Coolant problems please help!

N

Nickbrn

Member
Hi there, i have only had my A2 for around 2 months but i seem to have a bit of a coolant problem! the car is a 2001 Y 1.4TDI SE. it seems to be loosing coolant, but i can not see any signs of this under the car, and there are no usual headgasket problems (i am new to diesels!) eg smoke from the exhaust, water in coolant etc. The garage have had the car for over a week, and at first it would not loose any coolant, then yesterday it did the usual and emptied the coolant resevoir pretty quickly! they now think it is the headgasket, but they are not sure! i dont really want to go down this route unless there is definate proof! can anyone help me? what are the signs of headgasket failure on a diesel? are they the same as a failure on a petrol? can you do a sniff test on a diesel?

Kind Regards

Nick
 
Water pump problems have been fairly widely reported, so it might be that or its seals. Search for "pump" in the forums for more guidance.

Good luck with it.

Dev
 
Hi Nick, welcome to the A2oc
As Dev suggests, the water pump would be the first choice. Its driven by the timing belt and hidden behind to plastic cover on the front of the engine - so its not easy to see.
By sniff test, do you mean taking a sample of coolant and testing it for contamination with combustion gas, then yes, its common practice on a diesel engine.
If your very unlucky then it could be a head gasket - see link for more details
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4035&highlight=headgasket

Cheers Spike
 
Hi Nick.I recently had a replacement head gasket fitted following several other failed attempts at curing my overheating/coolant loss problems. The most noticable symptom was a massive build up of pressure in the header tank even when cold.following the repair there was no real pressure to speak of when hot or cold.what mileage are you on? mine was on aprox 173k. all fine now at about 180k.
 
thanks for the help guys, mileage is 115k miles! just seems really odd, atleast the garage has now accepted that it was loosing coolant! it uses the expansion tank (500 odd ml) in around 100 miles, but then sometimes does not leak for 3 weeks! there is no obvious smoke, oil/water mix, and the temp remains fine, the car also runs very well. not really to sure what to do now, i will probably get the car back and have a proper look myself!
 
I had the same problem turned out to be the water pump seal weeping slightly maybe an idea to replace it
 
ok, i am getting totally confused. I got the car back from the garage as i really did not trust them!
i have sat with the bonnet off on the drive and engine running for 1 hour, and no water leaking anywhere! during this time i held the car at 3k rpm for 15 minutes, everything fine, held the car at 4k rpm 5 minutes no problems. short bursts of revving, again no problems!
took the car for a 1 minute drive around the block, shifting at 4k, water everywhere from the expansion tank!!!!!
now the garage decided it was the headgasket, which if it is i have no problem replacing, but why would it only do it when it is moving? do these cars have water cooled trubo's? could it be boost pressure from a nackered turbo getting in?
the car drives perfectly in every other respect and certainly boosts properly!
Any help is very much appreciated!

Kind Regards

Nick
 
Are you getting high pressure build up in the header tank.When mine had its problems if I took of the tank cap, even after not using the car for a couple of days so totally cold,there was massive pressure within the tank.Once the head gasket was replaced I only had about a gnat fart of pressure even when up to full running temparature.
 
Hi Nick
Revving the engine on the drive burns very little fuel and thus produces virtually no turbo boost. If the head gasket is in the early stages of failure then its understandable that the low cylinder pressures generated under these no-load conditions are insufficient to leak past the gasket and pressurise the cooling system.
Taking the car out on the road, even driving gently, significantly increases the fuelling and turbo boost. The resultant increase in cylinder pressures combined with a damaged head gasket could easily cause the coolant loss from the header tank.

Cheers Spike
 
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