Little puddle under car!

[splitshine89]

Following with interest.

My 280 is showing the above mentioned symptoms, I.e red/brownish fluid dripping from under tray, and running from the front of the engine down onto the plastic sump too. Coolant needs topping up every 500 miles or so.

2015 model, 58,500k 6 weeks out of warranty...

Seat dealer wanting £90 to book it in and diagnose.

 

[paddy6789]

Following with interest.

My 280 is showing the above mentioned symptoms, I.e red/brownish fluid dripping from under tray, and running from the front of the engine down onto the plastic sump too. Coolant needs topping up every 500 miles or so.

2015 model, 58,500k 6 weeks out of warranty...

Seat dealer wanting £90 to book it in and diagnose.

Mine wasn’t leaking as such, mine just had the occasional steam venting from the front grill. I wasn’t sure whether it was just the cold weather/hot car combo or a possible leak. I couldn’t see anything under the car or anything obvious under the bonnet. I didn’t have the luxury of having it on a ramp to properly check under the car though.
My coolant never really dipped below min either. I did get a ‘Check coolant level’ warning but it quickly disappeared.

 

[Kempo]

Had similar problem with wife’s Avensis last year - the coolant needed topping up every few hundred miles but could rarely see any puddles. Thought head gasket as car was old (06 plate) but put some paper down and looked harder to see reddish drips in splash guard undertray. Turned out to be water pump in the end which was replaced.

 

[Crumpy]

Update: I took my car in this morning to SEAT Sidcup, just got a call from them saying they think its the water pump or thermostat housing so have ordered both and will be fitted tomorrow, under warrenty! good service so far I'm impressed!

Thanks for the advice on here, was rightly diagnosed, thanks

 

[Angelos Ch.]

I had something similar - mine was the thermostat housing. It's a costly job I believe. I had the front mount intercooler booked into to upgrade and so had it replaced/upgraded to a new aluminium one at the same time - with the front end of the car being off, it was easy to change for the guys at VAG Manchester.

Do you have a part number for the aluminum thermostat housing? Mine is leaking as well.

 

[DEAN0]

I dont sorry - the car went in for a service with VAG Manchester and they found a suspected coolant leak somewhere. But I already had it booked in for more work a few weeks after that to replace the engine mounts and intercooler, so they only investigated the leak when they got the car back for the intercooler upgrade. They called me and explained it was a common issue with the thermostat housing and they could either replace with the same part or replace with the upgraded aluminium one for a bit more. I went for the upgraded one. The bill was about £180 all in for just that part of the work. But that also included a bit of time for them to trace the leak. I'll see if I can get a part number for you.

Would be interesting to know if VW have actually gone to an aluminium thermostat housing as the fix.
The ones I have seen replaced are an aluminium water pump but still using the plastic thermostat housing.

To my knowledge - there is only an aftermarket aluminium thermostat housing / water pump unit by a company called USP