Still can't fix my VRS coolant leak problem

[glassdoc]

How to cure your VRS water loss problem

I did it by changing the head bolts one at a time in the required order.

the torque setting is 60nm plus 90 degrees plus 90 degrees so i checked the centre bolt by first backing it off 90 degrees but by the time i got to about 45 degrees THE BOLT WAS LOOSE! this was the information that allowed me to conclude that the head bolts were not tight enough. You could do an involved calculation to determine what the actual stretch of the bolt should have been and then built that back in the the calculation using the thread pitch to predetermine exactly where the bolt should have gone free but for me half way through the second phase was too much and i concluded that the bolts were not done up correctly at the factory or that they were not manufactured of the correct material or that the head gasket had compressed. Before changing the head bolts the car would loose water when driven hard only signifying that the combustion gasses would only come past the head gasket under large load after changing the head bolts it did not loose any water. The head bolts were about £50 and it will take an afternoon to fit them because to take the rocker cover off is a nightmare and needs the inlet butterfly housing off to get to the last bolt at the back (another example of poor design here by skoda). I would also advise to take out the glow plugs to allow any water that leaks out to be ejected before attempting to restart as some water gets past the head gasket when you take each individual bolt out and you do not want to risk hydraulicing the engine. Turn it over a few times to eject any water then refit the glow plugs. You can do it without this stage but it is pot luck as to whether it will start. Mine had trouble restarting but then cleared itself when it burned off the water bit it is a theoretical risk that the engine could lock up with water in the chamber which would be very bad. The car is now sold and we will never buy another Skoda after this episode as it is plain to me that it was badly made in the first place and that the dealers and even Skoda themselves are totally clueless and couldnt care less when faced with a problem such as this which obviously afflicts many of their customers. Shame on you Skoda. However i hope that some others may use my method to save time and money to solve this problem.

[scottybhoy]

Has the heater matrix been looked at, had same prob with my old furby now same prob with the furby I get at the start of the year car in to garage to find the was some form of leak from part of the heater matrix

[ste372]

in case anyone wants to check weather there waterpump impellors are collapsing, you csn take the thermostat out and just get your fingers in tot ouch the impellors on the waterpump.

just incase some people dont know

DONT DO IT WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING

[Juka]

iamrcb,

 

just to say that I have exactly the same mysterious problem as you described, word for word - unfortunately.

 

For the weekend I went for a 120 km trip driving as usual at 150 km/h on the motorway, after about 100 km the coolant light came on, and of course I had low coolant. I topped it up, and just came back from the same trip but with very light accelerations and max 110 km/h on the motorway and the coolant hasn't dropped a bit.

 

I have the car since 2005, but has started only a few years after the below incident that I lost coolant occasionally, didn't really bother with it as I would top up 0,1-0,2 even 0,5 liters every here and there (6m - 1y apart), but in the last week it got so bad that I poured at least 5 liters of distilled water.

 

I have a question for you - has your car ever before overheated? I ask you this as the dumb dealers plugged out and forgot to plug in my cooling vents on one service and the car overheated to 130°C! I didn't notice it until the AC stopped working, as there was no steam going from under the hood. This incident just might have nicked the head gasket and now it failed years after (of course the dealers were like "what's the big deal, we'll connect the vents and off you go").

 

My mechanic also did the exhaust gases reaction test in the coolant and it was false (no wonder as I had diluted the coolant to only -5°C!, and the exhaust gasses entering only under heavy load). Tomorrow I leave the car at the mechanic for additional testing (presumably engine pressure test as you mentioned) and expect the worst.

 

glassdoc,

 

have you 100% fixed the coolant loss under load with just new head bolts tightened, without machining the head? Has your car ever before overheated?