Does this sound plausible?

bear1

So I brought my car to another mechanic to determine what is actually causing the car to lose coolant all the time.
No "mechanic" could understand the issue.
I've just been called and told that there is an oil leak from somewhere in the engine which is dripping onto the coolant pipes which is causing the leak.
Now, I have not been seeing any oil leaks on the floor in my garage from this so it seems quite strange to me.
He suspects the head gasket is failing but can't be 100% sure until he cleans all the excess oil from the engine bay and determine where the leak is coming from.
Does this sound in any way possible?

polan

Test the coolant. Bit pricey, but simple.

bear1

Test it you mean by a sniff test?

polan

Yes.

colm_mcm

This is the 2.2 D-4D?

polan

I think he means his 2.0 TDI Passat.

bear1

colm_mcm wrote: »

This is the 2.2 D-4D?

Yep the Passat.

grogi

bear1 wrote: »

So I brought my car to another mechanic to determine what is actually causing the car to lose coolant all the time.
No "mechanic" could understand the issue.
I've just been called and told that there is an oil leak from somewhere in the engine which is dripping onto the coolant pipes which is causing the leak.
Now, I have not been seeing any oil leaks on the floor in my garage from this so it seems quite strange to me.
He suspects the head gasket is failing but can't be 100% sure until he cleans all the excess oil from the engine bay and determine where the leak is coming from.
Does this sound in any way possible?

Dripping oil to cause coolant loose? No.

If it looses coolant the coolant system is not sealed. There is a leak somewhere...

It might be obvious - you'll see water dripping out
It might be less obvious - when the leak is very high in the system, exp. at the cap and only vapours get out... And that will be very hard to find out. Exhaust gasses are cooled with the system as well, it is known to leak there...

But it might be the head gasket leaking or engine body cracked.

Testing for CO2 in the coolant can't be that expensive I guess...

bear1

grogi wrote: »

Dripping oil to cause coolant loose? No.

If it looses coolant the coolant system is not sealed. There is a leak somewhere...

It might be obvious - you'll see water dripping out
It might be less obvious - when the leak is very high in the system, exp. at the cork and only vapours get out... And that will be very hard to find out...
But it might be the head gasket leaking or enigne body cracked.

Testing for CO2 in the coolant can't be that expensive I guess...

This is what puzzles me.
He said the hot oil is leaking/spraying onto the pipes with the coolant and this causing them to crack and lose coolant.
Water you can't see dripping out at all but if you park it up then the next day you will see the leak moving from under the car.

R.O.R

Possible EGR intercooler issue? Not unknown on Passats and causes a loss of coolant.

martinr5232

It really cant be that difficult to diagnose coolant loss either its being lost internally or externally a simple pressure test will tell you if its external.
Internal is a bit more difficult but if the coolant is going somewhere and its not mixing with the oil youre looking at head off .

bear1

R.O.R wrote: »

Possible EGR intercooler issue? Not unknown on Passats and causes a loss of coolant.

I was reading up about them but the reports seem to be that this affected more the b7?
I've a b6 so not too sure.

martinr5232 wrote: »

It really cant be that difficult to diagnose coolant loss either its being lost internally or externally a simple pressure test will tell you if its external.
Internal is a bit more difficult but if the coolant is going somewhere and its not mixing with the oil youre looking at head off .

Exactly. It's been to a main dealer. Nothing.
Took it to a specialist. Nothing
Then a few months ago to another mechanic and they kept it a while and of course no loss of coolant.
So now this guy is giving me this theory.
I'll be going there tonight as he wants to show me the damage and then how to work with it.
I'll suggest the EGR issue and see what he can do.

Trojan

I had a small split high up on the expansion bottle, which only leaked gases at high temperature. Eventually it deteriorated to the point where it became visible, but it was impossible to find early on.

You could get a pressure test done on the cooling system, that should find any pinhole leaks.

bear1

Trojan wrote: »

I had a small split high up on the expansion bottle, which only leaked gases at high temperature. Eventually it deteriorated to the point where it became visible, but it was impossible to find early on.

You could get a pressure test done on the cooling system, that should find any pinhole leaks.

The expansion tank and pipes into it were bought brand new from VW last year as my old one was in a bad conditio so i'd be surprised if this would be the case.

166man

I know George Dalton in Port Laoise has lots of experience with VW. Maybe bring it to him?

spiggotpaddy

Could be a split oil cooler.

polan

166man wrote: »

I know George Dalton in Port Laoise has lots of experience with VW. Maybe bring it to him?

That would be fairly difficult, considering the car's in Poland

bear1, if you're ever near Pruszkow area, I can give you my uncle's mechanics contact and address, he's a sound man and should diagnose the fault fairly quickly.

bear1

Just got back from the mechanic and it's fairly bad.
The oil is leaking from two places, the turbo and the front of the head gasket.
This is pointing towards and hg failure and that the turbo is failing.
Next up were all the coolant pipes were split or saggy which wasn't letting the coolant pass properly which is what is causing my loss of coolant.
You could literally see the coolant and oil dripping down from the block.
Next up is a suspension issue which is undetermined yet as the engine issue took longer to diagnose and my rear discs and pads needs replacing.
It's obviously the worst type of news and the suggestion to sell it came up.
Worst case I'm looking at a repair of approx 2.5k euro with labour.
So now I'm debating whether or not it's feasible for me to go ahead with the repair.
Tomorrow I'll have confirmation whether the hg is cooked or not.
Really in shock about it.

bear1

polan wrote: »

That would be fairly difficult, considering the car's in Poland

bear1, if you're ever near Pruszkow area, I can give you my uncle's mechanics contact and address, he's a sound man and should diagnose the fault fairly quickly.

Thanks polan I got your pm there.
I'm actually in ursus so not that far away.
If tomorrow goes tits up I'll give him a call for a second opinion.
Cheers for that

166man

Jesus man you have some terrible luck with cars. €2.5k sounds like a lot of money for a head gasket to be done as well as the turbo though?

If you're in Poland I would have thought the work would be less costly as well.

I'm basing this off doing the head gasket two years ago on my 156 petrol and it was €600 odd.

What is the breakdown of the €2.5k? That being said, if you like the car and are happy to drive it on for the next three years then the bill won't be so bad to take, if that makes sense?

bear1

166man wrote: »

Jesus man you have some terrible luck with cars. €2.5k sounds like a lot of money for a head gasket to be done as well as the turbo though?

If you're in Poland I would have thought the work would be less costly as well.

I'm basing this off doing the head gasket two years ago on my 156 petrol and it was €600 odd.

What is the breakdown of the €2.5k? That being said, if you like the car and are happy to drive it on for the next three years then the bill won't be so bad to take, if that makes sense?

Man stop I'm ****ing lethal.
Breakdown is an estimate.
Headgasket itself plus entire job was coming to over 1k euro in itself.
Around 500e for the turbo.
Few hundred for the suspension and the rest is labour and the brakes.
Now 2.5 is worst case scenario but as you all know that's the only scenario I have.
Not sure if it's worth it tbh.. pity but I'll know tomorrow what's the score.

goochy

I reckon the cars suicidal from being in Poland and just wants to die.

polan

goochy wrote: »

I reckon the cars suicidal from being in Poland and just wants to die.

what a joke :rolleyes:

bear1

goochy wrote: »

I reckon the cars suicidal from being in Poland and just wants to die.

Very helpful that.
Back on topic, list of potential replacements made but I'm starting wonder if I should entertain the idea of repairing my car?
The turbo and head I'd leave be and repair only the coolant pipes and then look at selling after the summer.
Mechanic said it could be done but they won't guarantee it will last long.
The car has never left me at the side of the road and apart from the odd hiccup has been trouble free.
Ehh decisions.

quadrifoglio verde

What's the car worth on the local market? That would be my determining factor I whether it's worth spending 2.5K on it.
If it's worth 6 I'd consider it. If it's worth 3, I'd sell it as it is or trade it in and wash my hands of it.

I don't think you're going to have luck with cars until you get another 2.4

166man

Perhaps time for a 159 estate 2.4 S QV has suggested Bear?

polan

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

What's the car worth on the local market? That would be my determining factor I whether it's worth spending 2.5K on it.
If it's worth 6 I'd consider it. If it's worth 3, I'd sell it as it is or trade it in and wash my hands of it.

I don't think you're going to have luck with cars until you get another 2.4

If I could buy a B6 in Poland for 3k, I'd buy two :pac:

They go for about 5-8k depending on the year.

bear1

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

What's the car worth on the local market? That would be my determining factor I whether it's worth spending 2.5K on it.
If it's worth 6 I'd consider it. If it's worth 3, I'd sell it as it is or trade it in and wash my hands of it.

I don't think you're going to have luck with cars until you get another 2.4

polan wrote: »

If I could buy a B6 in Poland for 3k, I'd buy two :pac:

They go for about 5-8k depending on the year.

I bought the car for about 6.5k in Nov 2015 and it was a pretty good price for Poland.
So I would say now it's probably worth 4? At a push anyway.
Checking other similar versions online is showing my over the 5k mark but to throw 2.5k at it which would remove quite a bit of my savings seems ludicrous to me.
Maybe I should start a gofundme page

bear1

I'll keep this updated.
Got a call from the mechanic today to hear if the HG is actually fecked.
Turns out no!
Held compression well and no leaks to report.
So I faced an easier delimna - still repair or sell?

Chose the repair option for a few reasons.

1) I really like the car and is a great motorway cruiser
2) first major thing to go wrong with it
3) makes more sense to pay 1k in repairs than sell it and pour money into another car where i don't know the history.

Car will be stripped down soon in order for the turbo to be repaired (says it's leaking oil so best get it regenerated)
All the coolant hoses are fecked so they've been ordered from Germany and that's a 10 day wait
New pads and discs plus whatever it is connected to the wheel that's causing excess vibrations.

Car should be good as new once I get it back

166man

Nice result on a Friday afternoon Bear. Hope it all goes well

bear1

166man wrote: »

Nice result on a Friday afternoon Bear. Hope it all goes well

It is, final repair bill is topping out at 1k so it might end up being lower.
I'm still hesitant in getting the turbo repaired but hey ho it will come with a 1 year warranty.

grogi

bear1 wrote: »

It is, final repair bill is topping out at 1k so it might end up being lower.
I'm still hesitant in getting the turbo repaired but hey ho it will come with a 1 year warranty.

It's not the best idea to drive a diesel with oil-leaking turbo... The oil might get to the air and keep burning, even if you want the engine to shut down.

Where are you having it reconditioned?

bear1

grogi wrote: »

It's not the best idea to drive a diesel with oil-leaking turbo... The oil might get to the air and keep burning, even if you want the engine to shut down.

Where are you having it reconditioned?

Where I'm not too sure, the mechanic is taking care of that.
The place the car is in now for the next 2 weeks is called dieselpoint I believe, just off jerozolimskie.

Re the turbo and oil, would it not be reasonable though after 220k and 10 years that a bit of oil would seap out of the turbo?

Autochange

if you dont trust the word of the mechanic why dont you try diagnose and fix it yourself?
It would save you lots of money

bear1

Autochange wrote: »

if you dont trust the word of the mechanic why dont you try diagnose and fix it yourself?
It would save you lots of money

It's not that I don't trust the mechanic but I had a bad experience with a regen turbo and I'm nervous of touching that one.
The mechanic has been spot on tbh and if he wanted to cheat he could have told me the head needed doing too.

Autochange

Ah okay my apologies. I picked it up wrong i guess.
Hope you get it sorted

bear1

Autochange wrote: »

Ah okay my apologies. I picked it up wrong i guess.
Hope you get it sorted

No worries. It's coming with a years warranty but I'll be asking to test the car first before I hand over any money.
At least then I'll know if the car needs to stay with him or not.

bear1

I'll update this as I got car back on Friday evening.
Seems be going well, spent approx 1.1k on all the repairs.
Got the turbo redone as they said that whoever had the turbo done last made a complete balls of it essentially so that was 400e right there.
All the coolant pipes replaced with oem parts which were about 200e.
New pads and discs all round plus filters and oil change.
Impressions:

In general when the engine is cold it seems a bit slower but once it's up to temp it accelerates very smoothly whereas before it was just a lump of torque and wheel spin.
Heats up much much quicker than before and the engine temp stays bang on 90 no matter if I'm traffic or moving whereas before if I was in traffic the temp would creep down.
New pads and discs took a while to bed in but seem to be getting better, they were a bit smokey the first day.
Got a years warranty on the parts so that's peace of mind.
Good as new.