Altea XL Coolant Leak

[cosmichamster]

Hi folks,

Having a bit of a nightmare that's starting to do my head in now with my wife's Altea XL.

It's a 2007 1.9 TDI Altea XL which is losing coolant. We bought it around February with 80,000 on the clock and one previous owner.

Dealer had changed the belt but not water pump. The temperature flew up about 4 days after getting it and hardly any coolant left.

Had the water pump changed and going great for a few months, however temp light came on again, temp was fine but coolant level was below the min. I topped it up and seemed ok after a few days driving. No pink flakes or oil issue/white smoke, but was still worried it was leaking somewhere.

Then about 2 weeks ago it started losing the coolant quite regularly and I'm topping it up nearly every other day. I can see a run of water from beneath it, but don't know if it's from the coolant bottle or a connection/pipe beneath it. It seems to be ok'ish when driving but straight after you park up after driving it'll go then. As mentioned the belt and water pump have both been changed, I'm just dreading it's the head going but thought there would have been other indicators for this.

2 mechanic have looked at it and haven't found any issue but there's clearly a problem if the coolants disappearing.

I did try K-Seal but that didn't help either!

Any ideas welcomed?? Had read about pressure testing or diagnostics to see if they throw up anything?

Cheers

 

[Viking]

Try and get someone to do a coolant sniff test. If there's exhaust gas in the coolant then the head gasket is probably goosed.

Or replace the header bottle and cap, see if that cures it (not too much money from main dealers, about £15 or so).

 

[cosmichamster]

Thanks Viking, going to try the expansion tank and cap as suggested. Unbolted it yesterday and am thinking it might have a small leak at the bottom, may as well try it first.

Would the coolant need to be completely drained from the car or would it be a case of loosing some while I put the new one on? Wasn't to sure how to drain it all, I assume there's a plug/drain below the radiator.

Thanks

 

[cosmichamster]

Forgot to ask, there's a couple of clamp type clip holding 2 hoses in place, I don't want to try and prise them off if they won't come, any idea if they do just pop off or need new ones?

 

[cosmichamster]

Well that's the expansion tank and cap replaced.....thankfully a 5 minute job. Will keep an eye on it over the next few days and see!