car failed a block test..

[kmoney]

I noticed my S was slowly losing coolant, not terribly a lot but definitely losing some. I noticed it little by little and I drove 1500 miles home from school, coolant dropped about 1'' in the reservoir. Got a coolant block test at pep boys and they said they noticed carbon gases and I failed immediately and that it was my head gaskets. It seems to drive fine. I'm gonna use my friends lift later tonight what other things should I be looking for or is it definitely the gaskets?

[sweets4style]

It could very well be your headgaskets but you would have noticed a drop in power and a milky haze in your oil or on the bottom of your oil cap. If you notice that you probably do have blown head gaskets. Otherwise common sourced of leaks like that are the rear heater core connection fittings on the engine side, aux water pump leaking under the intake manifold, or even a potential leak in the coolant temp sensor and aux pump sensors on the back of the engine on a coolant crossover pipe and on the lower rad hose. One last potential spot is the oil/water cooler. Its the square block above where you screw the oil filter on. WHen those fail the coolant and oil can mix together at that point also. Again you would notice a hazy milky mixture in your oil for that. The others I listed are just straight coolant leaks and the most common.

[wdbdy2000s4]

^what he said.

Check your oil, if it looks like coffee with milk in it then it's an HG. I'm gonna guess if you were loosing coolant anywhere else at that rate then your entire engine bay would probably be covered in dried coolant crystals.

[Scotty@Advanced]

it could be your head gaskets although Head gasket problems are not something I'd call common with the B5. When a head gasket leaks you can have coolant in your oil, oil in the coolant, and coolant can seep into the cylinders, and combustion gasses can get into the coolant or any combination there of.. Since you didn't mention overheating often then the leak might be minor. Putting your car on a lift won't do much, as you have to remove the heads to replace the head gasket. i would get a second opinion and if that opinion is confirmed I'm afraid it's head gasket time.

[skinnytirez]

Is there a puddle of coolant on your garage floor? if so you know it's leaking from somewhere...

[kmoney]

I never noticed a puddle anywhere in my driveway, oil has seemed fine just got changed 2 weeks ago before I had the test, and the car has never overheated. Idles, drives fine and there seems to be no differences in anything.

[DESPOT D S4]

Compression test cyl leak test.

[VR6Bomber]

aux h20 pump first.

[skinnytirez]

aux h20 pump first.

Where was pepboys saying they were getting "carbon gasses"? I'd do another oil change and see if it comes out like chocolate milk...if not it's leaking from somewhere else...likely the aux. pump under the intake manifold....like VR6 bomber suggested

[JackalS4]

aux h20 pump first.

I bet you.

Get a second opinion before you do anything crazy!

[sixthelement]

I would defiantly get a 2nd opinion. Try to find a shop that specializes in European cars or even the Audi dealer before I trusted Pepboys. Down here I wouldn't trust them to mount tires even. But that's just my local stores.


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[kmoney]

Where was pepboys saying they were getting "carbon gasses"? I'd do another oil change and see if it comes out like chocolate milk...if not it's leaking from somewhere else...likely the aux. pump under the intake manifold....like VR6 bomber suggested

out of the coolant reservoir tank.

[kmoney]

aux h20 pump first.

could a leaky aux pump really cause carbon gases in my coolant system?

[DiscoPotato]

I have a mint bottom end with 79k for sale LMK!!!

[jesters22]

first mistake is going to pep boys, dont listen to anything they say. take it to a shop and ask them to check for where the coolant is coming from. chances are it is something easily fix'd.

[skinnytirez]

look at your oil; way easier and definite test...

[ski&drive]

pepboys techs are high schoolers they aren't a real shop. Its most likely a leak somewhere, it could be burning off before it hits the ground. Do you smell anything sweet?

The belly pan can catch coolant as well so it wouldn't fall to the ground.

[kmoney]

pepboys techs are high schoolers they aren't a real shop. Its most likely a leak somewhere, it could be burning off before it hits the ground. Do you smell anything sweet?

The belly pan can catch coolant as well so it wouldn't fall to the ground.

No I don't smell anything sweet, a lot of times when I do open my hood I see some blue smoke come up from the engine bay which I'm pretty sure are the vc gaskets but that's all I see, never burning anything or have residue in my tailpipe. I have had my belly pan off my car for a while and haven't noticed any drippage in my driveway. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll have time to look at the aux pump and hopefully narrow some things down.