What color is RS6 coolant?

[PixieVC]

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?

[MaxRS6]

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

[hahnmgh63]

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.

[PixieVC]

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...

[hahnmgh63]

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.

[PixieVC]

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...

[hahnmgh63]

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.

[SzymekCRX]

Dip the cue tip in the leaked fluid. Dip another one in the coolant. Compare :)

[905084]

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.

[PixieVC]

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.

[MaxRS6]

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.

[hahnmgh63]

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.

[lswing]

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.

[905084]

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!

[SzymekCRX]

I'd go for the pressure test. I'd reveal the source of the leak

[hahnmgh63]

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.

[lswing]

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.

Just contacted James since I'll have the engine out next month, thanks, hope he still makes them!

[MaxRS6]

^ 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.

[lswing]

^ 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.

Thanks, chatted with Sean at Scroll and he's ready to take a look at what we can do...and apologies for the thread jacking...now back to the coolant issue, hope they can seal it up quick!

[PixieVC]

I really hope it's your aux radiator Pixie...or something else cheap and easy!

I'll know in a few hours. The mechanic has taken possession of the car this morning, and I should hopefully know something sooner rather than later. My instructions were, "if it's the Aux radiator, pull it and bypass it."... let's just hope and pray for easy. I don't like spending $$$...

Well... not on car stuff at least...

[lswing]

Costs to keep the car running=not fun.....costs to make the car faster=fun! Good luck there...my current $2k+ steering fix is bugging the hell out of me, but so be it when you drive a $90k car...

Get the IC's cleaned and checked if you're going to have the Aux Rads pulled, they have to get in there anyhow and pull the bumper I believe, was well worth it for performance and assurance for me!

[MaxRS6]

...Well... not on car stuff at least...

LOL- Maybe skirts, nails, and shoes..:)) Of course, I'm a big fan of ladies spending money on themselves and I encourage wifey..

[lswing]

Exactly! My GF bought a $800 jacket, I love it, same cost as my meth kit...:)

[PixieVC]

Costs to keep the car running=not fun.....costs to make the car faster=fun! Good luck there...my current $2k+ steering fix is bugging the hell out of me, but so be it when you drive a $90k car...

Get the IC's cleaned and checked if you're going to have the Aux Rads pulled, they have to get in there anyhow and pull the bumper I believe, was well worth it for performance and assurance for me!

ugh. OK, well, instead of pulling them can they just bypass them without pulling them out? I didn't realize it was such an involved process (as it seem anything and everything is with this car...)...

[PixieVC]

Exactly! My GF bought a $800 jacket, I love it, same cost as my meth kit...:)

Yeah but, think about how good you'd look in an $800 jacket... priorities, priorities...

[lswing]

Yeah but, think about how good you'd look in an $800 jacket... priorities, priorities...

Ha, I've got a nice old polar fleece that feels great when I'm driving fast!

Not sure if they can just connect the lines and leave the aux rads, maybe, it's nice to get them out eventually as you'll get much better air flow and less heat soak for the IC's...and all the extra tubing, anything out of that engine compartment for more air flow and space, got a box of crap when mine were pulled...about 15 lbs. too!

[ben916]

Yeah but, think about how good you'd look in an $800 jacket... priorities, priorities...

Cantcha have both?

[MaxRS6]

^ Not everyone has vaults of cash like you Ben...;0

[PixieVC]

Good news everybody... Mechanic just called me. It was diagnosed as a cracked expansion tank. Looks like everything else is still fine...

Makes sense actually as the leakage would only happen after a long trip... no leaking for around-town stuff. Yaaaay! I should have it back by end of day today...

[MaxRS6]

^Great news. Now don't you feel good after all of us giving you doomsday scenarios?? That was our plan all along..;0

[905084]

Good luck, hope that fixes it! My A6 was leaking there but just a dribble and unfortunately that wasn't the real problem.

[Chung]

Wow. That sounds exactly like my leak. A little bit oily and only happens intermittently. Time to check my expansion tank.

My oil cooler pipe was cracked so I didn't think much with the somewhat low levels of coolant.

[PixieVC]

Good luck, hope that fixes it! My A6 was leaking there but just a dribble and unfortunately that wasn't the real problem.

Gee, thanks, Greg. Make me paranoid before I even get the car back...

[905084]

Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you :)

[ben916]

T.J. =

^ Not everyone has vaults of cash like you Ben...;0

Well, IF that were true, I would need a capable CPA.... is there anyone that might know of a CPA around here?!?!?
I also did drive an R8 V10 Spyder with Ceramics(+ $9k) and carbon option (+ $40k) yesterday with John and 2.2x the posted 65mph speed limit... I am unable to confirm nor deny the existence of proof of said video...


Good news everybody... Mechanic just called me. It was diagnosed as a cracked expansion tank. Looks like everything else is still fine...
Makes sense actually as the leakage would only happen after a long trip... no leaking for around-town stuff. Yaaaay! I should have it back by end of day today...

Yeah!!! chock one up for the want of a cheap fix!

[MaxRS6]

...Well, IF that were true, I would need a capable CPA.... is there anyone that might know of a CPA around here?!?!?

Well- the capable part rules me out..

BTW- what is the T.J. (Thomas Jefferson, Track Junkie, Tail Jump...abbreviation)? Like I said- I not capable.

[ben916]

Well- the capable part rules me out..

BTW- what is the T.J. (Thomas Jefferson, Track Junkie, Tail Jump...abbreviation)? Like I said- I not capable.

T-hread
J-ack

[905084]

Ben, when my RS was delivered from DEN by my wife, she complained it had a lot of wind noise. I said why? She said at 3/4 of the speedometer limit it was noisy :) Ok....got to see the video!

[MaxRS6]

T-hread
J-ack

Facepalm- Doh

[PixieVC]

Facepalm- Doh

Am I the only one who's totally confused here?

[MaxRS6]

^ I was whacking myself for not realizing the T.J. abbreviation meant Thread Jack..

[905084]

Sorry Pixie...your thread was kinda jacked....let us know the results when you get your beast back today Ok? Hopefully it is all fixed!! That would be a good get....

[ben916]

Am I the only one who's totally confused here?

No, sometimes Randy goes a little cuckoo...

Good to hear that the BEAST, yet to be named, is no longer "coolant expansion tank cracked"!
How long was that service/labor?

[PixieVC]

They charged me an hour labor for everything... $120. I'm guessing it was probably more like 20 minutes, but these are mechanics... they have to make money.

Everything looks OK - no new coolant puddles. Keeping my fingers crossed and knocking on carbon fiber...

[905084]

Takes me an hour to get the hood open with the broken tongue depressor! Great deal Pixie!

[PixieVC]

Takes me an hour to get the hood open with the broken tongue depressor! Great deal Pixie!

The secret is... I like this shop. They're honest, they treat me very well. I buy my tires from them, too... they're competent, fast, communicative. And I've been known to buy them Pizza from time to time....

[905084]

A good shop is hard to find! Congrats !! Enjoy the ride!

[lswing]

I bring pizza too, helps for sure!