Golf IV / Jetta IV :: Code P2181 Come Up Twice - Small Coolant Leak And Some Oil Mix?
Aug 27, 2014
Had a P2181 come up twice now... both on startup on a cool morning. Came on again this weekend. Monday morning I noticed a small coolant leak under the front of the car directly in line with the passenger headlight, but it only leaks if I park the car with the front down a slope. I parked uphill on Monday night and no leak in the morning, but I backed in facing downhill on Tuesday and had a small leak when I checked late last night.
So, last night I broke out the UV/black light -- G12 seems to fluoresce yellow'ish. I couldn't see much, so it is a small leak. There is some wetness on the bottom passenger side of the rad that's dripping over the back side of the front bumper/lip. No wetness around any other hoses, thermostat housing, temp sensor, turbo lines. But that's all from the top view. No time yet this week to get it up on stands to pull the bumper/splash shields for a closer look either.
I am little concerned tho as there's some wetness around the valve cover and when I pulled the oil cap my eyes suggested a bit of fluorescence under the cap and inside the valve cover. I'm a little worried oil and coolant may be meeting up somewhere... And to think... I was just in the process of getting geared up to do brakes and plugs before getting a modest tune (stage 1).
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Like the title states, I've got P2181 (coolant system performance) CEL on again. I've had this code before and finally had everything serviced. It was off for 5k miles! I've spent a lot of time diagnosing this on the previous occurrences, and was 99% certain it was the thermostat due to the coolant temp dropping a notch or so when engine braking* on the interstate for more than a few seconds.
The current issue is mainly that the car will not heat up quite as fast, but it will not go lower from engine braking for a good chunk of time. I'm getting fairly poor MPG compared to what I was getting a month or two ago. The major changes are winter fuel blends and winter tires, which I'm sure affect the MPG a little, but I would hope not as much as I am seeing. Old average was around 27mpg combined and 30 or so for mostly highway, now I'm getting 24 tops. This is likely due to engine temps not being up to allow for most efficient fuel burning.
First plan is to change the CTS and see if that will fix it. If the code comes back after that, I'll have to check the thermostat and coolant mixture, but I wouldn't expect it to last only 5k miles.
Current: 105k
Thermostat and coolant changed at 100k
Water pump at 80k
CTS sometime around 70k
Engine braking lowering temp due to no fuel being ignited and coolant still circulating through the system if thermostat open.
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Got a CEL tonight while driving. Originally I was driving and the light came on saying that my gas cap was loose. I corrected the problem when I got home and tightened again. The light stayed on however. I ran a scan with the OBDII and it gave me a code for EVAP- Very Small Leak .
I was reading around and some people suggested the MAF. Which would make sense because I recently had all of that stuff off and gave the engine a deep cleaning while it was exposed. I just don't see how the MAF could relate to the code my car is pushing?
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So after 1.5 years of owning my R I got my first CEL. The code is P2181. I did some searching and this is a problem in the coolant system.
In the previous posts about this these were the possible problems:
1) Coolant sensor
2) Thermostat
3) Bad fans
4) Coolant mixture
5) Water pump
I checked my car and I have the updated green coolant sensor. My question is should I just get a thermostat and replace that or should I replace the green coolant sensor with another one? Do the green ones go bad?
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so my girls car is throwing an evap code (P0442) small leak detected. I bought a new oem gas cap and replaced the purge valve solenoid under the hood. that didn't work, CEL still comes on about 100mi after clearing the code.
I have checked the rubber hoses that were attached to the purge valve solenoid when i replaced it and they are fresh, no dry rot or cracks that i can see. The hose on one side goes to a hard line that runs under the car to the back, the hose on the other side of the solenoid runs under the intake to the throttle body. That hose was fine as well. Connections were tight and i even put better clamps on the hose ends that attach to the solenoid. So I have ruled out that portion of the system (under the hood).
I also removed the rear seat to access the fuel pump. All those connections seem nice and tight, I don't smell any strong gas fumes indicating a leak so i don't think the fuel pump gasket is the problem either. Finally, i checked out the hard lines running under the car front to back and I see no apparent or obvious damage. I assume my next step is to pull off the rear passenger wheel well liner and asses the charcoal canister and the LDP connections, correct??
The last thing I will mention is, Idid notice the 2 fuel lines that attach to the fuel regulator are in pretty rough shape, however not leaking any fuel. Are both of these lines actual liquid fuel lines? I am thinking one of them is a vapor return which may be part of the EVAP system. If it's dry-rotted and leaking vapors could that be the culprit??
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I've noticed the past few days that my car has been leaking a small amount of coolant. I've only had the car a month, and it has 1300 miles on it. I'm in Texas so it's been about 100 degrees every day.
There's been a few times that I've turned off the car and the fan has stayed on for a few minutes, so it must be getting pretty hot.
I'm assuming this little bit of coolant is just coming from the overflow, but I've never had a new car do this so I'm concerned that there's a problem. I checked the fill level, and it's a hair above the LOW line, so it's within range.
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If I am not mistaken this error code means that I have a coolant system issue. I've checked both of my radiator fans and they both spin, so it makes me think that its the thermostat issue. If I am correct, any link to a replacement part? Or better yet a DIY? I've searched and no dice.
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Bought a MkIV for the fiancee 2 weeks ago (04.5 GLI 1.8T Automatic).. Great driving car, needs some minor love (really dirty, burnt out lights, etc)
After the first week, the coolant light came on
Had some G12 handy, topped it off (like 8-10 oz)
All good
2 days later, it came on again, added about the same amount
4 days later, it came on again, added the same amount
1 day later, it came on again, added the same amount
I am adding 50/50 mix, but haven't seen a puddle anywhere, Nothing looks wet, but then again its hard to see around the plastic cover ...
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It all started with a fuel cap loose light (it wasn't) after a day or two the MIL came on and got this code I reset it but I'm sure it'll come back since there's probably a real leak. What can I check myself to find this leak?
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I had a small leak on the side cover of my trans so I decided to replace the gasket and take the opportunity to drop the pan and change the fluid and filter. However now I seem to have a pretty significant leak from the trans pan itself. The side cover seems ok.
The filter and gasket kit I purchased was a Wix brand. I don't have a torque wrench, so I just tightened to Germain torque spec (gutentight). However now I worry that maybe it's not the right spec, either too tight or too loose. The kit came with new spacers for the gasket and I cleaned the pan, especially around the lip where it interfaces with the rubber.
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Okay, so a few weeks ago, my tire blew out on the freeway. Of course my spare wasn't in there and when I got one I couldn't get the lugs loosened. My 4way was too big on all sides. It was late, I am a single mother of two young kids so I had no choice but to drive slowly to get it off the freeway. The next morning I came back fully prepared, got my car in to get a new tire. I have been driving with ONE code for my CEL, but at the shop (where I use to work) I used the scanner and it threw 5 codes.
P0300 Random misfire
P0442 Small EVAP leak detected (this one was already there)
P0420 Catalyst system below threshold bank 1
P0301 Misfire cyl 1
P0303 Misfire cyl 3
My beautiful love is an 02 Jetta 2.0 4 Cyl. Now, since 4 of these codes popped up AFTER my first blowout (I turn 30 next month, knock on wood)
Did driving my car at 5 mph about a mile and a half (everywhere up until the gas station was NO PARKING) do something to my car? All of a sudden, any in town driving ESP IDLING makes my check engine light blink and my car has no power I just have to pull over wherever I am. I checked the car out myself on the side of the road and my cat was glowing. After this I do not drive my car.
So, what should I do. I did a tune up. Should I replace the 02 sensors then the cat?
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I have a really small leak coming from the lower end of my power steering hose, it's super small, I was wondering if I could fix this by wiping it down really well and dry, and then layering it with plasti-dip. I think the leak is small/slow enough for me to get in a few good layers. Would this be an okay fix, or would the plasti-dip separate fast?
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My CEL is on and the code is a p2181 (cooling system performance). My car isn't overheating or taking too long too warm up, so I'm guessing its not a bad thermostat or water pump. I want to replace the ECT sensor, but I haven't found any instructions for doing this on the 2.0TSI engine. Aren't there 2 ECT sensors? One on the lower radiator hose and one on the thermostat/water pump housing.
Lower radiator hose ECT sensor: [URL] .....
Thermostat/water pump housing ECT sensor: [URL] ....
Which one do I need to replace? The radiator hose ECT sensor seems easy enough to access, but I'm not sure what needs to be removed to replace the sensor on the thermostat housing?
I noticed that the temperature isn't always sitting at 190. It will drop slightly below on occasion for short periods of time. Could this actually be a thermostat issue?
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CEL came on yesterday and pulled P2181 which looks like it could be a bunch of different things. Taking it to the shop tomorrow morning so any guesses? BTW I would attempt the easy things first but it is my daily so.....
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Yesterday my car threw a CEL for the first time; I am currently APR stage II. Ran the code and came up with P2400. Code cleared, but after 1 cycle it appeared again.
Interestingly, on my way to a cookout today the car started yelling at me about low coolant. I pulled over and checked but didn't see any initial signs of leakage (was raining at the time though...). Continued to my destination and topped off with distilled H2O in lieu of G12 since I didn't have any immediately available. Once I made it back home, checked the reservoir again and saw that the level had dropped (probably ~ 1/2 cup or so). This time, I could see liquid on the belly pan, then on my driveway...
It looks like the P2400 code is indicating an issue in the leak detection pump circuit. Any chance that the coolant leak and P2400 code are related (leak shorted something out...??? I should mention I am not super familiar with the plumbing for the evap system in this car) or am I really this unlucky.
Issues with the car since purchase:
- Replaced clutch (stock would not hold stage 1 torque...)
- Wiring for radiator fan came loose, fans stopped working (took ~3 weeks to resolve due to resulting ECU issues...)
- ECU solder joint (EVAP circuit) damaged during re-flash after flashing to stock for dealer to address radiator fan issue...
- P2400 CEL
- Coolant Leak
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I just picked up a MK4 gls 1.8t jetta for a project car.... I wanted to keep the miles off my MK6 gti.... The jetta has 92k miles and the first thing I had done was the timing belt service done as well as a new alternator clutch pulley and oil change... 1 day after I got the car i was driving to work and the CEL came on took it to auto parts store... 2 codes came up
P0420: catalyst system. efficiency below threshold bank1
P2181 cooling system performance
I have the green sensor and I think its time to change the thermostat... My question is is it just a coincidence that both codes came up at the same time or is i possible it is a sign for something else... i just had the thermostat changed 10 min ago...CEL light is gone so i will wait to see if the cat code comes back.
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Started happening recently where I can't bring her past 5k without misfiring on cyl 2 and throwing the p2181 code. I changed the coil just to be sure, but I do know my coolant sensor wires were a little snug from the TB being so close.
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So this seems to be a common code that is thrown when you near 100k miles, I'm at 77k .. This thread seems to be the most organized [URL] ....
"Long story short, there are 5 main reasons this problem can pop up, listed in order of likelihood, least to greatest:
1) Coolant sensor
2) Thermostat
3) Bad fans
4) Coolant mixture
5) Water pump "
My issue is that the only ones I'm (probably) able to rule out is coolant mixture and bad fans. My radiator fans do turn on from time to time, so I thought I'd ruled that out (unless it would throw a code for not turning on at appropriate times?)
I heard of a test to turn on your AC and see if they turn on, but my AC hasn't blown cold air like ever, so I don't know if that affects the test (probably not?)
A couple years ago I had a shop replace the original thermostat with the new one, or was it the coolant sensor, or both (ugh, I don't remember!) That leaves thermostat, coolant sensor, and water pump.
I guess my main question is is there anyway to find out which it is between these 3, without spending so time, money, parts etc? It doesn't seem the coolant sensor is easily accessible for one.
My car has been really slow recently but I also need to change the spark plugs, I'm doing that this week. I cleared the CEL/P2181 code and it returned a few weeks later,
I'm starting to change my mind about this car being easy to maintain/reliable, I'm always on time with maintenance and with only 77k miles on a 2004 car.
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Bought a 2004 Jetta GLI about two weeks ago. Has 80,100 miles. Ran great for about the first week then the check engine light came on for no reason. It is spitting out two codes.
1) P3081
2) P2181
The car still was running good even with spitting these codes so I continued to drive it for another week. Today I was sitting in the parking lot of a store and the car was idling for about 25 minutes while I ran into the store and I come outside from the store and there was a huge lake under my car and the engine was running hot and smoking.
I let it cool down and poured some water into the over flow bubble looking thing and it didn't look like any water was leaking out.
When the water was leaking out it looked like it was coming from the left middle side of the engine.....
Also I would like to add that the car seems to always run a little cold.....it never runs just in the middle like most cars do...
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Last night on my way to go get hammered the check engine light popped on...
"Cooling System Performance"
I have read a few different post, and the last one I read referred to his radiator fans. I know for a fact one of them isn't working and I haven't replaced it yet because it hasn't advisable effected my driving.
So my question is what could be causing this? Also I'm not sure if this matters but my a/c doesn't work either.
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The code in question is:
18613 - Performance Malfunction in Cooling System
P2181 - 008 - Implausible Signal - MIL ON
Long story short, there are 5 main reasons this problem can pop up, listed in order of likelihood, least to greatest:
1) Coolant sensor
2) Thermostat
3) Bad fans
4) Coolant mixture
5) Water pump
It's a fun catch-all code that can be thrown from any of those. Given that our cars are approaching the 6 year mark, the coolant sensor & thermostat are the most likely culprits. Most of us up on maintenance have already done the green-top sensor, so it's probably the thermostat. In which case, here is the official changing the thermostat DIY: [URL] .....
If you get this code, first check your fans. They're running? Okay, change your sensor & clear it. If it comes back, change the thermostat. If it still comes back, which has been known to happen, investigate further. [IMG] [URL] .....
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