Has anyone ran into coolant leak out of the back left driver side of the head where block/head meet? I assume I head gaseket let go in that area. It only leaks over night and have not caught an active leak while running yet. But it's enough throughout the week to trip the coolant light. Hopfully head/block isn't cracked and it's just a simple gasket r2.
Potential headgasket leak
- Thread starter AaronB
- Start date
eugene89us
Veteran Member
We are starting to see too much TDI carnage lately. I will check this evening after work. I am noticing some coolant loss as well as some oil consumption, but usually coolant drops from max to min about every 10-20k miles and oil drops from max to min about every 10k miles, in time for an oil change. So far, I find that manageable for a car with 140k miles. My 2018 diesel is almost 110k, oil thankfully staying put, but coolant started to do same as TDI. I have a recall pending on that for EGR cooler, I am suspecting it started a slow leak, may have to entrust my car again to an incompetent dealership.....
Fortunately mine is fully deleted and turned up with a bigger turbo. So if it is a gasket probably my own doing. It has about 250K on it
That’s where all the egr goodies are. Also where the heater hoses plug into the engine and the firewall. I had my heater hoses blow a few times from oil leaking on them by the original turbo and from heat. Replaced them with generic heater hose which I wrapped in high-heat fiberglass tape.
If your EGR still has coolant flowing through it- mine leaked coolant into the intake and simulated a blown head gasket. Also the coolant hoses are guaranteed to be frail and weathered from so many heat cycles. Living next to the turbo and side of the engine/trans.
If your heater hoses bypass the EGR- check where they connect to the engine. Likely are cracked around the clamp.
If your hoses are fine- check the coolant output housing located under the air box, under the charge pipes. Not a common failure but the gasket in mine looked like it was on the verge of going out at 180k. I’d check this with a $20 borescope from Amazon before you rip your engine apart. Those charge pipes are a pain…
The odds that your headgasket failed in a path from a coolant path to the outside of the engine is very low. Unless your headstuds are loose/stretched. Which wouldn’t happen unless you are running too much boost or you didn’t torque them right if they were removed.
Lastly, check the trans cooler lines. Easy to see with the air box removed. Just look directly under the air box.
My passat would do the same thing. leak coolant after shutting it off. left a little puddle under the driver/transmission area. My heater hoses were cooked and crappy.
Another easy way to see what’s going on is to add some UV dye to your coolant.
If your EGR still has coolant flowing through it- mine leaked coolant into the intake and simulated a blown head gasket. Also the coolant hoses are guaranteed to be frail and weathered from so many heat cycles. Living next to the turbo and side of the engine/trans.
If your heater hoses bypass the EGR- check where they connect to the engine. Likely are cracked around the clamp.
If your hoses are fine- check the coolant output housing located under the air box, under the charge pipes. Not a common failure but the gasket in mine looked like it was on the verge of going out at 180k. I’d check this with a $20 borescope from Amazon before you rip your engine apart. Those charge pipes are a pain…
The odds that your headgasket failed in a path from a coolant path to the outside of the engine is very low. Unless your headstuds are loose/stretched. Which wouldn’t happen unless you are running too much boost or you didn’t torque them right if they were removed.
Lastly, check the trans cooler lines. Easy to see with the air box removed. Just look directly under the air box.
My passat would do the same thing. leak coolant after shutting it off. left a little puddle under the driver/transmission area. My heater hoses were cooked and crappy.
Another easy way to see what’s going on is to add some UV dye to your coolant.