In a 2003 Passat, the coolant is G12 which is supposed to be a permanent anti freeze.
i.e. there is no scheduled change for the fluid. It is pink, and there is a purple brand too that can be mixed. If some other type i.e. G11 or a glycol anti freeze, is added, the fluid could look brown according to the manual.
It is possible someone mixed the two if it was changed recently.
If you hadn't mentioned that the fluid was changed recently, I would have left the answer above as the only answer.
Dale
bad head gasket go to auto store borrow cooling presser check if the coolant looks like a strawberry milkshake, check the transmission fluid, the transmission oil cooler inside the radiator is bad. if the coolant looks like a chocolate milkshake, probably head gasket as said above.
Blown head gasket?
When mixed with coolant in the radiator it tends to look like a chocolate milkshake.
Coolant is typically changed every 30,000 - 50,000 miles.
white smoke out tailpipe.............coolant in engine oil looks like a chocolate milkshake
From air trapped in he block of your engine. If you recently drained your coolant air is trapped in the system. You will need to bleed all air from the cooling system. If you have not recently changed the coolant this is a sign of a blown head gasket. Other symptoms are white smoke from the exhaust, loss of coolant with no apparent leak, oil level overfull, and a white foamy substance under the oil fill cap. Stop driving the vehicle unit this is repaired.
First check the water level. Low level will not get to the heater core. Change the thermostat. If you recently changed the thermostat, bleed the coolant system.
Have the coolant changed immediately and you will be ok.
The coolant level sensor is bad. It is integrated into the coolant bottle, so you need to replace the coolant bottle.
No. It would cause the coolant and oil to mix and it would look like a Milkshake drain oild and check it.
The correct coolant is DEXCOOL it has an orange color to it. If your coolant is green the coolant has been changed. It has been found out that DEXCOOL was bad for Aluminum heads and gaskets. Best to switch to the green coolant.
Coolant lines? Shift linkage? could also be the rear or front seals leaking