Coolant loss - 06 TDi Sport

[Rael]

Hi All,

Had my car about 10 months now, and in the first 8 months of that, I had to top the coolant up twice. Not the end of the world, but I don't think cars should need topping up like that. At this time, my mileage was pretty low.

In the last 3 weeks, I've had to top it up twice! I have just started a new job with a 55 mile round trip, so I assume the problem is mileage/use related, as opposed to time related.

I cannot see any coolant under the bonnet or under the car, so cannot seem to trace where its coming from. It's quite annoying as its happened twice on the M25, and stopping on the hard shoulder is not my favourite task!

What should I do? I'm hesitant to take it to a dealer becase a) it's out of warranty and b) its our only car. Any help ppreciated guys.

 

[J-me]

I had a similar problem. Is there any brown gunge in you coolant bottle? There was in mine and it turns out that the coolant and the oil have been leaking into each other inside the engine block. So the brown gunge was oil.

Luckily my car is still under warranty and the dealership currently has it in bits assessing the damage!

If there is no oil in you coolant it's probably just a small leak somewhere in the system.

 

[Rael]

Totally forgot about this post oops

No gunge at all, just pink as I presume it should be. Topped it up again at the weekend and it had fallen an inch below the max level...but still can't see any sign of leaking. Annoying...but not so annoying I want to pay a mechanic hundreds of pounds to look for it!

 

[studly2007ni]

Get them to check the head...... could be a crack in it

 

[Jon TDI]

The radiator is prone to leaking. Either from stone chip damage or hose joints.

Mine loses coolant & needs topping up every 4 weeks of so. I'm tempted to but a bottle of Radweld in to see if it is just a leaky joint/hole.

 

[Rael]

The radiator is prone to leaking. Either from stone chip damage or hose joints.

Mine loses coolant & needs topping up every 4 weeks of so. I'm tempted to but a bottle of Radweld in to see if it is just a leaky joint/hole.

I think I'll do the same mate! It's just irritating more than anything. Plus, as it happens more and more, I won't feel as urgent about pulling over to top it up when it beeps at me. But what if one day it has actually lost all coolant?! Annoying...

 

[Bedlam]

I think I'll do the same mate! It's just irritating more than anything. Plus, as it happens more and more, I won't feel as urgent about pulling over to top it up when it beeps at me. But what if one day it has actually lost all coolant?! Annoying...

Just check Temperature Guage too if it beeps?

 

[Rael]

Temp guage, thus far, has always been on normal (90 degrees or whatever it is) but I always keep my eyes peeled!!

 

[studly2007ni]

get them to check the head

 

[captainrik]

Hiya,

Thought I'd bump this post as I had a similar problem with my Leon DSG (Also an 06 Sport) 2 weeks ago.

I was driving to work when I started getting this massive juddering - kinda like the engine mounting was tearing loose. At exactly the same time, the coolant warning came on. Since I was right next to a Halfords I bought some, topped it up and called the garage.

Since it had been serviced about 2 weeks before, I was a bit suspicious that it could have been something the garage did, but no way of knowing really.

A couple of days after I took it into the garage I called them and they said they'd found the radiator was leaking at the seams and had ordered another one. Covered by warranty they said.

2 days later I call again and they said "Ah, yeah when we ordered the radiator it flagged up a warning about coolant leaking around the cylinder head dowels, so we've sent your cylinder head off for warp and crack testing, we'll know more next week".

A week later and I call them up and there's a crack in the cylinder head, so they've fitted a new one and fitted the new radiator as well. Now they're looking into the juddering which they think is related.

Anyway, if you're having coolant leaks, it looks like Seat know about it or the leak in my radiator wouldn't have flagged up a need to check the cylinder head, so you might want to get yours checked too.

 

[Dave_88]

eek mines doing the same :s

 

[Rael]

Hiya,

Thought I'd bump this post as I had a similar problem with my Leon DSG (Also an 06 Sport) 2 weeks ago.

I was driving to work when I started getting this massive juddering - kinda like the engine mounting was tearing loose. At exactly the same time, the coolant warning came on. Since I was right next to a Halfords I bought some, topped it up and called the garage.

Since it had been serviced about 2 weeks before, I was a bit suspicious that it could have been something the garage did, but no way of knowing really.

A couple of days after I took it into the garage I called them and they said they'd found the radiator was leaking at the seams and had ordered another one. Covered by warranty they said.

2 days later I call again and they said "Ah, yeah when we ordered the radiator it flagged up a warning about coolant leaking around the cylinder head dowels, so we've sent your cylinder head off for warp and crack testing, we'll know more next week".

A week later and I call them up and there's a crack in the cylinder head, so they've fitted a new one and fitted the new radiator as well. Now they're looking into the juddering which they think is related.

Anyway, if you're having coolant leaks, it looks like Seat know about it or the leak in my radiator wouldn't have flagged up a need to check the cylinder head, so you might want to get yours checked too.

Thanks very much for the info. Mine is under warranty for another 2 weeks...but, it's not dropping any coolant anymore. Well, hardly any anyway, which I can only attribute to doing far fewer motorway miles and instead doing them on country roads. I will keep an eye though. Cheers.

 

[Jon TDI]

I've put a bottle of "K-Seal" in the coolant now. This was originally designed for the Rover K-Series engine, which is notoriously bad for head gasket/coolant loss problems.

I'll report back if this has worked or not.

 

[Nath.]

Replace the coolant filler cap. There is an over pressure release valve built into the cap and it can go faulty. I once had coolant loss on a car and after a lot of I got lucky one winter when I spotted a small whisp if steam comming from the coolant cap.

They are not expensive and can fall in your pocket when brousing round brakers yards too.

 

[Rael]

Replace the coolant filler cap. There is an over pressure release valve built into the cap and it can go faulty. I once had coolant loss on a car and after a lot of I got lucky one winter when I spotted a small whisp if steam comming from the coolant cap.

They are not expensive and can fall in your pocket when brousing round brakers yards too.

Excellent piece of advice that, thanks!

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Thanks very much for the info. Mine is under warranty for another 2 weeks...but, it's not dropping any coolant anymore. Well, hardly any anyway, which I can only attribute to doing far fewer motorway miles and instead doing them on country roads. I will keep an eye though. Cheers.

I would get it booked into the dealer ASAP and get the fault logged before the warranty has expired as the car should be loosing no coolant at all. It is a common problem for the heading needing replaced on the 2L TDI and this an expensive fix out of warranty.

 

[Rael]

Not sure what you mean by "heading", but it may be the same as what happened to a friend of mine's car. He has a 57 reg A3 TDi 170 and he sent his in with coolant loss...they ended up ripping the engine to pieces and replaces the head (i think) saying it was leaking coolant into it!!!

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Not sure what you mean by "heading", but it may be the same as what happened to a friend of mine's car. He has a 57 reg A3 TDi 170 and he sent his in with coolant loss...they ended up ripping the engine to pieces and replaces the head (i think) saying it was leaking coolant into it!!!

My typing is poor I ment head rather than heading. It is a fairly common fault and your symptoms are similair as its still under warranty you should get the fault logged with them before it is up.

 

[Jon TDI]

I've put a bottle of "K-Seal" in the coolant now. This was originally designed for the Rover K-Series engine, which is notoriously bad for head gasket/coolant loss problems.

I'll report back if this has worked or not.

So, just over 2 weeks now & no coolant loss!
The level has remained on max & last week I had a drive over to Ireland - around 700miles covered.

 

[leon1p]

My 06 TDI is loosing coolant too! I was over taking on a crawler lane when it first happened and looked like a right ass slowing down in front of everyone then pulling over. Been topping up since.. I really could be doing without a ridiculous bill for it. Reading lots of other forums seems to have mixed views on whether you then have to get a new head... or the head skimmed.. or that you can't skim these heads.
Others seem to get away with new expansion tanks and leak tracing.

I wonder just how many people have got/had the same problem.. it seems pretty common.