Club 80-90 Forums

Hello...I've got an '89 T3 with a 1.7 Diesel. This is my first diesel and I've had it less than a week, so I'm still learning about the engine. It came to me with a slight leak from one of the injectors and yesterday, after a short drive, I pulled the engine cover and found coolant pooled where the little bit of diesel had been pooling before. Does this make sense?? I inspected all hoses and other inputs/outputs from the cooling system and found no other potential leaks - just the pesky bubbling injector.

Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated.

may be cracked head(water jacket) or head gasket gone and filling that pot with water and being then pushed past injector seal. you need to do compression test.

You are absolutely sure it was coolant?

Unless my diesel is a funky, electric green, then yes - it was for sure coolant. The head was removed it for a repair right before I bought , so I am assuming it is the gasket. An OEM wasn't used, so no doubt that is to blame. Stupid question, but once a gasket is set, no amount of re-tightening is going to stop a leak, correct?

Was the head re-tightened after 1000 miles as recommended after the gasket was replaced?

Head has less than 300 km since be reinstalled. A long drive back to mechanic who worked on it. Not happy...