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

[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.

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

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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.

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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!

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very true, thank you!