All Activity

2014 Skoda Octavia Mk3 2.0 TDI – Coolant Loss / Possible EGR Cooler and/or Head Gasket Hi all, I’m looking for some advice regarding an ongoing cooling-system problem with a 2014 Skoda Octavia Mk3 2.0 TDI, 6-speed manual, with roughly 300,000 km. I bought the car on 25 July 2026. It drove reasonably well initially, but after a little over a week the coolant warning came on and I found that the coolant level had dropped. Sometimes I just release the presher in the expantion tank and the coolent comes bubbling back, after about 20-80km of driving the next day I find that the the tank needs to be topped back up. So far, the following has been done: Coolant/antifreeze was replaced and the system was checked. The water pump was subsequently replaced after it was suspected of being faulty. Despite the new water pump, the coolant problem continued. Several mechanics have looked at the car. The main possibilities suggested have been either a head-gasket problem and/or a faulty EGR cooler. Most recently, a mechanic carried out a cooling-system pressure test. The tester was left connected for essentially the whole day and the system did not lose pressure. Because of that, the mechanic could not conclusively say whether the problem was the head gasket or EGR cooler and did not charge me for the diagnostic. One mechanic has verbally stated that both the ERG and the Head Gasket have failed. But would not give me a hard quote for how much the repairs would cost. The strange part is that the car can apparently hold pressure during a static pressure test, but it is still losing/using coolant when driven. At the moment I’m trying to work out the best way to distinguish between an EGR cooler leaking internally and a combustion/head-gasket-related problem before spending a large amount of money replacing parts. I’d particularly appreciate advice on: Whether an EGR cooler failure on the 2.0 TDI can cause coolant loss while still passing a normal cooling-system pressure test. The best way of testing the EGR cooler specifically. Whether there are any particular 2.0 TDI coolant-system faults I should be checking before condemning the head gasket. Whether there is any value in doing compression or leak-down testing on the engine in this situation. (Finding a mechanic willing/able to do this test has been next to impossible in my neck of the woods.) Are there any known signs that would distinguish an EGR cooler leak from a head-gasket failure on these engines? The engine otherwise runs and drives, and the most recent pressure test showing no pressure loss has left us without a clear diagnosis. One mechanic has suggested trying Steel Seal/head-gasket sealer to see whether it changes the symptoms, but I’m hesitant to put any type of sealing product into the cooling system before properly identifying the fault - since the car is legally under warranty. Any advice from people familiar with the Mk3 Octavia 2.0 TDI would be greatly appreciated, particularly if you have encountered a similar coolant-loss problem. Thanks.

WHY !

My mistake.

You tried the Privacy Settings?

As stated, there's no fixed roof option, they all open.

Update for any interested parties... Finally got somewhere with Skoda UK. They offered me 20%, £650, towards the repair cost. Better than a kick in the balls !! I feel it would have been more for less mileage and closer to warranty expiry. Thankyou to everybody who helped me with this....

Cheers for it. 😃

True and I’ve fitted those “CANbus friendly guaranteed not to trip a warning” in the past and of course they’ve still caused the same issue and, TBH, I’m not prepared to pay the £35-odd difference for the ones at Kopeck to stop an occasional “bong” when the glovebox is opened. I know, I can’t help it! Yep, those’ll be the one I have and still have the same issue. 🙄 Yep, I live with that too!

Yes i know it better. I have it for all mib 2 pq and zr Units. SD Card Patch Only Navigation Unit

If you pull the cap off it replicates the fault codes/symptoms. However, I fitted a known good one and it didn't make a difference unfortunately.

For CarPlay! The patch is free for the clock fix. Please read the posts correctly ! To add CarPlay it costs around £80 unless you know better, then enlighten me please.

Hi everyone, I have Octavia mk3.5, 2017 facelift 2L TDI 150HP 4x4 CRMB engine witch is a bullet proof engine, and I'm thinking to trade it in with 2026 2L TDI 115HP, just need an advice is it a good move? or just keep mine which is not giving me any troubles. Thanks in advance

I have always been able to send a WhatsApp message from my car whilst driving but recently my requests are falling on "deaf" ears. When asked who I want to send to when I say it just asks again. I can ask for a text message to be sent to any of my contacts without any problems. Is this likely to be the car or my phone settings having been changed?

80£? 😂 The Patch is free in the Internet

The patch is for CarPlay If I do the clock update it wipes out the CarPlay patch so I’d need to reinstall the patch for CarPlay. Another £80 Not worth it just for a clock error when the clock on the dash works perfectly.

Hi Guys, AUQ 130k miles Driving, coolant light came on, headed home as close (no overheating), checked next day lots of coolant but brown in colour (rather than pink) Took to garage, Block test passed and compression test passed. Garage now thinks headgasket but it hasnt overheated at any point. (I've seen block test can be passed at low rpms but when at 4000rpm exhaust gases were detected on another car) Oil cooler replaced and two 20 minute test drives all good, idled for pre mot for longer than 20 minutes and oil started showing in coolant again. I have been doing some research,apparently the coolant channels in the turbo internals (CHRA) can be breached by the higher pressure oil leading to oil in coolant but no standard head gasket mayo under oil cap and dipstick which are my symptoms. Has anyone any experience of this and has anyone fitted a new CHRA to a turbo? AI thinks the ks03 has coolant channels, others who have removed them said not..... Any ideas as want to rule out if possible before either fix or scrap AI: " Yes — confirmed, it's water-cooled. I checked the part-specific data rather than relying on memory. The exact turbo for your engine — K03s part number 5303 988 0052, OEM 06A145713F, the 180HP AUQ/ARZ unit — is explicitly listed with a water cooled bearing housing. That's the K03s fitted across the Mk1 Audi TT, Seat Leon Cupra, A3 8L, and Mk4 Golf/Octavia with the AUQ engine. TurboTurbos Backing it up: on the stock K03s, the line on top of the turbo running around the timing-belt side is the coolant return, and the coolant supply comes off the back of the block. The AN-line kits sold for this engine include both a turbo water feed line and a turbo water return line alongside the oil feed — two separate coolant lines to the CHRA. VW Vortex MAMBA TURBO And the tell-tale that people deliberately remove it: you can run the K03s oil-only, but you have to plug the old water lines to do it. If it weren't water-cooled from the factory, there'd be nothing to plug. VW Vortex So the diagnostic logic stands: your AUQ's K03s has oil and coolant galleries sharing the same centre housing, which is exactly what makes an internal breach able to push oil into the coolant — and what makes the coolant bypass test valid. If yours has already been swapped for an oil-only turbo at some point (worth a quick look — are there two small coolant lines actually running to it?), then the turbo drops off the suspect list entirely and you're back to head gasket / cracked head. So before the bypass test, just eyeball it: two small-bore water lines to the CHRA = stock water-cooled unit, test is valid." Thanks,

I'd call that a radiator cowl or diverter... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/366632913810?campid=5339147365&mkcid=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&toolid=20006&var=0&customid=EAIaIQobChMIx5HZj6rLlgMVrJlQBh1fKRAFEAQYASABEgKDV_D_BwE&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=9046364&adtype=pla&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23841004265&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx5HZj6rLlgMVrJlQBh1fKRAFEAQYASABEgKDV_D_BwE

Hi I am looking to buy a 25/26 Skoda Fabian 1.0 95 bhp. Is there anything I should know about reliability or anything else related to the model please?

Here is a photo of the part I'm trying to find the name of.

I agree decent if not full service history including dsg regular service. Check old MOT results as well. Amazing what comes up like bald tyres etc which points to a car that hasnt been cared for. Also MOT will note underbody corosion etc especially if its from a high road salt area. Alasdair

John, everything in that (AI generated?) advice seems to focus on newer cars and the need to work with/around newer cars' enhanced security systems. My vehicle was manufactured in April 2020, based on the 2017-2020 Octavia III Facelift platform, so nothing about these newest generation, more secure car computers applies. My question remains whether OBDeleven's custom-hardware-restricting-to-custom software (at a slightly reduced price compared to one of the major device-independent software author's suggestion of MX+ as gold-standard compatible hardware) has a driving advantage, or whether compatible (vs. OBDeleven's custom) hardware is a better choice (especially if someone has a specific product recommendation as being as capable, reliable, and at least nearly as fast as, while being less expensive than, the MX+)? thank you,

Oh 🤦

If the carpets are dry it rules out heater matrix and no white smoke headgasket is good. From memory the water pump is on the gearbox side of some engines on mk3 fabia so it may be leaking there or perhaps(hopefully) a hose/hose clip has given up. Garage should be able to tell quite quickly where its leaking from. If it does overheat on way to garage wait till it cools down before topping up. Hope its an easy fix Alasdair

Thank you Jevpls for your reply. You’ve added some new faults that I haven’t come across before! I hope the dealer can sort out the keyless system problem. If some handles are reliable and some not then if you have the latter Skoda should in fairness fix it at no cost to you. But that’s in the ideal world I guess. I think your last sentence sums it up. You hope that known problems will have been sorted but there is always the concern that there are new faults heading our way. Just been reading about Toyota map updates frying the screen which then has to be replaced.

One more image as it exceeded 10mb limit. Thank you for the help once more. Helped me to begin troubleshooting as a complete beginner. Also no white smoke. Only seems to drop when I'm driving. In hilly Devon so constantly revving the car up hills and doing long distances, which isn't helping. Taking it very easy now.