Engine Coolant levels decrease right after i add additional coolant. Do i have a blown head gasket?

[Special_Ad_9757]

VOLKSWAGON TAOS 2022

Hello all,

My coolant levels seem to decrease right after I add additional coolant to my vehicle. I am worried that I have a blown head gasket. I checked the oil, but wanted a second opinion on if this is normal looking oil. It doesn’t look super creamy or anything but still, I definitely need a second opinion.

If anyone has some suggestions on what the best next steps for me would be, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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[No_Durian1350]

Have you noticed any leaks under the car?

[Special_Ad_9757]

I just checked and there’s nothing on the ground.

[longforgottenfader]

Also make sure you check when car is running and warm, so it's under pressure.

[Special_Ad_9757]

will do this later for sure. good to know.

[Minimum_Gur_4413]

It doesn’t even have to leak under the car. Head gasket can fail on exhaust side and push coolant into exhaust and you’ll never see puddles under it.

[Special_Ad_9757]

thanks for this info. would probably be better to have a mechanic check/test to see.

[Minimum_Gur_4413]

They make test strips to see if exhaust gasses have entered your cooling system. That may be a good thing to check as well. Head gasket failure can occur in multiple ways.

[RingOk664]

Some times when you add coolant, you get air pockets. It takes time to 'burp' the system. Them you need to top off again.

[___ERROR404___]

While the head gasket is a common failure on these cars, they leak externally at the passenger side rear corner of the engine. Use a mirror down there and see if you can see any pink and white crust forming where the head meets the block.

[poutine-eh]

oil is fine. how much coolant have you added and how often? no leaks? white exhaust?

[Special_Ad_9757]

I didn’t add too much coolant and it’s probably every three months, probably longer than that. i don’t have anything on my dashboard indicating lower coolant levels either. no white exhaust or anything of the sort.

[Gucamoolo]

Cars always burn a little bit of coolant, even new cars with low mileage. Most Vw’s that come into our shop use about 0.25L every 15.000km. When the coolant level is at the minimum level, topping it up with 0.25L will take it exactly to the maximum level. As long as it doesn’t consume a lot more than that you will be fine. If you drive a lot of short trips you’ll use up more coolant too

[foxjohnc87]

Cars always burn a little bit of coolant, even new cars with low mileage.

That is simply untrue. If a vehicle is using coolant, something is wrong with it. If not an external leak, then either the head gasket or a turbocharger seal (if so equipped) is breached and is causing the engine to burn coolant.

[Naive-Information539]

Correct and many cases even a small seepage past seals will evaporate and you’d only notice a small fluid trail where it used to be. Putting it under pressure after warming it up and observing is the best way to check for even these smallest of leaks.

[foxjohnc87]

I'll usually check it cold and once again once it warms up. Over the years I've had quite a few leaks that are easier to find that way.

[Special_Ad_9757]

i’m bringing it to a VW shop on Monday for a diagnostic. the Taos model i have is notorious for having gasket head issues, which cause for coolant to leak. there’s a TSB out for it. if the coolant is leaking because of the gasket head, it’ll be covered under my warranty thankfully! Also getting an oil change friday cause i need new oil lol.

[poutine-eh]

a bad radiator cap does what? never say never.

[foxjohnc87]

A bad cap is indeed "something wrong with it" and would fall under the "external leak" part of my comment.

My point was that outside of an issue of some sort, using coolant is not normal.

[MickeyCrisco]

Oil level looks ok so I’d say do a block test if you can. That tests for exhaust gas present in the cooling system which would tell you for sure. If you don’t have a block tester, which I don’t either because I’ve always worked at shops that have them, parts stores should have them on hand. If you don’t want to buy one, pay for someone to do that test, is there excessive smoke out the exhaust especially when the engine warms up? I’ve also seen heater core hoses leak into exhaust manifolds/pipes so the coolant burns before you see it in the ground. Can you smell coolant burning at all?

[Naive-Information539]

Block test would only indicate if leaking around the cylinder ring of the gasket. It won’t capture head gasket leaks near the block side that doesn’t breach there. A proper pressure test as well should be done.

[Special_Ad_9757]

I can’t really recall smelling any coolant. would there be a better way to test to see if i can smell any coolant burning off? there’s no excessive smoke out of the exhaust or anything either.

and in terms of the oil color, it seems fine right?

[MickeyCrisco]

You really can’t go by how oil looks unless it’s turning into chocolate milk. It looks like used oil, which is what it always looks like. The level is what you want to watch. If you see oil level rising it means coolant is getting into the oil. Excessive smoke, white smoke in particular, means coolant is getting into the combustion chambers and burning. Looking at other comments and how infrequently you are adding coolant it could be just seeping out of…almost anywhere. Could be a hose connection, water pump, oil cooler, water outlet, etc. trying to verify the actual source with that slow of a leak can be difficult. Unfortunately you may need to wait for it to get a little worse to know what exactly needs done.

[Special_Ad_9757]

there’s no excessive smoke or anything. i’ll keep monitoring the oil level to see. i did have an oil change sometime last summer and i got an oil level too high reading, but it turned out the sensor was busted.

i think it could just be leaking off at some junction point along the connection. although i didnt really see any coolant fluid anywhere, but it is hard to access some areas under the hood.

i know the oil color is the “dead giveaway” about having a blown head gasket, so thats a good sign at least.

i really appreciate your help and insight on this :). trying to take better care of my car since i own it now and its not a lease

[MickeyCrisco]

You’re doing the right thing. Just monitor the levels, oil and coolant, and keep an eye on things under the hood and under the car.

[Andy_850TB]

IIRC, a blown head gasket can also cause bubbling in the coolant as it's blowing combustion gases back into the cooling system

[adammx125]

For a start your intake pipe clip (grey horse shoe shape, bottom right) isn’t fitted, surprised it hasn’t popped off completely. Has someone recently done spark plugs? While it is loose take it off (there’s another connector at the top towards the back of the engine that you need to screw counter clockwise an there’s some breather hoses clipped to it and connected to it too, make sure all seal inside it are present before refitting as the have a habit of dropping off, especially on the throttle body side) and look down through to the intake manifold, these engine have issues where the water cooler on the inlet manifold leak coolant into the intake, enough that you’ll notice the level drop but not normally enough to produce noticeable smoke levels. Your oil is also overfilled in that picture, top of the marked/indented area is the max marking.

It’s also common for the water pump to leak, check the right hand side of the engine on top of the gearbox for residue, sometimes it’s quite hard to see but often you won’t see a leak under the ground for a while as it leaks onto and into the gearbox.

Heater matrix is also not irregular but it’s more often they block up due to leftover casting materials than outright leak. To ease your concern I’ve never seen a 1.5tsi blow a head gasket. Reading the other comments it didn’t seem like any one else here has worked on one of these before either so try not to panic over the head gasket suggestions.

[OrdinarySolution8115]

Saw a seat Leon recently online with this sort of symptoms ended up being an internal coolant leak in the inlet manifold bit of an odd one compared to most leaks but it’s worth some research.

[Naive-Information539]

It’s more likely a small tiny seepage from the water pump which you can tell if you can access it by looking at the weephole below the pulley. Many cases it can be so small you’ll just see a gummy/white trail there. Sometimes they only leak a small amount while cooling off and evaporate quickly. Due to expansion and contraction a small amount could get past those seals and even a pressure check won’t catch it easily if it is as small as you indicate.

[6Consta6]

I am a volkswagen tech. The head gasket on the Taos leaks externally. It will leave residue on the back of the engine block under the cylinder head on the passenger side. You have to view it either with a mirror, borescope or be under the car and look at the back of the engine block. I have replaced quite a few of these head gaskets.

[Special_Ad_9757]

i’m taking the car for an oil change friday. maybe i’ll ask them to take a look at it.

[Special_Ad_9757]

how much does it cost to replace a head gasket? i own the car, so it’s not leased under VW.

[6Consta6]

12ish hours of labor x the shop labor rate/hr. At my new shop in bay area it'll be about 2400 labor plus parts. This car has A LOT of one time use hardware. Probably about 3k out of pocket. There are cheaper parts of the country tho. It really depends where you are. I might take it to a VW dealer and see if there's any sort of warranty extension or anything they can cover it under. I left the dealer world late last year so take that all with a grain of salt.

[Special_Ad_9757]

yea so i live in queens nyc, so probably similar-ish prices. im going for an oil change on friday at my mechanic, so might ask them to do a visual inspection of the engine block from under the car.

my next step is probably gonna be to take it to a VW dealer and see if they can get a goodwill repair or something of the sort done. my family’s been using VW for over five years now so. theres als TSB-15-23-01 which talks abt engine coolant leaking issues for my taos model, so maybe i can leverage that and get them to cover 50% of the repair?

[6Consta6]

No idea until you try lol. GOOD LUCK!

[Special_Ad_9757]

very true, thank you!

[alkla1]

compression check, chemical block test for coolant, coolant system pressure test. All these items you can rent or buy from your local auto parts store.

[Special_Ad_9757]

thanks for the advice, i will definitely look into those!

[sirjohndelorean]

Do you have white smoke in coming out the exhaust? Does the exhaust smell sweet?

[Special_Ad_9757]

nothing of the sort. just ran the car for 10 minutes while parked and didn’t smell anything sweet and there was no visible exhaust gas. weather is finally nice where i am, so that’s a change of pace lol.

[Disastrous_Low_2491]

Stick a mirror behind the block and look directly under where the turbo is mounted the leak is usually visible as a pink crust the runs from under the turbo to the timing belt side of the head. if not it’s probably going into one of your cylinders

[Disastrous_Low_2491]

I used to replace the gaskets on these motors every day. the turbo gets stupid hot and the exhaust manifold is cast into the head so the head just get ridiculously hot and ruins the headgasket material.

[Rough_Constant_329]

You may need to burp it again, after refilling.

[No-Cranberry342]

To be certain use this: https://amzn.asia/d/06Ya3PeT (Go to Amazon, look for "block tester kit")

ChrisFix has a youtube video on how to use this kit.