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Coolant leak help...

Car was running fine with normal temps on gauges, and no warning lights on. Parked the car inside the garage and started hearing dripping noise as I was cooling down the turbo, popped the hood to see that my whole coolant reserve tank is being emptied. There are 2 separate distinct trails of leak, about 8 inches apart on the floor, one near driver side, right under the oil filter area, with the other leak point under the passenger side.

While there are good amounts of coolant on the floor as a result, I believe is just the amount from the reserve tank, if that's the case, would it explain why no changes to temp gauges or any other warning?

Planning to bring it to the closest independent Audi mechanic for a look, shop is about 10 mins. away, if I refill the tank hoping it won't completely emptied on the way, is it ok to still drive the car over? Assuming no problems with the radiator and that there are still coolant inside. And do I need some special coolant or any general type would do (for just getting to the mechanic of course). Should I fill the tank with 100% coolant or 50/50 with water or can I even get away with just 100% water for my mini-trip down the road?

Car has about 80,000 KM, any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

1999.5 A4 1.8T QTipS Santorin

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Reply to
Quattro
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It could be the same problem I had, 2 seperate leaks, 1st one was the pipe that goes from the header tank to the oil cooler, its about 12" and runs along the front of the car, it rusts out due to stone chips from under the car, it costs nothing to buy but is a nightmare to replace, best thing to do if you dont want to remove the front end, is grind off one of the mouting points on the pipe, and secure it using only 1 instead of 2, this made the job 10 mins instead of 6 hours :).

The other leak I had was from the engine itself, a pipe popped out of the head that is normally pressed fitted in, this has been fixed, and the car is ok now.

hth

Ron

Reply to
Ronny

Thanks for the input guys. Got the car over to the shop without overheating, despite the constant light and beeping of the coolant gauge. Turns out it was a broken plastic clip & rubber ring around the temp. sensor, thus causing coolant to spit out due to incorrect pressure (as I was told). It stopped the leaking for now, going to drive around some more and hopefully not have any signs of further leaking.

Mechanic just put in 100% of that pink coolant, no water mixture, is that ok? I know Audi uses a special type (G12?), thus doesn't mix well with other coolant types, but does it also not need to mix with water like other coolant?

Thanks for all your input.

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Reply to
Quattro

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