Something's wrong with my coolant!!!

**akaEsCo01** · 08-01-2008 02:05 PM

Started cleaning the engine bay yesterday and noticed this (pics below). The tank isn't empty in the first pics, I tilted it so I could get a shot of the crud, what is it? What causes this and how do I fix it?

**Das General** · 08-01-2008 02:23 PM

Looks like oil.

Could be a leaky headgasket.

**Mike@PureMS** · 08-01-2008 02:58 PM

or a bad oil cooler.

**windyctyaudi** · 08-01-2008 04:54 PM

oil in the coolant could be from bad oil cooler or bad head gasket. How old is the coolant in the car.

**akaEsCo01** · 08-01-2008 05:34 PM

I just found out it could also be from a bad oil cooler. The coolant is pretty old, some of it may be from the day I bought the car because I doubt Audi ever flushed it and I only changed it when i changed my timing belt a little over a year ago. I talked to my friend that works at Audi and he told me it's very common in the 1.8T to have off color coolant after a while so I'm not in panic anymore.

**BARRY** · 08-01-2008 05:39 PM

first...why is your coolant clear...second that looks like rust. if you were using water as coolant it will start rusting your engine.

**AudiA4_20T** · 08-01-2008 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by BARRY

first...why is your coolant clear...second that looks like rust. if you were using water as coolant it will start rusting your engine.

lol o yea? whered you get that info?

Hey man, try the oil cooler, if not its the headgasket. Shoot me a PM I can get both of those done for you

**T0M3K** · 08-01-2008 08:05 PM

Water is a bad chemical for cooling, it has relatively low heat capacity. That's why we use anti-freeze or similar. I always heard that pure water can promote oxidation (rusting), but it looks more like an oil than rust. Just my worthless $0.02

**akaEsCo01** · 08-01-2008 09:17 PM

Update: I didn't use water, I used 50/50 of g12 and hose water which I know was a bad idea. So I came home from work today and flushed all the coolant, the pictures don't show the color right at all. The stuff in there is more orange than anything else, anyway, I flushed the coolant and replaced it with 50/50/ g12 and distilled water. If it turns colors soon then I will suspect the oil cooler because I don't have any other signs of a bad head gasket.

Thanks for the help guys