[s-cars] Coolant leak

[Fred Munro]

Ha! Welcome to the -30 rad leak club, Bob. My '94 did the same thing a
couple of weeks ago and now sports a new rad. I think the aluminium core
(and the header tank crimps) shrinks in the cold and the old gasket between
the header tank and the core can't accommodate the shrinkage.  It was the
right side of my rad that was leaking as well. The leak came and went
depending on ambient temperature, but eventually came and stayed.

I've never liked the stop leak stuff, figuring it would clog up the heater
and rad cores as well as the leaks. In this case, I don't know how effective
it would be. It's designed to plug a core leak and what you probably have is
a fairly extensive gasket leak at the head tank.

You are going to need a new rad anyway, so I'd recommend you bite the bullet
and replace it. I didn't want to do it myself at -30 and I also didn't want
to poison the local wildlife for the rest of the winter, so I had the dealer
replace mine. The price for the OEM rad was around $600 so I had the dealer
order an aftermarket rad for $320 - it came in a plain brown box, was made
in Germany, had the Audi logos cast into the header tanks, and was actually
an OEM part for around half price. Can't beat that deal. It took about 5
hours to install and I had the thermostat and block heater cord replaced as
well while the front was pulled off.

Good luck with whatever course you choose!

Fred Munro
'94 S4

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Bob Frizzell
Sent: January 31, 2004 8:40 PM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] Coolant leak


S-men,
We're in a deep freeze up here in Alberta and my car's developed a coolant
leak.  I've looked for the source a bit and it seems to be from the right
side of the radiator about 3 inches from the bottom.  I'm not up to pulling
the rad out until the weather warms up a bit.  Do any of you have an opinion
on the stuff you pour in the radiator (such as Bar's leak).  Does it do any
harm to the water pump, water jackets or anything else?  Is there one that
actually is effective?
Always appreciative of your opinions,
Bob
93 S4 freezing in Edmonton.
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