[aircooled]

Well, the honeymoon is over! The V10 barfed up a sizable leak on my father in-law's driveway. Pink G12 coolant. I couldn't locate the leak there, but it wasn't enough to greatly worry about. By the time I got it home, a steady trickle was coming out. Put the vehicle on ramps and pulled the 'skid' plates. I could see the leak coming from the top.

The leak is drivers-side, upper radiator, some kind of routing pipe or valve, appears to be coming from underneath so I still can't exactly locate the flow. I've got fans on the engine to help it cool down and it appears to have released enough pressure in the coolant system to stop the leak, for now.

Can anyone look up part number 7L6122291 or does anyone have a cooling system schematic?

 

[aircooled]

The situation was not as dire as it looked last night. The vehicle is back in service at this time. The part that I referenced above is in fact a coolant pipe that routes around the intercooler tube. After letting the coolant cool overnight, I found I was able to pull the pipe away from the radiator easily with my hand. I think the pipe had worked itself loose, probably installer error when the engine was dropped for service with the last owner. I was only able to visually inspect with a mirror since I can't get the pipe removed due an impossible to get to torx hold down that is blocked by the line from the intercooler tube.

I reset the pipe and reinserted the metal locking clip. Tested at operating temp for 30 minutes, no leaks. Topped off reservoir with G12 and distilled water before reaching operating temp and ran the heater to make sure any bubbles were out of the system.

 

[DenverBill]

I reset the pipe and reinserted the metal locking clip. Tested at operating temp for 30 minutes, no leaks. Topped off reservoir with G12 and distilled water before reaching operating temp and ran the heater to make sure any bubbles were out of the system.

Excellent work!!
That is at least a couple of billable hours, so you are due at least 3 or 4 bottles of the quality brew of your choice, and time put your feet up and relax.:drunk::drunk:

 

[aircooled]

Please remind me to send the bill to the dealer!

 

[volkswagendude]

You can go back to the honeymoon now

Good thing this happened in your father in-laws driveway and not on one of your adventures far from home.

You are also one of the few people that make mention of distilled water when topping up coolant. I finally don't feel so alone anymore, after years of getting mocked locally on that one issue alone, and of course, amongst many others .

 

[DenverBill]

Please remind me to send the bill to the dealer!

And a second on using the distilled water. My father, in his time, installed diesel engine/generator packages as back-up power units for telephone substations, hospitals, and government facilities that will remain unspecified. The coolant was always a mixture of distilled water with the specified antifreeze for the location.

I could relate some details of a certain Air Force base commander who, coincidentally, always required distilled water as a mix for his required hydration, but I don't want to disappear in the dead of night; oops, bad choice of words...

 

[nickm]

3rd here with distilled water, if you aren't uning distilled, you aren't using water -you are using water with a mix of minerals that will deposit themselves all over your engine internals!

 

[acephus]

Say have you had any major leak issues with your 2004 V10 TDI? We have been experiencing a 10 drops a week-leak (from under passenger side) for about a month. We have taken it in and I'm a little concern about what the results will be (problem & cost) does this sound typical for the 2004 V10 series?

 

[nickm]

only leak I have right now is my windshield washer tank barfs out all its contents randomly. I haven't gotten around to figuring out where the issue is.

 

[vwsqback]

My '04 V10 (98k mi) sprung a coolant leak yesterday. It appears to be coming from the rear of the motor above the transmission. I removed the belly pans and verified that I can see absolutely nothing from underneath the vehicle. Would it be possible to reach the coolant lines if I pull the intakes and move the fuel filter out of the way?

 

[lgibson]

You can definitely reach some of that stuff back by the firewall by removing the turbo gate(s) and lying on your belly. Seems to me there was a post a few months ago about a leak where the coolant line goes into the generator. Not sure it was a V10.