Losing Coolant

[Petehelmet]

Ok so posted a couple of weeks back about my temp gauge beeping and flashing red and indeed as advised it required a small amount of water, about half a cup if that. Since then even though I have seen no signs of a leak I've had to do the same thing twice. So Van was booked in for a service last Friday and check for water leak which they couldn't find exactly were it was coming from but said it was defiantly losing water.
They have now discovered intercooler is at fault but there is a back log on the parts required with the earliest part arriving on the 14th of Nov but still would be missing other parts to compete work. Need my Van back as its all nicely racked out with my kit for work and I'm currently driving a Caddy which while it is awesome on fuel it not MY Van.
Be aware they have advised me this is becoming a common issue, has anybody else had this problem ?

 

[Johnathan R]

hi guys, just looking for some advice as my dealer isn't filling me with much confidence. I'm having an ongoing coolant loss issue with my 204 dsg T6. it started when I took it in explained I had topped it up 2 weeks prior which wasn't alarming then it happed again. They booked it in did a pressure test on the coolant circuit, yes its dropping, new egr cooler required. Cool its fixed no drama. A week later, low coolant. checked the bottle as I thought it may have been a bit of trapped air escaping after the work being done and it might have just dipped below min, no bottle nearly empty! Back to the dealer, booked it in, they did another pressure test, cold and after a 40mile drive, no pressure drop! I was some what sceptical but you are in their hands, I asked about possible causes as I said it must be going somewhere, the master technician told me to bear with him and keep an eye on it and if it happens again don't top it up have it recovered so they can see the level ( pointless in my eyes as the vans memory stores every fault logged). One week past sure enough low coolant again, rang recovery, the guy said technically he could top it up and it was drivable but if I really wanted to push for recovery I could, by this time though I missed the garage closing on the Saturday so no point recovering it anyway. Rang them Monday explained what had happened and was told if I wanted to top it up and drive it in that was fine, go figure. Did some more tests and passed the results to vw technical. Phone call Tuesday charge cooler apparently, phone call today, its not that its actually gearbox oil cooler. I'm not sure what to make of it, is it even that. If so has it been filling the gearbox up with water, has it damaged it? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[DPS]

hi guys, just looking for some advice as my dealer isn't filling me with much confidence. I'm having an ongoing coolant loss issue with my 204 dsg T6. it started when I took it in explained I had topped it up 2 weeks prior which wasn't alarming then it happed again. They booked it in did a pressure test on the coolant circuit, yes its dropping, new egr cooler required. Cool its fixed no drama. A week later, low coolant. checked the bottle as I thought it may have been a bit of trapped air escaping after the work being done and it might have just dipped below min, no bottle nearly empty! Back to the dealer, booked it in, they did another pressure test, cold and after a 40mile drive, no pressure drop! I was some what sceptical but you are in their hands, I asked about possible causes as I said it must be going somewhere, the master technician told me to bear with him and keep an eye on it and if it happens again don't top it up have it recovered so they can see the level ( pointless in my eyes as the vans memory stores every fault logged). One week past sure enough low coolant again, rang recovery, the guy said technically he could top it up and it was drivable but if I really wanted to push for recovery I could, by this time though I missed the garage closing on the Saturday so no point recovering it anyway. Rang them Monday explained what had happened and was told if I wanted to top it up and drive it in that was fine, go figure. Did some more tests and passed the results to vw technical. Phone call Tuesday charge cooler apparently, phone call today, its not that its actually gearbox oil cooler. I'm not sure what to make of it, is it even that. If so has it been filling the gearbox up with water, has it damaged it? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I had very similar symptoms after covering only 900 miles from new. Was identified as a faulty EGR . This was replaced under warranty and have not had an issue since, although I have to say that I have only covered 400 miles from replacement. I have a 150 DSG.

 

[Andy Cody]

My T6 had a hairline crack in the coolant bottle (around the drain connection) when it was about a year old. Worth a look.

 

[Loz]

Have heard of a few cases of the oil cooler seal causing this.

 

[Jay]

At least 4 of our new work vans are off the road with this same issue. All less than 4 weeks old. Been told its egr cooler but will have to wait and see.

 

[Johnathan R]

I’ve just heard back, definitely gearbox oil cooler, apparently it will have just been filling it up with coolant, so needs a flush, clean and new oil cooler. Only problem is they are on back order and won’t be here for 10 days. Pleased to be getting to the bottom of it.

 

[Shredder]

Oh Hell ! .... I've got this. Great to see what it can be if the dealer has no clue. GOD ! I just didn't want my van anywhere a main dealer treating it like a commercial vehicle. Got no choice for Warranty work.

I'm totally unimpressed with build quality, or the lack of it so far....

I also have this "white mayo" issue discussed on the Forum (thanks to Forum for making me even check). The windscreen scuttle isn't flush and sealed against the screen ..... like slightly buckled in areas, like someone has tried to prise it off if that makes sense. The windscreen wiper blades are in the wrong place and need adjusting.

The passenger electric window winding mechanism went on the Merc after about 6 yrs. That was it. So far, I've had the T6 for a few hours and done about 220 miles and have more faults than through the entire life of the Vito

 

[Johnathan R]

Well I may be sorted this time but time will tell. I had the gearbox oil cooler changed, got it back, same thing. Back in and this time I’ve had a whole new cylinder head. To be fair to the dealer I guess they are just doing what VW are telling them to do. Changing inexpensive components first in the hope it cures it.

 

[Shredder]

Sound like big jobs. Your van must be at the dealer for days at a time?? Very scary prospect for me with all the stories of how dealers treat things. They are just not used to vans like these...

From stories, it seems getting your van back with scratches and dings is commonplace and the dealers don't see it as an issue

 

[Johnathan R]

Yea out of the last four months it has been off the road about 6/7 weeks in total.

 

[Shredder]

Not great is it. Mine's going in now

 

[Petehelmet]

Mine also had a new cylinder head after 30k plus miles due to water leak that they couldn't find, had it a total of 10 weeks in the end but on the plus side its been fine for the last 10k. It gets so depressing when you haven't got your van, I had a transit as my loan vehicle and seriously considered getting rid of mine and buying one as I was so pissed off with VW but as soon as I got in mine the driving experience is so much nicer than the Ford all was forgotten.

 

[Shredder]

I've been lucky. Leighton Vans have been more than great. I only rang them for advice on going to a VW dealer with this coolant issue. I was looking for and expecting no more than a VW main dealer recommendation ... someone who would correctly look after vans of this level.

Instead, Leighton said, we'll be at your house tomorrow to pick it up on a trailer (210 miles away). We'll take it to our own trusted dealer for you. Not only that, they have a relationship with a specific mechanic at that dealer who is the only one who works on Leighton's Vans. My van will be stored inside Leighton's showroom as well whilst waiting for the booking rather than stored outside in a busy dealer pound.

Leighton knew all about this coolant issue that occurs on some vans and I got MUCH better service and advice from them than VW customer services. Leighton said, do not top the coolant up and start/drive it, leave it where it is. They knew what the potential problems could be. VW said they had no idea what it could be and to drive it to any local VW commercial dealer - no thanks !!!

On top of all that, Leighton brought this on the trailer to leave with me whilst mine is sorted. I don't think after-sales service and de-stressing an OCD customer comes any better than that

 

[RichardS]

Have 2 T6 204 with same problem. One has been in the garage for 17 weeks. Okay VW gave us Q7 on loan all this time but it’s not the point. Terrible build quality for so many of us having lose of coolant problems. Time taken down to dealer waiting on tool from Germany to remove engine. Truth? I wonder if they have been waiting in VW to come up with a fix?
Guess what, we then found the second T6 we purchased developed the same problem. This one operates in different county so being repaired by different dealer. It’s had new coolant reservoir, new EGR and been in the garage 6 times in the last 12 weeks. Don’t get these problems with cheap Citroen’s. crazy VW not owning up to this problem but it appears this is how they operate.
Anyone else who has this problem, do you find the low coolant warning comes on after the engine has been running for a couple minutes from cold? If you stop, unscrew the coolant bottle cap and replace it the light can stay out for 50 or miles before it comes back on again.
The dealer is great but I have more important things to do than keep dropping off my £50K van for days at a time to deal with this problem. I’m told the first van has now been repaired so about to collect it. We will see if what they have done this time after 17 weeks has permanently resolved the problem.

 

[Chris Hewitt]

My 4 motion has this issue. Dealer changed egr which was leaking, corroded and had misplaced gasket on but still same issue after new egr 1 month ago.
Now stuck with a crappy caddy with tools on show and £750 excess should it be attacked for my gear on calls.
Anyone got an idea on this cause yet?
Now no signs of external leaks so the fear is it's internal engine or gearbox. Had I been adding 100ml of water through the oil filler every few 1000 miles, I'm sure they would reject the 100k warranty. Should this warrant a rebuild?!
Thanks

 

[Allee]

I’ve been reading couple of threads now about this problem. I have the exact same problem, been to VW 4 times now.

Did anyone get a solution? What was the problem?

 

[Johnathan R]

In the end I had a full new cylinder head as it had a crack in it. Took them a while before they would commit to take the head off and inspect it !!

 

[DXX]

Are these Euro 6 issues?

 

[Loz]

Not really, any engine can get a cracked cylinder head.