water pump and belt job done -now coolant problem

had water pump and timing belt replaced amongst other work yesterday. drove car home - about 15km. didn't use car today until this eve. popped 1km up the road and car was indicating a coolant warning. hopefully the engine is not damaged. not too impressed at this point. obviously something was not done correctly on putting water pump on and sealing things up. what do you think is fair to expect from the garage. I don't feel like driving the car all the way over with an issue... should they pick it up and rectify the issue?

Tropheus

It should be ok as long as it didn't over heat. You could top it up and see how quickly it's losing coolant. If it's losing it very quickly, then you can't drive it. If it's a slow leak, then you should be ok as long as you keep an eye on it. Keep a bottle of water in the car for top ups.

Could be something as simple as a hose not connected correctly or it could be more sinister. Hopefully it's not a dodgy water pump.

Were they OEM parts?

Avns1s

Mightn't be a leak at all. Often you get air pockets after these jobs that take a bit of a drive to dislodge. This causes the coolant level to drop. Is it a coolant level warning or an overheating warning you are getting?

I would suggest you top up with coolant to the correct level and monitor it. You could check for a leak as well from any of the hoses that were removed.

It's only a coolant warning, not overheat warning so I guess car should be ok. I drove say 15km back from garage and there was no issue. the coolant level is below min on the coolant reservoir. I've heard about the air issue but given that I left the car for a day and issue is presenting now I'm guessing a leak or could it still be the air trapped? either way will have to get the garage to look at it. supposedly quality parts - quote (found the garage through boards):-
"We use INA or SKF timing belt kits which are both OE supplier" - car is an Audi.

any way to tell diff between trapped air and leak - well will look under car in morning to see if there is a leak I suppose.

Avns1s

To me, what you describe seems normal enough after the job you have had done. Just top it up and see how you get on. Monitor it closely and dont let it drop below the min mark.

Avns1s

Avns1s wrote: »

To me, what you describe seems normal enough after the job you have had done. Just top it up and see how you get on. Monitor it closely and dont let it drop below the min mark.

really. have to go buy some coolant in the morning then as don't have any. or can I just use tap water?

crosstownk

Tap water will do for now. Once you can confirm that you are not loosing coolant then you can replace the tap water with the requisite mix of coolant if necessary. There is no point in topping up with expensive coolant to have it leak to the road.

Avns1s

I'd still be inclined to believe that there isn't a leak and therefore I'd top it up with the proper coolant mix. If you start putting water in, you'll have no idea what mix is in there.

A litre of coolant isnt that expensive and it'll only take about 1/2 litre of coolant / water mix to get from the min to the max level.

Just my 2c!!

Lucifer

It would be quite normal for something like this to happen. When bleeding the system you would have the engine hot, so the coolant will also be hot. Level may be correct when you finish bleeding, but when it cools it will often drop a bit. Top it up and drive it and recheck it. It may be just as simple as that. I usually overfill slightly to compensate but sometimes they can drop more than you expect. Its always best to check them when they cool down but with customers collecting cars when they are finished its not always possible.

Tropheus

I've been told several times when I've had coolant system work done to keep an eye on the level, but never had a need to top it up.

Hopefully it's an easy fix for you.

muckwarrior

I changed my coolant recently and I had to top it up once or twice afterwards. It seemed to take 3 or 4 drives for all of the airto work its way out.

questionquick

Lucifer wrote: »

. Its always best to check them when they cool down but with customers collecting cars when they are finished its not always possible.

Sounds like in this scenario the customer shouldnt be collecting the car untill the level has been checked when cold

Lucifer

questionquick wrote: »

Lucifer wrote: »

. Its always best to check them when they cool down but with customers collecting cars when they are finished its not always possible.

Sounds like in this scenario the customer shouldnt be collecting the car untill the level has been checked when cold

Ideally yes it would be best if it could always be this way, but it's not always possible with customers needing their car back. Imagine I finish a job late in the day, a customer won't want the car kept off the road overnight as they need it the following morning. While you are correct its not always possible.

In the end topped it up with 300ml or so of water and it hasn't dropped since so should be fine and was most likely trapped air or coolant being hot and having expanded so dropped when cooled. Would have been more ideal to know about the possibility of this happening I guess.

Avns1s

Gald you're sorted and thanks for reporting back. May help someone else in the future.