Coolant Filler Tank - No water movement??

[maxshaped]

Hi all

First of all, I am a new owner of an RS6 C6 Avant, and I love it! I bought the car on 10.06.17, and hence here I am !

I do have a bit of a worry at the moment though:

I noticed upon getting it home was that the coolant level was slightly low when looking at the level gauge in the door pillar. Once I had topped it up to just above the Max level in the filler tank, I went to check the level on the door pillar, and couldn't see anything in there at all (at least that is what it looked like)!

To cut a long story short, I can't see any coolant moving, or being fed back into the filler tank when I run the car with the coolant filler cap off. This to me seems very unusual, and a sign that the water pump / impeller has given up. That said, oil temperature runs consistently between 97 - 100, and the water temp stays constant, and there are no warning lights.

The car has only done 57,000 miles.

Any thoughts / experience of this would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

[don0301]

the door pillar level thing is useless in my view

use the max level in the header tank, its "inside" dont be fooled by the plastic bit that is easily seen as you open it

these cars have a known "fault" of the 2 coolant lines running inside the drivers side wheelarch to corrode badly, not probably related but get them checked out, as failure could be very expensive.

I'm not a mechanic so can't advise further

oh and FON

[IanH755]

Hi there, my door pillar sight glass is also useless and shows 1/2 way even when full via the "Max" level in the coolant header tank

[maxshaped]

@don0301 Thanks for my first FON lol. I have checked the coolant pipes & they do seem corroded, but far from falling apart. I think there is still a fair bit of life in them yet as long as I look after them.

@ianH755 Thanks for the reply. Good to know the door pillar level is kinda useless. I'm still a little concerned aout the seeming lack of flow of water in the filler tank though.

I have just dropped the car off at Awesome GTI for a thorough going over & mentioned my concerns to them. Should hopefully get it back tomorrow with a clearer picture as to the health of the beast !

[don0301]

your temps seem normal anyway

whereabouts are you?

just realised I've had mine almost 3 years now!

you will love it, hope all checks out good for you

[Jim Haseltine]

Hi there, my door pillar sight glass is also useless and shows 1/2 way even when full via the "Max" level in the coolant header tank

Ditto. Even with a super-bight LED torch I can't work out what the level is in the sight glass.

[tony091]

lol mine is the same , all cloudy and useless , just check level in housing form time to time /

[maxshaped]

Cheers for the replies all. They have made me feel a little easier.

@don0301 I'm based in Cheshire, near Congleton (hence I use Awesome GTI). I owned a B7 RS4 for three years up until mid 2016, swapped to a 2014 golf R for a year... Great car but it didn't make me smile like the RS4. Needless to say, my face now aches from the smile the RS6 puts on it lol.

I'll post the outcome of the checks tomorrow.

[don0301]

Is it standard?

Get some pics up

[SR71]

I've had my C6 (its had the coolant lines replaced) since early this year and was initially very concerned about the coolant level jumping around in the sight glass in the door pillar!

My drive isn't level and some times it would show full, other times half full, and some times just show empty. And yet the level in the coolant refill housing under the bonnet wouldn't change. Couldn't work it out. Tried it on level ground and, again, the same thing would happen. It also didn't seem to make any difference whether I checked it hot or cold.

Like others here, I've given up using the sight glass and just check the level under the bonnet every now and again.

Coolant temperatures stay constant during a drive. Oil temps between 98-102.

No evidence of anything on the drive either.

Weird.