coolant leakage (*%#*!!)

[Kerry Griffith]

Thanks Bernie. I'm certain that the leak is either  a. the new cap my 
tech installed to fix the leak, or b. the threaded portion of the tank 
to which the cap is affixed, or c. the base of the threaded area. I 
carefully watched to find coolant emanating from that area, and the 
hole of which you speak remained dry since the flow was toward the rear 
of the tank.
The instant my mother-in-law arrived in her Allroad, I whipped the hood 
up in hopes of a known good cap with which to determine whether cap or 
tank is the culprit, since your admonition to find the leak with 
certainty is crucial.  Alas, parts bin engineering doesn't span this 
particular fifteen year gap.

FWIW, I took a 15 minute spin primarily at highway speeds to see how 
she runs. Oil and coolant temps stayed low, full boost was present, and 
the car ran perfectly smoothly. Don't know if that says nay to a blown 
head gasket or other nastiness like a cracked block or head, but I'll 
bet you do.  :-)

Best regards,
Kerry
'91 200q with arguably more new parts than old.


On Sunday, July 17, 2005, at 06:36 PM, Bernie Benz wrote:

> Another possibility re tank leakage, BTDT on the same 5K  tank.  The 
> round
> hole in the top of the reservoir beside the cap, a weld point joining 
> the
> two halves, cracked down near the weld area.  I drilled a center hole 
> thru
> to the mating bottom recess and with a thru bolt and washers and Si 
> caulk,
> eliminated the problem.  Find the leak with certainty!
>
> Bernie
>
>> From: Kerry Griffith <i2k at xmission.com>
>> Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2005 17:49:02 -0600
>> To: 200q20v at audifans.com
>> Subject: Re: coolant leakage (*%#*!!)
>>
>> The viscosity of the plot changes. After some archival searching, I'm
>> think that my fan wouldn't operate if the fusible link was bad- but
>> let's not forget Darwin- I'm far from q-knowledgeable.
>> More importantly, I became concerned about possible head gasket
>> failure. So I started the car and watched to see if bubbles would
>> arrive in the expansion tank. I had refilled the system (50/50
>> h2o/coolant) to replace the 32 fl oz that had escaped. Backed car from
>> garage so incline of driveway caused coolant in expansion tank to rise
>> to inside of cap. Lo and behold, coolant began leaking from beneath 
>> the
>> (new) cap immediately. Ambient temp and temp of motor 77F -car hadn't
>> been started for 24 hours.
>>
>> So I'm back to wondering if the plastic tank has cracked threads, or 
>> if
>> there's some weird blockage elsewhere in the coolant pathway causing
>> pressure sufficient for coolant to be forced through the cap- I assume
>> the odd looking black plastic thingy inside the cap is a valve to 
>> allow
>> for such an event.
>> I'm very much hoping that it's just the tank- even I can replace that.
>> Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> TIA,
>> Kerry
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sunday, July 17, 2005, at 04:25 PM, Phil Rose wrote:
>>
>>> At 2:02 PM -0600 7/17/05, Kerry Griffith wrote:
>>>> Cracked threads or tank is my hope and my assumption. If anyone can
>>>> explain a different cause of this symptom (other than a loose cap),
>>>> I'd like to know.
>>>
>>> Your previous post was about leakage when your car "gets hot enough",
>>> so I've gotta ask the obvious:  is the radiator fan working properly
>>> at that point (i.e., at stage-3 speed)?  Is the 80-amp fusible link
>>> intact?
>>>
>>> Phil
>>> -- 
>>>
>>> Phil Rose
>>> Rochester, NY
>>> mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 200q20v mailing list  http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v
>