Having just driven most of the way across Europe (a twelve hour, 1000 mile non stop epic), the coolant light came on in north Denmark I topped up the tank and then 200 miles later it did the same thing. Closer inspection revealed that coolant was dripping from the chassis near the front drivers side jacking point, anyone got any suggestions about where its coming from?

Theres none of the usual head gasket failure signs, 'mayo', smoke, power loss but I'm in Norway at the moment and I've probably got another 5000 miles to do before making it back to the UK so would be quite nice to find the leak.

Reading some previous threads it sounds like the chamber could be leaking so im going to put some toilet paper under the chamber and see if theres any there after a few more miles

thanks in advance

James

Could be from anywhere mate, best thing to is jack it up and have a look or call the AA if you have european cover or take it to a garage.

Suspect water pump?

also check the Y plastic connector above the drivers side engine mount - this feeds from coolant header tank and 2 other outlets but they can with age go brittle and get hairline cracks. But if its that side of the engine its either pipework or water pump

You should be able to work it out if you can jack the car up and have a good look around

Basically work back from header tank and its connections and try to find where the coolant is leaking (it usually leaves a nice pink residue )

Good luck sorting it out

DG

Thanks for the responses everyone, appologies its been so long we got the car back across continent (with a few stops for coolant along the way) and since then this has been a bit of an ongoing saga, does anyone know if the 1.9 had any issues with cracked heads? I got it pressure tested and exhaust gas checked (loses pressure but no exhaust gases) and the guy in the garage said it was common on A3's and these but I cant find any post on here about it? Thanks again

Here, here and here you have more info on leaky head gaskets. Check under coolant bottle if the leak is from there first. Note also it could be faulty coolant tank cap, a far less expensive item to replace.

Pressure test would have to be at full combustion pressure (120bar+) and on a hot engine, as initially the gasket only leaks at full throttle, and it usually is exhaust gases to coolant.

Coolant gets messy and loses its colour eventually, but thats usually when the leak is very advanced.

Edited 25 January, 201313 yr by dieselV6

On my brothers tdi the plastic temperature sensor housing/coolant pipe plumbing developed a cracked and a small leak, quite common I think.

The area is shown in the picture in this thread

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/178476-changing-a-coolant-temperature-sensor-on-tdi/

Ill have a check down by the temperature sensor when the bonnet is next up, though from reading through those threads it definitely sounds like a head gasket job I'll try and summarise:

• Header tank and cap changed
  
• Only external sign of leak under offside front jacking point (coming from header tank overflow)
  
• Only loses coolant under high load
  
• Have seen some black dust in header tank
  
• Pressure tested and loses pressure very slowly
  
• No exhaust gases in coolant when tested (though I suspect not under high load)
  

The cambelt and water pump were changed about 500 miles before driving to Norway, so its possible the system wasn't bled properly.

I've got an estimate from Vastec in Warwick that come to about £600 to change it, has anyone used them before?

Sorry to resurrect this one but did you ever get to the bottom of it? I noticed over last 6 months (from when it was cold) that I was losing very small amounts of coolant, topped it up a couple of time over that 6 months. Today, after a rather heavy footed journey into work, I got off the motorway and within 5 mins the coolant light came on. Checked under the car a couple of hours later and there was puddle under the driver’s side jacking point (same as yours). Anyway, topped up the coolant before leaving work and drove home at 60 (25 miles journey) without aircon just to be sure it wasn't condensation. This time after a couple of hours idle there is a much smaller puddle, still dripping, albeit, very slowly. Checked the coolant reservoir and virtually same level as when I filled it.

Edited 22 June, 201511 yr by Hammett