trabolgan

All fellow Skoda and VAG car owners: last week I took my much loved Skoda Octavia VRS MK2 2.0 petrol owned from new into a local VW specialist garage for a water pump change due to a coolant leak. Picked up the car and drove it back on a short drive and parked her up on the drive. yesterday time to go into the office 80 miles away and set on my way, soon into the trip I noticed the car running a bit doggy and noticed the gear change notifier wasn't working as normal not indicating when to up gear or it took like 5000 rpm before it kicked in, i also noticed a slight power difference or car behaviour and the fuel mpg was not as good. Anyway I got to work and parked up until lunch time so I can have a look under the bonnet. Lunch time and time to have a look - I opened the bonnet to notice 2 things straight away 1, the air intake top box cover was off and fell down the gap in-front of the battery housing so there was a huge open gap. 2, I noticed a jubilee clip tightened around the moulded neck of the vacuum sensor at the front of the engine which wasn't there before. So some history - I changed that sensor 4 years ago with another sensor from a VW Tougan yes just the sensor rather than paying hundreds of pounds changing the whole assembly and having to remove the manifold. So I removed the old sensor by unplugging and cutting the hose then joining the new sensor onto the existing hose and coupled with a plastic insert and covering with adhesive lined black heatshrink. It looked smart and done the job with a local fix, the hoses were sealed with an insert to prevent collapse. The new sensor is a slightly different shape with a moulded shoulder taper coming away from the sensor which my heatshrink covered. I did put a jubilee clip over the hose loose just incase the heatshrink didn't do the trick but it did but I never removed it. What the technician decided to do was fit the jubilee clip over the shouldered taper and tighten it up as much they could. When I removed the clip I instantly noticed a hole/damage on my heatshrink but unsure how deep it goes, the hole was created by the sharp inner part digging in when tightening. I was concerned over 2 things 1, what is in that moulded taper area, is there anything delicate which could be crushed inside, is it an integral part of the sensor and 2, has it pierced a hole through the hose aswell as the heatshrink. Grab the Rhino tape and taped on the air intake cover and grabbed some self amalgamating tape and wrapped around the area with the hole. Time to drive home 80 miles - what a contrast, she drove like a dream again, gears notifier back as normal happy days but annoyed about the 2 point above. Today my son had his Audi A3 2.0 TDI 8P booked into the same garage for a Glow plug change and I was dropping him off - time for to mention what I have found.... well I was not expecting the response I got, the person involved was the workshop manager and from the off they was on the defensive. All I wanted to do was bring them to the attention of what I found, straight away it was yes we was doing you a favour fitting it back on - it was a bodge job I had done - the car is 13 years old 145k on the clock and past it - they refused to put it on the system in case something happens in the near future. They said I was being unreasonable but I hadn't asked for anything - they said to do the job properly is 4 hours labour plus parts that's why I done a bodge, well yes but it was working! then he said so why didn't you change your own water pump as I replied because I can't and you know I can't because it's the most complicated waterpump location and access I have ever seen as they replied yeah I know tough gig. They thought I was just a dumb ass who know's nothing but I know my way around this car and done some pretty tough repairs.. ABS module being one. They did offer to then do a local hose repair with 2 jubilee clips which I said no thanks I can do that myself - all in all a tad disappointing experience, I am nearly 50 years old and I have never experience such aggression, poor attitude from a customer facing employee ever, my teenage Son who was in attendance was left shocked by the experience. I just don't know what to do for the best, comments welcome please on what best to do if anything... Thanks for reading

Update: after being 95% sure the area that the coolant was coming from the waterpump (see pictures above) she went into VW specialist for the change, see parts changed below. During the replacement the tech said the waterpump was leaking and could see no other coolant lose anywhere else. 06H 121 026 ED - waterpump with thermostat and temp sensor 06H 121 131 C - Union WHT 006 407 - seal 4E 0121 666 - seal ring G13 coolant x2 (I am not sure but it could be 6.8l to fill the car) I have also read 4.6l so unsure. I was going to take it into Skoda but my local is 25 miles away and 2 weeks wait and 50 more expensive. Hope this thread helps others.

So in the event of replacing the water pump which has an integrated thermostat and temp sensor within the housing what else would be considered worth changing while the chain, belt and shafts are exposed and the oil and coolant drained? The car is 145k and had since new, had the head end of the engine replaced at 76k from chain tensioner failure done by Skoda in 2015. I want to keep it sweet as I want to keep it for years more

Also VCDS does not show any faults, no over heating, no noise from pump area

Given that I am thinking water pump and as its a slow leak and its not showing any other signs other than a small leak can I assume its more likely a seal rather than impellers? I read the impellers are plastic on these pumps and break up over time and other say seals can leak due to heat and warping over time. does anyone have experience in a water pump failure/leaking from a water pump on a 2.0 TSI CCZA and symptoms?

See picture of area where coolant can be found, it's on 2 bolt heads bolted into the engine block

This is a great read - I have a coolant loss issue on my TSI VRS octavia currently dripping off a bolt on the back of the oil sump and traced it up to the middle of the front of the engine block, coolant around 2 bolt heads, mine has done 145k miles and still original pump, I can only assume my pump seal is gone, it's going max to min in about 3 weeks and 500 miles of driving.

Ok so the plot thickens - I took off the undertray and there was a nice puddle of coolant waiting for me on the back end 8" in from the centre back tray screw then I noticed a drip off one of the oil sump bolts (see pic) the followed along the sump and up then lost it... back to looking at the front of the engine and spotted a bolt head attached to the front of the engine about 1/3 the way up covered in coolant and the bolt head to the right of that is also wet.. these are really hard to see through the mass of pipes and obstructions but I am now guessing water pump. Anyone seen this or can identify? thanks

Recaro - this was my first thoughts but it had a new chain and tensioner 70k ago but there's nothing to say its failing again, I have toped up the oil level to max and driven it about for a few miles and the noise has gone away for now but I will keep a very close eye on it. I will update as I go and thanks for your comments.

paws4thot - cheers for the nudge

Thanks for that Paws4thot - dude I am not a great tech person and I'm like 50 plus years old but I could give it a go as it's no excuse lol Siiim - i'm not going go use the aggressive stuff you can buy, the one I am looking at has really good reviews. Do you have previous experience? or has anyone else got views on using coolant liquid sealers for leaks?

Hi all - whist just looking for a coolant leak under the hood of my car I noticed the chain cover was being really noisy and vibrating a good'n. The car is a 2011 MK2 petrol VRS with 145k on the clock and I've owned it from new. In 2015 @ 76k it had new engine replacement due to chain tensioner failure done at Skoda on a FOC. What else could this be other than chain? could there be anything else in the case that would produce vibration? I will try and take a video tomorrow in the light and post it - I will be also topping my oil up as I noticed its about mid way between min and max and I like to keep it around the max level as I know these cars need it, topping up the oil may even resolve the vibration and noise - I think that's me hoping more than anything. Anyone local to Basingstoke who knows there way around these engines maybe useful for diagnosing this issue as I don't have a local Skoda garage anymore. Thank you for reading and any comments are welcome.

Update: so today I done a combustion test all resulted negative which is great news for me! I just still need to find my coolant leak. One thing I did notice was a rather noisy rattle and high vibration from the chain case left of the engine block, I turned engine off and looked at my oil levels which is sitting mid way from min to max so I think I will give that a top up and see if it quietens down. Unless someone can relate that to coolant loss and let me know. Next I will be doing a coolant drain, flush with water and coolant refill then add some Sealit liquid and hope it seals my water leak. Its a shame I can't upload the video I took doing the test, its 1.3GB

Good day to you all - I have a owned a white 2011 facelift petrol VRS Octavia since new and recently I had the coolant level light come up on my dash and with that I topped up the coolant level to the max level using the correct coolant. 500 miles later I thought I would check coolant levels and it was close to the min line so I got my torch out and started hunting for leaks or evidence or leakage. The only thing I noticed was a bit of residual wetness on top of the plastic pan cover (right of central) and evidence of wetness on and from what looks like the thermostat (hard to see with everything in the way). Coolant is only lost during driving and not whilst parked engine off. Then yesterday I went for a short drive 2 miles and parked up with engine running, I hit some rev's about 3000rpm and the dreaded white smoke expelled from the exhaust with tiny amount of liquid dripping (mainly the right exhaust pipe) so now I'm fearing the worst. I have ordered some liquid to test for exhaust fumes in the coolant, turns yellow or green from blue if detected, this is due in the next 2 days. She was due a coolant change which I planned to do this weekend so I have 10 litres of G12+ for flushing and filling. So now I am going to wait for the result of the fume test before deciding what to do. I am considering adding coolant leak repair liquid (one that mixes with coolant) if the result is bad news - worth a try I'm thinking.... she is now parked up waiting for diagnostic stuff to arrive. I am also considering buying a coolant pressure test kit (ebay about £40) for further diagnostic to try and find coolant loss if external but will hold off for now until fume results but we have 5 cars in our house hold now my twin boys are driving so it must come in useful if they work okay and create a good seal. I will add updates as I got as I go and some pictures. Have a good day all