Water leak?

[jonbaker]

I thought my coolant was leaking again as it did a few months back so i changed the header tank cap as that is what i was told was causing it before. Anyhow, after a better inspection i dont think it was the coolant at all as it hadn't gone down and the water is clear not pink.

So what else could it be? it's dripping down in 3 places, not gushing but enough to notice, windscreen washer tank perhaps? does anything else hold water? sorry, no good with engines!

Audi a4 2001 y 1.8t quattro sport

thanks

[Crasher]

Picture by any chance?

[jonbaker]

will sort one 2mora, cheers

[rhencullen1989]

Is the water level dropping in your windscreen washer bottle? I had a leak from mine where the pipe fits onto the stub at the bottom of the bottle, might be worth a quick look, its quite hard to see properly so you may need a torch.

[jonbaker]

Is the water level dropping in your windscreen washer bottle? I had a leak from mine where the pipe fits onto the stub at the bottom of the bottle, might be worth a quick look, its quite hard to see properly so you may need a torch.

I'm not sure as the mrs is always using it! i was gonna drain it out tonight and see if it stops then i will know. Thanks for the info i'll have a butchers tonight with a torch. It seems a bit tight to be able to see under the windscreen washer tank from the top, did you view from under the car? Trouble is the car has that protective plate so i cant see bugger all from underneath

[AutoTDI]

Are you sure its not just rainwater finding its way through the various drains?

[jonbaker]

Are you sure its not just rainwater finding its way through the various drains?

Yeah, pretty sure... i think!

[rhencullen1989]

You are right about the windscreen washer bottle being a tight fit, its almost impossible to get your hand down there, what happened to mine was the pipe at the bottom had slipped off the stub, its just a push fit, i managed to push it back on with a pair of long nose pliers and then managed to get a small cable tie around it and do that up tight. its an awkward job without moving anything. Have you got a haynes manual, if not its probably worth getting one......

[jonbaker]

You are right about the windscreen washer bottle being a tight fit, its almost impossible to get your hand down there, what happened to mine was the pipe at the bottom had slipped off the stub, its just a push fit, i managed to push it back on with a pair of long nose pliers and then managed to get a small cable tie around it and do that up tight. its an awkward job without moving anything. Have you got a haynes manual, if not its probably worth getting one......

The thing is, topping up the oil and tyre pressure is about my limits when it comes to cars! Pretty useless with my hands, although i managed to change a brake bulb myself lol I've drained out the windscreen washer tank, so if it dont rain today i'll check the audi when i get home from work. Thanks for all your advice etc :beerchug:

[jonbaker]

ok, here's a pic of the leak as crasher asked for! I drained the windscreen washer tank and it's still dripping so it's not that. The coolant hasn't gone down either. Now, it rained today and it seems to be coming out alot so am i just being a complete paranoid **** in that it's just the rain water draining off?

From the pic you can see the water on the floor, that tiny wet spot appeared after 5 seconds, it's coming out of the gap directly above it, the same applies to the passenger side. Is this where the drainage comes out? i've never noticed this before.

Cheers...

[Crasher]

That is your plenum chamber full of water due to blocked drain tubes and the water you see is the chamber slowly draining out. You have to remove the battery to deal with this.

[jonbaker]

That is your plenum chamber full of water due to blocked drain tubes and the water you see is the chamber slowly draining out. You have to remove the battery to deal with this.

ok, right, thanks. Is this something that can wait til mid march when it goes in for service? if not, is it something simple i can do bearing in mind my other posts about not being great with my hands!!

[Crasher]

It can cause the servo to fill with water and the water can spill over into the heater inlet and get into the car, both of which can cause very expensive damage and these are heavily discussed problems on here so no, it can't wait. It is actually the subject of an Audi recall though, so contact your dealer.

[jonbaker]

what do you mean by subject to an audi recall? sorry for my ignorance!

[jonbaker]

after searching the forum i get it now! I'll contact my local audi dealer tomorrow, thanks for your help crasher.

[jonbaker]

Called my local dealer (Harold Wood, Essex) and they confirmed the recall. :biglaugh: Booked in for Tuesday. Great forum with great members, this could have been bad for me otherwise. Thanks Crasher, I owe you a pint :beerchug:

I'm the third owner of this car and it just so happens it originaly came from this dealership. I was wondering, had it not, would i have still been eligable for the recall as i've read on here that other members have been knocked back.

Also, in the meantime, my road is quite steep, should i park the car nose down or wouldn't this make a difference?

[Crasher]

The recall is valid no matter what but to be honest, it is no big deal; it takes less than an hour to do if you have a cuppa during the job. I would park nose down and probably even at a right tilt to keep the water away from the heater intake on the left.

[jonbaker]

will do. 1 Last question for you mate, if you will, being as you are clued up with things:

Periodically and not very often at all and at low speed usually coming to a stop, the car will just conk out and has trouble staying started straight after. The revs just die and also the esp light comes on. After a short while, a minute say, she starts up fine again and the problem goes away for months. Happened to me two or 3 times in the 2 years i've had it and happened tonight also when the mrs was driving although i'm not sure it was that as the esp light didn't come on and she started up straight away with no problems. I think the mrs just stalled it what with the new clutch and all... i hope! But it's defo happened in the past.

Sound like anything you've heard before? I think this site has made me completely paranoid after reading through all the various problems people have had :D

I think i worry about it as everyone keeps banging on how expensive Audis are to fix and run and with 2 kids now money gets a bit tight. I nearly sold it last year to get a Focus but i just couldn't bring myself to commit such a crime!

I love the car but am on edge about further problems. Only done 58k but at 7 years old am i to expect known major problems? Cheers for your time;)

[Crasher]

Has it had a fault code read recently? A common cause of this cutting out is the ECU relay and another is the crankshaft speed sensor.

[jonbaker]

Has it had a fault code read recently? A common cause of this cutting out is the ECU relay and another is the crankshaft speed sensor.

Can't believe my luck lately, :zx11: looks like it wasn't the mrs stalling it as i just drove it and as i was approaching the roundabout and slowing down it cut out again:aargh4: :mad:. Took 3 attempts for the revs not to die, esp light came on but then goes off after a short while.

Being as i'm taking it to Audi on Tuesday i might get them to check it out. Any idea on how much it is for them to run the fault test? also, if it is the one of the two things you say what am i looking at cash wise?

I thought that if there was a fault anywhere then a warning light would come on somewhere? Sorry for nagging you about this lol

[Crasher]

A fault code read and print out is about £75 at Audi, I think, as obviously I have never had it done. Let’s wait and see what they say.

[jonbaker]

A fault code read and print out is about £75 at Audi, I think, as obviously I have never had it done. Let’s wait and see what they say.

£120 including vat per hour! so he said, i'm looking at £120 if they find the fault within an hour then parts and more labour charge if it takes them longer than an hour, am i getting mugged off, i get the feeling i am!? can a regular garage perform this sort of check?

[jonbaker]

nah, i'm not getting mugged off by Audi, my local garage will run some checks for £38.

[Crasher]

Any garage with decent fault code reading equipment would be able to do this. People like me charge £25.

[jonbaker]

Any garage with decent fault code reading equipment would be able to do this. People like me charge £25.

And i'd be coming to you if i was near!

Anyhow, Took it to Audi today and they sorted the water recall problem. The bloke giving me back my car and reading back the notes said it also had some starting problems. I've never had any staring issues with it except when my battery died on a couple of occassions due to short journeys with heavy drain from heaters, light etc on freezing cold mornings and an apparently (according to rac man) electrical fault on my radio causing it to drain the battery even when off ever so slightly (that was his diagnosis anyway, battery didn't need replacing)

Then took it to my local bloke who said they found a fault with the ecu temperature sender which they will be replacing tomorrow. He said that could be the cause of it cutting out. He has also cleaned some bits up (cant remember what!). Also asked me if i had had some battery problems but cant remember why as the damn mobile was cutting out. Will clarify tomorrow.

How does that sound to you crasher?

[Crasher]

The coolant temp sender sounds very plausible. A flat battery will often leave fault codes on the engine, air bags, ABS etc. Have all the codes printed out (for future reference, always helpful to see if a code has been there before) and then cleared and take it away and see how it goes.

[jonbaker]

Hi Crasher,

Had the work done and no cutting out since. Cost me £90 all in for the fault finding, temp' sender & labour.

Been waiting for the rain to stop to see if the water has gone. Just been out and couldn't see any water dripping from near the front wheels as before. That gap in the body of the car in my picture (above the water drip) seems to have been closed up?

There was some water in the centre that had dripped down when the car was on a tilt (nose up) but put it flat for a while and seems dry.

Just for my info, where does rain water drain off on my car i.e all the water that hits the windscreen etc?

[Crasher]

Some runs off, some runs into the plenum chamber under the screen.

[jonbaker]

Hey Crasher!

If you remember this thread we got onto my car cutting out and i had the temp sender replaced. Hasn't cut out since (although it had gone months between cutting out before). Anyhow, had a auto elect' round today to trace my battery drain (when tested no drain, even with radio fuse in which was causing it before) what a nightmare, so now my drain is intermitent as well but that's in another post.

He also did a fault code read on it and we got this:

p1290 (sporadic) engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor at radiator outlet - g83:signal too large.

Is this to do with what they replaced? if so, should i take it back to them to sort for free? cheers mate

[scooby_d0o]

looks like rain water to me, the only other thing other than your cooling system and washer bottle that could produce water is the aircon system this will drip water of the evaporator, not sur where that is on your car, easiest way to tell if its engine ie cooling system is to run the car till warm and feel the water, if its warm/hot its cooling system another way if your sure you have plenty of antifreeze in is to taste (dont swallow) the water, if its sweet its cooling system water. doesnt look like anything to worry about though

[jonbaker]

looks like rain water to me, the only other thing other than your cooling system and washer bottle that could produce water is the aircon system this will drip water of the evaporator, not sur where that is on your car, easiest way to tell if its engine ie cooling system is to run the car till warm and feel the water, if its warm/hot its cooling system another way if your sure you have plenty of antifreeze in is to taste (dont swallow) the water, if its sweet its cooling system water. doesnt look like anything to worry about though

Thanks for the reply but you obviously didn't read all of this thread! can't say i blame you though lol 3 pages of my moaning :D. It's not even about a water leak anymore!

[Crasher]

That is an issue with the coolant temperature sender in the lower outlet of the radiator, part number 06A 919 501 A but not necessarily a faulty sender, it may be telling the truth. I would suggest replacing it and then having a code read done later.

[scooby_d0o]

Thanks for the reply but you obviously didn't read all of this thread! can't say i blame you though lol 3 pages of my moaning :D. It's not even about a water leak anymore!


your so correct, what a div i am lol, i didnt realise your prob had already been sorted :Blush2:

i dont have that prob but going to ring audi now though to see if my car has to go in, so your post did help lol

[jonbaker]

That is an issue with the coolant temperature sender in the lower outlet of the radiator, part number 06A 919 501 A but not necessarily a faulty sender, it may be telling the truth. I would suggest replacing it and then having a code read done later.

So it's not the same sender they replaced before then? do you know cost of part? I'll get it done when in for service.

[Crasher]

£27.35 inc. VAT and it is a different sensor.

[jonbaker]

£27.35 inc. VAT and it is a different sensor.

Cheers Crasher, One last thing :D. What sort of problem could i expect from this error (i.e 'signal to large') or faulty sensor?

and am i right re the alarm on this lot!? http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=26348

[Crasher]

I have only ever come across this once and it was a failed fan.