[s-cars] Disappearing antifreeze

[Tom Green]

>
The OEM Audi coolant and the Pentosin coolant equivalents will all  
leave a white trace or splatter pattern from even the smallest of  
coolant leaks.  If you are using this coolant,  you have to be  
incompetent not to find the leak source in only minutes of searching,  
or have a very dirty engine compartment.   If you are using the green  
stuff,  then leaks can be more difficult to find, especially
in the Chicago winter.  : > )

These parts have been mentioned several times as candidates for  
preventative maintenance changes because of the numerous failures.   
Dave F's FAQ reference gives you all the needed
details.  If the fitting cracks completely while at highway speed, the  
coolant loss will be so rapid that preventing engine overheat damage  
may not be possible.

Tom

> Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:02:21 -0500
> From: mtgadbois at aol.com
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Disappearing aintifreeze
> To: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Message-ID: <8CB3A8CE6E67BAB-36C-311 at WEBMAIL-DG08.sim.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> To those who gave suggestions, thank you.
>
> The cause of the problem turned out to be the black plastic  
> connector beyond the back of the cylinder head.? The connector joins  
> the heater core hose and a hose from the engine.? It also holds a  
> coolant temperature sensor.? Both arms of the connector had broken  
> but with the hose clamps in place everything looked fine.? Only  
> until the loss of coolant rose to a significant level was it was  
> somewhat easy to see the wet area.? Towards the end I was loosing a  
> quart a day.? I went directly to the steeler for the part - $21  
> special order.? It's a 10 minute job to replace, add in another 20  
> minutes to carefully remove the sensor, clean it (I greased it up)  
> and reassemble on the new piece.? By the way I have 147K miles and  
> if you have not replaced yours, I bet yours is broken too.? Remember  
> I was leaking coolant for the past 2 years, it was only noticeable  
> in the winter and I only added coolant in the winter - probably only  
> 2 quarts in total until this winter.?
>
> Thanks again and Happy New Year,
>
> Mark near Chicago