My jetta overheated and started leaking fluid. it felt slightly oily, but not sure if it was coolant mixed with oil or not.

The shop said they think it might just be a cracked pipe for my cooling system or something along that lines. Said it is a common problem with volkswagens. Said it would cost $600 to replace most of the system. But that might not solve the problem and it might be something more.

This sound legit? If so, do you think its worth putting the 600 bucks into it with a chance it might be something bigger?

well they call it a crack pipe for a reason, it's known to crack all the time, if you can I would do the work yourself, it'll safe you a ton of money, also if it was a real shop they would do a pressure test and find the source of the leak

 

Thanks for the response! I am not the best mechanically, but I noticed there are several guides on changing out the crack pipe.

Would doing a pressure test tell them that the engine was blown or not? (Might be a stupid question... learning cars)

 

the only thing that would blow out on the engine coolant related would be the head gasket, and really the only sign of that is coolant in the oil

 

They should be able to to see coolant in the oil correct? Or at least add coolant into the system and check to see if the oil is getting dilluted with coolant?

So that could rule out that problem if so...

Also, Not sure how hot I ran my engine... I didn't notice it until I pulled off the highway and stopped at a stoplight. My hood was smoking like a chimney...

The shop said they started the car and let it run for as long as they could and heard no weird noises. Said it idled fine.

 

Well depending on how hot you ran it there's a possibility of a cracked head witch you'd pretty much be screwed


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Couldn't The shop do a compression check to rule out all other possibilities before I stuck the 600$ in? Or would they have to fix the crack pipe first?

Thanks for all your help by the way!

 

No they should do the compression test first to see where the leak is it just sounds like there trying to charge you for work that may not need to be done and if this shop can't do a compression test I would take it somewhere else


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That is kind of what I was figuring. Thanks!

 

I would try to trackdown the leak myself, just follow it and see where its coming from. From how you described it, i wouldn't take my car to those guys. They sound like the normal scam artists that look for people with heavy pockets.

Coolant does have an oily texture to it. I'm gonna bet, that its just your overflow that leaked from all the build up of pressure from the boiling. How high did your temp go when you shut the vehicle off?

 

Sorry I have had a busy weekend. That shop gave me the run around so I had it taken to a new shop. They are giving me their opinion Tomorrow (Monday).

My temp was higher than my vehicle gauge could go.... And I am not sure how high it got... I wasn't paying attention. It only took about 5 min for it to cool down on my gauge to a "normal" level. If that is any indication?

 

Sounds like the coolant temp sensor. Its only like a 10 to 15 dollar part. Get extra plastic clips too.

It could also be a faulty overflow cap also.