Leaking coolant?!?

[A3_'99_Tsport]

I've got a 2004 Audi A3 TDi Sport and for the last month or two I've noticed that the coolant warning keeps coming on. Every time I refill the coolant the light comes on again a couple of weeks later, so I'm assuming I have a leak somewhere.

I have looked EVERYWHERE for this leak but can't find it, I've even tried putting a drip tray under the coolant bowl but still nothing. Is this a common fault on Audi's?

PLEASE could somebody help!?!

Regards
Olly

 

[Geraldy212]

You are right Olly, this water is going somewhere. If there are no obvious drips underneath the car, then two possibilities: 1) There is a cylinder head leak. This is the worst it can be, and probably will only be discovered by a leak-test by a competent garage, or a removel of the head to check for head cracks or gasket problems. 2) the presurised system only leaks when hot. So, run until hot, and then while the motor is running look carefully around the whole water circuit and radiator for seepage. Not dripping, but seeping out. Keep out of the way of cooling fans and belts. Check every pipe and clip. Use a strong lamp and take your time. Unfortunately, the eariler models of the 8P chassis did suffer from cylinder head problems, but let's hope this is not your case. Good luck.

 

[Lex]

i had this problem with my early 2.0 tdi a3
it was pressure tested and nothing came up and no sign of leaking anywhere else
eventually the garage found a fair few tiny cracks in pipes and the only way to find them is run the engine warm and squeeze the pips individually
but in the end it was the cylinder head

i hate to say but im 90% sure that it will be the cylinder head, there is a massive problem with the 2003-2005 (ithink) a3's with pourous heads and audi know this and the cylinder head they now sell to us is a better redesigned head to stop this problem but they still will not accept fault.
in some cases on this forum people have had a good will gesture from audi and had some or all cost paid by audi but i had no such luck because i have had my a3 serviced else where but audi, they are real knob jockys

hope you have better luck than i did with it mate

 

[mike foster]

Try a bottle of K-Seal which costs a tenner from most auto places. You just pour it into the top-up reservoir and it finds leaks and fixes them.

I emailed Kalimex that makes the product and they said quote " it will be perfectly safe to use K-Seal in your engine and there is a high probability that it will fix the porous head problem " unquote.

I shoved a bottle in 6 months ago in my 2005 BKD engine and haven't topped up since then !

Worth a try for a tenner - hope it works

Cheers

 

[Lex]

wish i tried that before splashing out near 1k lol

 

[devonmikeyboy]

Sounds like the typical cracked BKD cylinder head as the 2004-2005 engines do suffer from porous heads.

 

[robby]

My 2006 had a leak which turned out to be the radiator (common on A3 and MK5 Golfs) - corrosion at the bottom corners of the rad is the problem

 

[Vertigo1]

I had such a leak on my old 2.0TDI 140 which turned out to be a cracked head - luckily it was still in warranty.

 

[devonmikeyboy]

If it is the head i have some second hand ones for sale.

 

[Watty]

Yep, sounds like the old porous head problems. Had this on our 05 A6 2.0tdi and cost £2k to fix.....with £500 goodwill gesture from Audi.

 

[JeffCoath]

Hi Mike

Just wandering if you are even still on here, how well did the K-Seal work after the time that you created this post? Just had to have a whole new catalyst and manifold catalysts put on my A3 and don't fancy another hefty bill to come through.

Many thanks

Try a bottle of K-Seal which costs a tenner from most auto places. You just pour it into the top-up reservoir and it finds leaks and fixes them.

I emailed Kalimex that makes the product and they said quote " it will be perfectly safe to use K-Seal in your engine and there is a high probability that it will fix the porous head problem " unquote.

I shoved a bottle in 6 months ago in my 2005 BKD engine and haven't topped up since then !

Worth a try for a tenner - hope it works

Cheers

 

[Mindak]

Did this ever get resolved as I'm having the same issue on my 07 plate!

 

[Jeremy111]

I've got a 2004 Audi A3 TDi Sport and for the last month or two I've noticed that the coolant warning keeps coming on. Every time I refill the coolant the light comes on again a couple of weeks later, so I'm assuming I have a leak somewhere.

I have looked EVERYWHERE for this leak but can't find it, I've even tried putting a drip tray under the coolant bowl but still nothing. Is this a common fault on Audi's?

PLEASE could somebody help!?!

Regards
Olly

I have an Audi S5 2010. Coolant level drops, EPC light comes on. Audi Leicester have had it in 3 times now.

The first time they charged £815 and replaced the water pump and a coil they thought was damaged causing the epc light to come on (Week 1). The second time they spent a week investigating the problem; they had to order the parts surrounding the pump. It's now gone in a third time; it has been in for half a week; no word back from the people looking into it, but I'll keep you posted...

 

[Rideen]

I have an Audi S5 2010. Coolant level drops, EPC light comes on. Audi Leicester have had it in 3 times now.

The first time they charged £815 and replaced the water pump and a coil they thought was damaged causing the epc light to come on (Week 1). The second time they spent a week investigating the problem; they had to order the parts surrounding the pump. It's now gone in a third time; it has been in for half a week; no word back from the people looking into it, but I'll keep you posted...

Hopefully he's changed his cylinder head after 6 years.

 

[Toffs]

Try a bottle of K-Seal which costs a tenner from most auto places. You just pour it into the top-up reservoir and it finds leaks and fixes them.

I emailed Kalimex that makes the product and they said quote " it will be perfectly safe to use K-Seal in your engine and there is a high probability that it will fix the porous head problem " unquote.

I shoved a bottle in 6 months ago in my 2005 BKD engine and haven't topped up since then !

Worth a try for a tenner - hope it works

Cheers

Mike you're a ledge! Tried a bottle of this stuff and this is the second week I haven't topped up so far. I used to go through a litre of coolant a week on my 54 plate 2.0 TDI!

 

[Rideen]

Mike you're a ledge! Tried a bottle of this stuff and this is the second week I haven't topped up so far. I used to go through a litre of coolant a week on my 54 plate 2.0 TDI!

It's only the tip of iceberg. Since I've already changed cylinder head on my previous 2.0 TDI which was also 54 plate, I can assure you it is only about to go downhill after using K-Seal due to the position of the crack (I did the same by the way). Yes, it will work for some time (worked for about 6 months on my engine), but...

At some point it will simply damage your valve - when I changed cylinder head I had to replace valve as well due to using sealant and I went ahead and changed the whole head assembly (camshafts, valves, rocker arms, etc.).