Jo88Mak

Hello! Here you go.

Hello to all you good people! I have a 2015 Octavia 2.0 Tdi Vrs estate/combi that has now 245k kilometers on the dash. I'm thinking about changing the front and rear shocks+springs and all the associated parts. The current ones are still original from the factory and while they passed Mot the ride isn't that great anymore. I'm also installing a new Golf Gti clubsport RARB+links, new bottom&top suspensions arms and track rods in the rear axle. In the front axle i have changed already new lower control arms+ball joints, antirollbar links and inner+outer track rod ends. This car is my daily driver with 80/20 highway/town cruising and i'm thinking that i'm going to keep it for another 2-3 years atleast. What do you suggest i should get? I wasn't thinking of lowering the car from the standard vrs ride height and would appreciate a comfort ride that has that "sportiness" when i have the feel to go fast through corners and roundabouts etc. I understand that you can't really get the best of both worlds so its always a compromise. And here in Finland the roads are not in that good condition especially after winter so I don't want too firm ride that corners like Mika Häkkinen getting away from Schumacher in Suzuka Grand Prix😅 but most of the time makes you feel nauseous from every single pothole/uneveness that our roads have to offer. I'm thinking of going with new oem vrs springs like lesjofors and bilstein b4 shocks. Would that be the best solution for a daily driver or is there something better to be had with spending a little more money, like Koni Special Actives or Bilstein B6? Not going to get any coilovers for a car this old. Thanks for the replies!

A little update to this topic. So I changed my thermostat on the weekend and also flushed my coolant system with distilled water to get the old G13-coolant off the system and filled it with new G12 Evo-coolant. The issue that i was having with the engine running a bit cold in my opinion was the cause of the original thermostat stuck partially open, so the coolant didnt ever warm up over about 85 Celsius even when there was hot summer days with outside temps at 30 Celsius and driving on motorway at 140kmh. Also the oil temp hardly never reached over 100 Celsius in Summer. So after changing the thermostat the coolant temp reaches 92 Celsius when the outside temps at the moment in September are at between 6-15 Celsius and the oil gets to just about over 100 Celsius. Also the car gets up to temp faster in my opinion. So problem solved👍

Hello everyone! A little update to this topic. We have had our first very warm summer days here in Finland and I remembered this temp issue that i wrote about at winter time. So yesterday it was almost +30 degree Celsius outside temperature and i was driving for about 1,5 hours with driving speed 80-120kmh most of the time. I was watching my coolant temp with OBD11 and after the car had warmed up, the coolant temp would stay between 80-85 Celsius most of the time with a maximum temp reading being 87. The temp gauge on the dash was showing 90. And the oil temp was between 95-105. I havent yet changed the thermostat or the coolant temp sensor. Both still original from the factory and the car has now 218tkm on the clock. What do you guys think? Are my temps on the cold side and is my thermostat faulty, partially stuck open perhaps?

Also heres the diagram for my cars coolant system.

Hmm, interesting. So maybe i should try to change the coolant temp sensor first...its a cheap part and also easy to replace. If I remove this part will I lose a lot of coolant and do I need to bleed the coolant system afterwards? Also it would be a good idea to measure the coolants real temp with an IR-thermometer and see what the real temp is. Dont have one of my own though.

My car is a manual. Hmm, maybe the coolant temp sensor could be faulty? Not an expensive part to replace also like the thermostat isnt.

Sorry about the earlier post, dont know how to edit it. Ok so a little update. I drove today for 1,5 hour straight with most of the time at average speed of 100-120 km/h...also did some hard accelerations aswell. I was monitoring the coolant and oil temps with OBD11 the whole journey. I preheated the car with webasto for 25 min and the ambient temp was 7-8 Celsius the whole time. So when i started my journey the coolant temp was according to OBD11 and also the temp gauge about 70 degrees Celsius. Oil temp wont show under 50 degrees on Maxidot. I had my A/C set at 22 Celsius. The coolant temp lowered a bit at the beginning to close to 60 but started to rise back after 5 min drive. Webasto was off when driving also. So the highest coolant temp that OBD11 would show was 76 degrees Celsius and it would stay at 75 almost the whole drive when "warmed" up. The cars temp gauge would show 90 at this point. Oil temp was at highest about 96 and would stay between 87-93 most of the time. Also noticed that the Maxidot shows exactly the same temp for oil as does OBD11. So what do you guys reckon? Do I have a faulty thermostat? Should the real coolant temp be more than 75 degrees, in my opinion, yes. Also would it be better to still use the windguard to get the oil temp higher, over 100 degrees?

Ok so a little update. I drove today for 1,5 hour straight with most of the time at average speed of 100-120 km/h...also did some hard accelerations aswell. I was monitoring the coolant and oil temps with OBD11 the whole journey. I preheated the car with webasto for 25 min and the ambient temp was 7-8 Celsius the whole time. So when i started my journey the coolant temp was according to OBD11 and also the temp gauge about 70 degrees Celsius. O

Also, does a faulty thermostat have an effect to the oil temperatures in some way?

Another question just out of curiosity, what kind of oil temps are you all getting when its colder weather like below +10 Celsius? Especially in the diesel engines? I usually never get the oil temp over like 90-93 Celsius with normal 50-100 km/h driving for 20-30 minutes, if I dont have the windguard in place at the lower grille. With the windguard in place I can get the oil temp over 100 Celsius and even to 112 Celsius max if driven hard. That makes me wonder that should I keep the windguard in place for longer time of the year and take it off after the ambient temps get over 7-8 Celsius regularly. The reason for this is to get the oil temp over 100 to get rid off condensation in the oil...dont know if under 100 degrees is enough to get it off?

Thanks for the reply. So you say that your car reaches 90 Celsius after 20 min highway driving no matter what. Is this the temp gauge reading on the car or have you watched live data readings from Vagcom/OBD11 etc. I have noticed that with my OBD11, it shows lower readings than my cars temp gauge by about 5-10 degrees. Also is your car also a VRS model, because it has really open front grilles that let a lot of air through to cool the engine. Will check that hose going to the radiator. So if the thermostat is fully closed the radiator hose should be cold and the coolant temp under 92 Celsius which is the opening temp for the thermostat. When the coolant temp gets over this 92 degree mark the thermostat opens and the hose to radiator would get warm, right? Can't really say is the webastos heating weaker than normal, havent noticed anything, but will try that what you said, that heat the car with webasto and then try the radiator hose before starting. I have a 1,5 hour drive later today with mostly 80-100 km/h limits and the ambient temp is going to be 5-7 Celsius. I will monitor the coolant and oil temps with OBD11 to see how they behave. I'm starting to think that I may have a partially stuck open thermostat, the spring in it getting weak perhaps.

So if water boils at 100C then the oil temp is best to be little bit over that 100C mark to get rid off condensation. So when its colder weather and the oil wouldnt get over 90 without the windguard in place, is not good because the condensation doesnt boil off. Thats also a good reason to keep the windguard in place, engine gets to temp faster, stays warmer easier, oil stays good and fuel consumption and emissiona are better also.

I am using webasto and windguard when its below 0 Celsius. I have just noticed that on a longer trip with the windguard in the lower grille installed the oil temp in the maxidot would get as high as 110 Celsius. Is this too high oil temp, if you drive like 2-3 hours straight. Without the windguard the oil temp stays at 90-93 max below 0 Celsius ambient.

Ok, thanks for the info.