mysterious coolant leak

[Feelstranger]

For what it's worth, I replaced my tank at one point for a similar reason. 
Only thing was I still had a slow leak.  Turned out that the aftermarket 
tank was defective, with a leak at the seam of top and bottom!
Took me a while to figure out it wasn't the cap leaking.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "michael" <mdearing at mhtc.net>
To: <200q20v at audifans.com>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: mysterious coolant leak


> My mysterious coolant leak had different symptoms.  I report it hear
> because so many of you kindly offered your suggestions.
> My symptoms were loss of coolant during the Winter as noticed by the
> reservoir going to minimum (telltale) over the Winter but with no
> drops visible below the engine.
> Three weeks ago the source became obvious, the hose fitting on the
> bottom of the reservoir broke off.  I believe it had been the source
> of the leak during the Winter when a hair line crack in the plastic
> contracted and expanded.
> I replaced the reservoir and sensor with an after market one that was
> a perfect match, bolt holes and everything.
> - Michael
>
> On Jan 2, 2008, at 2:00 PM, 200q20v-request at audifans.com wrote:
>
>> Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 04:44:59 -0500
>> From: <alancordeiro at att.net>
>> Subject: trying to find a mysterious coolant leak, could it be a water
>> pump going bad?
>> To: <200q20v at audifans.com>
>> Message-ID: <000801c84d24$241dbff0$6707c6c6 at alce3100>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Over the last few days, the car has begun to drip coolant from
>> under the engine pan.
>> I have not been able to pin-point the source.
>>
>> Last night I recalled that there has been a recent startup clatter
>> that has been bothering me.
>> It started about two weeks ago, begins at the first cold engine
>> start, and goes away after a
>> few minutes of running. I suddenly came to me that perhaps the two
>> are related and I have
>> a water pump going bad. If this really is the case, and the pump
>> seizes while operating,
>> I could lose the engine......
>>
>> Has anyone else seem such a problem. The water pump and idler
>> pulley were
>> replaced along with the last timing belt swap about three years and
>> 55k miles ago.
>> The miles have been mostly freeway, the timing belt looks brand
>> new...I figured
>> I could stretch this change out another 10k miles beyond the 60k.
>>
>> Has anyone else seen a similar issue. and found a coolant leak not
>> related
>> to the water pump. Else has someone had a water pump go bad....what
>> are the symptoms when it does? Nothing in the archives describes
>> this case,
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Alan
>
> _______________________________________________
> 200q20v mailing list http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v
>