Coolant leak

hwork1

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Location
OKC, OK
TDI
2002 Bug TDI, 2006 Jetta TDI, 2013 Touareg TDI, 2001 Cummins, 2006 Cummins, 2013 f250, 2015 Duramax, 2018 f250
I have a 2013 Touareg TDI that I continue to have issues with a coolant leak in the internal V of the engine. The dealership claimed that it was an oil coooler. Over the weekend I changed it and had one day of no leaks. After that same leak, same amount. It’s acting like it’s a pop off as it will not use any more fluid after it “bleeds off”. Only happens after you let it sit. Question is, is there anyway that deleting the EGR and removing that much total coolant volume I have inadvertently affected the Max full level? The interesting thing is the car only leaks once it’s not running. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am pulling my hair out as I love this car.

Notes:
Issues did not start till after delete
If you just let the coolant light come on it does not seem to leak anymore
All coolant stays in the V of the engine
Very small amount of coolant actually leaking (cup over a month)
 

hwork1

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Location
OKC, OK
TDI
2002 Bug TDI, 2006 Jetta TDI, 2013 Touareg TDI, 2001 Cummins, 2006 Cummins, 2013 f250, 2015 Duramax, 2018 f250
Only thing I have discovered is it only leaks when you kill it. If you just run it low it stops, it’s like the pressure is too high if you fill it, my thought is it’s due to deleting the egr and messing with the total volume in the system.
 

hwork1

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Location
OKC, OK
TDI
2002 Bug TDI, 2006 Jetta TDI, 2013 Touareg TDI, 2001 Cummins, 2006 Cummins, 2013 f250, 2015 Duramax, 2018 f250
I took to dealership and they said it was oil cooler and water pump. I changed both myself and still have the leak. Just running it low with the light on these days. IDK
 

bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
Did you ever get this resolved? I'm having the same leak and the dealership is telling me it's the oil cooler, as well. I'm still under the original 100K powertrain warranty and within the extended emissions warranty but they're saying that my vehicle does not have a 100K powertrain warranty and that this isn't covered under the extended warranty.

Any advice?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Depending on build date, engine code, etc. I think there is an updated oil filter/thermostat housing and oil cooler housing assembly.

Suffix K to P.
 
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bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
Dealer called me back and was able to confirm it is currently under warranty and the repair is covered by that powertrain warranty.
 
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bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
This is turning into a nightmare. The dealership simply replaced the o-rings, didn't do any of the checking I explained to them or even bothered reading the thread I sent to the Service Manager. In fact, they replace the oil cooler but didn't change or even fill the oil and now my oil is low.

Next closest dealer is over 100 miles away. I'm taking it in tomorrow and calling the Regional Manager back and just laying it all out there. I already explained the entire situation to him and he kept saying all the "opportunities" (for training) but when I called back for an appointment and they wouldn't even pick up the phone I said listen you call them I can't deal with this anymore and he called me back at the end of the day and said ok I can't get through to them either. Big run-on sentence because I'm steamed right now, but the gist is the Regional Manager can see the blatant incompetence now right in front of him but can't say anything to me about that. I'm hoping he'll approve a rental for us to drive it a couple hours away and drop it off somewhere that will do the work correctly. This happening at the same time the total loss is really frustrating.

I can't believe these guys drained my oil and didn't fill it. They can see it doesn't have a dipstick but probably didn't realize I can see what they did from the screen inside :O
 

bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
It started leaking again and now they are claiming it's due to this cover https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-volkswagen-audi-parts/cover/059103525f/ and that it's not covered under warranty.

I don't see how that cover would be the *cause* of the leak and, even if it was, it seems to me it'd be connected to the earlier oil cooler leak they worked on.

VWoA is claiming they have to stand behind the dealership's diagnosis.
 

Savageman69

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Location
ontario
TDI
2012 Highline Touareg TDI
word of advice if anyone has a egr cooler leak beware...the 2009-2012 engine had 2 egr coolers...my one cracked and hydro locked the engine..broke 1 rod and bent 1 rod
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Boy that looks like it'd be fun to change. I think that is bolted behind the front sealing flange assembly, which is then in turn bolted to the front of the engine block, so that part is sandwiched between the two.

Going to be like the V8's oil cooler. Step 1: remove engine.

 
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bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
wow, well then I guess I better cough up the $600 they're quoting me :O

Put in that light, it doesn't seem unreasonable.
 

Sn0wball04TDI

New member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Location
Portland, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS TDI 5-Speed Manual
I'm having all these issues with my 13 Touareg TDI as well. First dealer visit replaced both egr cooler and water pump. Second visit replaced water pump. Now seems to be going through coolant quicker. No drips on ground ever. Always smell coolant when car is warm, inside and outside. Fighting with dealership. Seems like they're just throwing parts at it without fully diagnosing.

Also notice white smoke clouds coming out of tailpipe intermittently under certain driving parameters.. Related?
 

Savageman69

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Location
ontario
TDI
2012 Highline Touareg TDI
I'm having all these issues with my 13 Touareg TDI as well. First dealer visit replaced both egr cooler and water pump. Second visit replaced water pump. Now seems to be going through coolant quicker. No drips on ground ever. Always smell coolant when car is warm, inside and outside. Fighting with dealership. Seems like they're just throwing parts at it without fully diagnosing.

Also notice white smoke clouds coming out of tailpipe intermittently under certain driving parameters.. Related?
That is not good at all...this is what mine did when the egr cooler cracked....one morning i hit the start button and the block was full....bang broken and bent rods. I would be working on getting this sorted fast
 

bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
Mine is still at the dealership. The $600 dollar quote magically increased to $1850 when VWoA offered to Goodwill 70% of it...leaving me with $550 dollars. Part of which includes the oil filter housing, which is covered under the powertrain warranty. VWoA claims the dealership is following "Repair Guidelines" by refusing to honor the warranty due to "incidental damage." I was directed to read the repair order, which merely states the cover is being replaced "in case" it has warped from heat and mileage. Heat and mileage would be covered under "wear and tear" in the powertrain warranty...

...I copied everything and sent it over to the Class Action Attorneys and letting them deal with this headache. Vehicle has been in the shop for two months now.
 

2MQ

New member
Joined
Mar 22, 2021
Location
Halifax
TDI
2013 Touareg TDI (~200,000 km)
I'm having all these issues with my 13 Touareg TDI as well. First dealer visit replaced both egr cooler and water pump. Second visit replaced water pump. Now seems to be going through coolant quicker. No drips on ground ever. Always smell coolant when car is warm, inside and outside. Fighting with dealership. Seems like they're just throwing parts at it without fully diagnosing.

Also notice white smoke clouds coming out of tailpipe intermittently under certain driving parameters.. Related?
I've also got a 2013 Touareg TDI...replaced the oil cooler, oil pump, EGR cooler...still continues to leak. I also get clouds of white smoke under load, I'm told it's the AdBlue since the diesel 'fix'.

Did you ever sort this out? What ultimately was leaking?
 

Kravt

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2018
Location
Dayton, OH
TDI
2005 Passat
I just fixed my leaking issues a few months ago. 2013 Toureg engine CRNB. Went through the typical dealer diagnosis, they replaced oil cooler and of course it still leaked. Had a couple inches of coolant in the “v”. I read around on the Touareg specific sites and found that there is a coolant valve and flange between the HPFP and the oil cooler that is a known leak spot, though the dealer hardly ever acknowledges or replaces it. Look at post #36.


Worst part is the piece is less than 100$ iirc. There are many, many people who have had similar issues and this is apparently the fix in many of those instances. Hard to believe the dealers haven’t figured it out.

I dug into the engine “v” myself and replaced literally everything that could leak, just to be sure: egr seals, oil cooler seals, oil cooler mount/platform seals (additional piece under the oil cooler), and the flange/valve assembly/seals. I ended up replacing the egr as well, as I found water in the air intake (front) side after letting it sit under pressure overnight. Highly recommend you test this as well if you’re going that deep.

It’s been nearly 10k miles since and I haven’t had any coolant loss, though I can still smell the coolant crud burning off from within the v. It’s a mess down there, really difficult and time consuming to get clean. Expect this to be a multi day process, expensive if you take to the stealership.
 
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Airstream

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2011
Location
Asheville, NC
TDI
2000 Jetta; 2010 JSW
Oh man I am running into similar issues myself. About a year ago I had a coolant leak and CEL and the dealership said EGR coolant leak and it was covered under Dieselgate, now I have another coolant leak and they are saying its the oil cooler...not covered of course.

I am starting to think I need to get in there myself, but I don't really have the time. Any good tutorials on actually getting into the V and looking at this stuff directly?
 

Airstream

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2011
Location
Asheville, NC
TDI
2000 Jetta; 2010 JSW
Oil cooler leak should be covered under dieselgate.
I talked to VW customer care and asked them to escalate it. Claimed they double checked with the warranty team and confirmed it is not. I would love if I had some proof to prove them wrong though!
 

bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
Looking back it seems it was covered under the original powertrain. But it wasn't really covered, it was a huge PITA. My Touareg still eats oil now while it didn't before. Better off not having a warranty, imo. At least you can get it fixed by someone or yourself correctly.
 

Kravt

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2018
Location
Dayton, OH
TDI
2005 Passat
I agree, better if you or a good independent do the work.

That line they give you about it “being the oil cooler” is total bs without proof of fluid contamination. It’s just the main coolant component in that area that isn’t covered by the diesel gate warranty.

As for getting a look in there, I think it would be very difficult to find the leak without removing quite a bit of stuff. You could probably verify that there is in fact coolant down there, but other than that, doubtful you could find the leak source… However, checking this is still potentially helpful because if you don’t find any coolant or residue down in the V, that would point you towards internal coolant loss (egr, oil cooler), or external coolant loss outside the V (water pump, etc)
 

Airstream

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2011
Location
Asheville, NC
TDI
2000 Jetta; 2010 JSW
Agreed, they still have the car so I can't look at it now. Any guides to disassembly of the V?

I agree though, they knew the oil cooler wasn't covered, and they are crazy busy; so they probably didn't want the warranty money since its less. If I take it to an independent and they confirm its EGR or something covered I should get reimbursed right?
 

Kravt

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2018
Location
Dayton, OH
TDI
2005 Passat
I used a friends Elsa-win manual to guide me through it. If you’re pretty handy (and careful) you could probably do it without. No other guides that I know of.

I have never pursued the reimbursement route, there may be others that can chime in on that.
 

bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
VWoA claims only "their" independent technicians can diagnose a warrantable repair. They are "independent" only in so far as it's convenient. If you raise the issue of independence, as you have here, they no longer are independent and instead wholly subsidiaries of VWoA. If you want to file a complaint with how VWoA or the technicians are handling the case, however, they become wholly independent again.

You haven't even gotten to the best part, yet, where they'll claim any otherwise warrantable repairs are incidental damage from a non-warrantable repair. I'm still debating on taking my local dealer to small claims for that tidbit that you can scroll up and read about. It's principle before money on that one--not sure I want to slog my way back to the desert for that one.
 

TurboABA

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Joined
Jul 24, 2010
Location
Kitchener, ON
TDI
RIP-2010 Jetta 6spd 2014 Touareg Execline
A lot of it will boil down to your ability to argue for warranty coverage (either powertrain and\or dieselgate).
The majority of the people you deal with (advisors, sales guys, service managers, etc.) aren't very well versed in what's covered, and in order to ensure that they don't end up on the hook for repairs, they just "claim" that it's not a warranty item.

Read the documentation carefully and make every possible effort to explain to whoever you're dealing with why it is covered, etc.
 

mz1

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2009
Location
San Antonio,TX
TDI
2011 GTD Stage III / 2015 Touareg TDI LUX Stage II
Are the newer models ( 2015 and 2016) not exempt from this problem? are the A6 TDI which have the same engines for sure have the same issues? If anyone here can shed some light on my questions would be appreciated.
 
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Capt.Aidan

Active member
Joined
Nov 21, 2021
Location
Greater Toronto Area
TDI
2015 Touareg 3.0 TDI Exec
Are the newer models ( 2015 and 2016) not exempt from this problem? are the A6 TDI which have the same engines for sure have the same issues? If anyone here can shed some light on my questions would be appreciated.
I had the oil cooler leak on my 15 Touareg at around 190k kms. Had it replaced at the dealership. After taking it to an independent VW specialist I was told I'm still leaking small amounts coolant into the V, and that VW dealerships rarely ever replace the valve/flange (I forget exactly what it's related to) that is buried behind the oil cooler when doing the replacement, resulting in coolant leaking into the V.

In my case after multiple services where my mechanic has checked what has leaked into the V, I am no longer leaking oil after the cooler replacement, just small amounts of coolant, and mostly during the winter.
 
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mz1

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2009
Location
San Antonio,TX
TDI
2011 GTD Stage III / 2015 Touareg TDI LUX Stage II
I had the oil cooler leak on my 15 Touareg at around 190k kms. Had it replaced at the dealership. After taking it to an independent VW specialist I was told I'm still leaking small amounts coolant into the V, and that VW dealerships rarely ever replace the valve/flange (I forget exactly what it's related to) that is buried behind the oil cooler when doing the replacement, resulting in coolant leaking into the V.

In my case after multiple services where my mechanic has checked what has leaked into the V, I am no longer leaking oil after the cooler replacement, just small amounts of coolant, and mostly during the winter.
so the secret of a good repair is to do the oil cooler plus the flange underneath since you are already there correct? Mine is out of warranty so even if I have to pay I will make sure to do it the right way.....mine its at 98k miles and no leaks at all so far, not even oil leaks, the previous owner took care of that under warranty. Keeping an eye on coolant levels like a hawk....
 

jrm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
Watching this thread as im shopping for used T'reg's and Q7's all have this CNRB engine. With diesel being over a dolor more per gallon I mite commit a tdi club felony and look at VR6's
 
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