Overheating ++ Dubai

[Stripcell]

Hi everyone,

Im having a major problem with the R8 over here in Dubai regarding the cooling system. Just for clarifications its 25-30 Celsius / 70-85 Fahrenheit here.

I bought an R8 from the dealership around 3 weeks ago and as soon as i did about 590 km / 360 miles the engine started overheating badly! I was getting a "Do not exceed 6000 rpm" on the dashboard while the car was stationary !! The engine temperature was at 120 and rising ... so I contacted the dealership gave them my car and they couldn't find a problem with the car which was very frustrating. They eventually gave me a brand NEW R8.

Just last night at 400 km / 250 miles when I was stuck in traffic it happened all over again and I had to park the car and wait for it to cool down again ...

Please I need all the help I can get because the people here don't seem to know anything about the R8. I saw a couple of posts on the site and your always refereing each other to people in the States or some other place. Can anyone help me?

Thank you.

[Andyuk911]

If two cars have done this .. I suspect that is just the way it is.

I am VERY surprised as part of the testing is hot countries.

Can't you ask the Audi tech to contact Germany for support ?

What sort of Petrol do you have .. if a choice use the hight octane.

What temp is the oil getting to?

I also assume the cars are from an official Audi dealer, thus speced the UAE ??

[Rogun]

I've never been to Duabi so I dont know if its a different kind of hot. But I was riding around in 95f temps and haven't had a problem yet.

[gazza1]

Have run in bumper to bumper in 35 C up to 20-25 mins and the oil and water temp have hardly moved.

The only difference is the outside temp reading on the dash which I understand is located at the rear of the car and soaks up engine/exhaust heat... moving to 49.5C.

Very strange problem with 2 cars...I don,t know but is there some pre delivery they do in regards to coolant additives?

[R8 England]

Something strange here.

There are a number of R8's in UAE, and one driver "Dubai" is a member of this forum. Perhaps you should send him a private message ?

Also, the Crown Prince of Ajman has one.

I have seen a number of R8's on trips to UAE. A blue/silver one is regularly parked outside the Hilton on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi.

So, I don't think there is a "hot weather" problem with the car as such, as no other users have reported this problem.

Since it gets to 50+ deg C in the summer in UAE, you NEED to get this checked out. Typical running temperature when warm is around 110 deg C. If you get to 120, you are indeed overheating.

This is one for the Audi importer, or email Gemany directly if you don't get any sense.


P.S. Did you check engine oil and water levels ?? If they are low, you will overheat. We know some R8's can drink oil like crazy........

[rfakhri]

I live in Bahrain and never heard of such a problem. There are many R8's in the region too. I'm actually waiting for Jan/Feb 09 delivery and hope that I don't go through this experience. With regards to the outside temperature indicator, I noticed the high temperature reading when I toke the R8 for a test drive. I guess the sensor is located in the wrong place.

[Stripcell]

I use octane 98 oil temp of about 130-140 volt at 14 and yes its from the official UAE dealership. They told me they ran a pre delivery test not sure if there are any coolant additives included.

However when I had the problem with the first car they contacted Germany and they told them to leak/bleed the air in the system ... they did but it was of no use thats why they had to give me a new car.

I was thinking maybe they gave me a new car but with the old engine in it :S because its kind of impossible to have the same problem with two cars !! Should there be a Vehicle Identification Number on the engine as well or is it only on the front of the car ? ..

Its just that the people in the dealership don't have the slightest clue on what to do with this car, so they will just keep it with them for weeks and weeks leaving me with no R8 and probably still give it to me with a problem.

Thanks for your feedback hope you can help me further.

@ R8 England
Can you please give me the contact information for the Dubai member and Germany ?

And I checked the water and oil levels they are fine.

[R8 England]

Stripcell.

Firstly, My previous post is not clear. There are TWO temperature gauges.

The centre one, above the digital display, is the radiator. This should normally be around 90 deg C (needle vertical). If you are getting 120 on this gauge, serious overheating.

The gauge on the LEFT of the dashboard is engine oil temperature. This is normally 110 - 120 deg C, and could rise to 130 deg C. Any more and engine is running on the hot side.

I am not sure when you say "engine is running at 120 deg C" if you mean oil (OK), or radiator (Too hot).

If you want to contact DUBAI, then at the top of the screen , click on "USER CP", then on the left side look at the box market "private messages", go down to send new message, and click. On the private messsage screen for "recipient" put DUBAI.

As regards contact info for Audi Germany, I don't have my manual to hand. If you look in your manual pack, there is a list of dealers, country by country, and Audi AG will be listed somehwere.

If not, throw the car back at the dealer you bought it from and get them to fix it.

You should not have overheating problems, there is a fault somewhere. Radiator, intercooler, oil pump, faulty sensor or something else........

[Stripcell]

Top gauge is at 120 Left gauge is 130-140 There is serious overheating going on ... I went through DUBAI's posts and he said he had the same problem, he changed thermostat and programmed ECU to solve the problem.. I hope its that simple .. I sent him a message waiting for his reply.

***But isn't it weird that it happened to so many cars (3 that I know of..) ?

Thanks aloooot btw !