Loosing coolant

[Jay]

The coolant warning light came on Saturday so checked and found that it had almost disappeared, couldn’t see any leaks so was abit confused as to where it had all gone. I topped up and now had the same problem this morning. Can’t see it leaking anywhere but noticed 2 or drops drops of brown liquid near the front of the car, looks like dirty coolant. No Mayo under the oil cap and the temperatures were almost 0 this morning so the white smoke is more than likely just condensation. The water pump was replaced 5K miles ago and theres no problem with the car overheating. The temp guage on the climate control reads between 88 and 93.

Any ideas on whats going on?

 

[bengal]

What car is it ? as i know of a problem it might be.

 

[bengal]

On my agu the metal pipe from the thermostat housing to the heater matrix had corroded not sure what your engine is but it probably will have the same sort of pipe. If you cant see any obvious leaks then i would say its this.

 

[Alex C]

i had low a low coolant warning light this morning, it happened about 2 months ago as well. My car is in the garage atm getting its suspension done but he said he would pressure check it, i shall let you know...

 

[tompearson]

If you are saying that the coolant all disappeared over night then this must be a leak. Fill it up the coolant system and put a small amount of pressure through the system and see if you can find a hole.

 

[Welly]

Look for pink residue from the G12....

 

[Jay]

A small metal pipe has caught my attention several times, its looking fairly rusty and sits just behind the fan/radiator but it always seems dry. The only bit of fluid I can see in the engine bay is where the metal pipe runs towards the firewall (just under the MAF) even thats only a few droplets so i'm a bit confused as to where the rest of the water/coolants gone?!! I'm worried its gonna turn out to be the headgastket but haven't seen any mayo on the oil cap yet.

Tom's mentioned above about adding coolant and then adding pressure to the system to check for leaks, how would I do this?

thanks

 

[Welly]

A small metal pipe has caught my attention several times, its looking fairly rusty and sits just behind the fan/radiator but it always seems dry. The only bit of fluid I can see in the engine bay is where the metal pipe runs towards the firewall (just under the MAF) even thats only a few droplets so i'm a bit confused as to where the rest of the water/coolants gone?!! I'm worried its gonna turn out to be the headgastket but haven't seen any mayo on the oil cap yet.

If you're that worry, take it to a garage and get them to sniff test it....

 

[bengal]

I lost massive amounts of coolant when the pipe i mentioned had gone you couldnt see it dripping when it was running but was the only sign of a leak i replaced it and hasnt lost a drop of coolant since but if your in doubt as mentioned above get a garage to look at it for peace of mind.

 

[s3gazz]

mine is doin this 2 god nose where its coming from doin head in filling it up every 3 days

 

[tompearson]

adding coolant and then adding pressure to the system to check for leaks, how would I do this?

Use cap with a valve (like on a brake bleeder) and pump some air by hand - don't over do it though else you may create holes that weren't there before - and see if you can spot a leak. If it really empties overnight (or did I miss understand?) I would expect it to be gushing out somewhere.

Alternatively you could run the engine, put the air con on if you have it, or even a go for a short drive as the coolant will heat up and the system pressurise, but the pipes will all get hot so rooting around finding the hole isn't so easy.

 

[Sandip]

Need to get your expansion tank tested to rule out the head/head gasket. Mine was doing this too but i had the issue of my car starting not starting up 1st time.

Losing the coolant so quick without no visible water on the floor does sound like your coolant is going through your exhaust. One thing i did was add red food coluring to the coolant and then checked my plugs, because my head was cracked, the ceramic on my plugs turned pink/red (food colouring). Also have a quick sniff at what's coming out of the exhaust, if it smells sweet it's the antifreeze .

Hope it's an easy fix though!!

 

[s3gazz]

thanks mate ill sort it hopfully check all thos things u said

 

[DenCar]

Usually when the colent is at normal temp and under pressure, with the engine running you should be able to see it leaking!
However, hope its not your HG.

DC

 

[Jay]

Got home from work while it was still light so managed to get a good look. Found the leak, it seems to be the metal pipe above the clutch.

Is this a simple job to replace or is it a garage job?

 

[Jay]

Had it looked at by a garage and they seem to think its a water manifold behind the temp sensor.


Just found this if anyones intereseted.

1.8t (AUM) Coolant Leak, Fixed (inc pics) - uk-mkivs

 

[bengal]

It sounds like the pipe that im thinking it is although on vagcat its not called a water manifold just water pipe lol. It should run just below the temp sensor infact it bolts on with the temp sensor housing on mine if you follow it it goes round the front of the engine and connects into the engine with the alternator just above it. Get a second opinion though just to be sure.

 

[bengal]

If your only symptom is water loss i doubt its the headgasket as youd probably have overheating gunk in the oil and oil in the water as well as a lot of white smoke out of the exhaust which is water been evaporated as in one of the posts above.

 

[Welly]

Get from Audi and DIY. It's a few clips and 2 x 5mm allen key bolts that hold it to the head.

Easy peasy. :thumbsup:

 

[bengal]

As above ignore what i said about it snapping by the tstat housing i was just unlucky lol.

 

[bengal]

Ah iv just seen your link thats not what i was on about but that did go on mine but was easy to spot by all of the steam blowing out of it. A long way cheaper than the part i thought it was too.