As the title suggest my vrs has eaten a whole bottle of coolant in about two weeks, now the reason I didnt get to notice it earlier is because my coolant light has been flashing for no reason when turned on for the past few weeks so I presumed it was up to it's tricks again, would of got it looked at sooner but just had new kid arrive so haven't had time. No idea why my coolant light came on every now and again when first started up, coolant level was fine. But now it's just shot through it, instantly I'm thinking head gasket but with the dodgy sensor i just want someone to confirm, it's only done 60000 miles so was surprised to think this could happen so soon. Many thanks.

My radiator was leaking ever so slightly at one point.......engine bay side too, i cant for the life of me understand why it cracked a vein on that side .

Rad weld sorted it lol

Daz

Think I've heard it mentioned to do with a switch for the fan on the raditior leaking or something? :wonder:

Well done on the new arrival too. :yes:

Many thanks I'll look into the rad then.

Same. My coolant light was playing up and I thought it may have just been the sensor, because the level looked OK and if I left it running for a few minutes, turned off and on again it'd go away.

It got to the point where I was losing a noticeable amount of coolant (though far from empty) every week. It was a small leak in my radiator.

I've still got a similar problem with mine. After a journey the level drops considerably, ie from max to well below min.

Booked into the garage on Monday so I'll post up what the cause was and the price when I get her back.

Just hope it is straightforward and none too expensive!

I have had exactly the same problem over the last couple of days. Yesterday morning the coolant warning light pinged at me so i checked the level and it was way below min. After topping it up to the max i drove to a friends house about 7 miles away and as i was about to drive home it pinged at me again; the coolant had dropped to the same point it had before topping it up earlier that day. I had noticed a slight radiator leak a few weeks ago but seemingly nothing severe enough to drain the fluid by such a volume. I reckon a radiator change for me when the cambelt is being done in a few weeks.

Edited 8 January, 201115 yr by fergvrs

Got a good mechanic he said possible water pump leak, somthing about the original pump had plastic propellers and were prone to leaking, the new pumps have metal propellers and are much more reliable.

check foot wells for dampness as could also be heater matrix,

when my pump went get gasket done at same time as my gasket went 3 weeks after pump was replaced

Got a good mechanic he said possible water pump leak, somthing about the original pump had plastic propellers and were prone to leaking, the new pumps have metal propellers and are much more reliable.

As your car has covered 60,000 miles James, have you had new pump fitted when cambelt renewed a while back.??

( We met up at get together in Hayle last year if I have remembered correctly. )

Without looking at it it's difficult to say, but my money is on the rad. Quite common on these cars after a few years...

Mine went back in July, was leaking from the front nearside. Bought a new rad from Skoda parts and fitted it in a couple of hours.

If it is the rad, shop around for the best price as Skoda parts will charge full whack.

my rad is around 10 years old now and is holding out strong.

Also look on ebay for a radiator. That's where I got mine. Brand new. Looks OE and I think I got it at roughly a 1/3 of the dealer price. About £35-40 I think it was!

We got the air con radiator / condenser for the same, from the same person.

Not usually a huge fan of ebay, but it was well worth looking in these instances!

Edited 9 January, 201115 yr by mark.r.cullen

try www.jorily.com, if its not showing on website just email them they can see if they can get hold of one and prices are reasonable

If it's a leak, should be easy to spot. The G12 coolant will leave tell tail marks wherever it's run. There's also a leak inhibitor in it, so minor leaks tend to get plugged.

Get it to a garage and with the undertray off it should be easy to spot if it's the rad area. Question then is, is it the rad or is it a switch/seal that's screwed into the rad?

J.

Pump impeller failure won't cause a leak - it'll just cause persistent overheating. And it's not as "essential" as it was for the 1.8T, anyway, so I wouldn't look there. The rad fan switch is a common culprit that's pretty easy to spot due to the trail of pink/white crusty stuff dribbling down from the switch (nearside, about halfway down - you might need a torch and a mirror with the vRS!)

My wife's rad failed at the offside-bottom, where the metal's crimped to the plastic end pieces. The guy at TPS reckoned they all fail there sooner or later if you don't replace the coolant more often than the five years / never (!) that seems to be recommended for G12.

Radweld fixed the leak until I could get the car into the garage the following week, but a replacement is pretty cheap and avoids the traces of sealant gumming up the level sensor in the expansion tank, which you might as well get replaced at the same time.

While I'm sure Radweld / K-Seal will do for a little while, I'd never use it on a car I was intending to keep unless it was an emergency...

PS: pretty unlikely to be HG on a 1.9 diesel if it's been looked after properly AIUI, but if you're worried at all, follow this:

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/HOW-TO-TEST-FOR-A-FAILED-HEAD-GASKET_W0QQugidZ10000000001891247

(and then have a lie down in a darkened room while your eyes recover from it ALL BEING IN CAPITALS! )

PPS: Another place to look (as well as hoses, obviously) is the coolant temp sensor, here:

http://www.emmerium.plus.com/non-site_stuff/cts3.jpg

Mine was doing this a while ago turns out it was coolant temp censor! Cheap Fix