Having to Add Coolant to Reservoir

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drseth

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 15, 2014
Location
Moon, VA
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI Automatic
Hi,

The past couple of weeks, my 2002 Jetta automatic (240,000 Miles) has had the low coolant light come on. I have added about a pint and a half in the reservoir. No coolant in oil, and do not see any leaks or air bubbles while idling.

Head gasket starting to leak, perhaps? If someone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it.

Seth Anderson
Moon, VA

2002 Jetta TDI Automatic
 
Tdijarhead

Tdijarhead

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Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
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2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Coolant flange on the side of the head over top of your transmission. Water pump O ring, usually results in drips of water on the bottom of your timing belt cover behind the flywheel pulley. Two common areas.
 
R

RexNICO

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Sep 17, 2013
Location
South West OH
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2011 Tiguan, 2011 Q7
Tdijarhead said:
Coolant flange on the side of the head over top of your transmission. ...
Click to expand...
This would be the first place I'd suggest looking, especially if yours has the original plastic flange. Could just be the O-ring that sits between the flange and the head, but I'd probably replace the flange and O-ring just to make sure the flange hasn't developed a leak.

You may see signs of the slow "weeping" on top of the transmission itself.
 
UhOh

UhOh

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Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
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2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
EGR cooler is another possibility.
 
K

KyleMillione

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Jan 27, 2017
Location
Yaphank, New York
TDI
02 Jetta, 03 Jetta
Also check for a hole in the tranny cooler. The harness bracket next to mine rubbed a hole in the side of it. I swore the outlet was leaking and changed the gasket twice (2nd time with more silicone:) ). It was the cooler. Evidence of both is antifreeze on the back of the tranny pooled in the ridges.
 
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C

csstevej

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Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
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2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
I just replaced the coolant temp sensor oring due to leakage, would only leak when engine was stone cold .
 
hughesjasonk

hughesjasonk

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Nov 8, 2013
Location
New York
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2002 Jetta MK4;
it's probably just the weather. if it's a HG leak you should be able to test the coolant for exhaust. I would pull the engine cover and just check the usual suspects before you start freaking out.
 
B

belome

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Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
Mid MI
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2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
I spent a better part of two months trying to track down my leak. It was in fact the head gasket, which was confirmed by the exhaust fumes in coolant test. Never once saw any coolant in the oil. It was puffing some white smoke at the end though when it got bad enough.
 
AndyBees

AndyBees

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Southeast Kentucky
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Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
O-ring on the Coolant Flange at the Thermo-stat was where I found a leak on mine years ago...... dribbled coolant right down the front of the engine behind the ALT & AC compressor.

If possible, a look up from underneath may help find the leak. Also, you could remove the bottom cover and allow the engine to idle to see if and where it might drip!
 
K

KCTDI

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Kingdom City, Missouri
TDI
2014 Touareg
RexNICO said:
This would be the first place I'd suggest looking, especially if yours has the original plastic flange. Could just be the O-ring that sits between the flange and the head, but I'd probably replace the flange and O-ring just to make sure the flange hasn't developed a leak.

You may see signs of the slow "weeping" on top of the transmission itself.
Click to expand...
Another area prone to leak is that little short piece of hose attached to the cylinder head just to the rear of the flange RexNICO speaks of.
 
M

maxmoo

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Lakefield, Ontario, Canada
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2000 golf, 2001 golf, 2000 beetle, 2003 wagon, 2004 golf, 2004 jetta, all diesels
....or the water pump could be starting to leak.
Get thee undrneath and look for pink trails/drops.
 
V

vwdsmguy

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Joined
Jul 5, 2004
Location
Syracuse, NY
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2002 Golf black 5-spd
coolant

I had a leak so I loosened the reservior cap to eliminate pressure in the system. No problems or leak since.
 
D

Duke_962

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Jul 16, 2017
Location
Northern new jersey
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2003 jetta 5spd
Don't forget the heater core. Fittings in engine bay and the lower p/s dash by the center console. Could be a longshot but worth a few mins to look.
 
UhOh

UhOh

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2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
If there's an external leak can't that be readily spotted by using a coolant pressure tester?

Could also use a pressure tester to, perhaps, tell whether there's coolant going internal. (though a head gasket issue might not show itself until the engine is hot/warm and the engine is running)
 
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