How to Check and Fill Fluids 2004-09 Audi A4

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Checking your fluids is a very simple procedure. We recommend you do it at least with every oil change. You have power steering, washer fluid, coolant, brake fluid and the oil dip stick. To check your power steering fluid, unscrew the cap, wipe off the dip stick, reinstall you cap, take it back out, check the level.

You want to be right below the maximum line. Make sure that your fluid doesn't smell burnt, there's no kind of burning particles evident in the fluid itself. If all that looks good, go ahead and reinstall your cap.

Open the cap on your washer fluid reservoir. You can go ahead and fill that to capacity right up to the top. Make sure you only use Volkswagen and Audi approved washer fluids in these tanks. A lot of the other de-icers and other types of fluids are known to cause sensor issues. Fill your coolant reservoir using only G12. It's the pink Volkswagen and Audi approved coolant. Make sure you're between the min and max line, just below the max line is best.

If you have to open it, do so slowly, as there's no radiator cap, the pressure is in this tank. Once the pressure's off, take your cap off, top your fluid up, reinstall your cap nice and tight, keep the pressure in the cooling system. When inspecting your brake fluid, you want to inspect two major things. That there is fluid in the reservoir and the condition of the fluid. Your brake fluid level will drop as your brake pads wear out and the fluid has to fill the void in the calipers.

If you top it off when that fluid is down, when you reset your calipers to install new brakes, you're going to cause it to overflow out of the reservoir. Ensure that there's fluid in the reservoir to some degree, pop the cap off, and inspect the condition of the fluid. Make sure that it's sort of the color of green tea. Any kind of milkiness can indicate that water has contaminated the fluid.

Any dark discolorations can be from other contaminants, either a loose cap or refilling the brake fluid with an open brake fluid container or low quality fluid. Anything like that, you're going to want to flush all the brake fluid out of your master cylinder and lines and replace it with good, clean fluid. When you're done inspecting it, reinstall your cap.

If your engine has just been shut off, allow a few seconds for the oil to run back down into the pan, before removing the dipstick, wiping it off reinstalled it all the way down. Make sure that your oil is in these hash marks, between the minimum and the maximum, Just below the max is full. These hash-marks signify one quart. You can see ours is on the minimum line, meaning that we need to add one quart of oil halfway down would be a half a quart and so on. Remove the oil cap, add your quart of oil, recheck the fluid level. When you're done checking your level, reinstall your dipstick. Keeping these fluid levels up and in good condition is only going to ensure the longevity of the parts that use these fluids and your car as a whole.

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