Red/Pink fluid leak under front of engine

[Ryanroland]

So I've been suspicious of the amount of "wetness" or oily surface of the bar that goes across the underside of the engine. I think its a sway bar or anti roll bar. But anyway, when I change my oil, I usually wipe it off and there is a lot of dark oil like grime. But surprisingly there is any oil dripping on my garage floor. And after 5000 or so miles between oil changes, I'm not burning or losing much if any oil.

Then recently I started noticing a white stain on my garage floor and I thought it was from the previous home owner and something I didn't notice before because it was old and crusty. Definitely not an oil leak. And to go along with my suspicion, my car was smelling "hot" like it was burning something when I would park it in the garage. Then yesterday my wife noticed a pool of liquid and I thought it was nothing but this morning I checked it out and it's a pinkish color like my coolant.

Ive searched for answers and I think it is seeming to be like this

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...reinstall.html

Oil cooler maybe? Anyway, has any tackled this job or have any input. I found an A6 thread that addressed it, but nobody in the S4 section has mentioned it. Apparently its common on the 4.2 V8 platform to crack the plastic hose.

Thanks in advance for reading and giving any advice.

also trying to find this piece if anyone can help http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/261296227103?vxp=mtr

[justacarguy]

This helped me find my oil leak by you seem to have a coolant leak the oil cooler has two rubber hoses that tend to leak so I recommend replacing them also
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ght=Found+leak


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[neilpaku]

The oil cooler o-rings are susceptible to getting hard (from being overheated). To see if you have a leak from the oil cooler, look under the car adjacent to the alternator. The cooler is tucked in behind the alternator bracket and of course hard to see. But if you see this fluid leaking from up there, it's either those o-rings or the epdm pipes. I've just replaced all of mine as insurance as I had the engine out. This (http://nemiga.com/cat_spares/etka/audi/a4q/249u/115700/) shows the oil cooler o-rings and cooler, and this (http://nemiga.com/cat_spares/etka/audi/a4q/249u/121630/) shows the pipework

[Lucca M]

Motor mounts ? They are filled with red oil

[roboto_1337]

Motor mounts ? They are filled with red oil

the hydraulic fluid from the mounts is a deep red... not pink, closer to purple in colour.

[Ryanroland]

This helped me find my oil leak by you seem to have a coolant leak the oil cooler has two rubber hoses that tend to leak so I recommend replacing them also
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ght=Found+leak


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Thanks. Very helpful link

The oil cooler o-rings are susceptible to getting hard (from being overheated). To see if you have a leak from the oil cooler, look under the car adjacent to the alternator. The cooler is tucked in behind the alternator bracket and of course hard to see. But if you see this fluid leaking from up there, it's either those o-rings or the epdm pipes. I've just replaced all of mine as insurance as I had the engine out. This (http://nemiga.com/cat_spares/etka/audi/a4q/249u/115700/) shows the oil cooler o-rings and cooler, and this (http://nemiga.com/cat_spares/etka/audi/a4q/249u/121630/) shows the pipework

Awesome. Is this a job that can be done with just taking the passenger wheel and wheel liner out or do I need to take off the front bumper supports. I think that's "Service Position"?

[0396]

the hydraulic fluid from the mounts is a deep red... not pink, closer to purple in colour.

To the OP, good luck with your search. What I learned from this thread, motor mounts are oil filled, never knew that.

[badger.]

This helped me find my oil leak by you seem to have a coolant leak the oil cooler has two rubber hoses that tend to leak so I recommend replacing them also
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ght=Found+leak


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Yes, those two orings fix an oil leak not a coolant leak. However there are two coolant hoses coming/going from the oil cooler that could potentially leak, although I've not heard that they "tend to leak" but I could be wrong? You can see them from underneath if you wiggle some stuff around after removing the splash guard.

OP, sounds like you have two separate issues. Oil on the sway bar and coolant leaking from somewhere. Oil will cling to surfaces if the leak is small enough... I bet your splash guard is coated with oil. Coolant is that pink color and will leave that white crusty residue as it evaporates; that is a good indicator of leak point.

Also note that DIY & associated part you linked for an A6; the S4 does not have an oil cooler like that or in that location. It is entirely different.

[neilpaku]

I'll defer to someone that's done it without an engine pull - apologies1

[Ryanroland]

Yes, those two orings fix an oil leak not a coolant leak. However there are two coolant hoses coming/going from the oil cooler that could potentially leak, although I've not heard that they "tend to leak" but I could be wrong? You can see them from underneath if you wiggle some stuff around after removing the splash guard.

OP, sounds like you have two separate issues. Oil on the sway bar and coolant leaking from somewhere. Oil will cling to surfaces if the leak is small enough... I bet your splash guard is coated with oil. Coolant is that pink color and will leave that white crusty residue as it evaporates; that is a good indicator of leak point.

Also note that DIY & associated part you linked for an A6; the S4 does not have an oil cooler like that or in that location. It is entirely different.

I know its a different car/motor. I'm glad the other people posted better links that have our platform. As for the bar under the motor with oil, I think its road grime sticking to some other liquid. I don't have my belly pan/splash guard. I'm trying to replace those too. I think some shop decided I didn't need them. I've read that they don't just keep dust out of your engine bay but they serve a critical cooling purpose. Anybody else heard something like that?

One DIY I read, they mentioned 8 O-rings being replaced. Is that inside the cooler? I've been looking on ECS and JHM for a complete kit but i just find the individual hoses and general O-rings. Does anyone know where to buy a complete kit to tackle this job?

Im tempted to buy the Bentley manual. I'm getting braver with working on this car after tackling my H&R suspension job myself. PITA by the way. And I'm thinking about tackling my own timing chain service after reading REVO's thread and other home "Chain Warriors" threads. What do you guys think who have the manual?

[badger.]

get the manual

[Ryanroland]

get the manual

Well with one vote for yes and no one opposing it, I guess I have no choice right? LOL.

So I backed the car out today to do some garage cleaning and the puddle was still there. Isn't coolant suppose to evaporate and leave the white residue behind? And it's pretty viscous or oily feeling. Still has a clear and pinkish tone to it, but not as watery as I would've thought. And it's just a smidge on the driver side off center. So I don't think it's leaking from the oil cooler unless it's running along some surface and dripping on the other side of the motor.

Does this sound like a lower radiator hose leak? IDK, I'm thinking I should just take the front off the car and do some digging around. I've never done it before, but hey that's what Audizine and YouTube are for right? I can drive my S2000 for a couple weeks while I work on the problem. I don't want to drive the S4 and have a small leak turn into a complete coolant loss and blown engine.

Any other quick/easy jobs I should tackle while I have the front off?

[REVOofRustler]

I'll go ahead and throw another vote in to get the manual haha

As far as the coolant goes, I don't think it's really "supposed" to evaporate. It's just when it's in a hot area (engine bay) it'll evaporate and the white residue is just what it leaves behind. No real rhyme or reason to it. I had a crack in one of my radiator end tanks which was causing a pool of coolant in my belly pan.

My guess goes towards a coolant leak somewhere, but maybe look at the motor mounts like Lucca mentioned. The stock motor mounts are hydraulic, so maybe one of them tore and started leaking.

[badger.]

Well with one vote for yes and no one opposing it, I guess I have no choice right? LOL.

So I backed the car out today to do some garage cleaning and the puddle was still there. Isn't coolant suppose to evaporate and leave the white residue behind? And it's pretty viscous or oily feeling. Still has a clear and pinkish tone to it, but not as watery as I would've thought. And it's just a smidge on the driver side off center. So I don't think it's leaking from the oil cooler unless it's running along some surface and dripping on the other side of the motor.

Does this sound like a lower radiator hose leak? IDK, I'm thinking I should just take the front off the car and do some digging around. I've never done it before, but hey that's what Audizine and YouTube are for right? I can drive my S2000 for a couple weeks while I work on the problem. I don't want to drive the S4 and have a small leak turn into a complete coolant loss and blown engine.

Any other quick/easy jobs I should tackle while I have the front off?

If it is oily, it may be transmission fluid. That is reddish in color. Do you have a tiptronic? The transmission cooler lines head up and right under the oil cooler before connecting to the radiator. There are some fittings there that might be seeping fluid. Although that is mostly on the passenger side... so maybe not The lines connect to the trans on the driver side then cross over the passenger side around where the trans and motor are joined then turn front towards the bumper from there.


re: manual. FWIW I did a lot to the car without it. I only bought it immediately prior to the timing job/engine pull. You could probably get by without it for the vast majority if not all jobs by searching and asking around this and other forums; there are a ton of great DIYs and threads with pictures and torque specs and part numbers for all sorts of jobs, etc, but it can be a little more work to try and find them and slows down some DIYs while you wait for responses. But for $100 and the online access, an old laptop in the garage can really help speed things up. If you are less anal about torque specs and nitty gritty technical procedures it might not be worth it. For me it was.

[Ryanroland]

Thanks for the input everyone. I am considering doing the timing chain service, so I might as well pick it up and get familiar with it. I've read that you need XP to run the DVD or a virtual machine program to make it think you're running XP. Then I saw that there is online access that can run on any OS.

I hope that's the case. Is there a difference between the $130 one on Bentleys website and the $94 on Amazon as far as online access goes?

[badger.]

Thanks for the input everyone. I am considering doing the timing chain service, so I might as well pick it up and get familiar with it. I've read that you need XP to run the DVD or a virtual machine program to make it think you're running XP. Then I saw that there is online access that can run on any OS.

I hope that's the case. Is there a difference between the $130 one on Bentleys website and the $94 on Amazon as far as online access goes?

I bought mine from ECS for just under $100 I think? I run the browser version 99% of the time. Works just fine on my Win7 x64 laptop, no need for XP or anything.

I also have it running on my desktop (Win7 Pro x64) in an XP virtual machine although I really have no need to run it that way since the browser version is easier to get going.

[Ryanroland]

So I got under the car while it was running to search around for the source of the leak, and the damn thing wouldn't lead a drop!! I did notice that the metal piece that is close to the edge of the oil pan is weeping some oil, and I saw some pink wetness around some coolant pipes but it wouldn't drip. With the amount of fluid that was under the car, it's hard to imagine that it won't leak while the car was running for 10 minutes. I wish I would've taken some pictures while I was under there. Ill get it on the ramps again and take pictures next time

[Ryanroland]

Pink fluid, and some oil. I wonder if the oil is making its way down from somewhere else. Could the coolant be leaking from a blown gasket?

Is this the coolant drain plug?

Some fresh oil out of the rear of the oil pan or could be running down from somewhere else

While I've got your attention, what is this cracked bushing?


This is the Grime or oil that I noticed on the sway bar and behind the oil pan. Again, I'm not losing enough oil to notice, and wondering if its just road grease and grime because I don't have any belly pans



And I ordered my Bentley manual from ECS today. Gotta look up how to get the online access without an old computer.

[REVOofRustler]

Send some emails to Bentley CS and ask them if they can set you up with the online beta. It's something they have to do on their end.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Audizine mobile app

[roboto_1337]

Your cracked bushing is the snub mount. Easy to replace and reasonably priced. As mentioned common places for the oil leaks are valley pan gasket, VC gaskets and the o-rings on the oil cooler.

[neilpaku]

Your sixth photo from the bottom shows the "silver" coolant cross-pipe that crosses the front of the block in the vicinity of the oil pan. I notice the coolant drip underneath the water pump boss that the pipe plugs into. There's an o-ring behind that - could be leaking there. I'd lay a big sheet of clean paper down under the engine, start it, go inside for a coffee and checkup on audizine : ) and then go out later and see if you can see any telltale on the paper. If not, sit in the car for ten minutes at high idle, say 2000rpm, and see if that produces anything. You want it to run down without being blown around by air movement (fans will obviously mess with that a bit but you could leave the hood open to reduce the impact.

[Ryanroland]

I put down a big piece of cardboard and the leak was only dripping from the one spot in the pictures that has the pink fluid. It finally started to drip again over the last two days. I couldn't get it to drip while running it for 10 minutes on normal idle as I mentioned above.

I appreciate all the input guys. I can do the valley pan gasket, VC gaskets, and the water pump o-ring without fulling removing the front end right? I ordered the carrier lock pins from ECS also. I guess I'll have to wait for my DVD or online code so I can plan out my attack on these misc jobs. I want to do my timing chains also but don't want to do it until it's necessary. My list of ToDo's is getting long but not intimidating at least.

With where the drips are coming from, does it seem safe to drive with some extra coolant in the trunk? I was worried about a hose leaking, but from what I can see it seems like gaskets or o-rings.

Can anyone suggest things I should tackle while I have the coolant flushed and the bumper off? I'd like to be efficient while I'm getting that stuff out.

[neilpaku]

I used to have to fill my A6's coolant on every trip. Kept a jug in the back. So long as it doesn't get too low (i.e. put more in when the light comes on) then you'll be fine. My heater core was leaking but on the C4, that's an easy job.
That cross-tube needs to pull out about an inch, inch and a half maybe so you can change the o-ring. Check if you have that much room - if not, good thing you orderd those pins : )
You might need to loosen the other end up. If you do, and you change that end, it's just an oblong "o-ring" in a groove in the block so the tube doesn't have to come out much for you to change it. However, I think one screw is hidden behind the snub mount so you'll have to loosen that up. Turns out you need to change your snub mount rubber anyway so kill two birds with one stone

[Tiny2000]

I have a similar pink leak, was told by my mechanic the auxilliary radiator is cracked. Expensive fix. Not worth it to me, so I will just keep refilling as needed.

Surprisingly it is not a constant leak, sort of self-seals from time to time.

[Ryanroland]

So I got the DVD and got online within a day to use the beta. It's awesome. Very technical, but even just the few days I've been browsing it, I've become more familiar with the program and terminology.

So today I took off the bumper. I need to order the o-rings and probably gonna knock out the snub mount while I'm at it.

I've been feeling a little lazy about getting the project started, but I really want to get the S back on the road.

[Ryanroland]

The culprit:


This is the replacement gasket per the dealership and parts diagram. I wonder if they changed the part because of failures or if the previous owner used the wrong part

[badger.]

You found it! Awesome. That looks pretty mangled.

[neilpaku]

That gasket on my engine wasn't as bad as that, but the oblong one on the other end of that pipe was pretty crumbly. Luckily it's compressed on the face so didn't have anywhere to go. The green o-ring is much better, but the oblong one is still the black type. I guess I'll replace it in another 100k...

[Ryanroland]

That gasket on my engine wasn't as bad as that, but the oblong one on the other end of that pipe was pretty crumbly. Luckily it's compressed on the face so didn't have anywhere to go. The green o-ring is much better, but the oblong one is still the black type. I guess I'll replace it in another 100k...

So the other side that you're talking about was pretty much non-existent. The outline was there, but no actual rubber on either of the contact surfaces. I bought another one ($17 FML, online is like 7-10 but didn't want to wait anymore) I'm surprised there was no leak out of that side.

So another question, The RM (repair manual) says to fill the VAG tool for coolant filling with 12L of coolant. How much does our car actually use? I bought the coolant flush kit from ECS and it came with 3L. I went to AUDI to buy some parts and forgot I ordered the kit so I bought 2 gallons of concentrate which will yield 16L.

[neilpaku]

I bought a gallon of VW G12 and a 1.58qt of Pentofrost SF, mixed them both 50:50 with distilled water, and ended up with about quart of mix left over, from a bone dry system (maybe the heater core still had some in it but nothing else did).
So that's 2 gallons and 2 qts of 50:50 mix

[Ryanroland]

Car is all back together with new snub mount and no coolant leaks. In the process of doing the flush still. Had to leave for work, so I'll finish tomorrow and get the bumper back on.

Still weeping a little oil and I cleaned off some caked grease and oil from the heads. Doesn't look like a gasket leak from heads or VCs. Someone mentioned in another thread about oil at the front of the engine and they said there is a seal behind the crank pulley and is likely the cause. Question is, would a leak there spray small amount of oil because of the constant spinning?

So awesome when you fix one thing just to discover another. I'm glad I'm doing this though. I've always loved working on my older hondas, but was intimidated to get into the more advanced jobs. Wife is getting me a big rolling toolbox for Christmas. Little does she know that means I'm going to be buying more tools to fill it with

[0396]

Congrats with your success . You Da Man

[badger.]

Car is all back together with new snub mount and no coolant leaks. In the process of doing the flush still. Had to leave for work, so I'll finish tomorrow and get the bumper back on.

Still weeping a little oil and I cleaned off some caked grease and oil from the heads. Doesn't look like a gasket leak from heads or VCs. Someone mentioned in another thread about oil at the front of the engine and they said there is a seal behind the crank pulley and is likely the cause. Question is, would a leak there spray small amount of oil because of the constant spinning?

So awesome when you fix one thing just to discover another. I'm glad I'm doing this though. I've always loved working on my older hondas, but was intimidated to get into the more advanced jobs. Wife is getting me a big rolling toolbox for Christmas. Little does she know that means I'm going to be buying more tools to fill it with

I'm not sure if it would necessarily "spray" out, I think any gap that large would lose a lot of oil very fast. But any leakage/seepage would get oil on the shaft/crank pulley and just fling it everywhere anyway.

re: toolbox - I am so jealous. I've been asking for one for a few years with no success One of these days I'm just going to buy one myself lol

[Ryanroland]

Whats the deal with the bumper retention bolts not lining up? The long bolts that are behind the fog grill covers. I may have tightened the screw out of order but should it be so far off? Arghh I just want to drive my S dammit!

Hey BTW the Schwaben tool for coolant refill via the venturi system (Vacuum) is pretty sweet. Excited to try it on my other cars.

Any suggestion on where I messed up on the bumper? I guess the worst case scenario is I take out all the bumper bolts, and wheels and start the process over in the right order.