freddyuk

Please read the thread as all is explained very clearly. The thread is now closed with a solution and/or outcome. Thank you

Thank you. I am not one of those thankfully. We are fully prepared to integrate and already doing so. It is pure accident my neighbours include two English in this tiny hamlet but there are French farmers and apparently a French motorbikers clubhouse for summer visits across the lane to keep a balance. My local pub restaurant was a real surprise bonus located on a river in a pretty village. The pub has been owned by an Irish family for many years and they have guinness on tap. The food is excellent. That was not planned just a fluke. Good luck with your renovation. I have the same job although removing the previous owners poor efforts makes the job more complicated and expensive. The car seems to be back to normal so fingers crossed we get back OK. Next trip being booked as we going to miss the place for a few weeks.

My comment was anecdotal. I did bring a trailer. We are buying a house. I did not pick the region for the fact it is overrun with English we just wanted something away from the known English hotspots but they/we seem to be everywhere. We are learning more French language of course. I am very happy with our reception by the local French. We will reciprocate.

It was definitely an error when the water pump was fitted. The fault light came on within a short drive of collecting the car. Had I lifted the bonnet I would have spotted the plugless connector as it was very obvious not hidden under the engine cover. I have to be slightly careful criticising the fitter as he was doing me a favour changing the pump without which we would be stuck with no car as no main dealer would assist. It is hard to find a garage that will jump in to help when you are not a local. He did a job which I know is a pain and he probabaly rushed the reconnection. The other technician spoke some English so we were lucky that many French can speak enough English to get by with us foreigners although they often do not admit this. We have had nothing but kind assistance from the local French during all of our stay here. The car seems to be behaving so I hope the timing is all OK. I am not taking it any further as it was a recommendation from our B&B hosts who lent us their car and towed my trailer to the house for us when my car was off the road. It would just cause embarrassment to people who had been so kind. A mistake which in the end did not cause harm I think so let it go.

Today we went to Skoda dealer in Brive. We were turned away even though we explained the car would die in 250 miles and we had to get a ferry 600 miles away. They would not even connect a scanner for me to see any fault codes. They suggested that sometimes the warning is false and so just keep driving!! We then arranged to go back to the guy who fitted the water pump although his software was only up to 2013. He got 2 fault codes - Injector fault on No1 cylinder and Engine thermostat fault. These were news to me as the car was running fine. He could do no more with his system but got us into a local garage with upto date scanner. This guy came out and immediately got to work as a favour. He was having a problem identifying what was wrong. The eventual decision was a Adblu tank sensor failure. This would cost #600 to replace + labour and could not be done before we left. He did not give up but went and checked under the bonnet and pointed out the Asdblu injector. We both instantly spotted the unconnected connector in front of the water reservoir - he said this was the injector sensor cable. So no wonder the Asdblu top up was not recognised it was not connected. Furthermore the actual connecter seemed to be connected to the wrong plug on the engine so the wires were all crossed. That would give false Injector fault and false thermostat fault? Once the wiring was corrected he reset the system and the faults cleared. I went for a test run and it came up with 8500 miles Adblu capacity. What a stressful day going from planning a transporter for the car back to UK to having it fixed and functional. So there you go - a simple error on refitting the wiring led us on a merry chase around the dealers watching our car bricking point loom closer. Phew!!

We got the message and added 5 litres. Checked and drove quite a way. The message remained so next day we went and bought another 5 litres and same thing - no change to mileage left. So we bought another 5 litres and this was not all put in. No change to the warning message. So it was not overfilling that caused this although it is full now because of the fault - I did not cause the fault by overfilling. There is no message in the system to tell me capacity at all. No way of knowing how much is in the tank. I could hear it going into the tank so there was a low level. We have done plenty of miles over several days so plenty of time for the system to register.

Went out today and no issues with water. I spoke to the guy who replaced pump and he confirmed it was jammed closed. He was very interested in the problem. I put in more Adblu until it was full. Still stuck at 800km left. I started a new thread on this problem. I called Skoda in Ireland and they suggested I should claim on my insurance!! Wonderful service. I am going back to the same garage tomorrow and he has a scanner but it is only valid software up to 2014 so may not have any effect on my car.??

We have now topped up to over flowing and it says 800km left. It swaps between km and miles.

More issues with my Superb . I have a check engine light on after replacing the water pump. I also have an Adblue warning I have 500 miles left and car will stop. I topped up with 10 litres of Adblue but it still says the same message ie. no extra miles. We have used the car since and no change. So is this another failure I have to fix or is there a magic button somewhere? Cheers guys

Sorry for the delay. We had no internet. Waiting for Orange Fr. to flick a switch - some hope.....I am now on my Hotspot - a big bill will be on the way. The car went in and timing kit was fitted with pump. Cost was 225 euro for the fitting. Drove back yesterday and no overheat. Had the Aircon on as it has finally turned very warm here. Stopped at the supermarket. When we restarted I had a check engine light on so this is not over yet. I checked the water reservoir and there is a bag in there but looks undamaged and no signs of debris. The water is pink and within the level marker. I did not test the heater as it was very warm but can test today. I have the usual threat from the Adblu message to buy some Adblu of your car will die - I love being bullied by a car. This should not cause engine fault. BTW I am up in Creuse near Gueret about an hour from Limoges. Will be going down to Julliac some time next week. All comments gratefully received.

We got to Limoges yesterday by driving at 40mph and stopping to let traffic past. Crawling up hills and coasting down. We managed to keep the alarm from going off but it did get to the red sometimes. OK to drive very slowly around town. We collected a kit from Skoda dealer at double the normal price. They could fit in in July!! Going home we nursed car along but going out of Limoges the gauge started drop back to 90c and stayed there even up a hill so I pulled over and prepared to pull the plug. A car pulled up behind us and it was another Irish car who wanted help us if we were lost! I left the car running and the temp was at 90c when I discoonected the solenoid feed. Aftet that it did briefly go up to 120c but quickly dropped back to 90c and stayed there until we got home about 20 minutes later.It seemed to drive normally for the rest of the trip back. I do not know if the shroud retracted on its own or pulling the plug had an effect.. I will find out today if it has reverted to being stuck or if we have some circulation. The heater was blowing warm when we set off but went cold again. It stayed cold all day. The car is booked in with a local garage hopefully tonight.

The top hose was cold and the hose from the reservoir was cold. I did not crawl underneath as I was out in a car park. When we went out yesterday to try and release the shroud by driving the air was warming up from the vents as normal as you would expect. I then shut off the heater as I was trying to get to 90c asap to see if it held there or kept on going up - it kept going up. I drove at crawling pace to get it back to 90c and hoped it would trigger the shroud but it refused to drop far enough. If I stopped it would go down to 90c and stay there but as soon as we started up it would go up on the first incline. Before that the other day when I was trying to cool it down I had the heater on full 28c and it was blowing warm - then cooler - then warmer but finally it was stone cold. I have heard about these bags in the reservoir but have not investigated. I see it is advised to remove them.? If I can see it I should remove it. If I cannot see it is it in the system somewhere? I noted JR you are in France so know what you are talking about. If I cannot get a kit here I am thinking get the local garage to remove the pump - release or just cut off the metal shroud and replace it to get me home. I will look for this teabag now........ It just occurs to me that there is no thermostat on the engine that is what the shroud does on the pump??

I am thinking here (on a Sunday) of a solution to release the stuck shroud. If the engine is hot and the shroud is being pressurised by the solenoid piston to open the shroud - with engine off and cable disconnected could you use something to vibrate the water pump shaft end to maybe release the shroud enough to get flow?? Just an idea. Mine has only just stuck so may be freed off with a bit of tapping or even a gentle hammer drill action on any part of the pump which is accessible - which may be a problem.??? It all looks very tight and I am not sure if any part of the pump body is actually visible from above or below. I know, clutching at straws here......

Oh great! We are staying with an English couple B&B and they have been great offering a car etc. and we have a garage available for the work next week if I can get the kit. It is an English guy who owns the garage. Not really integrating but we have to be mobile asap. I ordered a kit online from an independent seller and find out after paying it is an order going to Autodoc who I already know do not have stock of the kit. So tomorrow I will find out if it is going to be a cancelled order. The car was overheating when I got back today so it will be in closed position. Will try again tomorrow.

I have figured out how this would be a solution as I now understand what is going on. We are desperately trying to get the gauge to drop to 90c so we can pull the plug but it is refusing to do it now. It was before we knew the trick. I hope it is not jammed now so will keep trying as repair kits are all out of stock in France. I just need it to open and then disconnect. I guess it does not matter if the engine is running or not when I disconnect the solenoid so long as the shroud is "off"?