After adding coolant to an empty reservoir its still overheating why?

Asked by Sheila Jul 06, 2020 at 07:06 PM about the 2004 Volkswagen Jetta

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

So were driving the car and it began overheating we pulled
over and added coolant as we noticed none was in the
reservoir. This is my father in laws vehicle but we were
using it but now that we added the coolant and started the
engine to drive it back safely to park it, it began to slowly
overheat again. I'm confused, if there's coolant like why
would it overheat again. The sensor for it was going off
for a few days without overheating so I guess it was
warning us without us actually knowing until it started to
smoke but it has coolant so what could it be?

1 Answer

40,000

If there was no coolant in the reservoir, that means there is a leak. So you added coolant, but there is still a leak. The coolant system is a closed system, so if there is a leak, that means there is air in the system most likely causing it overheat. You need to find the leak and repair it, then add coolant and bleed the system.

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