3.0tdi loosing coolant HELP!

[A3jack]

Hi lads, I have a 2007 a5 3.0tdi V6 its loosing water , and there is exhaust gasses in the coolant, I took it back to the garage and it's under warranty and the guy thinks it's the head gasket... But I've never seen a case of it go on this engine and the most common one is the EGR cooler, it's going in on Tuesday to be done but I don't want the engine stripped if it is the EGR cooler, is there anyway for me to test if it is before I take it there so I can tell the guy? It's no Audi unfortunately ,no white smoke, no creamy oil, any tips advice welcome thanks Jack

 

[RS5 JON]

VCDS scan may show up the fault, worth a try.
JG

 

[desertstorm]

As you say I don't think I have read of anybody having an issue with a HG on these but the EGR cooler has been known to cause issues. Can't believe the garage is just going to change the head gaskets without looking into the EGR as a possibility. I think if it's removed it is possible to see if it's been leaking as the water steam cleans the cooler.

 

[A3jack]

Yeah exactly mate, I'm going to make it clear I don't want the head doing until the EGR cooler has been checked, cheers bud

 

[bullerbristol]

i dont want to put a downer on this for you as I'm new here but i will just say i have had my a5 for about 5 months now and boy its been emotional, saved my *** off and got the lowest milage (60k) one owner full audi history and best speck i could and payed good money for it. so that week got all excited and ordered v3 air management and bags, grill, exhaust, wheels (avant guards) and a load of carbon parts ready for this show season.
anyway 10 days after buying it i noticed slight coolant loss, it was fine for the first week but then all of a sudden started doing it noticeably.
me and some other experienced mechanical friends checked all the usual things erg cooler, hoses, rad the lot nothing! then the bad part, did a gas test and that came up slight tinge of green but we thought erg cooler as these engine never do heads we said.......wrong i had a cracked head and had to have a new head and almost full re build to the sum of £5000 big tears. anyway i was mortified to find audi had the heads complete in stock on an exchange basses! turns out these cars dont do head gaskets that often as we all know but they do have a problem with cracking head when driven hard on cold! had a huge chat with a guy who did my rebuild and he as done 7 in the last 6 months.

 

[bullerbristol]

i will also add i have also now deleted my erg valve and plated the cooler so it can't ever leak in to the system again and cause another problem that will make me cry and think its the head again

 

[A3jack]

Cheers for the reply mate the EGR cooler has now been replaced it is still going down a little bit but hoping that's it setting so have filled it back up, did you have any milky oil etc?

 

[bullerbristol]

Hey there buddy, sorry to hear it's still loosing coolant! I could just be the system settling, these things are one of the worse cars I have ever bleed up so air could still be working its way out causing your coolant loss fingers crossed. But in answer to your question no there was no mixing of oil and water. As these engine run such high compression and pressures it was pushing air in to the coolant system at high revs, if I drove the car really steady there was no issue at all.

 

[A3jack]

Well update on this, after having the EGR cooler replaced I thought it was still using water but I think it was just settling as it has not used any since! So happy Days!

 

[desertstorm]

That's great news. Never good to remove the heads if you don't have too.

 

[L55tnr]

Hi jack I have had phone trouble lost yr number can you text me so I got yr number for when log book gets here cheers me Lee