I purchased a certified pre-owned 2005.5 A4 2.0T Quattro from Boardwalk Audi in Plano, TX on 12/22/06. Two days later when I first started the car up it flashed me the 'coolant' warning. I checked the coolant, it was low. Suspecting a leak, I drove the car around a bit and then parked the car in a clean spot. I came back a few hours later and, sure enough, there was a fresh pool of coolant under the car.
My car has been sitting at the dealership since then. They told me that the source of the leak is the coolant flange and that the part is backordered. Here's my question. What is the likelihood of a significant leak of coolant caused by a worn coolant flange appearing suddenly? Is it reasonable to assume that the dealership knew about the leak when they sold me the car?
Also, I've heard cases of Audi dealerships not honoring warrenties because customers are not able to provide full maintenance documentation for the life of the vehicle. This vehicle was sold to me by the dealership as "certified pre-owned", but I was not provided with maintenance documentation for the 28k miles on the car at the time of sale. Should I be concerned?
Finally, one of the documents I was given during the sale contains warrenty information. It says "Buyers Guide" at the top. There are two big checkboxes, one says "AS IS-NO WARRENTY" and the other says "WARRENTY". The latter is checked. Within that, there are two small checkboxes: one says "FULL" and the other says "LIMITED WARRENTY". Neither one is checked, but the text for "LIMITED WARRENTY" has two fill-in-the-blank spots. The first sentence reads: "The dealer will pay 0% of the labor and 0% of the parts for the covered systems that fail during the warrenty period." That sounds pretty bad. I also paid for an extended warrenty; an additional 2 years and 50,000 miles of covereage.
What actions should I take to protect myself? I was so excited about my new car, but now I'm just worried.