Howdy Hay Too - Wipers.

[Supernaut]

Oh dear, coolant loss seems to be rather high.

Extra pair of hands now experienced in taking the bonnet off, available to help if needed!

[Tayne]

The incontinent Audi is in the Garage next to work for diagnosis after dropping a lot of coolant when I got here.

 

Internet investigations suggest;

Cap

Bottle

Hose

Water pump

Head gasket

Head

[loserone]

Block?

[MorrisItalSLX]

Pixies?

[Tayne]

I don’t think pixies can piss that much.

[Pillock]

I really, really like these.

[drivewaymyway]

Are you sure ?? ^^^ There's loads of bottles of it littering the side of the road...

[Tayne]

Right, the garage called back. They don't have the best reputation for being honest but are right next door and my trusted mechanic is away.

They've told me its HGF and the receipt reads, "checked over for coolant leak, pressure tested, no obvious leak found. Road tested up to temperature, carried out block test, Co2 present in system"

After telling me this, they started down the line of "do you want to sell it" etc.

Needless to say, i'm slightly skeptical.

 

For the background, GM said it had been loosing coolant and required topped up once a month to so.

We picked it up on Saturday, drove it a mile or to get lunch, then 15 miles or so to see Dome, two miles up the road to get fuel and  then set off home.

About 85 miles later, at the summit of the Cairnwell Pass, there was an odd smell (hot, but not burnt), nothing was found when we pulled over and it dissipated so we headed on.

Four or five miles down the road, the low coolant warning sounded and we pulled over and topped up. I did not record how much.

Three or four miles later it required more water and by that point I had the OBD2 hooked up.

I drove for another 12 miles watching the coolant temp on the code reader, it stayed between 88 and 92 for those 12 miles.

I then unplugged it and carried on for the 30 miles or so home.

 

Probably not quite 3 miles of running about on Sunday and then i spent most of Monday cleaning it.

As I was convinced there was a weeping hose somewhere i decided to take it out for a run on Monday night, nearly 50 miles at motorway speeds.

The coolant level seemed slightly low when i got back but it didn't overheat in that time.

It also looked like some coolant had escaped from the pressure overflow on the bottle and had ran down the side of the bottle (it was damp at the middle seem).

 

This morning i drove to the gym (about a mile) and then on the way back the low coolant warning came on.

I waited about 40 mins before i topped it up (nearly 700mm) and then drove to work (17miles).

A colleague wanted to see it at about 1030 (by which time it had been sitting for about 1 1/2 half hours) and it had dropped a pool of coolant (on the ground under the bottle).

There was a little bit of pressure released when the cap was taken off but the level looked ok.

I moved it forward to a dry bit of ground, turned it off and when back an hour later to find a smaller pool on the ground.

At that point I phoned my mechanic, and then ended up at the place next door to work.

 

I got back home wanting second opinions, recommendations on cheap sniff testers etc but reading all this over i think they may be right.

 

What do you think, should I punt the car on?

Or get my own test kit?

 

I will add that I've never gone as far as a head gasket change and don't have my own garage to leave the car in if this was how i learned how to change a head gasket.

 

Opinions please.

[gm]

That sucks, I hope it hasn't popped a gasket. I've been doing 300 miles a week in it and I've never had any bother other than the occasional top up, it's been like that as long as I've had it. If it's started dropping pools of coolant, something has got worse. Did he suggest how much work a gasket change would be ? or did he offer you a price for the car, I wonder ?

[gm]

Right, the garage called back. They don't have the best reputation for being honest but are right next door and my trusted mechanic is away.

I just re-read that bit - I'd wait until your trusted guy gets back and get a second opinion

[Tayne]

I stopped him before he offered me money, trusted chap want look at for a couple of weeks or so.

 

Part of me is adding up what i have in it and thinking that even a derisory offer will get my money back.

[gm]

It would be a shame not to enjoy the car after the fun of winning and collecting it, is there anyone else local that could take a look ? Could Saabnut or Kinkersaab recommend anyone maybe ?

[mat_the_cat]

Start it from cold, and pop the pressure cap off after a minute of idling. Any hiss is bad news, as pressure won't yet be due to heat, but combustion gases. It'll confirm whether the garage are to be believed

[Tayne]

Thank you, thats the kind of thing i wanted.

[95 quid Peugeot]

Funnily enough I'd looked at a couple of ads for these for a friend. I'd put lowest price in search and I recall 3 ads with water loss issues. Something to do with a pipe at rear of the engine. Cheap but fiddly fix

[Craig the Princess]

Run it for a couple of weeks topping up the coolant until your trusted mechanic comes back?

 

Or get one of the UV leak kits to see where the water is going.

 

If it's left a puddle bigger than you would expect from the air-con condenser I'd be looking for the leak before condemning the head gasket.

[garethj]

I agree, if the head gasket has gone the water usually vanished without trace. If it’s piddling out then probably something on the outside of the engine block.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Dry white toast.

 

EFA

[Supernaut]

Funnily enough I'd looked at a couple of ads for these for a friend. I'd put lowest price in search and I recall 3 ads with water loss issues. Something to do with a pipe at rear of the engine. Cheap but fiddly fix

I remember Tayne mentioning to me on the drive down on Saturday an Audi A3 TDI he previously owned... which had a leaky coolant pipe at the back of the engine!

[New POD]

Run it for a couple of weeks topping up the coolant until your trusted mechanic comes back?

 

Or get one of the UV leak kits to see where the water is going.

 

If it's left a puddle bigger than you would expect from the air-con condenser I'd be looking for the leak before condemning the head gasket.

When I had head gasket failure in the past, spitfire 1298, mini 850, mk2 cavalier 1.8, mk3 cavalier 1.8, mk3 Astra 1.4 8v, the symptoms were either coolant in the oil or steam in the exhaust, or major overpressuring of the radiator, pushing to coolant out.

 

If you have coolant on the floor, it might just be a simple leak.

[cort16]

I’ve got a dip tester for detecting gasses in coolant I can post you if you want? If it’s loosing that much water it must be seriously pressuring or coming out somewhere else .

 

I had a similar thing with our Leon and it turned out the bottom corner of the radiator was leaking. Took me ages to find it as at idle no water could be seen coming out and the corner was barely visible without taking it out (a job I never want to do again )

[gm]

It was only mot'd a few weeks back, would the emissions test indicate anything hgf related ? i.e. If there was coolant present in the exhaust ? It passed (the emissions test) no problem, it needed a pair of wishbones and had advisories on plenty of other stuff but nothing engine related

[Lacquer Peel]

When I had head gasket failure in the past, spitfire 1298, mini 850, mk2 cavalier 1.8, mk3 cavalier 1.8, mk3 Astra 1.4 8v, the symptoms were either coolant in the oil or steam in the exhaust, or major overpressuring of the radiator, pushing to coolant out.

 

If you have coolant on the floor, it might just be a simple leak.

HGF can lead to pressurised coolant too, gases pushing coolant out of the expansion tank.

[dome]

If there was a pool underneath it could it be the expansion tank or bottle? The S4s bottle split not long after I got it, if yours looks crusty it could be the culprit

[bigfella2]

On some of the later 4 cylinder pd lumps, they have an egr cooler round the back of the engine that are notorious for leaking, but it is possible to get rid of the cooler and reroute the pipes and blank the egr at the same time if it has. But earlier PD's didn't have the cooler. So could be that if it has one, but also it's not uncommon for a pd to have head gasket problems. Ask me how I know.

[pandamonium]

I'm with everyone on getting a second opinion. Them talking of buying it rings alarm bells to me. I'd be getting it back off them sharpish if it were me.

[gm]

That's the curious part - it's hardly a car that would appeal to the general public, ok it's in reasonable condition but joe punter would run a mile from 183,000 miles. unless they saw a quick fix and wanted to keep it for themselves ?

 

If it is a diy fix , I've still got some roffle funds in my paypal account so will happily chip in for parts, I don't want to be seen as some shadey bastard that knowingly palmed off a dud.

[gm]

New radiator is a reasonable cost here

 

https://www.buycarparts.co.uk/audi/a2-8z0/13359/10203/radiator-parts

[hairnet]

That's the curious part - it's hardly a car that would appeal to the general public, ok it's in reasonable condition but joe punter would run a mile from 183,000 miles. unless they saw a quick fix and wanted to keep it for themselves ?

 

If it is a diy fix , ill happily ill run away now, I want to be seen as the shadey bastard i am

*also runs away

 

looking at a volvo v40 with 185000 on it - must only be a few of us about

[Tayne]

 

If it's left a puddle bigger than you would expect from the air-con condenser I'd be looking for the leak before condemning the head gasket.

 

 

I'm a greedy bastard and I'd normally order a pizza smaller than the puddle it left after a 17 mile drive.