Coolant leak

[eclipse1]

My 2011 A4 that I recently bought with super high mileage (200k) is losing coolant. It was totally empty when I got the car. Added coolant but it kept dropping slowly. I haven't seen any wet spots or drips until I decided to do an oil change. When I drove the car on the ramp to drain the oil, I noticed it started dripping down from somewhere up and running down the oil pan. The car had at least 6-7 quarts of oil in it which is totally unusual. Made a huge mess as it overflow the oil catch pan.

I didn't see any signs of coolant in the engine oil but it was somewhere up where I couldn't locate the source of the leak. I'm confused about why it started dripping when the car front was lifted on the ramp.
Anyone have any clues and advise on how to find the source without taking all these parts out? I'm trying to see if I can find a camera that I can fish in that area and see where it's coming from.
It's not always losing the coolant. It's not empty and I haven't added any coolant in several days. It seems to happen when the car is at certain angle!

[MongoMcG]

My 2011 A4 that I recently bought with super high mileage (200k) is losing coolant. It was totally empty when I got the car. Added coolant but it kept dropping slowly. I haven't seen any wet spots or drips until I decided to do an oil change. When I drove the car on the ramp to drain the oil, I noticed it started dripping down from somewhere up and running down the oil pan. The car had at least 6-7 quarts of oil in it which is totally unusual. Made a huge mess as it overflow the oil catch pan.

I didn't see any signs of coolant in the engine oil but it was somewhere up where I couldn't locate the source of the leak. I'm confused about why it started dripping when the car front was lifted on the ramp.
Anyone have any clues and advise on how to find the source without taking all these parts out? I'm trying to see if I can find a camera that I can fish in that area and see where it's coming from.
It's not always losing the coolant. It's not empty and I haven't added any coolant in several days. It seems to happen when the car is at certain angle!

The mileage would indicate a probable failure of the water pump seal to the block (gasket leak). The water pump is located on the driver's side of the engine block below the intake manifold. The gasket often loses it's seal because the plastic body of the water pump has warped. A good flashlight will help you see around the pump for evidence of a leak.

It has been posited that the plastic on the water pump warps because of oil seeping down from a leaky cam tray (valve cover) seal.

If it is the water pump, then new kits are available that include the water pump, bolts, thermostat, and thermostat housing. The after market aluminum water pumps do not have a good track record. The repair is relatively involved, but not difficult and requires only a couple of hand tools you may not have yet.

Here's the process if your deciding whether to DIY - this guy does it in 20 minutes, but he's done a few hundred.:


As far as waiting for the tilt of the car before dripping - some coolant was likely pooled on the block below the water pump.

[MongoMcG]

Also (if the coolant gets low) there tends to be an air gap left in the heater core when refilling coolant. This air gap can negatively impact the cooling system and you usually don't get warm air from your heater when this happens. Most cats just keep topping off the coolant to max and driving the car car with the heat on. After doing this about 5 times over a few drives/days the air gets purged. The correct fill process involves using a vacuum system designed to draw in the coolant and fill up all the gaps, but the topping off thing seems to work just fine. Before I got the vacuum tool I would just idle the car in the driveway with the coolant reservoir cap loosened and the heater on high, topping off multiple times to purge the air from the system. It's important to use the proper coolant. The B8 originally called for G12 coolant, but has been replaced by G13. It is okay to mix old G12 and new G13.

[Theiceman]

Before throwing any parts at it pressurize the coolant system and look for leaks. any rad shop should be able to do this fairly quickly .
You don't want to be throwing parts at it unnecesarily, . but that said , I do consider the water pump pm at that mileage .

more concerning to me is the amount of oil in the car ..

there are several possible reason for that and none of them are good.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Audizine Forum mobile app

[redrackham17]

My 2011 A4 that I recently bought with super high mileage (200k) is losing coolant. It was totally empty when I got the car. Added coolant but it kept dropping slowly. I haven't seen any wet spots or drips until I decided to do an oil change. When I drove the car on the ramp to drain the oil, I noticed it started dripping down from somewhere up and running down the oil pan. The car had at least 6-7 quarts of oil in it which is totally unusual. Made a huge mess as it overflow the oil catch pan.

I didn't see any signs of coolant in the engine oil but it was somewhere up where I couldn't locate the source of the leak. I'm confused about why it started dripping when the car front was lifted on the ramp.
Anyone have any clues and advise on how to find the source without taking all these parts out? I'm trying to see if I can find a camera that I can fish in that area and see where it's coming from.
It's not always losing the coolant. It's not empty and I haven't added any coolant in several days. It seems to happen when the car is at certain angle!

Yea everybody else is giving good advice. I would first verify under pressure at a rad shop as Theiceman said. If the water pump is the culprit and assuming you're somewhat mechanically inclined, I would block off a whole day (preferably a Saturday in case you can't finish and have to continue on Sunday) and get it done. You'll probably be removing the intake manifold to get to the water pump; removing the coolant reservoir mounted onto the strut tower is not necessary, but I would probably do it anyway in your case since you have so much mileage and will end up flushing the coolant anyway. While you have the manifold off, it's a good idea to replace your injectors too. It's a huge PITA to take that whole manifold off just for injectors, and given the mileage, it's just preventative maintenance for you. With new injectors, a new water pump, and a new coolant reservoir, flush out the cooling system with G13 coolant (it's the newest grade from Audi and will work fine in your car) and you should be good to go. The reservoir, 4 injectors, water pump, and a quart of G13 can all be found at FCP Euro for probably a grand total of $350 or so if you only buy OEM. Best of luck to you.

[eclipse1]

Thanks for all the good advice. Interestingly, coolant hasn't dropped since the oil change last weekend. The only time I noticed it was dropping when it was inclined. I'm trying to acquire a camera to fish up in the hard to reach spaces and find out where it's leaking from. The heater didn't work when I first got the car (coolant was empty), after adding coolant, it started working. This car came up with 13 codes when I scanned. ECP code came up and car stalled a few times in the parking lot before the oil change. It's running fine so far.
Plan on spending some time to look into all the issues and see what all I need to address.

Will update this thread soon.
Thanks again.