Coolant leak, will warranty cover repairs?

[Lance Jones]

Hi folks,

I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice. I have recently discovered a leak of engine coolant, some of it is leaking onto the roadway when parked but the rest of it is gathering at the bottom of the engine bay.

I have arranged to take it back to the dealer for repairs and got roadside assistance coming out to determine whether it is road worthy. 

The million dollar question is, will the repair be covered by my warranty? It was registered in January 2017 and only done 19k miles. A little bit annoyed about the leak but my understanding is in the UK your warranty is for 3 years? But I know there are loopholes, please help put my mind at ease so I don't need to worry about taking a second mortgage out to fix this lol. Thanks.

[Steve Q]

Hi Craig the leak should be covered under your warranty depending on your mileage and whether or not the leak has been caused by damage from a crash or otherwise. 

Cheers

Steve

[Lance Jones]

Hi Steve, 

Thanks for that, well as you can see the car itself has low mileage and I have not been involved in any bumps or accidents since I purchased the car last year. It got serviced in October with no issues and I do check the fluid levels fairly regularly. I have hopefully identified this early and it will be a hassle free fix.

 

Many thanks

[Magnet]

Hello Craig,

I'm very much with Steve on this, and I'm sure this will be covered under warranty. We must take it that the coolant level in the reservoir is dropping - significantly? if some is finding its way onto the road. We guess you are topping it up with the correct type and concentration of coolant. 

Kind regads,

Gareth.

p.s.  The radiator on our A3 became perforated (not due to damage) many years ago when fortunately it was just within the 3 year warranty. That as replaced at the dealer without charge. 

[Lance Jones]

Gareth,

You are correct, the last time I checked the coolant levels was before Christmas and it was at the normal level. When I opened the bonnet yesterday it was at practically zero (about 2-3mm in the storage tank), due to it being night time I didn't see the puddle in the engine bay, only noticed this morning after I had topped it up with more coolant. 

As stated in the earlier post, this does seem to be a very recent issue (within the last fortnight) and so long as my warranty covers the repairs I'm otherwise happy! 

I also drive an A3 and have also noticed a few owners of S3's from the same period that my car was built have reported similar problems. Coincidence? 

Thanks

Craig