Coolant leak - Investigation ideas

[Crippso]

As @roadtripper mentioned above it sounds like you stopped during a DPF regeneration. Carista Beta will show when the last re-gen was carried out, plus many other useful functions. An engine coolant system temperature will briefly rise just after shutdown as the airflow over the radiators is stopped and the engine is still dissipating residual heat.
My advice is still as Post #4.

Thanks @roadtripper and @DXX I don't have carista but did order one yesterday funnily enough. I'm no mechanic but figured it would be maybe useful. So I don't know if it was doing a regen. But have read similar on other threads so makes sense. It's booked in now with VW at end of the month. Hopefully they'll be of the same mind around the EGR @DXX. I'll certainly mention that.

 

[DXX]

It's booked in now with VW at end of the month

It’ll be much cheaper at an independent VW specialist.

 

[Crippso]

Thanks @roadtripper and @DXX I don't have carista but did order one yesterday funnily enough. I'm no mechanic but figured it would be maybe useful. So I don't know if it was doing a regen. But have read similar on other threads so makes sense. It's booked in now with VW at end of the month. Hopefully they'll be of the same mind around the EGR @DXX. I'll certainly mention that.

Hi all,
So the van went into a VW commercial van centre today. They called at lunchtime to say they found the problem. Confirmed coolant leak in the EGR. Whilst not ideal, I'm just happy to now know what the issue is. Hopefully that will solve it.

I know a few people on here suggested it would be that. So you were dead right!

Thanks
Stuart

 

[Piwii123]

Thanks @mmi all info very helpful. I have been busy reading through.

With regards the injector leak off test, this wasn't offered by the garage he just wanted to stick a set of four in and see if it made a difference. No Fault finding or diagnostics involved. I think he's just too busy to try and work out what the problem is. I think I need to find someone else or resort to trying to fix it myself.

One interesting thing I noticed over the last few days is, the longer you leave it between starts the worse it gets. So start stop during the day, starts again no problem and runs fine. Leave it for 5 hours it's a little bit rough and clears up fairly quickly. Leave it overnight and it's quite bad and takes a while to clear. Leave it for two days and runs really rough like the video. I've also noticed it smells very strong of fumes around the vehicle.

So I was thinking what if one of the injectors was leaking fuel into the cylinder when it's off. Could this cause the engine to run that rough? If so what would be the best way to test my theory?

GSF do a crankshaft sensor for £25 quid so I could just stick one in to rule that out.

One thing I forgot to say to help everyone else with diagnosing coolant loss, to rule out head gasket check if the coolant tank is pressurised when cold along with a combustion test.

Thanks all

When you say pressurised - do you mean any pressure at all? Or a really obvious amount with bubbles etc? Sometimes Im getting a very light hiss as I open the cap, but not anything dramatic

 

[Fasty-123]

When you say pressurised - do you mean any pressure at all? Or a really obvious amount with bubbles etc? Sometimes Im getting a very light hiss as I open the cap, but not anything dramatic

I think a little hiss is normal, mine was quite obvious it was under a lot of pressure when you took the cap if when cold. Also colour of the coolant went from bright pink to a muddy brown.

If you suspect head gasket, would recommend getting the combustion test. Mine was quite clear the liquid change from blue to green. See picture