Coolant heater

[Scotclimb]

I’ve just carried out a service on my 2008 se 174 4 motion. When under tge van I noticed pink like coolant leak from one of the plastic panels, passenger side below sink unit area.
After removing this I saw a wabesto unit from which I think the leak is from. I have been loosing coolant and topping up every now and then. I tasted the pink liquid but not sweet, rather bitter. Am I steering in the wrong direction? Pics of what I saw here aswell

 

[Wildcamper]

Putting unknown automotive fluids, or any unknown fluid, in one's mouth is I think very unwise!

 

[Scotclimb]

Putting unknown automotive fluids, or any unknown fluid, in one's mouth is I think very unwise!

I agree. I didn’t have a pint it was a dab then a spit. Thanks for your advice

 

[rod_vw]

The normal coolant liquid circulates through the Webasto heater so if there are signs of leakage in that area it most probably accounts for your coolant loss.
A deeper investigation as to exactly where in the heater area the leak is occurring must be your next task. Then a decision about a fix, it may be just a connecting hose if you are lucky or at worst there may be an option of disconnecting the heater completely and bypassing / removing the water connections.

 

[Scotclimb]

The normal coolant liquid circulates through the Webasto heater so if there are signs of leakage in that area it most probably accounts for your coolant loss.
I deeper investigation as to exactly where in the heater area the leak is occurring must be your next task. Then a decision about a fix, it may be just a connecting hose if you are lucky or at worst there may be an option of disconnecting the heater completely and bypassing / removing the water connections.

Thanks for help. I’ve no experience on this but after some searching on the net it might be a water pump which I think is the cylindrical part with cable connection coming from it. It almost looks there’s like a sealant that’s bubbling out of a joint on it just where the electric connector joins the unit. You can see this in the third picture. I will get it back in tge garage and do some more digging.

 

[rod_vw]

If you want to do a bit more of a DIY investigation the manual here will help. If you can't access that from the link try typing the URL in manually or worst of all start from the www.cardiagn.com page. You will find there is no obvious manual for a 2008 but the 2010 one has the info that you require.
There is a section that tells you how to remove your pump which it seems changed after 2010.