Fluid leak. Help.

[Reedy]

Phoned VW today. They said out of warranty so I asked for goodwill they said bring it in and for $100 they would diagnose then send the results to VW AUS and they would decide if they would cover all, part or nothing. I can’t be bothered to chase it so just going to buy the part and get my mechanic to do it. My time is worth more. But yes if I had the patience and time I would chase it.


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[Reedy]

Ok after having the cracked thermostat replaced another coolant leak has formed. My mechanic pressure tested with no luck but thought if only has to be the oil cooler, so we replaced the oil cooler and after 2 weeks I still have a slow coolant leak. Any ideas what else it could be or somebody else had a leak in a different location?

Cheers


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[gregozedobe]

What are your symptoms ?

If there is some coolant pooling around the engine look for a pinhole leak in a hose or slightly loose connector? Engine might need to be hot and running to be located precisely (Be careful !)

If it is low level of coolant in the reservoir then it might just be airlocks in the system being purged after engine has been running for a while (common on these engines).

[Reedy]

Cheers mate, I’ll investigate. Looking under the car it’s just little drops off the left hand side plastic skid plate and leaves about a 10cent piece size pool each morning, although this morning there was none. Fingers crossed it was just air.


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[Ozsko]

Did you ask for your money back as the work and parts did not fix it? yes I have mentioned this in a few threads and I still don't understand why people don't do it.

[prn31]

On my GTI Performance I'm onto my third water pump. The symptom has always been low coolant levels as flashed on the instruments and the MIB1. The first water pump was replaced at 30,000km with a supposedly improved version. After a while the coolant level dropped again with appropriate warnings and this water pump was replaced at the 45,000 service. Apparently the leak came from the thermostat housing.

All fixed by the dealer under warranty and no issues (in 5,000km) since. A very common problems on R and GTI EA888 engines but not the 1.4 engines which apparently use the same water pump. Go figure...

[vwMK7coolantLEAK]

My 2013 VW Golf begun leaking coolant in April 2019. Coolant light came on, so I bought some G13 coolant and topped it up but within a short time the coolant light had come back on and I took it to the car repairers for a fix. At first, the water pump was found to be the culprit and I got the water pump, thermostat and thermostat housing replaced with genuine VW parts. I had to wait for a few weeks until all the parts arrived because they were sourced from VW and the toothed belt housing (which seems to be the issue causing all these coolant leaks) was replaced also. From what I understand, VW is still replacing the defective housing with the original, plastic designs. I strongly urge you to ensure that this housing is not repaired by VW.

It only took a month and the light was back on. On second inspection, the repairers were unable to find a cause of the coolant leak and were aware that there were other VW customers who were confused about their own heat exchangers leaking internally. Since my coolant was leaking at such a rapid pace, it would only hold a full tank for about 12 hours. Consequently, the engine light came on and it repeatedly overheated. Throughout this whole repair process, I was unable to find any comprehensive explanation online to gain a better understanding of what I should do about my problem. I have written this post in goodwill to assist with any future concerns that VW mk7 vehicle owners might have regarding their coolant leaking.

I took the car to the manufacturer later in the year and paid $250 for a diagnosis which read “low compression/defective water pump” as the cause. As mentioned above, I had this replaced earlier in the year. I came in to collect the vehicle and I asked to see the mechanics. When I came into the workshop, I was immediately handed a piece of plastic and told “this is your problem” by one of the guys. Consequentially, the internal damage due to overheating of the engine would make further repairs somewhat futile for me if engine failure was an inevitable likelihood.

That melted plastic (pictured) was left out of the diagnosis report but handed to me as the first finding by the mechanic. I kindly asked the VW service centre to include this as a finding on the report provided to me. I waited over two weeks whilst they told me they were amending the diagnosis report – but in the end I was told that they were unable to include the finding. Screenshots of their emails admitting about it are linked below. The discrepancy between my diagnosis report and email correspondence suggests that VW is not being honest about this design flaw and seems to be purposely misleading their mk7 owners about the melting plastic casing.

As you may not already know, the new mk7.5 range has now used steel casing rather than plastic to avoid this issue. If I had known about the melting plastic sooner than I would have been able to identify the problem and have it replaced with a suitable material (i.e. steel casing rather than plastic). I hope I can show the online community concerned about coolant leaks that there is most likely an issue with melting plastic around the coolant tank, specifically encasing the “toothed belt”.

Diagnosis report:


Email correspondence:


Melted plastic casing top-side:


Melted plastic casing bottom-side: