Author Topic: IT APPEARS I HAVE BIGGER PROBLEMS THAN A LITTLE FUEL LEAK (Read 8951 times)

Infinitrium · « **on:** July 29, 2007, 08:23:38 pm »

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I was out for a drive earlier, and on the way home I decided to let the car stretch its legs a bit, so to speak. I was only doing around 140 kmh to be honest. I noticed a few times at this speed the temperature gauge climed up, at one point on a tall hill at 125 kmh in 4th at WOT, it went over the 110 celsuis mark but at the time I wasn't worried, the needle went down again when I went back down the hill. I just figured the engine was working really hard and never thought any more about it. About a mile from the offramp to get home I just laid my right foot down to see what the car could do. It got up to about 160 kmh before I had to slow down for the offramp. I came up to the stop sign and saw clouds of what I thought was smoking brakes but I realized it didn't smell like hot brakes. I thought everything was fine up to this point until I pulled away from the stop sign, leaned forward in my seat and saw THE ***ING TEMP WARNING LIGHT FLASHING!!!!! Well that was just great, I had no idea how long it was on for. With the way I have my seat and steering wheel adjusted the light was hidden by the plastic thing behind the steering wheel. I just drove on gently keeping one eye glued on the temp gauge. It (the gauge) eventually fell back to its normal position but the warning light kept flashing. I got home and straight away added some warm water to the coolant bottle with the engine idling. It took nearly 2 liters (2 quarts roughly) to bring the level in the bottle up full. I also noticed the engine sounded like it was idling a bit rough, somewhat like one cylinder partially misfiring. There seems to be a wet area on the back of the engine below the turbo, plus I saw some dripping coolant from under the car from the same area roughly. Great, so what, I probably warped or cracked the head? I'll have to get underneath it tomorrow to see if I can find what piece broke that allowed the coolant to leak out. What a day.....

PS: Sorry for yelling and cursing, I'm a bit frustrated at the moment.

burn_your_money · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2007, 10:31:19 am »

You may have blown the headgasket, the head could still be fine

jtanguay · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2007, 11:29:29 am »

that sucks man

is it a 1.6TD? a 1.9 HG may solve your problem. Hopefully there isn't much damage to your head. Depending on the level of black smoke coming from the rear of your car under full load, you might be okay (little or no smoke = not too high egt's which is what you want)

depending on the amount of cash you can throw at this motor, there is a product that can stop coolant leaks:

www.steelseal.com

bevboyy · « **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2007, 11:51:02 am »

That stuff is just a band aid solution. Will also affect your water pump which not good. Sounds like the HG was on it's way out based on the previous post the original poster made. Do the job right once. Take the head off, bring it to a shop and have it checked for trueness. Then install a new head gasket, new studs, and refill your coolant. You will most likely have to drop the oil pan and clean any coolant in the pan as coolant will make your bottom end bearings mush...

saurkraut · « **Reply #4 on:** July 30, 2007, 01:33:48 pm »

"I was out running the beejeepers out of my car. The temp gauge went up higer than I've ever seen it go befor. So I ragged on it some more till it blew....." :roll:

Vincent Waldon · « **Reply #5 on:** July 30, 2007, 02:44:36 pm »

The light could have come on because of low coolant, and it will stay on until the ignition is shut off.. it latches.

The engine temp gauge may have returned to "normal" because it was dry... no coolant circulating.

Most likely a hole in the head gasket, but could also be a frost plug or block heater letting go... look at the back of the engine from under the car... maybe you got lucky.

Infinitrium · « **Reply #6 on:** July 30, 2007, 05:36:22 pm »

Quote from: "Vincent Waldon"

The light could have come on because of low coolant, and it will stay on until the ignition is shut off.. it latches.

The engine temp gauge may have returned to "normal" because it was dry... no coolant circulating.

Most likely a hole in the head gasket, but could also be a frost plug or block heater letting go... look at the back of the engine from under the car... maybe you got lucky.

My brother looked at it today, he said to him it looks like its leaking from around a bolt near a rail or something underneath the turbo. I'll have to give it a closer look tomorrow. Any guesses?

burn_your_money · « **Reply #7 on:** July 30, 2007, 05:51:27 pm »

the only thing that looks like a "rail" is the headgasket, but "rail" isn't exactly a technical term so it could still be alot of things

Vincent Waldon · « **Reply #8 on:** July 30, 2007, 07:40:53 pm »

Unless "rail" means a manifold... below that is the head gasket.... and then the frost plugs/block heater.

I got lucky with it being the block heater exactly once.

Vince

bvolks73 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 31, 2007, 07:49:14 am »

Quote

I got lucky with it being the block heater exactly once.

I bought the motor that's in my car now for $150 assuming it needed a head gasket because the PO said it was using a lot of coolant and he couldn't figure out where it was going. Pulled the motor and when I took the manifolds off noticed the block heater was really loose. Figured I had nothing to lose by trying it and got 5 years out of it without losing a drop of antifreeze until I overheated it this winter and really blew the headgasket.

Infinitrium · « **Reply #10 on:** July 31, 2007, 06:17:34 pm »

I checked it again today and found something. The leak appears to be coming from some kind of tube, I saw coolant spraying from it. It doesn't seem to spray all the time though. Anyone know what that tube is?

burn_your_money · « **Reply #11 on:** July 31, 2007, 07:25:40 pm »

Where is the tube? on the back of the engine?

Infinitrium · « **Reply #12 on:** July 31, 2007, 07:27:23 pm »

Yeah, back of the motor, below the turbo. Coolant distribution pipe?

burn_your_money · « **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2007, 08:07:10 pm »

is it directly behind the engine or to the side? I don't recall there being any coolant pipes back there, maybe a picture to clarify?

Vincent Waldon · « **Reply #14 on:** July 31, 2007, 08:42:47 pm »

No tubes back there on any A1/A2 Ive ever seen. Frost plugs and potentially a block heater, who's cord I suppose could look like a tube, given enough dirty oil and grease ??