Hi all,

New member looking for some advice. Will try and keep it as short as possible - bit of a saga coming up.

I have a 2010 2.0 TDi SE DSG, that has not had the emissions fix applied.

Some time around probably March I had the coolant warning light come on at me one morning. Coolant constantly leaking at me ever since. Took it to my local mechanic buddy to have a looksie. Diagnosed as leaky EGR cooler. Due to shortage of parts (I don't think he was aware that the cooler can be purchased separately), I waited a few weeks to see if he could source one to save some £££. Continued driving the car (I do around 700 miles a week for work), which was obviously a mistake but kept the coolant topped up at all times.

Eventually issue got worse so took it to VW hoping I might get some emissions related help as the EGR is obviously a common issue after fix. As no fix applied, no help. They found EGR cooler and oil Cooler at fault, wanted over 2k to fix. Oil now in the coolant as the oil cooler had gone too.

Had to bite the bullet and take it to my local VW "specialist". They eventually managed to replace EGR cooler and oil cooler although shoddy service throughout and they failed to contact my RAC warranty until after I had paid. Several weeks and heated phone calls later, I eventually got around 60% of the total cost (£1300 total, £800 back) from the RAC.

A few days after getting the car back I get another coolant warning. Ring the garage, could be an airlock settling down etc. Top the coolant up, carry on and, after a few top ups, it seemed to settle down. Good for around 4 weeks or so.

Due a service, take it to my mechanic buddy for that a coolant flush. All seems to go fine. Long drive for work next morning, coolant light is back and leaking fairly quickly again.

Ring back the garage who did the coolers, they have it back in and now diagnose the head gasket has gone. No help from the RAC as the head is eventually found to be so warped it must have been "drive on damage". Fair enough, take the hit (£1500) for the repair. Get car back from the garage a little over a week later.

A couple of days, another warning light and vapour blown out the exhaust one morning (from what I have read can be a sign of EGR cooler or head problem. Used to do this when I had the EGR cooler issue at first). Ring garage, could be another airlock they say, keep an eye on it etc. Continues to drop over the week too fast and much to be an airlock in both of our opinions. Take it back in.

With them a couple of days, eventually get a call yesterday to say they found an airlock in the system, have flushed and bled properly and for me to have it back and see how it is. Doesn't ring true to me as it was dropping too much and for too long to likely be this, but agree to test it nonetheless.

Drove just over 100 miles for work today. Appears to have dropped very slightly (much less than it has before). Will need another day or two to tell for sure.

My question(s):

Any advice on likely causes? Does the airlock story sound plausible?

I have very little trust for the garage that have done both the repairs on the car. I feel that they are probably starting to make excuses and hope I might get frustrated with the car and trade it in. I suspect that the EGR cooler may again be faulty or the head still isn't quite sealed properly. If I find it to be leaking again, what can I reasonably demand of the garage? When I took it in the second time, they diagnosed that the coolant was leaking due to the HG. I specifically asked them if they were sure it wasn't the EGR cooler again and that it was definitely a head issue as I have heard HG are very rare to go on these types of car. Both of their estimates for the work were far below (nearly half) of the eventual cost. Overall just a bad experience, never phoning to update me when they promised, not bothering to contact warranty company until after work was done etc.

TL/DR - nearly 3k spent on fixing a coolant leak, EGR cooler, Oil cooler and Head gasket at fault. May still be leaking, unhelpful garage. Any ideas on other causes, time to get rid or demand the garage put it right?

If you made it this far - I salute you!