Coolant Leak

Coolant smell . . .

Same problem as those mentioned above . . . 3.6L V6 SEL Premium 4MOTION with ALL the bells and whistles. First noticed a coolant smell after driving the car at just below 7,000 miles. Kept watch on the coolant level and at first didn't really notice a difference but finally started seeing maybe a hairline drop after a couple hundred miles or so. Keep checking it on a regular basis and a little later and it had actually suddenly dropped down well below the lower line so I bought some antifreeze and filled it back up exactly to the upper line, and noticed it slowing dropping down again over time. Have looked and can't find any indication anywhere under the hood that there's a leak and nothing under the car when parked in the garage.


Took it in for the 10,000 mile service and explained the situation. Was given the "standard" answer about doing a pressure test and not noticing any drop in pressure, but they did fill the coolant level well above the upper fill line before returning the car after the service.


Also complained about noise coming from the fans when turning off the engine. Wasn't there when we first got the car, and now it sounds like an old clunker and it's loud enough that it's noticeable to people parked next to or standing outside the car. (Makes you fell really nice about the new Volkswagen you bought!) Have even started noticing a gurgling sound for a while coming from the engine after turning it off like it's running hot but the temperature gauge stays right on the middle level and never indicates an over-heating problem. Have watched the engine oil temperature and it runs anywhere between 190° to around 220° but I'm not actually sure what is considered the "normal" range.

I've noticed the same issue for probably a couple months now on my 3.6L SE. Took it to the dealer finally and they told the pressure held at 1.5 BAR. So, I told them that coolant is like AC refrigerant and is not consumed. If the level diminishes, there is a leak.

I teach high school auto shop after over 15 years in the heavy truck fleet maintenance and am double ASE master certified (auto and med/heavy truck). Let me just tell everyone here that coolant does not dissipate or evaporate. If you look in any owner's manual in the last decade or two, you'll likely find in the maintenance schedule a coolant replacement interval of somewhere in the 100,000 mile range. If your dealer tells you some nonsense because they don't know what's going on with these super slow Atlas leaks, just point out that the owner's manual does not even have a replacement mileage (and our manual maintenance schedule goes up to 150,000 miles).

If anyone gets this figured out, let us know! My super slow leak took a couple months to trigger the low coolant warning.

4200 miles overheat light coolent empty

So thought I’d share my experience here as this does seem to be a common occurrence. My Atlas (V6 AWD with 22,000kms) alerted us to a low coolant warning about 2 months ago, and when I looked under the hood, the coolant was only slightly below the minimum level. I called the dealership and they were able to get me in after ~45 days.

We kept driving the Atlas as we normally would and I noticed the coolant kept decreasing very gradually. Given the cold weather and the fact that I couldn’t see any leaks or puddles, I wasn’t too concerned. We also eventually noticed our heater had stopped working and after about 15 mins of driving, we would hear a constant thudding sound coming from behind the center console. That’s when I decided to park the car and wait till it was appointment time.

The dealer was able to identify a problem with the secondary coolant pump and placed the item on order. The thudding sound and the heater not working were attributed to the low coolant levels. The thudding sound was likely the pump motor. It took the dealer 10 days to receive the pump and has finally promised me the Atlas back tomorrow…. Hopefully that’s it for dealer visits for the next few months!