laurusbaurus

The coolant loss was the most serious issue, but a deeper inspection while diagnosing the coolant issue revealed a number of other problems. The mechanic was pretty blunt saying I had been sold a lemon and he was right. Dealer took it back and gave me a full refund considering the state of it. I'm near closing on a MY19 Superb 2.0 TDI 150 DSG SEL just like yours actually. Let's hope I have better luck this time.

Any news since this post? I've had similar coolant vanishing problems that 3 different garages couldn't diagnose. Also on a 2.0 TDI 150. In the end, I decided to return the car to the dealer I bought it from, but still very invested in understanding what might cause these issues. Hopefully you resolved yours.

I recently did a trip down to Italy in a 2.0 TDI SE Business. Was a very comfortable journey cruising at 130 km/h through France, Switzerland, and Italy. Fuel economy was excellent around 60 mpg. If you check my post history, I ended up with a lemon that did give me some problems once I arrived in Italy, but I think that was bad luck. I'm planning to buy another Superb because I still love what it offers.

Nope, just the best Italian grappa I could find. The original antifreeze!

Tough break mate. Have you taken it for inspection anywhere? Mine is also 2016. Perhaps a bad year for Superbs and coolant...

Yeah I'm 0 for 3 on garages finding the leak. Pretty disappointing. When this is all over, I'm still tempted to get another Superb. I suspect I was very unlucky with this one. The space and comfort the Superb offers is perfect for me and my family. And I've been driving Toyotas since I first started driving 20 years ago. Absolutely reliable but have to say I really wanted a change. Honda seems like more of the same! Thank you for the luck. I'll need it.

Well I heard back from the garage. They did the compression test and were able to rule out a blown head gasket. Bad news is they couldn't find where the leak is happening, found all kinds of things loose, poorly patched up starter, and a oil leak to top it off. Seems like lots of poorly done work had been done to the car before I received it. I paid for a pre-purchase inspection and they said the car was in great shape. What a waste. This garage was even more pessimistic than the garages in Italy about finding the source of the leak. It could be the water pump, EGR valve, or Lord knows what. Talking about many hours of work to find the coolant leak. He was honest saying I should send the car back to the dealer and get my money back considering the overall state of the engine. Tough to hear that, but he might be right. Now I need to figure out my rights. It's been about 60 days since I purchased the car which should normally be fine, but wouldn't be surprised if they give me grief for driving 2500 miles round trip down to Italy and back.

@Ootohere Forgot to mention it's on a little over 100k miles.

It's a 2.0 TDI. Unfortunately not a VW specialist. The local VW specialist couldn't see the car for weeks.

I managed to get the car all the way from Italy to Cheshire successfully. I went through 5 litres of pre-mixed G13 to get it here. It was a fairly smooth journey all things considered. I checked the level before every drive and topped up accordingly. The low coolant warning only came on twice while driving which isn't too bad. The first time we pulled over in a tiny French village on the outskirts of Epernay. It was lunch time so plan was to eat while the engine cooled before topping up. Alas there was nothing to eat around the area except a 24/7 pizza vending machine! It did the job. I felt a great sense of relief arriving in Dover knowing my warranty would be valid again and that I could speak English in case of any serious problems. As for the state of the car, it's begun having issues starting on a cold start. I need to try the ignition 1-2 times where it struggles and fails, wait a few minutes, and then it'll start finally after a bit more struggling. I took it to a garage Friday morning to check both the start issue and coolant loss. They only had it for a couple hours, but they seem to think it could be a blown head gasket, not the pump. They also think the start issues are related due to low compression. I had ruled out blown head gasket based on what the two garages in Italy said. The same garage will look at it again tomorrow to give it a proper diagnosis. We'll see what they say. Shame I've had so much trouble so far. I absolutely love the car and can't wait to resolve these issues to properly enjoy it.

You can certainly do that. This video explains how it works: I haven't tested it myself, but I'll surely give it a go once I get my car back from the garage.

Fortunately I have the adaptive cruise control. Absolute treat to drive with on the motorway for long journeys. Previously I always had the old cruise control which looking back feels insanely dangerous as you pointed out. Thank you. I managed to find a place to look at the car tomorrow thanks to a friend of a friend. I'll update the thread if they find anything worth reporting.

Very helpful thank you. I'll keep these in mind. I mostly keep it in Eco mode on long drives anyway to save on diesel. I haven't tested the manual/semi-auto mode of my DSG so I'll give that a go to keep the revs down. We were also already planning to do our drives in the morning. We've scheduled overnight stays in various places that are only ~4 hours apart. If we set off at 7 and arrive before lunch, we'll hopefully avoid being on the road at the hottest times of the day. I checked the 2016 Superb owner's manual and this is all they include. Mental they wouldn't include all the information yours has.

Just ordered three 1L bottles. The 5L was much cheaper per litre of course, but the car will be rather full for the drive back. Easier to pack a few small bottles in little nooks than a single big one. I figure if I get down to one bottle, I'll track down more ASAP. I'll take it easy on her. Fortunately won't be going through Germany so I won't be tempted to do a max speed check on the autobahn. How hot do you think is too hot for the oil temp before I need to cool things down?

Just checked that: G13. That all makes sense. Thank you. Can't wait to get the leak sorted and the tank filled with only proper coolant. Let's pray that I get the car back to England without an unscheduled stop along a French motorway.

Very helpful chart. Thank you. And yes, the stuff I used is premixed. Still debating whether it's best to continue with G11 to avoid more mixing or start topping up with G13. Leaning towards topping up with G13 since the leak will be "helping" me drain the G11 stuff.

That's a big relief. I was reading horror stories and kicking myself for being so stupid. Seems like I dodged a bullet by picking up a "less wrong" coolant than I had thought. I'm pretty sure the leak is due to the garage who replaced my water pump messing something up. I'm planning to take the car back to them once I'm back in the UK to hopefully fully resolve everything. I'll ask him about vacuum filling.

I'm dealing with a coolant leak while I'm in Europe. I've taken it to one garage who couldn't find the source of the leak so I'm seeking other opinions. In the meantime, I've had to top up the coolant a couple times. I very stupidly thought "coolant is coolant" because the coolant maintenance section of my 2016 Superb's manual didn't actually specify which coolant type; perhaps they buried that somewhere else. I picked up some ready to use pre-mixed blue coolant at a petrol station. Now that I know better, I checked the bottle and it's G11 when I should be using G12++ or G13. The bottle of what I have says it can be used with any car and mixed with any other coolant. Am I safe to start topping up with the correct coolant now? Or should I keep using what I have been using? Obviously I'm trying to get the leak resolved ASAP, but need to top up as a temporary measure. I also know I could get the current coolant flushed but that's easier said than done when in a foreign country and most garages are too busy to see me. I need the best temporary solution to get me back to the UK.

I'll pray it's just an issue of not being refilled correctly. The light blue streaks under the coolant bottle look suspicious don't you think? I didn't check that area before my trip so no idea how long that has been there. I guess I'll re-fill it and then check for signs of leakage. Hah yes, we'll see. I was feeling so great about the car until this.

I ended up buying that 2016 SE Business. Drove it 1,000 miles all the way from Warwickshire to Italy and it was a very pleasant journey. What a great road trip car. Unfortunately, I got in the car this morning just to park it somewhere else and was greeted by a "Check coolant" warning. I popped open the bonnet and found this... I had arranged a pre-purchase inspection with a third party mechanic who noted an insecure coolant pipe. The dealer then sent it to a garage to sort this. They also replaced the cam belt and water pump after securing the coolant pipe. Clearly something has gone awry. If I were in the UK, I'd send the car back to the dealer or garage to sort it. But now I'm not sure what to do besides find a local Italian garage and convince the dealer or garage in the UK to pay the euros for the work. Can't imagine that will be simple to convince them to do now that I'm in a foreign country and won't be back in the UK for about a month. Is there anything I can try to do myself to solve this? Seems a nasty leak and I'm not experienced with this kind of thing.

I didn't end up buying the one I posted. I wasn't satisfied with the service history in the end. I am finalising purchase of a 2016 SE Business though. Black one which isn't my ideal, but it's a high spec model in my budget so I'm well pleased.

Thanks Rooted. That all makes sense. I'll negotiate that off the price if I pull the trigger on one of these. I'd be buying from a distance so I'd have to trust the judgment of an AA or ClickMechanic inspector on the gear changes. I dunno about SCR. I'd have to ask.

Thanks all. Seems like those concerns weren't well founded. I'm looking at a couple MY2016s right now. Both could have better DSG service history. One is at 100k miles with one DSG service at 36k. The other is at 130k miles with one DSG service at 80k. I'd push for a fresh DSG service as part of the purchase agreement, but is that too little too late for these? Should I be running away?

This is amazing to hear. Makes me feel a bit less nervous about buying a Superb with 120k+ miles on it as long as I can find one serviced well. That has been a challenge so far. I mentioned previously I was looking at a 2019 2.0 TDI with 120k miles. Discovered it has never had a DSG service! Shocking.

Looking at a few Superb options and one of them is a MY2019 2.0 TDI with 120k miles. This one is a little more than what I was hoping to spend but if I can get it to 200k miles without a ton of problems I'll consider it money well spent I know to check for DSG servicing every 40k. Anything else to ask about? Does the 2019 2.0 TDI need a cam belt change? .