Hellish coolant leak

That sucks man. Sorry.

Yup, most of the time we get to dance with the one we brung.

That said Chris: it might be helpful for you to write down a shopping list of all the money you currently know you are going to HAVE to spend on your current car, just to get it running and safe, legal, and reliable.

For this specific job for example you'll need to budget for new manifold bolts, manifold gasket, downpipe gasket, downpipe nuts, and a turbo return oil line, as the current one will almost certainly twist off in pieces. Labour to remove the old plug, install the new one (if it fights you too much). Proper coolant at the right ratio.

If your master Project Shopping List for this and all the other things the car really needs becomes your sunk cost... you're going to HAVE to sink that cash into this particular car to get it back on the road... is it a big enough pile already that finding a different vehicle that's already running is the same $$$... and maybe faster to get you going... and with less skinned knuckles/salty language?

The bad news is that rusted frost plugs (again, if that's what this is) are a classic omen of an engine and vehicle at the very tail end of its lifecycle. By the time the plugs are leaking a million other things are knackered as well, and a very expensive and frustrating game of whack-a-mole is *always* the end result. All that oil at the back of the engine is another sign that expensive engine things are about to happen, and your other threads have documented the body rust that's spreading.

Can't comment on the math 'cause it depends on what used cars go for in your neighbourhood, but for me anything more than a grand or two of repairs and she's getting a free tow to the Kidney Foundation as scrap steel Sad, but the math don't lie.

Yeah, guesstimate your cost for this job, then with all the oil in the pics, not sure if it's a line or turbo itself. I'd hate to see you sink money in it to fix the frost plug( or whatever) and have something more $$$$ crap out shortly afterwards.....

Chris_TDI_98 said:

I have no choice, I have no other car, I can’t afford buying another car right now, I must learn how to remove the downpipe and turbo and any other parts in the way by referring to guides and kind advice and even actual in-real-life mechanical help from TDIclub forum members.

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That sucks, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. If you were anywhere close I would try and help you out.

The downpipe is secured with four nuts, once that's down and out of the way the turbo has to be removed and that's a triangle flange with three bolts / nuts.

Working up in there in this weather is not going to be easy or fun, I hope you can get it done.

Steve

Step 1 is still to determine what is actually leaking. It might be a relatively easy fix still.

Agreed... Get under the car and see what’s leaking.

Based on the color of your coolant, from another thread, I’d expect something else to start leaking soon. Even if you fix it, you’re on borrowed time.

-Todd

burn_your_money said:

Step 1 is still to determine what is actually leaking. It might be a relatively easy fix still.

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ToddA1 said:

Agreed... Get under the car and see what’s leaking.

Based on the color of your coolant, from another thread, I’d expect something else to start leaking soon. Even if you fix it, you’re on borrowed time.

-Todd

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Both the above are true, you still need to find out for certain if it's the frost plug and even if you do locate it the probability is pretty high that all frost plugs are at about this same condition.

Fixing the leaker might get you six months but then the next one happens etc. Best to deal with all at the same time if you can, but there are some I think you cannot get to with the flywheel installed etc. I could be wrong though, haven't looked at one outside the car for a while.

You need to find some indoor space to repair it or find a shop that can tackle this work.

Steve

Agreed, I need to get the car indoors get eyes and camera on the source of the leak and then plan very carefully while weighing costs and benefits of each step.
While researching freeze plugs I watched this video:
https://youtu.be/IOpm6WpVavk
the block in the video has ten count em ten freeze plugs or core plugs as the machinist says, they’re replacing them because they’re making the car into a sleeper so it’ll have higher boost psi since they’re adding a hidden turbo to a stock 70s street sedan.

I’m very encouraged by this post from 2008:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=1976969&postcount=4
Looks like Drvbiwire from idaho, WITH THE ENGINE IN AND NO PARTS REMOVED NOT THE DOWNPIPE NOT THE DRIVE SHAFT NOT THE TURBO, was able to successfully remove a faulty freeze plug from a 1z ahu by using an air chisel in ONE HOUR and under the same conditions install the block heater where the old freeze plug was.

Is there only 3 freeze plugs total on the 1Z AHU?
Or is there a lot more, that YouTube engine has 10, located on what looks like all four sides of the block.
Plus, vw sells about 4-5 sizes of freeze plug:
https://m.eeuroparts.com/Cars/Volks...iesel/?search=freeze+plug&_action=AllVehicles
Would be nice to have a map showing all 4 sides of the engine with sizes for each freeze plug hole, to have an idea where to check for all the core plug holes while up under there.

There are only three in the coolant gallery, per the picture. The fourth one is much smaller and seals the oil gallery... not your issue.

An air chisel is a great way to get 'em out but they are bulky and you have to have access. The one that seems to be leaking is right behind the turbo... dunno. The thread you've linked to doesn't make it very clear which one he's talking about bur the full thread is about installing a block heater and the driver's side one is the usual target for block heater installation. It *is* accessible to an air chisel without removing anything.

With all due respect it seems to me you'd really be best served by confirming where the leak is, once and for all, before spending more time pondering what-ifs.

I'm trying to make a plan of how to stick a cell phone camera in view of the expected blown out freeze plug (behind the turbo... the center freeze plug?).

1. Do I come up from the under of the car with the cell phone, snaked past the subframe?
2. Do I come from above, to best see the center freeze plug?
3. Do I come in from one of the sides?
4. Is there a picture of the 1Z engine, firewall side, with all components installed (turbo, EGR, intake manifold, exhaust manifold), to show us what's in the way and what it's shaped like, how much room there is between each part?

Any idea what size is these mk3 TDI freeze plugs?
Eleven available sizes from Advance Auto are:
1 1/8 inches
1 1/4
1 3/8
1 1/2
1 9/16
1 5/8
1 3/4
1 7/8
2
2 1/8
2 1/4

Do you care whether you drench your cell phone with coolant / water?

I would assume at this point that your leak is the bad frost plug and dig in to it.

The far left frost plug is visible from below and somewhat accessible, the center and right side frost plugs are blocked by the exhaust and turbo charger.

You're going to have to pull the charger and exhaust to get to these. If one is bad then I would bet the others are approaching failure too.

Steve

Chris_TDI_98 said:

Any idea what size is these mk3 TDI freeze plugs?
Eleven available sizes from Advance Auto are:
1 1/8 inches
1 1/4
1 3/8
1 1/2
1 9/16
1 5/8
1 3/4
1 7/8
2
2 1/8
2 1/4

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They are 36.6 mm. The VW part number is 059 103 113.

Alchemist said:

They are 36.6 mm. The VW part number is 059 103 113.

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OK so looks like halfway between 1 3/8 and 1 1/2.
Which is 1 7/16 = 36.5 mm.
0.1mm larger at 36.6 mm.
Thanks

Chris_TDI_98 said:

I have no choice, I have no other car, I can’t afford buying another car right now, I must learn how to remove the downpipe and turbo and any other parts in the way

Click to expand...

Chris_TDI_98 said:

I'm trying to make a plan of how to stick a cell phone camera in view of the expected blown out freeze plug (behind the turbo... the center freeze plug?).

Click to expand...

These statements are about 1.5 months apart, and no real progress has occurred.... only planning.

No offense, but you seem to have a bad habit of overthinking things, in all of your threads. This job is not that complicated...

ToddA1 said:

Get under the car and see what’s leaking.

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No more planning is needed. The above is step 1. The rest of the steps have already been mentioned, in this thread.

-Todd

And man oh man... given how much work it is to replace the frost plugs I'd sure be inclined to be installing factory OEM (metric) ones, as opposed to generic fractional inch replacements.

It's time to get motivated and start tearing it down. You've obviously found another mode of transportation.

Jetta SS said:

It's time to get motivated and start tearing it down. You've obviously found another mode of transportation.

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Sadly I've actually been driving it but only very short distances 1-4 miles in town and low speed low RPM - weather this week is arctic air, around -5C (20F) with wind. I realize it's risky to overheat but sadly it's my only available choice so I'm extremely cautious to keep the RPM low and cause heat to build up in the engine only minimally. Need weather to be +5-10C (41-50F) so the snow and ice melts before getting on ground and spending time down underneath it getting more pictures and tearing it down. Also exploring mobile mechanic guys maybe one of them could do it for cheap enough I could afford...



Question, Suppose I remove the turbo and then it becomes absolutely necessary to go somewhere with the car. Can the car drive with the turbo off? Obviously it'd be very loud with the exhaust wide open to the air and no back pressure, but apart from the loud exhaust noise, would the car drive?

Uber?

Chris_TDI_98 said:

Question, Suppose I remove the turbo and then it becomes absolutely necessary to go somewhere with the car. Can the car drive with the turbo off? Obviously it'd be very loud with the exhaust wide open to the air and no back pressure, but apart from the loud exhaust noise, would the car drive?

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You’d have to plug the oil supply to the turbo to even start the car. I occasionally do this to move a car 50 ft or so. It will no doubt go into limp mode.

Chris_TDI_98 said:

Sadly I've actually been driving it but only very short distances 1-4 miles in town and low speed low RPM - weather this week is arctic air, around -5C (20F) with wind.

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In your shoes, I might get creative like maybe packing it with epoxy? Desperate times, desperate measures right?

Last year I fixed a home A/C condenser coil this way... it's holding like 160 psi still going lol.

Jetta SS said:

In your shoes, I might get creative like maybe packing it with epoxy? Desperate times, desperate measures right?

Last year I fixed a home A/C condenser coil this way... it's holding like 160 psi still going lol.

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Thanks for this epoxy tip, you’re right, epoxy’s low cost, and would hold, so it’s a good idea to get back on the road in my situation, as long as I’d carefully apply it. (I’d hate to clumsily dab it on there and get too much epoxy into the freeze plug hole, into the coolant jacket, and it block the flow of coolant.)

I looked around locally on Craigslist and found a mechanic with 15 years experience working at the dealer and 35 yrs total as a mechanic, looking for side work, he’s not asking too much to do the three freeze plugs, so as soon as the car thaws out this afternoon (coolant system is full of water so it’s frozen the temps now are 22F the water pump can’t turn !!), I plan to slowly drive it out to his garage about 25 miles west of hartford down in new haven county.

Don't let that system freeze hard.....You'll have problems with every part of it.

Along the same lines as the epoxy you might try JB Weld as a temporary fix. Since you're having to use coolant this time of the year when you drive it because water will freeze and ruin everything this could at least slow down the loss.

Steve

Since you're having to use coolant this time of the year when you drive it because water will freeze and ruin everything

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Coulda used you yesterday.

as soon as the car thaws out this afternoon (coolant system is full of water so it’s frozen the temps now are 22F the water pump can’t turn !!)

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Good luck. I hope you make out alright.

This thread keeps getting worse....

Cover the hood with a thick blanket, letting it drape to the ground. Drag out an extension cord and space heater. Keep it running...

I’d get it towed to the shop... hopefully you have AAA. I wouldn’t risk driving it, overheating and warping stuff.

-Todd

ToddA1 said:

This thread keeps getting worse....

Cover the hood with a thick blanket, letting it drape to the ground. Drag out an extension cord and space heater. Keep it running...

I’d get it towed to the shop... hopefully you have AAA. I wouldn’t risk driving it, overheating and warping stuff.

-Todd

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Yes and it looks like this weekend is going to be another winner. We aren't getting more snow (fortunately) but the temps tomorrow night and into Sunday are going back down below zero (for lows) and single digits for highs.

Steve

IIRC, his freeze plugs originally broke because the water (i.e., "not-anti-freeze") in his engine iced up in the freezing weather.