My girlfriend has a 2001 Audi TT

We recently discovered she had a coolant leak from a seal on the water pump.

The dealer said that the water pump needed to be replaced and since that was being replaced we needed to do the timing belt as well. In total this was going to be a couple grand and some time to fix, neither of which she has at this time.

I thought about a quick fix solution and thought abount pouring some 'Stop Leak' into the radiator. Is this a bad idea?

Secondly, in order to keep water in the system, can I just pour distilled water into the overflow? Is that also where I should pour the 'Stop Leak'?

I am use to working on American cars that have radiator caps so I was a bit confused on pouring the 'Stop Leak'.

Thanks

 

Timing belt kit from dieselgeek.com is about $300, and includes a water pump. Its time consuming, but if you have any sense (took me 7hrs on my own), and can work methodically, you can probably do it yourself. Helps to have extra hands to hold the motor mounts in place putting it back together, and extra eyes to make sure the marks on the flywheel and cam match.

I'd be leary of adding stop leak, its a bandaid fix that will come back to haunt you as that crud is left floating around in your car after its properly fixed, unless you also plan to add a full coolant flush to your bill.

If you can't/won't do the timing belt and pump yourself, just keep the system topped off until you can fix it.

BTW, its Pentosin G12 coolant, don't mix types, thats a whole other problem if you do.

 

has anyone ever done a complete coolant flush? i have helped my buddy with his supra but not really sure about the audi. does it have a coolant drain plug? we installed one of those prestone universal easy drain systems and hooked it up to the heater hose and radiator hose. so all u have to do is hook a hose to that and undo the radiator cap and presto!! flushed out(of course while letting the engine run)