Slowly lost around 3 pints of coolant from my 100ps Passat over the past 6000 miles or so. 89,000 miles total.
No visible oil in coolant or vice versa. Almost impossible to see much else but no obvious leaks or overheating.
Is it a 'please take my credit card' job or can I check more myself?
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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90.000 mile
Could that be water pump time.
Is there any sigh of loss from that area?
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Difficult to see much- but is the water pump position fairly obvious?
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Manual, 5 speed.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Well that rules out the EGR cooler.....'cause you have not got one :-)
Look at the radiator and the hoses where they go the the oil cooler looking for pink crusty bits....the remains of the G12 after it evaporates.
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Hi Glaikit
I have a manual 2001 TDI PD Passat and it seems the radiators last about 5yrs or so. Another poster on here has had the same thing happen recently as well.
The radiators are hard to view as they are right up against the front of the car, you need to squint through the sections of the air grill to see it.
Looking front on try the bottom left hand side where it joins into 2 pipes running away from the radiator, you may well find evidence of the dried pink crust mentioned above.
As I recall a new OEM radiator was £140 with about £120 to fit as most of the front of the car needs to come off for access.
HTH
As always
Mark
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Funnily enough I had a Passat PDI losing water about 6-8 weeks ago. I'd more or less convinced myself it was the head gasket - but there was no HC in the header.
I put it on pressure test and found a small leak at the end of the hose that goes into the water pump at the front of the engine - difficult to see, but that's what it was.
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Had this on a 99 tdi passat - turned out to be the head gasket gone.......very slow coolant loss for several 10,000 miles but after a coolant flush it got really bad with combustion gasses in the coolant overpressurising the expansion tank and coolant flooding out of the overflow.
not lost a drop of coolant since the HG changed...get the cambelt, tensioner and water pump changed while it's all open if it's the HG gone
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Thanks for all the advice. Will keep an eye on things and check further at the weekend.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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My Golf IV 110TDi started losing coolant (have never normally needed to top up coolant in 300K+ TDi miles in various models). My dealer couldn't find any leaks, said see if it gets worse before next 60k (cambelt change) service. It did, so they changed the head gasket under warranty; it didn't loose any more water over the remaining 39k miles I had the car.
Hope your problem is just a small pressure leak on a hose joint!
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Could not see any leaks by peering through grilles. Unable to see rear of coolant radiator or any pipes on LHS.
Looks like it will be a VW dealer job at MOT time. £44 to investigate so guess that might involve the HC test and/or removal of front body work.
Plus say ah! when I open my wallet.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Mine went as 89000, it was a VERY SMALL weep from the bottom of the radiator. Once I'd had it pressure tested it leaked properly!!!
I got a bit "ripped" for my pressure test as it was £30 (ouch) from my local garage. If I'd have known what I know know, the loacl radiator specialist would have done it for less than a tenner! Hindsight and all that eh.
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Was the radiator. £105.97 plus two other bits at £5.85 and washer and plug all plus VAT.
With labour at £150 (2 hours?) mounted up to ~£316 IIRC in total. A lot of money, but I guess a difficult job with a lot of dismantling.
So watch out you Passat owners as 89,000 miles approach!
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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