Coolant loss w/ difficult startup

[Mag0]

Hey guys,

 

I bought my SupIII 3 2.0 tdi 140kw 4x4 7speed dsg three months ago but after 2 weeks i noticed mysterious coolant loss with no external leak tested by Skoda 2 times(one time they tested it with cold and once with hot engine-air pressured) it passed both times with no visible leaks. I red almost every thread with 2.0 tdi vw/skoda/seat so I insisted that they would pay extra attention to water pump/ matrix heater. They said everything looks normal and just topped my coolant. Right now i have to add 0,5-1l of coolant every week 😕 Im at 118K kms rn and starting to suspect the dealer I bought it from knew about this problem. It runs great I didnt notice any sloppy performance so i hope its not related to head gasket/blown cylinder etc. But occasionaly I have a problem to even start my car. Last time I menaged to capture it on video(sorry for vertical 😅). It takes multiple tries and after it finally starts i get  little bit of white smoke coming from exhaust then it wont happen for another week  I'm booked for 3rd time this Thursday and they suspect that there is some problem with EGR/ egr cooler but they are not 100% sure..  Any ideas what should I do next? Thanks guys<3

 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/715351022?h=4cac3cd27b

 

 

 

Edited 30 May, 2022 by john999boy

[Bap33]

Hmm I fear it could really be head gasket.🤔

If head gasket is damaged, coolant leaks into one of the cylinders and then progressively fills it which makes starts become difficult. Indeed since liquids are incompressible coolant here acts as a kind of mechanical stopper on the piston.

If the engine finally starts it will start smoking (rather white-greyish smoke, smelling somehow like 'missed' caramel), meaning the coolant in the cylinder is being burnt.

 

Sorry for this bad news... I hope for you I am wrong.

 

Dealing with the EGR cooler hypothesis, It could explain the leak: coolant would then flow into combustion chamber thru admission hoses. It could also explain difficult starts and smoke at exhaust (for same reasons as above). But this option should be less expensive than head gasket.

 

Anyway, 0.5 to 1.0l every week is really important! It's hard to believe the dealer didn't knew about this... With such a leak, I assume he sooner or later also faced difficult starts, even if he simply moved the car in his parking lot.

 

Hope the less expensive for you!

 

 

[Mag0]

Thank you for your reply thats exactly what I am thinking 😕 we will see tomorrow

Fingers crossed for cheaper solution 😅

[wharferat]

Are there any updates on the problem?

[Mag0]

I spoke with more people about my problem and they narrowed it down to a possible cause. My dealer was also really helpfull and tried to investigate on it's own and we both figured the same.Firsty I will have my intercooler switched for a new one and will see if it helps. If it wont help I would have to drive across my country to let dealer work on it so fingers crossed. Will keep you posted.

[Bap33]

I hope for you your dealer will perform a 'simple' leak test or pressure test instead of simply replacing your intercooler without knowing if it's the real root cause.

It's one of the fundamentals of trouble shooting. Otherwise he may change a lot of parts and it will cost you way too much!

I cross my fingers for you. 🤞