BroncoAZ
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2009
- Location
- Flagstaff, AZ
- TDI
- 2015 Touareg Lux, 2015 Passat 6MT, 2009 Jetta (long gone), 2011 Touareg (bought back 02/18)
2015 Passat losing coolant, no visible leaks, update, probably water pump
My wife drove my car from Flagstaff to Tucson on Friday to visit family. She called me this morning and told me the low coolant warning came up on the screen this morning when she started it. The coolant reservoir was empty, and there is no evidence of a leak under the car or on the belly tray that she can see. I had her go get a couple gallons of the proper pink coolant at the parts store. She filled it about 3/4 full and tried squeezing the radiator hose, she got some bubbles in the reservoir. She started the car and it seems fine, the coolant level dropped about 1/4” after running it for a few minutes. She took it for a 15 minute drive, the coolant level dropped another 1/4”. She ran a cloth inside the tailpipe and it is dry. She topped it off to the 3/4 mark and will be heading back to Flagstaff shortly. I instructed her to stop every 50 miles and check the level, topping it off if necessary. Worst case I’ll have her go to the VW dealer in Scottsdale rather than driving all the way home and leave the car there for diag and repair.
The car has about 71,500 miles on it, all dealer serviced with whatever they recommend. The 70K was done at my local dealer on 3/16/2020, with covid and the stay at home I’ve been driving it very little for the past couple months, normally I run 2k per month. There was some major work done around 65K under the 2 year CPO, clutch and dual mass flywheel were replaced, and some bushings. I don’t check the coolant regularly, so I don’t know if it was losing it gradually or all at once.
I did some searching and saw some threads about the intercooler leaking coolant, until I see the car myself I cannot properly diag anything. I’m out of warranty except for dieselgate, not sure if any of this might be covered.
My wife drove my car from Flagstaff to Tucson on Friday to visit family. She called me this morning and told me the low coolant warning came up on the screen this morning when she started it. The coolant reservoir was empty, and there is no evidence of a leak under the car or on the belly tray that she can see. I had her go get a couple gallons of the proper pink coolant at the parts store. She filled it about 3/4 full and tried squeezing the radiator hose, she got some bubbles in the reservoir. She started the car and it seems fine, the coolant level dropped about 1/4” after running it for a few minutes. She took it for a 15 minute drive, the coolant level dropped another 1/4”. She ran a cloth inside the tailpipe and it is dry. She topped it off to the 3/4 mark and will be heading back to Flagstaff shortly. I instructed her to stop every 50 miles and check the level, topping it off if necessary. Worst case I’ll have her go to the VW dealer in Scottsdale rather than driving all the way home and leave the car there for diag and repair.
The car has about 71,500 miles on it, all dealer serviced with whatever they recommend. The 70K was done at my local dealer on 3/16/2020, with covid and the stay at home I’ve been driving it very little for the past couple months, normally I run 2k per month. There was some major work done around 65K under the 2 year CPO, clutch and dual mass flywheel were replaced, and some bushings. I don’t check the coolant regularly, so I don’t know if it was losing it gradually or all at once.
I did some searching and saw some threads about the intercooler leaking coolant, until I see the car myself I cannot properly diag anything. I’m out of warranty except for dieselgate, not sure if any of this might be covered.
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