Sj001975

So further to a 3 year battle with coolant issues finally got to the bottom of the problem. Combination of charge cooler, egr cooler , silicone bag in the header tank, and heater matrix. For anyone expericing coolant loss or header tank pressure dont confuse this to be a headgasket fault. Do your checks first

Sadly vw decided to fitbthe header tank with a bag of silicone balls......we in the trade call it a tea bag.....new header tank and flush the matrix directly should cure the problem

So the trauma of the coolant issue have started.....so I've been Intermittently loosing coolant for 12 months and getting worse. Replaced the rear auxiliary water pump and pipe with one way valve. Flushed out with the hose pipe. Now it's pressurising.......carried out a vacuum test, and it won't hold a vacuum. Bypassed the charge cooler, still won't hold a vacuum. It's looking more and more like my head gasket or cylinder head has packed up or cracked. 5.5yrs and never missed a beat absolutely gutted

As I am a self employed mechanic and extremely busy not blanked mine of yet but intend to run it forva couple of weeks to monitor before changing I do between 3-500 miles a week

As I said previously disconnect the 2 coolant pipes to the manifold and put a straight connector between thus by passing the cooler completely.. ....mine is usually only loosing 500ml which is enough to drop below the sensor.. this is generally about 250 miles between the light....so firstly monitor the usage before by passing it

Mine lost 2psi through an 8hr period when pressure tested. Its still very sporadic but haven't by passed the cooler yet to confirm its definitely that.....Ref water pump was it a genuine water pump they fitted I only ever use dealer parts on anything vag because tps prices are usually very competitive. I maintain 3 skodas for a airport chauffeurs and change the pump at 80k, last time it went 5k over and started leaking which is proof that skoda's claims off 135k for the belt is too adventurous

2.0 tdi still on a belt at the front

Yup 1 series is a glorified mi mini with a blue and white badge on

Well from a mechanical engineer point of view I wouldn't touch bmwvdue to the timing chain issues. Who the hell designs an engine with the chain at the back meaning total removal to replace......mercs have gone the same

Well previously I've always bought vauxhall until psa bought them out......I've had my vrs 4 years and had no major problems in 45k

Trust me I had several different makes of pad all with the same outcome especially when the dealer ones i seem to recall where ATE .......on the VRS they are TRW from the factory

It's actually 103.5.mm the manual vernier isn't the best. Either way even with dealer pads they still click up and down......update after 4k miles they have finally stopped clicking but now my front pad warning lights come on so I'll update you once they are done but I'll almost 100% say I'll have the same problem as they are the same design

Well having done some reasrch on this, all is notbwhat it seems....I own a 2013 Octavia vrs 2.0 tdi. Bought with 60k had it 3 years. No problem and then in March this year it started losing coolant, so at 95k I replaced the cambelt kit and water pump with genuine parts. Why skoda have decided to move the schedule from 80k to 135k when my water pump was leaking at 95k. The car still continued to loose coolant, pressure testing showed that the radiator had a hole in it, there was a stone trapped between the 2 radiators and rubbed through the engine radiator. Replaced with a valeo radiator which is a direct replacement from the original and all seemed well......so now it sporadically looses coolant but not in a regular way. Pressure tested the coolant system when hot and it looses 2 psi in 2 hours so obviously still has a leak. My next step is to bypass the charge cooler pipes and then pressure test again which will hopefully confirm the charge cooler inlet manifold is at fault.

So the saga continues....TPS just delivered some rear pads and guess what they are exactly the same as both the delphi and brembo ones.....stamped TRW VAG....I give up what if this was a customers car....what a headache. As a mechanical engineer pads should not have this amount of movement in them....