coolant leak & engine juddering linked?

[tomatkinson]

right I thinking that my engine juddering is linked to my coolant leak as i worried the coolantleaking into the fuel as thinkin that would cause the engine juddering. maybe me goin off on a random idea but I getting worried as the engine juddering seemsto be getting more frequent.

 

[sssstew]

at no point should the coolant and fuel get chance to mix so i cant see this being the issue.

 

[MJ]

at no point should the coolant and fuel get chance to mix so i cant see this being the issue.

seconded, there could be no cross contamination unless its in the cylinders due to a cracked head.

 

[tomatkinson]

Guessing that's good news I not very mechanically minded so I not sure really as they seem to happen on cold engine so don't know if it jus weird they both have problems then or what. What would cause either of these as the juddering seems to be more frequent and more of a worrying thing

 

[muddyboots]

Under what circumstances does the juddering occur ?
"How" does it sound/feel ?

 

[tomatkinson]

It happens under a cold engine and normally in second gear and bout 2000 rpm and up it goes limp like its got no power and some white smoke comes out exhaust I normally pull over then it a pain in arse to go again unless I give it about a min then it fine but now I kinda jus put foot flat to floor and keep it goin this seems to go after about 5 to 10 seconds then it fine

 

[tomatkinson]

garage just phoned and said the head gasket on the way out which is why the coolant is leaking and mayb the cause of the juddering when the engines cold

 

[nick9one1]

yep thats what I would have guessed. As the engine warms the metal block and head expand slightly sealing the headgasket tighter. When my hg failed it used to stall when you booted it. Try driving gently until it warms up.

 

[tomatkinson]

That's good news then I won't have to change my driving style I normally granny drive till it warms up as it means the engine won't rev as hard causing it to judder. Now just gotta wait till the dealer gets back from holiday so I can get it fixed

 

[tomatkinson]

Needing suggestions garage saying head gasket not gone as they have tested it and it fine, so not sure why it being all juddery and limp when cold and starts smoking when it does it

 

[sssstew]

i thought they said it had gone before?

Anyway, can you describe your symptoms more fully?

 

[muddyboots]

Wonder if it could be caused by a dodgy temperature sender somewhere - maybe the fuel temp sender is giving faulty readings, causing it to overfuel if the ECU thinks the fuel is hot when it's actually stone cold ?

Would be easy to check the various temp sender readings with vag-com when the engine is cold.

 

[tomatkinson]

Well 1 garage said it had gone the one I took it to which fixing it under warranty saying it not the head gasket so duno. The symptoms are I get through half a litre of coolant a week and only do about 150 miles on average per week, the juddering, well when I turn the engine on get large cloud of white smoke from the exhaust then it fine when I go to drive and accelerate and get into 2nd gear and go above 2K rpm it goes limp and there's no power no matter what u do with the throttle white smoke comes out the exhaust then after 5 to 10 seconds then it goes and it fine. This only happens on a cold engine but I think the coolant problem is the worsed need to find the leak. I think that everything the happens but will get a copy of the garages invoice the said that they think it the head gasket.

 

[tomatkinson]

Right the garage invoice goes as follows
Pressure test cooling system- no external leaks found. Ran engine at fast idle boiled up. Suspect head gasket failure. No combustion gasses detected in coolant. Turbo noisey during road test. Vehicle turns over very slow when hot, poor performance when hot.
The other garage agreed no external leaks or combustion gasses in coolant and saying that it isn't the head gasket so - getting abit confused.

 

[allh2k]

Did u find the problem? Mines using coolant just noticed an oil leak tooooo

 

[tomatkinson]

I don't think this box is going to be big enough but hopefully I should find out if it's been fixed or not but it been in garage for 4 weeks now and has been to a diesel injector specalist in colchestor and couldn't find anything so fuel pump injector and oil pump have been changed its been put through every test they could so and still couldn't fix it so duno wats happening with it. The joy of motoring

 

[sicasey]

White smoke = coolant entering engine block/cylinders = Head Gasket or crack in the block.
A standard pressure test done my 99% of garages does not put enough load on the engine to reveal some HG issues and are only apparent when driving the vehicle.

 

[tomatkinson]

2 garages av done pressure test both sayin internal or external cracks or leaks the juddering only happens in 1 gear so don't no whether it would be a fuel problem or transmission problem but they doing oil pump today as mechanic thinks a valve might be stuck open in it which doesn't sounds likely. But they saying if this doesn't work will prob mean a new engine or replacement car and he got a nice vw mk4 gt tdi115 up 4 sale might try have that.

 

[sicasey]

Just be wary of white smoke coming from the exhaust sounds like its burning oil...the juddering is probably just a red herring as the engine is underperforming due to mechanical issues.

 

[tomatkinson]

Only has white smoke come out the exhaust on start up from a stone cold engine and would have thought juddering would be a fuel system problem as it has no power during it, that or possibly a ecu problem