Low Coolant Warning Light

[AdmiralGant]

Hi,

Had the low coolant warning light come on when I started up this morning, I got out and checked and noticed it was about an inch below the minimum level.

I then started the engine again and the light did not come back on. I then put a pint of water in tonight.

I cannot see any leaks from the radiator, I don't remember hitting anything and have had no steam etc.

Has anyone else had need to top up their water coolant reservoir? The car has done about 7k.

Thanks

[peterdoherty]

Yep same here - did it last week when hit around 9k (GTD) - used coolant from halfords rather than water though.

In for a service this Thursday so was going to query it or have it noted on file as thought it was strange.

[ben62806]

Hi,  I wouldn't worry unless it drops again,  it's quite common to top up the coolant in between services on these modern engines.  We find we have to top up 8 out of  10 cars on their first service.  If you've done 7000 miles you will soon have a service where volkswagen can check it over. Just keep an eye on it 

[marnie]

If you used tap water and not distilled water you will be causing engine damage. You should get it drained and filled with VW G13 coolant asap. Assuming this applies to a GTD as well as a GTI.

[Gnasher]

If you used tap water and not distilled water you will be causing engine damage. You should get it drained and filled with VW G13 coolant asap. Assuming this applies to a GTD as well as a GTI.

Coolant (of which there will still be plenty of in the cooling system) has a corrosion inhibitor - just for topping up, tap water will be fine.

[corgi]

Gnasher is spot on here... tap water is fine in relatively small quantities... had the same with mine the other morning, the level was a little below the minimum...

Why do "these modern engines" need a top-up between services? The coolant must be going somewhere... I'm not concerned but I would like to understand what is different about a modern engine because the only time I've had to top coolant up in the past is when it had leaked out because of a split hose or on one car a head gasket issue failure so it was going out of the exhaust...

[MajorKhan]

Ive had the same, I believe it is due with the type of engine (prefer water to filling up with oil like the bmw engines) also aircon may add to the water loss.

[itavaltalainen]

The mk7 engines don't need topping up in between services... they may need some on first service because when the car leaves factory it will always still have a little bit of air in the system (which is quite complex on the mk7), plus hoses expand a bit when they got hot a few times over the first few k miles. These things will cause the level to go down a bit, even though there's no leak.

All absolutely normal and been like this with pretty much all new cars in the last decades.

[joet]

I had the same on my GTI. Asked them to look at it at the first service and they found a small leak in the water pump. Replaced under warranty and it's been fine since then

[skippy]

Just to add to this thread, my Scirocco had a water leak a few years ago (turned out to be the water pump) and the dealer said tap water would be ok in small quantities. Distilled water is preferable though.