Audi A5 engine question ?
I've recently bought an A5 convertible instead of an E class convertible that I was previously asking about in another thread, now I did some research prior and it appeared to be a good tow car but obviously not overly practical but since enquiring about having a tow bar fitted it appears that I need to make changes to the cooling system of the car (obviously at great expense) such as upgraded fans, belts and some module too, clearly we are gutted as I have a lovely car which I've wanted for a while but anyone ever heard of anything like this before ? it is also the same with certain Skoda models too.
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This is not uncommon with several German makes and there are a lot of things to consider. The caravan weight in relation to the car, is the car still under warranty. These are just two things to take into consideration when deciding to have the mod or not.
If the car is still under warranty then I think Audi will insist on the mod, you need to speak to them and get something in writing.
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A lot depend on how far you will be towing and in what country as going abroad will have higher temp. and thus could overheat the gearbox especially in mountain areas etc. Has the vehicle not got transmission temp gauges in the DiD. I can view all temps of the engine oil/water/trans etc. this would help so you can cool everything down with a long lunch break.
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The car is not under a manufacturers warranty but is under a 12 months warranty from the garage I bought it from, I believe there is not a transmission temp gauge but I've not had a good look through it as only had the car a week, this year we plan on staying local as we have a couple of flying holidays booked but next year we will more than likely have a long trip in the van such as Italy or Spain. The best price I've been quoted is £740 so this is why I want to make sure if it really is necessary. By the way our van is approx.73% weight in relation to the car .
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Both the MH(Pug) and OH's i20 have gauges as did, from memory, my old Kuga. Are they really that rare?
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I would check the terms of the warranty if you have this in writing to see what if anything it says about modifications before fitting a tow bar. If there is a problem get written conformation if you can from the firm giving the warranty that they will accept the changes.
A bit late now but, before buying it may be worthwhile checking out what is needed to fit a tow bar.
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In a way I did check out beforehand about fitting of a tow bar as I phoned around several local firms to get prices and such and even had one person send me a photo of a detachable he fitted to an A5 and it looked good and the prices were not a great deal more than what my Passatt cost 3 yrs before but it was only by going on the Halfords website it threw up a message saying "changes to the cooling system may necessary" so then I dug deeper and found out that things do need changing.
As with the warranty it was a free one for 12 months that the garage threw in so yes I do need to look through it.
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I tow with an A6 3.0 tdi Quattro with an aftermarket Westfalia tow bar fitted at 45000 miles. Coding is necessary to integrate the towing functions into the vehicle. No alterations to the supplied engine or transmission cooling systems have been made and the car mileage is now 91000 miles. For the last 3 years we have towed our 1500kg caravan to Croatia, sometimes in very hot conditions (35 deg C +) and have never seen the water temperature rise above its normal 90 deg C.
I would stress though if your A5 has an automatic gearbox that you check the oil and filters in it have been changed at the required service intervals. For my car it is every 38000 miles.
I've looked on Audi forums for fitting A5 towbar, but cannot find any references to cooling systems.
John.
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Yes, very rare for a number of reasons.
1. They are a throwback to the 50's, modern cars do not overheat.
2. Customers would return cars to dealers for no reason when the gauge had a slight variation, they became known as 'worry gauges'.
3. Step 1 was to have them read cold or straight up for hot (this makes the dash look symmetrical) but as a gauge they were pretty useless.
4. They are a cost that is not needed.
5. Modern engine management is very clever and measures the temperature in many places on the engine and gearbox, it adjusts if it thinks things are getting too hot.
So all in all they really are not needed, on cars with digital dash etc it is available as selectable graphic but that's really just to give the driver more options to play with, after all they paid £700 extra for the TFT dashboard, it has do something!
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But my Smart 'underheated' due to a sticky thermostat which was diagnosed via its engine temperature gauge. And if an engine did over heat, it's too late when clouds of steam emerge from under the bonnet ..... Just ask Ecotec engined Focus owners.
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my 2013 Sorento must be very old fashioned then as it has a very large engine temp guage on the dash, and am i glad it has, last year driving up to Zaragoza Spain, i was a little bit ambitious when i set cruise control. Half way up the climb to almost 3000 ft i noticed the needle had risen considerably, not a major problem, slowing down quickly rectified the problem, but what if i had not had a big visible guage.
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but what if i had not had a big visible guage.
That works for you 👍 but I have a choice on what is displayed on the TFT screen behind the wheel. In place of the temperature gauge I have road sign/speed recognition by camera, knowing that if something is wrong with the cooling system I will be alerted by an icon, audible and readable message alert.
Unfortunately some German (and other marques) cars are let down with the cooling system regarding the towing of leisure vehicles.
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Hi Les it is an automatic but has full Audi service history so I’ll like to think everything is up to scratch with it, with regards to your car maybe you didn’t need an upgrade to the cooling system, apparently some old A4’s needed it and a certain batch of Q7’s did too, we do holiday abroad with the van a lot but as it happens this year we have 2 flying holidays booked so this year we’ll be tied to this country but that’ll give me chance to monitor the situation in cooler climes.
As I’ve mentioned before the caravan is relatively light compared to the car and at 177 bhp it should pull it ok but it’s something to be wary of if buying certain German cars including certain Skoda models.
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We brought our A4 new and i don't recall Audi making any changes to the cooling system - even with the "towing pack" we had them fit. Been towing to the south of France every year in the hot summer months for the past 4 years no problem at all.
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As you bought it new and requested the towing pack then the cooling would have been done at factory and you wouldn't see or know the difference. it usually means a bigger fan and oil cooler which unless you knew the original size you wouldn't have a clue what the difference is/was. I wouldn't.
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Depends on the year, they did change them all to the upgraded system at one point or another, Audi wouldn’t even fit a tow bar if the cooling system wasn’t up to it .
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Could somebody have recently added a "Like it"?
Colin
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