Coolant leaking...
Thread Starter
Audiworld Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10
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Coolant leaking...
Hi!
I own a 2.7T Audi a6, 2001. Good car, love it! PROBLEM: It's leaking coolant. It leaks a little bit over night, it hasn't really posed any problems - I mean it leaks little by little. I only have to top the fluid ever month and a half to two months.
I hear it could be the water pump or some hoses, but at the rate it's leaking, I think it's just a small hose. I also hear it could be the seep hole. Anyways, any thoughts?
Also: I am pressurizing the system in my car to figure out where the leak is so that I can find out what needs to be repaired and what should be left alone. If it's a hose: any easy ways of fixing the hose without having to take it out and replace it with a new one? (I heard superglue it shut but I'm crazy hesitant).
Also, anyone know of any DIY's here on the forums I can look at incase I need to replace it? And does anyone know where I can get a Bentley manual (the book not DVD's) for my make and model?
Thanks guys!
Matt
I own a 2.7T Audi a6, 2001. Good car, love it! PROBLEM: It's leaking coolant. It leaks a little bit over night, it hasn't really posed any problems - I mean it leaks little by little. I only have to top the fluid ever month and a half to two months.
I hear it could be the water pump or some hoses, but at the rate it's leaking, I think it's just a small hose. I also hear it could be the seep hole. Anyways, any thoughts?
Also: I am pressurizing the system in my car to figure out where the leak is so that I can find out what needs to be repaired and what should be left alone. If it's a hose: any easy ways of fixing the hose without having to take it out and replace it with a new one? (I heard superglue it shut but I'm crazy hesitant).
Also, anyone know of any DIY's here on the forums I can look at incase I need to replace it? And does anyone know where I can get a Bentley manual (the book not DVD's) for my make and model?
Thanks guys!
Matt
Tech Guru
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 8,010
Likes: 192
From: Olney, MD
Have you dropped the belly pan and/or which side is it leaking on?
Could be many things, among them a cracked expansion tank. Those things go about every 5-8 years...I've gone through two of them after the OEM on our 2K4.2A6.
Could be many things, among them a cracked expansion tank. Those things go about every 5-8 years...I've gone through two of them after the OEM on our 2K4.2A6.
AudiWorld Super User
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,697
Likes: 8
From: NE Ohio
Your best resource is yourself if you can be ......
.....resourceful.
For general info on coolant system repairs you can check the top of the page in the Resource tab under "Tech Articals" first.
Or, STF "Search the Forums.
Or, jack the car up with a floorjack securing with jack stands to remove the pan to look for wet spots or drips if you can't see any at the top of the engine including the plastic tank that can have cracks, could be anything but you won't know until you look and a good suggestion would be to do it when its at operating temp and already at design pressure.
Crazy glue? Not going to work here, I know Stevie Ray Vaughan used that stuff to glue his calluses back on that "Golden" fret hand he had.
For general info on coolant system repairs you can check the top of the page in the Resource tab under "Tech Articals" first.
Or, STF "Search the Forums.
Or, jack the car up with a floorjack securing with jack stands to remove the pan to look for wet spots or drips if you can't see any at the top of the engine including the plastic tank that can have cracks, could be anything but you won't know until you look and a good suggestion would be to do it when its at operating temp and already at design pressure.
Crazy glue? Not going to work here, I know Stevie Ray Vaughan used that stuff to glue his calluses back on that "Golden" fret hand he had.
AudiWorld Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 368
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore, Maryland
. Shouldn't be to hard to track down... obvious probs already mentioned. If it is the after run coolant pump, dried coolant tracks down the bell housing.
. If its a coolant sensor, again, dried coolant, looks like pinkish white residue around o-rings will be evident.
. Also, when was your t-belt service last done? I had an '00 2.7 A6 with under 50k since the last t-belt service, but an aftermarket water pump was used and was leaking down the front of the engine.
. If your belly pan is still installed, you'll never figure out where it's leaking if it is from the front engine coolant hoses.
. I've seen the coolant lines from the engine oil cooler on 2.7s fail, all the while your looking for leaks up top, under the intake by the after run pump.
. Another thing to check is the oil. Is it milky? Your engine oil to coolant pancake cooler may have failed. Many have pulled both heads to replace head gaskets because of coolant in the oil, when all along it was a fail pancake cooler(under oil filter).
. My last low coolant problem was one of the sensors up by the firewall. Replacing the o-ring fixed it. Almost no coolant has been lost on that car since. About 8 months, now.
. If its a coolant sensor, again, dried coolant, looks like pinkish white residue around o-rings will be evident.
. Also, when was your t-belt service last done? I had an '00 2.7 A6 with under 50k since the last t-belt service, but an aftermarket water pump was used and was leaking down the front of the engine.
. If your belly pan is still installed, you'll never figure out where it's leaking if it is from the front engine coolant hoses.
. I've seen the coolant lines from the engine oil cooler on 2.7s fail, all the while your looking for leaks up top, under the intake by the after run pump.
. Another thing to check is the oil. Is it milky? Your engine oil to coolant pancake cooler may have failed. Many have pulled both heads to replace head gaskets because of coolant in the oil, when all along it was a fail pancake cooler(under oil filter).
. My last low coolant problem was one of the sensors up by the firewall. Replacing the o-ring fixed it. Almost no coolant has been lost on that car since. About 8 months, now.
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