Loboferoz

Gareth thank you for your reply, I bought this car new 4 years past at the end of July. in that time I have never added coolant to the reservoir. I have always assumed that this was something that would need done from time to time and it would be toped up at a service by the garage. I will seek a second opinion from another garage asap. in the meantime I will remove the excess coolant, ( I knew that the Turkey baster the wife bought would come in handy for something) and monitor how much fluid I am losing. once again thank you for the speedy reply. Jack

The service light came up on my A5 so I booked a service and left the car in. The garage informed me that it was an oil change service I needed and would cost £190.00 no problem so far. When I went back to get my car I was then informed that I had a coolant leak and that they would be reluctant to let the car leave the garage until they would get it fixed and it would probably be there until the following Monday that would be 5 days I would be without my car. According to the garage I needed a new thermostat and housing, the crunch was that the repair would cost £1200.00 now that is quite a lot of Wonga for someone who is retired. I told them that I could not do without my car for that amount of time and I would have to plan for that length of stay in the garage, and would they show me where the problem was. Sorry this is long winded. The facts: I have never had any warnings on the car that I was losing coolant. I had washed the car the day before the service and was under the bonnet at that point the coolant was just above the minimum mark and would have needed toped up. The mechanic showed me the fault. If I am standing at the front of the car a hose coming out the bottom of the radiator right hand side and runs up to just below and behind the alternator where it joins a rectangular connection at the point of connection there is evidence of a white salty powder (small deposits not a lot of it). No evidence of any liquid leaking anywhere. I have checked the car both hot and cold and still see no liquid leaking I noticed that they had filled the coolant reservoir right up to the top so that it would hold no more. My first question is does coolant expand when heated and if so would this not put the system under pressure thus causing problems in itself. Would a very small amount of this white powder (dried coolant I assume) be more indicative of a weep rather than a leak be such an issue. I have driven the car 40 miles and notice no drop in the coolant level. I am left wondering why all the fuss about not letting the car leave the garage Sorry about the length of this post but I would appreciate some comments / advice. Thank You loboferoz