Upsidedown

Thanks for the update and pleased to hear that you have finally received some recompense. Interestingly the 50% (parts and labour) payment for the water pump issue is pretty much in line with the US court case settlement. Hopefully with both you and I persevering by setting precedents outside the US it will make it easier for those who will undoubtedly follow us with failed water pumps to claim some compensation. (As an aside looks like Skoda NZ is better than Skoda Aus - Another win for the Kiwis!)

Good luck

Smellysocks: The recent thread about water pump changes made me wonder how your problem is progressing (or not) with Skoda Aus?

Good luck. Obviously I'm sure we'd all be interested in the outcome. (No news on the failure mode of the water pump yet I presume?)

Update: SkodaNZ and I have settled my claim for the water pump issue prior to the scheduled Disputes Tribunal hearing next week. SNZ have agreed to pay 50% of my costs, which are the water pump repair itself and the inter-related out-of-pocket expenses. This is in advance of the compensation agreed between the US class action case litigants and VW I mentioned in an earlier post. Quite what prompted this offer I am not sure but a a colleague of mine once said "A complaint is an opportunity". It is something I have always remembered. I therefore commend SNZ for turning my complaint into a complement (from me) for the way they eventually handled the matter. I can now re-bury some of the gold bars I initially dug up to pay for the incident. (Note to self - When drawing up a map this time remember to add 'X marks the spot'!) Smellysocks: Any news on your problem / situation?

I haven't come across this before but my Yeti is the first vehicle I haven't effectively worked on. (i.e. I haven't previously used professional mechanics) Its an interesting approach. Will of course be interesting to hear what SAus have to say (Good luck)

Thanks for the update. Forgive my hignorance but why is the dealer filming the underside of your vehicle - and then sending the video to SAus? On the face of it it seems an odd thing to do. (Are they perhaps going for a 'bum covering exercise' before they pull anything apart?)

Urrell: Presumably its a separate belt then. In my thread on the other forum I referenced an article about modern water pump bearings in some cases not being up to the job because the design doesn't allow for the additional load presented by a cam belt (my situation). Which seems logical - but poor design. In Smellysocks case this theory wouldn't therefore hold. If the bearings in his case failed this would point to general poor design and / or manufacture for VW group water pumps in general (?) Smellysocks: Do you know what failed (i.e. broken / detached impeller, failed bearing, failed seal, some combination of same)?

Disputes Tribunal hearing set down for end of this month. SNZ are yet to file any pre-hearing documentation in response but to be fair they will probably only recently have been served the court papers.

I have a 2015 2.0 Tdi which had covered approx 75,000 km when the water pump failed (about two months ago). There is now quite a thread on the Yeti Owners Club forum. See: "Significant Coolant Loss - There's a hole in my bucket?" ( https://www.yetiownersclub.co.uk/threads/significant-coolant-loss-theres-a-hole-in-my-bucket.12096/ ) Suggest you start at about post # 8. Hopefully you'll find some useful info on that thread.

Robjon: The water pump on my Yeti failed last month at roughly 45,000 miles / 5 yearsish. From subsequent reading it appears that premature failure of VW pumps is not uncommon - or in my opinion acceptable. (Also see my recent thread on Coolants)

I've done a bit of research but without finding anything conclusive. A 100,000 mile / 10 year "life" for the Pink coolant seems to be a common theme as does the (almost coincidental) changing of the water pump and hence the coolant at the time of the cambelt change. There were some generalised references to checking the state of the coolant at each service which makes me wonder if Skoda dealer "inspections" include this? I suspect not. Has anybody ever had a note on Skoda maintenance invoice noting that the coolant quality had been checked? (The coolant level should have been checked of course.) There is certainly nothing listed under Skoda's set price "Maintenance" table that would otherwise suggest that coolant needs changing on a regular basis, unlike engine and DSG oil, etc which do appear on the table.