Polo gti 2015 1.8 litre

[palethorpe00]

Hello guys,
I was wondering if anyone can assist me with the problem I’m having.

I noticed my coolant light kept coming on more and more often in the past 4-5 months, everytime I refilled and didn’t think much of it but recently it’s been occurring a lot more.
I recently decided to take it into a garage I’ve never came across before expecting to be told my car has got a minor leak which is easy to fix, the mechanic didn’t have a working pressure tester so he went straight onto a “sniff test” which the liquid used clearly changed colour and he advised id need a head gasket replacement due to exhaust emissions being in my coolant.
My cars performance hasn’t changed, and the temperature hasn’t changed from the usual temp (90). I’ve checked the oil cap for the bad signs but nothing has occurred which is out of the ordinary.
Any ideas on what I could do before I commit to paying big money to replace the head gasket?

Cheers

 

[palethorpe00]

Also with the car being not that old I’m shocked that this could be the potential issue, as every garage I’ve rang up and spoke to has said this isn’t common with these cars.

 

[palethorpe00]

Welcome to the forum.

If you have a gen 3 ea888 (which I believe you do) headgasket failure is very rare unless the car has been overheated several times.
What is very common on this engines is a coolant pump or thermostat housing leak. Lots of them leak. There has been several revisions. Its not easiest job as you have to remove intake to do it. My wife's TSI which is nearly excat same engine has a slow leak too.
I've been too busy and leak is so slow (I top it up once every 5 months), I feel it isn't worth my time

I'd walk away from that garage pronto, it sounds like they are taking you for a ride.
Google mk7 coolant pump/thermostat housing

hello mate, thanks for taking your time to reply.
I’m going to take it in for a second opinion as I’m adamant it’s not the head gasket. The guy did a sniff test and I watched the liquid change colour which does indicate exhaust emmisoons in my coolant which is a known for a head gasket failure.
But the bizarre thing is I do not have any over heating problems or performance issues, the coolant lights not came on for 3,4 days now but it was coming on most times I drove it a few weeks back so it is losing coolant from somewhere with no noticeable leaks.