1994 S6 coolant dripping

[zeitgeist]

My 5 cylinder S6 has developed a coolant drip which is rather rapid for a drip, and I do not want to drive her in motorway traffic at the moment.

Info:

-Service book states timing belt changed 50,000km ago. You'd be crazy not to replace the pump too, which is timing belt driven, right?
-Didn't used to drop water (maybe a minute bit over 6 months?)
-Changed coolant 10 days ago up north, and have driven back here and done a bit of driving since, not a lot though.
-Coolant light came on today, I looked and it was gone from the reservoir, and dripping from the solid under-car turbo to intercooler pipe.
-Ostensibly the coolant is coming from the sump flange at front of engine
-No signs of coolant on engine anywhere, tstat housing, pipes, radiator, anywhere.

What do we think?

Cheers

P.S give me good news, I've been shelling out big on the E30 lately and about to shell out for audi paint too..... Unless someone just wants to take the audi from me!

[89 Coupe]

Yes the water pump is driven by the timing belt, are you sure it isn't coming from any pipes there are around 8 main ones under there.. hose clamps too

After run pump?
Water manifold and associated pipes for that?

[zeitgeist]

Thanks for your fast reply .

I'm usually pretty good at problem solving being an engineer, and hence have looked in and out of every nook and cranny for moisture/ colour including all you have listed and more. Naturally, observation is limited by the hugely limited space to poke/view at the front of engine.

Upon changing the coolant the other day, I did give the (1 year old) thermostat a clean up as it had been letting the car cool down on downhills. I wonder if I improved it's function and thus more heat->pressure is pushing water from an existing leak, or if by some strange chance, the tstat plastic housing and seal (which I fully inspected) have managed to creep-leak where I can't see. Largely unlikely given how much water is exiting.

I love this car, but for a low value car, it will be hard to justify a high cost cam belt and pump.

[89 Coupe]

Ive just had my cambelt, tensioners, seals, thermostat and water pump done bought from and installed by Archibalds discounted parts cost was $400 and labour was $600. Although 034 motorsport have this kit shipped to your door for $250 NZD which I only discovered after 

I Bought the 034 water hose kit and put them on myself... such limited space to work in as you said! So very hard to see whats actually going on under there.

Only other thing I can think of is heater hoses? but I'm sure you have already checked these.

[zeitgeist]

So to get me home on the first day I had put some bars stop leak in. Well silly me yesterday I thought being as it seemed to have stopped, I attempted to drive to work. Bad idea, the car spat out its water and I just got back home, with the temp needle still at normal, but steam coming out.

Last night I had a look under the bonnet and the stop leak had sprayed all up under the inlet manifold.... coming from that damned 150mm coolant hose right up under!! Got a replacement for free today and will fit tonight.

Fingers crossed I haven't cooked the engine?

Thanks everyone for your messages and offers!!

[Stanceking]

I have had that hose split on both of my s6's, 100t and 200tq. Dont know why they didn't just make the pipe fit into the block with an o ring on it

[RS ZWEI]

So to get me home on the first day I had put some bars stop leak in. Well silly me yesterday I thought being as it seemed to have stopped, I attempted to drive to work. Bad idea, the car spat out its water and I just got back home, with the temp needle still at normal, but steam coming out.

Last night I had a look under the bonnet and the stop leak had sprayed all up under the inlet manifold.... coming from that damned 150mm coolant hose right up under!! Got a replacement for free today and will fit tonight.

Fingers crossed I haven't cooked the engine?

Thanks everyone for your messages and offers!!

I had that hose in poor condition. Lucky I had the intake off to replace it.

[zeitgeist]

Chances of my motor being damaged from heat?

The temp wasnt up, but hmmmm

[Stanceking]

Chances of my motor being damaged from heat?

The temp wasnt up, but hmmmm

Pretty much zero. They can handle a good bit of heat

[zeitgeist]

Pretty much zero. They can handle a good bit of heat

Like

[Lomax]

Coolant leaks are the most common problems i had with the S4 and the S6... I had the rear plastic outlet crack and later the top radiator hose blew after a track day on the S4, on the S6 so far, that epicly long heater hose poped also after trackday, the thermostat housing started leaking when i fixed the hose and the radiator drain is prone to leak if not tightened properly...

I Bought the 034 water hose kit and put them on myself... such limited space to work in as you said! So very hard to see whats actually going on under there.

how are those hoses from 034? thought about buying them when i had the heater hose problem but then foundout that those are different between lhd and rhd...

[zeitgeist]

Fingers crossed I haven't had any yet, the rad plug is in excellent condition, unsure of the rad neck fitting brittleness until it cracks! but other parts which are inspectable seem good so far....

[89 Coupe]

Coolant leaks are the most common problems i had with the S4 and the S6... I had the rear plastic outlet crack and later the top radiator hose blew after a track day on the S4, on the S6 so far, that epicly long heater hose poped also after trackday, the thermostat housing started leaking when i fixed the hose and the radiator drain is prone to leak if not tightened properly...
how are those hoses from 034? thought about buying them when i had the heater hose problem but then foundout that those are different between lhd and rhd...

I didn't know they were specific to Left or Right hand drive but I haven't noticed any difference. They come with the 2 hoses for automatic but mine is manual so that's okay. Only thing I don't like about them is some or most of the hose clamps are a size to small, which isn't a big deal really just re-use the old ones if they are in okay condition but annoying none the less. The Top radiator hose could be a more robust design like the factory original where the junction is the the filler.

[tjsmada]

you've probably sorted it already, but i found it was just the heater hoses that were different. All the others were the same. One thing I did find out is that silicone hoses seem to relax with a few heat cycles, so a few weeks after i fitted them I had A LOT of slow leaks...you just need to go round and tighten the clamps again. Of course you would have remembered to have the hose clamps lined up so you can re-tighten them without having to disassemble too many other bits and pieces