As the topic says... have some fluid leak of some sort from my front end, but I doubt it's coolant. Has a distinctive sweet smell, which sounds like coolant, but... it felt a bit oily. Color of the fluid on the driveway was off-yellow...
Any ideas?
As the topic says... have some fluid leak of some sort from my front end, but I doubt it's coolant. Has a distinctive sweet smell, which sounds like coolant, but... it felt a bit oily. Color of the fluid on the driveway was off-yellow...
Any ideas?
Daily Drivers: 2002 Mercedes E55 AMG, Brilliant Silver, Autoadapt Menox control, hard-wired Valentine 1 | Ki Tsunami Titanium w/ Spinergy SPOX, Jay J2 Seatback, Jay J3 cushion, 2.5 degree camber
Sounds like coolant. If you (or have someone for you) pull the undershield off- you might be able to spot the source. Hopefully, it is just a easily reached hose that sprung a wee. Sometimes the oil cooler develops a leak and that is a more involved repair. Keep a vigilant watch on the coolant level as you don't want an overheated beast.
The BND coolant is yellow. Maybe the prior owner was on the BND wagon.
It could also be the radiator and you might be able to spot this issue by popping the bonnet.
BTW- You are the first one I've seen with the Roho mod...;0
210K miles rolled
OEM coolant is pink but someone could have used the green stuff (shouldn't though). Glycol will have a slightly oil feel between your fingers.
2003 White RS6 2013 Midnight Blue S5
2013 Daytona RS5 2x944 Turbo's 1974 911 w/'91 3.6ltr motor
Roy, WA
Well... it felt oily. I guess its going in to the mechanic Monday for a looksee. Let's just hope it's one of the easy coolant lines... This reminds me, I bottomed the car out a few days ago on a speed bump. Don't worry, I was going slow... but it made an awful noise as the underside of the car dragged along... hoping that doesn't have anything to do with it...
Daily Drivers: 2002 Mercedes E55 AMG, Brilliant Silver, Autoadapt Menox control, hard-wired Valentine 1 | Ki Tsunami Titanium w/ Spinergy SPOX, Jay J2 Seatback, Jay J3 cushion, 2.5 degree camber
Should be other things scraped before coolant lines like: lower intercooler hoses, exhaust, front swaybar center links. Hopefully the oil pan isn't one of them as a dent in the bottom can affect transmission operation by fully or partially blocking the fluid pickup between the pan & filter.
2003 White RS6 2013 Midnight Blue S5
2013 Daytona RS5 2x944 Turbo's 1974 911 w/'91 3.6ltr motor
Roy, WA
OK. I'm not worried - since then I've put 200 miles on the car, no issues. I also don't have a coolant warning light - and nothing additional appears to have dripped since the stuff was discovered. It might even have been water from the AC compressor... water dripping onto driveway will get oily after its soaked into the concrete a bit. My determination of color came from trying to soak some with a paper towel... and not much came up. It smelled 'sweet', but not overly so... and this is the same spot where I used to park my E55 which would leak a quart of oil every 1,500 miles...
I'll monitor the situation, and be sure to watch for the Low Coolant warning to come on (it hasn't.). Might be a false alarm... I'll know tomorrow, as it's going on a hundred mile trip. Thanks for the replies...
Daily Drivers: 2002 Mercedes E55 AMG, Brilliant Silver, Autoadapt Menox control, hard-wired Valentine 1 | Ki Tsunami Titanium w/ Spinergy SPOX, Jay J2 Seatback, Jay J3 cushion, 2.5 degree camber
Not to worry you but the Power steering fluid is green in color and would be coming from the front left side most likely if leaking a little from the cooler, pump or a few hoses there. Further back and central if coming from the steering rack but they are not prone to failure.
2003 White RS6 2013 Midnight Blue S5
2013 Daytona RS5 2x944 Turbo's 1974 911 w/'91 3.6ltr motor
Roy, WA
Dip the cue tip in the leaked fluid. Dip another one in the coolant. Compare
Put a clean drip pan underneath it. The stock pink coolant is almost impossible to tell color in small quantities. Also, because of the front belly pan it is difficult to tell the leak location because it will leak in one place then run along the belly pan till it gets to a duct opening and drip.
Keep an eye on the level of the coolant in the tank (on the firewall). Don't wait for the low coolant light to come on.
If it is the oil cooler to block pipe like my 2000 4.2 it's a PITA. It's a $20 part but the labor to get to it.....$$$$. Good luck on the drive.
Definitely a coolant leak. And it's getting much worse. A nice puddle under the car after arriving at my destination. Strong smell as well. Was able to ascertain where it is coming through the drip pan: passenger side near the firewall. Nice and pink... FML.
Daily Drivers: 2002 Mercedes E55 AMG, Brilliant Silver, Autoadapt Menox control, hard-wired Valentine 1 | Ki Tsunami Titanium w/ Spinergy SPOX, Jay J2 Seatback, Jay J3 cushion, 2.5 degree camber
As 905 stated, please keep a close eye on the actual coolant tank level, and don't depend on just the coolant light. Sometimes, the sensors or other items can keep the actual light from going off. You do not want to run the RS6 hot for any length of time or you risk vedy bad things jumpin down from the stars.
Good luck with the repair and hopefully it is relatively minor.
I've certainly bottomed my car a few times and gone through a few undershields- it just happens at times no matter how careful one is. One time, I had to make an evasive maneuver to keep a very large truck from crushing Crazy. I had just put a new undershield on the car a few weeks earlier. Yep- you guessed it- the maneuver while keeping my car in an unadulterated fashion- did knock a couple of holes in my new shield. Therefore; I pop riveted some aluminum pieces in the newly created openings to somewhat protect the lower intercooler hoses.
210K miles rolled
The passenger side by the firewall could be a number of things. There is a coolant pipe that passes under the right exhaust manifold and meets a hose right at the back. The Turbos have a coolant inlet and outlet pipes. There is a cross engine manifold which goes from the back of each cylinder head to the other cylinder head. There aren't any coolant pipes at the bottom that you would have scraped. Towards the front of the engine on the right side there is the infamous oil cooler coolant pipe (just over 2" long) that is plastic and gets brittle and sometimes cracks with age.
2003 White RS6 2013 Midnight Blue S5
2013 Daytona RS5 2x944 Turbo's 1974 911 w/'91 3.6ltr motor
Roy, WA
I had both of my aux radiators leaking, pulled them off, it was easy to see once on a lift, but there was no visible fluid under the car so it must have been slow.
Ace/Edge TC - Tozo Trans - MTM TCU - REVO/ME7 tune - Wagner IC's w/ Venair Hoses - Aux Radiator delete - Hotchkis Sways - Hawk HPS Pads - Koni Sport Struts - Scroll KO4 Turbos - Devil's Own WM - 421whp/452wtq on Mustang Dyno - http://www.audirssix.com
Take your time to troubleshoot it right. Start out by dropping belly pan and driving it (not sure this is ok on the RS6 but certainly ok on a regular A6 4.2). Monitor the leak location and you should be able to tell if it is from the oil cooler to block pipe or from the right aux radiator (further outboard). There are a dozen other places it could leak but stick with the known high probability areas. If the coolant is pink, you can buy the Pentafrost at NAPA and add as necessary and continue to drive your beast. Don't forget to dilute it 50/50 if you just add it to the coolant tank.
Aux coolers I would think could have the input and output capped and stowed without removing the intercooler or hoses as they appear to be T'd off of the cooling system but not sure. That would be the easy fix.
The intercooler to block pipe is another story. Bumper comes off, front end to the service position, drain oil and coolant (I reused most of my coolant that I could cause Pentafrost ain't cheap). Drop the right engine mount because the the oil cooler is part of it. Make sure the front engine torsion mount is loose because of you don't, you'll tear it and have to RTV it back together (yep, fun). Pull the 5 bolts from the oil cooler and pull it. Put in the $50 worth of parts (plastic oil cooler pipe, 2 rubber O-rings, oil cooler gasket) and installation is the reverse of removal.
I really hope it's your aux radiator Pixie...or something else cheap and easy!
I'd go for the pressure test. I'd reveal the source of the leak
I second the pressure test to reveal the leak, maybe with the engine partially warm helps too. 905084 description of the oil cooler is a fairly good step by step. One thing is that you need to make sure the (Torx or Allen, can't remember) tool is all the way in the 5 bolts as they are usually tight and prone to stripping. And for less of a parts cost you can do much better by upgrading from the cheap OEM plastic 2" coolant pipe to an Aluminum one that is double O-ringed from Bufkin engineering for less than OEM, I think it is $25. I installed one in my car while I had the engine out as a preventative measure.
2003 White RS6 2013 Midnight Blue S5
2013 Daytona RS5 2x944 Turbo's 1974 911 w/'91 3.6ltr motor
Roy, WA
Ace/Edge TC - Tozo Trans - MTM TCU - REVO/ME7 tune - Wagner IC's w/ Venair Hoses - Aux Radiator delete - Hotchkis Sways - Hawk HPS Pads - Koni Sport Struts - Scroll KO4 Turbos - Devil's Own WM - 421whp/452wtq on Mustang Dyno - http://www.audirssix.com
^ I received one from James about 2 months ago. He was very responsive and sent it out same day as I contacted him.
By the way- "The Girls" are boxing up the package for Scroll this morning. Will have a track# for you later today.
210K miles rolled