Quattro Oil leaks

[Roady]

Hi guys

Have an '06 TDI Quattro 140 (done 116k miles) that's been hungry for coolant for a while, I easily put in 500ml of water every week and she does less than 30 miles a week now... I used to do higher miles and have had it looked at a few times by different people who have all said the same thing "some cars are thirsty for coolant".

Yesterday visiting my parents (a good 25 miles away) I was informed she left a 'puddle on the floor', I assumed it was coolant but my father informed me later (after another 25 mile trip to the other halfs parents) that it was a puddle of oil. I checked oil level there and she didn't seem to be low?! I last put some oil in about 2 months ago (when she asked for it).

Overnight she's left a small puddle at home, only done a few short miles today and I'm about I get her up and have a look to see where its coming from. My dad had said there was 2 puddles as if the oil was sitting on the engine cover...

I only roughly know my way around - never been underneith before, so I'm going to try and trace where it's coming from before taking her to a local garage one of these next days. Just wondered what kind of leaks I should expect? I'll probably end up taking pictures and asking on here what the leak is actually coming from!

Thanks for any help in advance, reporting back shortly!

 

[LEE69]

The coolant is a sealed system, no car is coolant hungry, stay away from them garages to start with

Coolant is a sweet smell and where it is leaking from leaves powdery crystalline deposits.

 

[Roady]

The coolant is a sealed system, no car is coolant hungry, stay away from them garages to start with

What can I do to track where the coolant is going? I don't have any puddles of it (unlike the oil!).

One of the garages was the local Audi dealers who I paid £360 for a full service (with a full pressure test of the engine). They found nothing wrong then my IMF started registering a fault a few weeks later, we happened to be visiting my brother-in-law (audi/vag registered mechanic) the same weekend and he got one and fitted it for me... He told me to never take it back to these local dealers as they hadn't completed 'half of the service checks'... So much for local dealers!

 

[LEE69]

Follow all the coolant pipes a leak will be evident.It could be the water pump leaking on the seal.

 

[Roady]

Follow all the coolant pipes a leak will be evident.It could be the water pump leaking on the seal.

Ok thanks Lee, will do so tomorrow as run out of daylight today! Had a look underneith and have been unable to see where its coming from (no obvious drip drip)... But have yet to get the engine cover off! Will have a go at that tomorrow

 

[Roady]

Ok... Got her up and can see approximately where the oil is coming from... Passenger side, directly below the axle.

I can't get the undertray off as someone's broken the screw supports so 4 of them just rotate and won't undo!

First pic:

It's definitely oil! You can see the area here it's dropping from (red line) and the red circled area has oil all over it! This is from about 5 hours of being stood - so a worrying amount...!

Here you can see it is directly in line with the axle.

Approximate distance from the left front wheel.

Any ideas? Can't get through to my local garage so guessing they're away (going to try them tomorrow morning too just in case!)