Losing Coolant!

[bhavin1986]

I've been losing coolant on the A3 over the past week. The light first came on 8 days ago, so I topped it up. I thought it may have just been a little low after the service was carried out and the cooling system was flushed and refilled around a month ago.

But the coolant warning light came on again today. This scared me a little and I checked the oil filler cap, which has that sludgy mayo substance under it. So the coolant is mixing with the oil? There is no oil in the coolant chamber though.

Is this definately the head gasket on it way out? If so any idea how much it may cost to repair?

Its a 1.6 A3. I've noticed I'm getting more steam coming from the exhaust recently, and even water, but not white smoke.

The car drives absolutely fine, and its not over-heating either. Temp guage sits at 90 dead.

I've had nothing but poop with this car

Cheers.

 

[A3 Oly]

Hi mate, im used to own a few r5 gtt's so kinda used the that dreaded feeling of HG failure. altho the r5 is only a pushrod engine so nice and easy to sort.

Could be the weather alot of moisture around lol, coolant leak could be a rad thing? any holes or aburst pipe freezing temps dont take kindly to old pipes.

Do you get any major pressurisation of the header tank when giving it some revs?

 

[bhavin1986]

Hi mate, im used to own a few r5 gtt's so kinda used the that dreaded feeling of HG failure. altho the r5 is only a pushrod engine so nice and easy to sort.

Could be the weather alot of moisture around lol, coolant leak could be a rad thing? any holes or aburst pipe freezing temps dont take kindly to old pipes.

Do you get any major pressurisation of the header tank when giving it some revs?

Cheers for the response. I cannot see any leaks, or haven't noticed any. How could I tell if I'm getting high pressures in the header tank?

When the engine was hot and I removed the lid, there wasn't any hissing, suggesting no pressurisation?

 

[s3dave]

There is going to be a lot of smoke/steam in the subzero temps of late, dont jump the gun read the other thread about it today.... think what comes out of your mouth in the cold.....

 

[karbonk]

Could be a split pipe from the freezing cold weather. Check for leaks.
It wont be overheating, because the car is enjoying the cold weather. Check for excessive white smoke out the exhaust once the car has warmed up.
A white sludge found on the oil cap filler suggests the water has got in and has mixed with the oil. However short journeys can cause this as the water doesnt have time to burn off. Worth getting it checked out by a garage to prevent damage.

 

[bhavin1986]

Just been out to check the oil dipstick and theres no sign of any sludge nor of any water. Also the header tank has no oil in it whatsoever. I gave the sensor prong things in the coolant tank a good clean with an old toothbrush and quite a lot of gunk came off them. Hopefully its just me being paranoid.

I wiped off all the gunk under the oil filler cap n monitor it to see if it builds up again.

 

[Welly]

Why sit here and debate about it dude? Not one of us here are going to be able to give you a definitive answer to your question.

Get to a garage and get a sniff test, and a compression test done - that shouldn't even be massively expensive.

At least that way you actually know. We can only hypothesise.

 

[Jay]

I had a similar problem not so long ago, was loosing all my coolant over night.... turned out to be the water flange which holds the temp sender. Look for coolant leaking around that area when the engines warm. Should be able to smell it aswell.
Cheap and easy fix. Not a drop of coolant lost since i replaced it.

 

[A3 Oly]

Why sit here and debate about it dude? Not one of us here are going to be able to give you a definitive answer to your question.

because this way he can ask a question from the warmth of the humble home without going into sub zero temps lol well that'd me my reasoning anyway. lol