1G Coolant Leak; Reservoir Drain Hose?

RTICWOLF · Feb 20, 2006

Hello everyone!
I did a search for this issue and only found one post where it was even mentioned, but not any sort of solution. I know that my coolant leak is on the right (passenger) side and looks like its coming from the drain hose on the coolant overflow reservior. It seems to leak when first started in the morning (the colder it is, the more it leaks actually) and if left idiling in the driveway to warm up. Once driven it no longer leaks and will not for the rest of the day.

It takes about a week for the coolant light to come on and if I add coolant to the resevoir, which is low, the light goes out as expected.
My question is why in the world this coolant comes out of the hose like that and is there a way to stop it from happening? The car is a 2.0 N/A with 131k miles. I have done a pressure check with no leaks and the coolant is clean and was flushed already a while back. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated as my driveway is turning green

and we all know coolant is not exactly cheap either.
Thanks!

Silver TSI · Feb 20, 2006

Is the tank cracked? The over flow tank is more filled when it's cold before the Thermostat opens... Does it flow directly out of the tube, or just from that area?

RTICWOLF · Feb 20, 2006

Silver TSI said:
Is the tank cracked? The over flow tank is more filled when it's cold before the Thermostat opens... Does it flow directly out of the tube, or just from that area?

Tank is not cracked at all otherwise I would expect it to leak all the time. The coolant comes out of the drain hose only when cold and the level is not overfull, its right where it should be.
Maybe I am crazy, but the coolant should be more full when the car is hot in that overflow bottle, the full hot line is higher than the full cold line....just like every other car I have owned....or are the DSM's somehow different?

Silver TSI · Feb 21, 2006

RTICWOLF said:
Tank is not cracked at all otherwise I would expect it to leak all the time. The coolant comes out of the drain hose only when cold and the level is not overfull, its right where it should be.
Maybe I am crazy, but the coolant should be more full when the car is hot in that overflow bottle, the full hot line is higher than the full cold line....just like every other car I have owned....or are the DSM's somehow different?

Maybe you need a new Thermostat. Does the car have good heat?
I would think that the tank would be more full when cold, before the thermostat opens, but I may be wrong.

RTICWOLF · Feb 21, 2006

Nobody else has and had this issue?

Silver TSI · Feb 21, 2006

Only time mine ever leaked out of that hose, when when it was over heating.

TALONLVR · Feb 21, 2006

One of my other cars did that and it was the thermostat. Like said before hows the heat? You could try swapping it, it worked for me.

RTICWOLF · Feb 23, 2006

Actually the heat will blast you out of the car, I always turn it down even when it was -15 last week. I thought about the thermostat and that is an easy thing to try, but it does run rock solid dead center on the temperature gauge and warms up quickly too.
I did check the overflow bottle to see if it was somehow filling up when it leaked and its not filling above the Full Hot line as it warms up (it does put coolant in there as the car gets warmer, which is normal), so why in the world would it "piss" coolant out the overflow?

Thanks for all the help so far, and not to try and put anyone down, but I actually used to be an auto mechanic for a living (for GM) and on a cooling system (from all that I know it could be different on a DSM) when its cold the thermostat stays closed until the temperature rises to a preset level and then slowly opens to allow the coolant to flow, but at this point the overflow is not really utilized. As the car gets hot, the fluid expands in a sense and the overflow bottle is there to "catch" this overflow. When you shut the car off and the car begins to cool, the system will actually "suck" back the coolant from the overflow bottle to keep the system full. This is why the full cold line is below the full hot line, when its cold more coolant is in the system and not in the bottle. Ok, its not like anyone needed a lesson in cooling systems, but I wanted to at least point out I am not ignorant when it comes to cars, but I'll admit to being totally stumped with my cooling issue on my DSM.

I was thinking about changing the thermostat and the cap too just in case, but the system seems to be working as I would expect and everything is fine with the heat, etc. So you can see why I am so stumped on it.....

forcefedfinatic · Feb 23, 2006

I had a similar problem with my car and after changing everything to do with coolant what it turned out to be was the water neck was going bad where the rad cap screws down and the hose to the overflow was slightly cracked so it would barely leak but allow air ti be sucked back in. I changed the hose and the water neck and never had the problem again.
good luck

1G Coolant Leak; Reservoir Drain Hose?

RTICWOLF

Silver TSI

RTICWOLF

Silver TSI

RTICWOLF

Silver TSI

TALONLVR

RTICWOLF

forcefedfinatic

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