[DaveNY]

Hey all...3 days ago something tells me to check my fluid levels. My car is always getting hot, almost all the way to 230 deg, so the 3rd speed fan comes on all the time, about every 15 minutes or so. Anyway...the fluid level is about 2 inches below minimum. Damnit. So I fill it back up with water and coolent (green stuff, same stuff car has been running since I got it), all the way to the max line. 2 days later...coolent level below minimum again. It's not dripping out from any hoses or anything that I can see, no puddles in my driveway. It always smells like it's being burnt off...like a sweet burning from under my hood. What the heck is going on?


[Modified by DaveNY, 4:48 PM 12-2-2001]

 

[phatvr6]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

You could have a blown head gasket?

 

[Turn2]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

Check the coolant housing (under the coil pack). That's a popular place for it to leak and burn off. Another place is underneath the tensioner (waterpump).

 

[vwlippy]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

My 95 is doing the same thing. Mine is leaking at the thermostat housing below the coil pack. I just haven't had the time to fix it. I don't think the parts are too expensive, just a pain to fix.

 

[TimM]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

Green stuff...my 96 VW VR6 came with the orange stuff-we bought it new as well. Don't think that is part of your problem but anyway...
Good Luck!

 

[DaveNY]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (TimM)

quote:[HR][/HR]Green stuff...my 96 VW VR6 came with the orange stuff-we bought it new as well. Don't think that is part of your problem but anyway...
Good Luck![HR][/HR]​

Hey tim, thanks for that, um, reply

. Yeah, they all come with the orange, someone switched to green before I bought the car. My mechanic is going to pressurize the system on wednesdat to look for the leak.

 

[vwlippy]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

DaveNY-
I pressure tested my Jetta too, and the pressure held up pretty well. But i did some additional searching and found my leak at the thermostat housing. I think the T-stat must warp when the car is really hot cuz they're plastic.
I just wanted to let you know in case your mechanic says it's holding pressure.

 

[DaveNY]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (vwlippy)

quote:[HR][/HR]DaveNY-
I pressure tested my Jetta too, and the pressure held up pretty well. But i did some additional searching and found my leak at the thermostat housing. I think the T-stat must warp when the car is really hot cuz they're plastic.
I just wanted to let you know in case your mechanic says it's holding pressure.

[HR][/HR]​

Awesome, thanks. I'll pass the info to him. He's gonna be swapping out those sensors anyway cause I'm getting crazy readings on my needle...it'll move to center then suddenly fall all the way back down, it also can't hold the temp at highway speeds.

 

[twilk]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

you could have some air in the system. That would cause the erratic needle readings. Check your coolant resevoir cap too. If the system won't pressurize because of a bad cap you will get air pockets and the fluid will boil over and come out the cap. Of course it will usually do this at a time when you are not able to see it.

 

[VR6guy]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

D you have dried white dribble marks all over your reservoir on the outside? (That sounds rather dirty, no?) I had a similar issue not long ago. I started simple and replaced the reservoir cap ($12 at the dealer) --solved the problem straight away. The original cap LOOKED fine, but for that little money, I decided to try it. I'd do this first.

 

[DaveNY]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (VR6guy)

Actually I do, but I think they were from my last boilover, happened when my mechanic forgot to plug my fan's power cord back in

Hehe.

 

[VR6guy]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

Clean it off and see if they return. If that cap is not sealed properly, the system may not be holding pressure and the coolant is being allowed to boil (it won't boil under the high pressure of a properly functioning system). I'd try a new cap first......
Are you sure your thermostat is working? It might be stuck closed......

 

[Vr6JettaTuner]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (VR6guy)

tell me more about the leak under the thermostat.. i have a leak somewhere and i don't see muddy oil so i don't think its a cracked block or blown head gasket. i just bought a new (97) vr and first thing i notice AFTER i get it home is its leaking small amounts of fluid on the driveway.

 

[Vr6JettaTuner]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (Vr6JettaTuner)

tell me more about the leak under the thermostat.. /QUOTE]
ops i mean the leak under the coilpack.

 

[vr6go]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

I had the same problem a couple of months ago and it ended up being a small leak in my radiator on the upper left side near the core support. Had to pull my bumper off to really see it although the pink crust could be seen when underneath the car.

 

[DaveNY]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (vr6go)

Update:
I went to my mechanic today. He pressurized my system twice. Each time, the needle would fall slowly, over the course of 5 min or so. All in all, we spent 2 hrs searching for any signs of a leak. We couldn't find anything, but you could still smell that "maple-syrup" smell coming from somewhere. It smelled strong near my air intake, bu still no signs of leaking. We checked under the coilpack, the therm housings, nope. We're really at a loss. There was also no smoke coming from the exhaust after running two pressure tests. Please help guys!

 

[DaveNY]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

TTT! I need a reply.

Post # 301!!!

 

[DaveNY]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

ttt

 

[need_a_VR6]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (DaveNY)

Dave, after finally reading all of this thread, here's a bit of my experience to add. My car was dropping coolant mysteriously when I shut the car down and it cooled off. The coolant would only come out about 10-15 mins after shutting the car off. It started as the most minisclue drip, and then would develop into a flood.
Of course, it was almost impossible to track where the coolant was coming from and I took it to a shop. Pressurized leak check found *nothing* which is really odd. While the tech and I were looking at it (car was cooling down) it started to drip *really* slowly from the bottom of the Tstat housing! Bugger even avoided the pressure check!
Eventhough it didn't seem like it was the Tstat housing, it turned out that it was destroyed internally. Yours could be doing the same, but much slower than mine and the coolant could be burning off on the block before it drips down or dries.
Try sticking a mirror right where the shifter weight is and angle it to look at the tstat housing and where it mounts to the block. I know it's almost impossible to see under it, but look around for white/green residue just under where it mates with the block.
You might also want to check the passenger rear corner of the block to see if the coolant is oosing from there. With the smell on that side of the car, you might also have a waterpump that is weeping coolant, so you might want to check that out as well.
Much luck.

 

[Vr6JettaTuner]

Re: How does my coolent disappear? (need_a_VR6)

i am having a problem with my car.. it was running hot and i would have to keep adding antifreeze.. well today on my way home i got stuck in traffic, the car got so hot i had to pull into a parking lot. well it finally struck me when the fan did not come on.. so i have a problem there and the car is getting so hot that the antifreeze is just boiling off and escaping as vapor.
So, now i have to track down a fan problem.. anyone had similar problems?