Darkmann

It was extremely cold this morning and what looked like very diluted coolant was coming from under the car. It wasn't much but it seemed to be dripping just aft of the bell housing. Are there any coolant lines that far back on the 5-spd TT? It could also be that the origin was way up front and the liquid just went the path with least resistance!!! I allowed the car to run for about 10 minutes, shut her down and restarted after about another 10 minutes and not a drip, and it's been fine since. This is the second time I've seen this and both times the temperature was below or at freezing. My guess is that the cold probably shrunk some hose/fitting and it sipped. Any clues? Thanks.

NismoPick

Diluted coolant? How could you tell it was diluted?

snwbrderphat540

the heater core is back there. you should know that. lol. if it was leaking then it should always be. but it could be such a miniscule defect that it does only occur when its super cold. but i dont see how, cause materials shrink when it gets colder out.

ZLover4Life

Heater core or possibly one of the turbo coolant feed/return lines (those connect to the heater core hardpipes). Either way, have fun replacing that line... it will not be easy.

snwbrderphat540

the return goes to the heater core? thats pretty lame. lol. not gonna lie...

KasbeKZ

there are a bunch of lines back there. i don't think there's much any way to guess which one's more likely. it happened to me just like this and it was one little line about 2 inches long with a puncture in it. but it sounds like your problem may be solved by only a turn on a hose clamp. but if it is a small puncture, it would make sense that it only squirts when cold. because a shrinking hose makes the open up. when it swells it closes

Darkmann

Well, the color is not as deep green as coolant normally looks. It's coolant by smell and feel between my fingers, but the color is much much lighter!!! Unless the coolant was replaced by the previous owner using some funky colored coolant!!! I plan to take the truck into the shop this week for check-up.

ZLover4Life

It could just be a 70/30 water/coolant mixture (which is better for warmer climates, since it's actually the water that does the cooling and the coolant's job to prevent freezing and boiling).

And Eric, the feed lines come from the two heater core pipes... I'm having trouble recalling where the return lines go... but I believe it's routed back into the block.

snwbrderphat540

yeah probably back to the block via a banjo bolt. and that makes more sense sice the heater core would be under a pressure from the flow. but thats still a pretty lame design running more lines into the cabin

Darkmann

Turned out to be a missing hose clamp retaining screw on one of the hoses, way ontop of the motor close to the firewall. I'll take pics to show what it was. Right now, it hasn't been cold enough to check it out, but I think that was the problem. Thank goodness it wasn't more!!! The drained and replacedd the coolant than bled the entire system. $75 and almost 6Hrs later, I was out and running on the streets.