >>My 2000 A4 1.8T has pink crud on the oil cooler where the coolant
> lines
> > are
> > > >>connected. Is this stuff hardened coolant? It is present on both the
> > inlet
> > > >>and outlet and has been there ever since I bought the car new. The
> > coolant
> > > >>level does not appear to be changing.
> > > >>
> > > >>Is this normal?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > It sure sounds like coolant - if you ever notice pink chaff flying
> about
> > > > inside your cabin you'll know the heater core has gone to Heaven ;-)
> > > >
> > > > I'd expect it's not normal to have coolant stains around the oil
> cooler,
> > but
> > > > might they be the result of sloppy topping-off?
> > > >
> > > > /daytripper
> > > > '00 s4 6spd
> > > It *does* sound like coolant. Probably the hoses weeped a little at
some
> > > point, and the crud has probably sealed it. As long as the coolant
> > > doesn't drop I wouldn't worry too much- check for any actual liquid
> > > leaking though.
> >
> >
>
>