Jetta water pump replaced, then radiator gets a leak

JEF2500

MEMBER
2003 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
116,000 MILES

I have a 2003 Jetta (116,000 miles) that just had a major milestone service to replace the timing belt and water pump. The car was running fine when it had the service, and I've almost never had problems with this car.

About 48 hours after the service, the coolant light came on. I took it back to the shop to ensure nothing was wrong. They investigated, and their conclusion was that it was an air pocket, nothing to worry about.

On my way home from this check in, the temperature gauge maxed out to 270F, the coolant light came back on, along with the check engine light. The heater also stopped working at this point, though it had been working before the shop looked at it a 2nd time.

So I took it back to the shop, and after a lengthy investigation, they said the radiator was leaking, and it needed to be replaced.

This seems like a very strange coincidence. Is it possible the service caused this problem? Or would one expect the radiator to be leaky at this point any way?

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

You can not totally rule out a radiator core failure, but if it was suspect they should have seen some signs of the leak after doing a cooling system pressure test when doing the water pump job, radiators normally weep and show signs of pending failure before they let go, I am wondering if they are trying to cover their tracks because they did not bleed the system fully, the no heat is a fair indication that there was a serious air lock in the system.

Mark (mhpautos)