Golf Mk4 Smoke from engine!!

Punchy07

Hi all,

Think I may have a serious issue with my Mk4 Golf:(...Yesterday whilest on my way home from work I drove through a pool of water and I dont know if it was coincidental or not but literally a second afterwards my coolant temperature warning alarm started beeping!

Having never heard this alarm before I asked my work mate to take out the manual and check up the warnings etc,we stopped at a red light when he informed me it was the coolant,it was then I looked at the engine and seen white smoke billowing out of it:eek:..Checked the temperature and it read 130 degrees!...Pulled over for 20 minutes and waited for the temperature to go back down before making the 2 minute trip home

After an hour I went out and seen the coolant was completely gone,unfortunately I never really keep checks on my levels etc so I presumed it just ran out,untill I brought it for more coolant today!..Within 10 minutes of topping it up I was pulled over with steam/smoke? coming out of it again!

Anyone have any ideas whats wrong with it??Im feeling its going to be an expensive one to fix:(

Thanks in advance!

Mr Benevolent

Odd one that. It's possible that something was thrown up from the puddle and damaged a coolant hose - a warning after only a second or two is a fairly serious leak. You'll have to get a garage to look at it if you can't find any obvious damage yourself. Make sure they quote you for the damage before they start work. It might be ok though.

What engine is it?

Punchy07

Thanks for the reply!...Its just the 1.4,my dad is good friends with a mechanic so ill ask him to call up tomorrow to avoid driving it around looking for a place!....It's been sitting in the drive all day and I went out there to see if theres any coolant left and its full to the top so the issue arises when the cars in movement

garyegt

what you could do is pour water through the cooling system and see where it leaks. then at least ya know what your up against

Punchy07

garyegt wrote: »

what you could do is pour water through the cooling system and see where it leaks. then at least ya know what your up against

Yeah I tried that earlier but frustratingly the coolant doesnt seem to go down at all when the car is just parked up,even with the engine running I couldnt find any leaks....Give it 5 minutes on the road though and it would literally drink a full litre of coolant!

tossy

I would imagine the leak is at the Rad,possibly hit by a stoner etc going through the puddle.

There is no use checking for leaks with the car cold or not running,the thermostat remains closed until the coolant hits around 82-90 degrees and then it opens and allows the coolant pass through the rad,before that all the coolant is just recirculated back through the engine.

Punchy07

Unfortunately the mechanic couldnt call up tonight so I rang a VW mechanic and explained the situation,he said it may be the head gasket and warned me not to even think about driving it but said it would be hard to tell for sure without seeing it so I have a mechanic calling up first thing in the morning!

paddylonglegs

Just to jump in here rather than start a new thread - have a quick question about topping up coolant.

My Golf Mk3 1390cc '96 started overheating this morning, so in a panic I pulled into a garage, got some coolant and put it in just after i switched off the engine, then continued on my journey. About 5 - 10 mins later the temp gauge was up past 110 degrees and i got worried again so i pulled in,lifted up the engine and coolant was being dumped out the overflow, which left it below minimum level.

I decided then to leave it for an hour to cool, and put more coolant in to get it to the right level. I then started the car right away and continued on, where the gauge went past 110 again and the same thing happened. This is the way I left it since and it has been in the driveway for an hour and a half.

I'm hoping that someone is going to tell me that I did this the wrong way and should have left the coolant in there for a while before I started driving again or something.

The last time that i noticed the temp gauge rise I was able to fill it with coolant and it was fine.

So should there be a certain amount of time I need to leave to let engine cool and to drive after putting in coolant?Or am I gonna get a big shock from the mechanic?

Thanks for your help all,

Bobo78

When you noticed that the engine is overheating you should v brought the car to the garage to find the problem and to fix it.
Toping it up with coolant and continuing driving will just cure the problem temporarly but it wont fix the problem. Eventually it can cause much greater engine damage than good.

Although, the problem can be as simple as coolant leak, or faulty termostat or water pump or the worst case scenario leaking head gasket.
Anyway best thing to do would be to leave the car in the garage to find the problem and to fix it.

peasant

paddylonglegs wrote: »

coolant was being dumped out the overflow, which left it below minimum level.

A leaking head gasket for example would let exhaust gas into the coolant circle and push the coolant out (as well as letting coolant into the engine )

Saab Ed

I wonder ( when the OP drove through the puddle ) has something got stuck in and around the belts and damaged the water pump!!! Just a thought. The waterpump might not piss the water out till the engine was running. With the coolant drained then the temp gauge would have went off the scale. Odd one this

paddylonglegs

Thanks for the prompt replies.I'll be bringing it to the mechanic tomorrow to see if he can diagnose the problem.Its worrying that the coolant didn't actually do anything to stop the problem and am also worried because i had to drive such a distance to get myself.needs must though