1.8t Coolant Leak!!

[A4ORMED]

so i was driving the other day and my temp gauge sky rocketed and the coolant light was flashing. opend the coolant container completley empty and smoking. yikes! so ive been trying to figure out wear its leaking from. i wanna say the water pump is leaking but i cant tell for sure . i can only see where its dripping at the bottom front of the engine which is below the water pump . if you guys could help that would be great . thank you.this is a pic of where it is dripping off its the best i got to show.

[bikerbob951]

That looks like a stuck thermostat. When was the last time the water pump or thermostat was changed?

[A4ORMED]

i have no clue. i know the car is due for a tb/wp change which is what i was about to do. and the thermostat i have no idea . i bought the car with 132xxx miles on it and im at 178xxx

[A4ORMED]

just check the thermostat housing and theres no leaking?

[BaconBait]

Check the waterpump.

[A4ORMED]

Check the waterpump.

i did but its hard to see if its leaking cant get a good angle to see underneith

[murdered APR a4]

i would to tb/wp since you were already about to do that and that way it will be easier to verify it, sounds like it is comming from the water pump but can't be positive because of the picture and since you can't really verify it either.

[geeky]

Coolant flange on the back of the head? Its unlikely it was the waterpump because depending on which motor you have AEB/ATW/AWM the waterpump itself (metal flange) does not rotate meaning the gasket between the flange/block or the oring (AWM) doesnt actually rotate or tear to the point that you would dump coolant like that, that quickly. it would slowly leak but you would haven noticed the coolant light earlier then.

My money is either a hose somewhere (brittle/crack) near the bottom of the radiator/fan switch or the flange on the back of the head for the CTS.

[murdered APR a4]

back of cylinder head would leak to the passenger side of tranny....could be the coolant line to the turbo lol idk not much help since can't really see where it is coming from

[A4ORMED]

yeah its hard to tell but we will find out once the front end is off ha. if its not the water pump i hope its a cheap easy fix

[A4ORMED]

Coolant flange on the back of the head? Its unlikely it was the waterpump because depending on which motor you have AEB/ATW/AWM the waterpump itself (metal flange) does not rotate meaning the gasket between the flange/block or the oring (AWM) doesnt actually rotate or tear to the point that you would dump coolant like that, that quickly. it would slowly leak but you would haven noticed the coolant light earlier then.

My money is either a hose somewhere (brittle/crack) near the bottom of the radiator/fan switch or the flange on the back of the head for the CTS.

coolant flange? pics? i have an AWM and it only leaks when the car is running its a steady drip.
?

[walky_talky20]

There isn't much else that will leak coolant directly down the front of the motor other than the water pump on an AWM. I've seen those water pump o-rings leak pretty badly, too. I think it happens more often when the water pump was already replaced and the bore was not cleaned out (the sealing surface is left all crudy and rusty) and the o-ring was not lubed. They just jam the water pump into the rusty hole and bolt it up and then you wonder why it leaks later on. I always take my time to make sure she's nice and clean and lubed so it slips right in. I also give it a little insurance with a second chance layer of RTV sealant behind the o-ring.

[geeky]

ah did not know it was from the front, if its leaking from the front, its either the waterpump as suggested or maybe the top coolant line/clamp.

[A4ORMED]

yeahim going with water pump . ill make sure its nice and clean too so this doesnt happen again anytime soon. thx for the help everyone.

[murdered APR a4]

i would check the upper coolant hose as well just to be sure kind of like a pre-cautionary check

[akaudicq]

I recently had a similar issue with my 04 A4 1.8 where a thermostat housing outlet flange broke off resulting in the engine overheating and pegging the needle. Since I was only a couple of minutes from home I limped it in. I replaced the thermostat housing and upon restart there is coolant coming from behind the timing cover. I'm in the process of tearing into that now hoping it's the water pump. What are my chances that it failed or am I looking at something more serious like a cracked head?

[Turbo_B5]

Buddy make a new thread, don't bump a 4 year old one.

[akaudicq]

Thanks for the tip Partner, but I see no harm in bringing an old post back alive, why re-create the wheel by starting an identical post then getting the same responses that were posted elsewhere. Doing it this way someone can see the history and go from there. If they choose not to respond so be it. Anyway I would like to post what my solution was to this problem in the spirit that it may help someone in the future.

When I pulled the water pump the oring looked pretty cooked, I couldn't tell if it was leaking out the weep hole in the front but my guess that it was leaking there too. Anyway put in a new pump and all is good, no leaks and the engine runs fine, disaster avoided!

[Davdraco1]

Just an FYI, they do make aluminum thermo housing flanges if your don't want the second on to crack.

[akaudicq]

I didn't know that, who sells them?