Losing coolant

[Daveperc]

Hi all, OK, last couple of days I noted a low coolant warning on start up - clears after a few seconds.
Refilled coolant level today and it took best part of a litre I think - no sign of water leagage anywhere on garage floor etc.
Also Pax side exhaust is a lot more steamy than drivers side, so I suspect it is where the water is going.

What do you reckon? Head gasket?? Car is running fine.

Help appreciated
Dave

[innercry666]

Hi Dave,

I have a similar issue. Notts Audi have investigated this a couple of times now. I seem to get white smoke from the passenger side exhaust when cold. I'm also burning a bit of oil. All this started post oil strainer recall.

Have you resolved this now?

Cheers

Mike

[Daveperc]

Hi Mike, No nothing resolved. Had MRC pressure check the system and it was fine, and antifreeze level was OK too. Had to refill once since I posted.

Mine also uses oil, but that's normal on these, and the car has done 162K miles.

I can manage a litre of water once in a while!

Dave

[morski]

I would get them to just do a sniff test in the coolant bottle just to rule out a leaking head gasket and give you peace of mind

[patrik_w]

My car also shows the low coolant warning at startup from time to time, and it usually goes away after a few moments. Usually only happens during winter with cold temperatures. Had my Audi dealer look at the issue a couple of times without being able to find a leak. After my second time there with the issue they got a letter from Germany with an explanation.
The gasket for the waterpump is lubricated using coolant, and in colder temperatures the gap between the engine and the waterpump can get sligtly larger as metal shrinks in colder temperatures. My solution has been to have a 1 liter bottle of coolant in the boot in case I need it away from home.

[Nick_T]

I've noticed the exact same on my car as well, I also had a couple of journeys where the heating in the car didn't work, it just blew out cold air, not sure if it is related. I've not had to top the car up in 30k miles and the garage has never said anything when I've taken it in. I thought it might just be due to cold weather and it went after a few seconds but I was about to do a longer journey and it came up again when it wasn't so cold so thought I best top it up, it took < 1l of coolant. I was considering going to a garage to test, it did get a service < 300 miles ago however and they didn't find anything wrong then (I also mentioned low coolant warnings but they didn't specifically do a pressure test as they couldn't see an issue). I do recall having this a few years ago as well when it was exceptionally cold but it only happened once or twice and levels seem to be ok when warm.

[Tadass910]

Same issue here, I need to have 1 liter of coolant in my boot, but only when car left for a week in a cold at -15

[Daveperc]

Turned out mine was a leaking rad which has now been replaced. I think it was only leaking when hot and pressurised so nothing showed on the garage floor etc.

All fixed by MRC - bless them!!