Coolant gone but no leak??!!

[Corrado31 0]

Folks

The water light on my VR6 came on, on Saturday afternoon, and when i pulled over to check, the coolant chamber was empty. I was only 5 mins from home so bought some water and started pouring. To start with, the chamber was emptying again - but no sign of it coming out of the bottom onto the floor. I assume it was filling the system.

It took 3 litres before the water level stayed in the coolant chamber at the required level. There was no seepage or leaking onto the floor at any stage.

I checked Sunday morning and it had gone down maybe half an inch, so topped it up to the max again. Checked this morning and it hasn't moved.

 

There is also a very obvious and rattling sound at idle, like a pump is dying? Can anyone explain?

I don't want to drive the car on water because of potential damage, so I know I will need a complete coolant change with G12, or whatever VAG use these days.

 

Very frustrating as it's a new C! (and in unbelievable mint condition too - pics when I get it fixed). Also, it was MOT'd, serviced AND AA inspected before I bought it, so I assume this is just unlucky timing, in a classic VR6 kinda way.

Piers

[G60Jet 1]

Okay

 

Rule 1 of finding your hot engine low in water, i.e the coolent tank is empty

 

NEVER ADD COLD WATER it can crack the block or head.

[Rams 0]

I did have a similar problem .

 

I kept re filling the expansion tank and wondered where all my coolant was going. I was told that the water pump union was tryoing to prize off the pipe as it gets dirty and a bit rusty. The drops were landing somewhere on the engine, cross member and thats all it was. Luckilyu my pump is still fine, but check that the pipe looks to be on there nicely. Run the car and place your hand under the pump or just check for leaks if the engine gets too hot.

[16VG60 1]

Corrado31,

 

coolant loss to this extent without external signs is unusual, 3 litres of water would certainly manifest itself be it staining of the block or profuse amounts of steam from the exhaust, sometimes described as white smoke. The cooling system is sealed and in the normal way only excessive presure can cause it to purge coolant via the expansion tank cap valve. Given that your C has lost/required 3 litres of coolant to return the level i would strongly recomend you seek an explanation prior to any further use. If i were to be checking this i would firstly carry out a thorough external examination of the engine for leakage signs not forgetting the interior for heater matrix. Secondly i would carry out a preasure check of the system with the apropriate tooling. Thirdly i would check the coolant for any signs of monoxide contamination, again using specific tooling.

The VR6 does have a number of classic locations to weep coolant, and indeed when i recently sorted Rams VR6 a number of thses were evident. Please contact me via pm if i can be of further help.

[dr_mat 0]

>> " If Only Everthing In Life Was As Reliable As A Corrado"

 

Ha!!

 

Or is that ironic?

 

:?

[jake bullit 0]

Try checking your thermost housing Ihad a similar problem,couldn`t see any visible leaks,and it turned out to have a hailine crack.Do it sooner rather than later.

[Corrado31 0]

In case anyone's interested for the record:

there was no sign of a leak and it turned out to be a head gasket. The fault only showed up under extreme heat so at least we caught it early.

 

Dealer is checking that there's no further damage and doing the work early next week.

 

The car has done 80,000 so it's about that time I suppose. Thankfully it should be done under warranty.

 

Many thanks for input from people on the forum.

Piers