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I have a VW Citi Golf, and the Welsh plugs on the engine block suddenly started leaking water. The engine sounds fine, but it obviously leaked a lot of water and although I didn't drive far, I'm not sure how long ago this happened.

The mechanic seems to think they just need to be replaced, but what would cause this to suddenly happen? I'm imagining the the block heating up so much it warped. Are there any less possibilities?

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Wikipedia says they can corrode and fail from improper engine maintenance. However, I'm unable to come up with a really good explanation for why. I suppose not servicing the cooling system ever could lead to an issue, but you'd almost certainly see it elsewhere first. – Brian Knoblauch Sep 12 '11 at 18:09
This should be posted as an answer, not a comment. Put it under "answer this question" so it can earn votes and maybe even get accepted :) – pufferfish Sep 12 '11 at 18:56
I didn't think it was worthy, but done. :-) – Brian Knoblauch Sep 12 '11 at 19:46

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Wikipedia says they can corrode and fail from improper engine maintenance. However, I'm unable to come up with a really good explanation for why. I suppose not servicing the cooling system ever could lead to an issue, but you'd almost certainly see it elsewhere first.

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Turns out it was not enough antifreeze, which has anti-corrosives in it too – pufferfish Sep 14 '11 at 6:38
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Welsh plugs are mainly made of carbon steel, and with out antifreeze in the coolant water, they corrode quite fast with the engine heating and cooling. My brand new 3 year old Citi Sport has a leaking head welsh plug because I did not top up with antifreeze.

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