Mysterious Coolant loss

[Polo6n1600i]

Mine was loosing coolant for a while turned out to be a crack in the side of the radiator - only opened up once the car was upto temp. New radiator fitted - no more problems!

[Insanity-74]

did you check wheather it was wet around the header tank, near the fuel filter housing. the raised level in header tank sounds like what mine was doing. the level on mine would rise and leak out through the overflow spout

No signs of any escaping water/coolant?

Its due a timing belt change soon, so I will change the water pump then!!!

[Insanity-74]

OK...its getting even odder.

The low fluid level light came on again.....so dived into a garage and opened the bonnet to see a jet of water shooting from the drivers side of the radiator....bugger.......90 miles from home...will I make it......4 top ups later and still 20 miles to go....strangely enough the next 20 miles pass without any coolant loss at all :S

I have come to the conclusion that the previous owner had the hole in the radiator so filled it with radweld......this has gunked up the cooling system and lead to the problems I`m having.....the cooling loss is water escaping, then the radweld reblocking the hole up.........having had the radiator flushed there is less radweld in the system, thus the visible water fountain sparying itself over the alternator belt until a bit of radweld blocked the hole up once again

If this dosnt sort it it will be the end of Skoda ownership for me and I`ll go back to Jap cars as I`ve had enough.

[Guest BigJase88]

Radweld doesnt mix well with g12 coolant

Get a new rad on pronto and a mega flush of the system as it will be proper gunked up

Radweld is nasty

[kerms34]

At least you have discovered your problem mate ,, new rad !! Will be checking mine today now

[Polo6n1600i]

Exactly the same place as mine went!!

[Insanity-74]

At least you have discovered your problem mate ,, new rad !! Will be checking mine today now

Its a tuff one to check....a visual check with the radiator on the car will show nothing...at least it didnt on mine, even though I have seen water spurting out of the radiator, when its not, I cant find the hole or any signs of a leak.

Probably removing the radiator or actually catching the leak in progress is the only way of identifying the problem.

Has anyone tried this Holts 2 step rad flush stuff or know if its any good?

Many Thanks to everyone for all your help with this.....at least it looks like its a simple fix....fingers crossed.

Edited 14 May, 2011 by Insanity-74

[Insanity-74]

Once the system is flushed and clean, can any type of coolant be used? I use Toyota pre mixed red "for life" coolant in my other cars and its great stuff...would like to use it in the Fabia if it wont hurt it.

[Guest BigJase88]

You have to use vag spec g12+

I think they now do g12 ++ lol

[Insanity-74]

OK, hopefully this will be my last entry on this subject......replaced the radiator with a new one after the old new one split.....water pump replaced as the flow was crap on the old one, timing belt changed etc etc.......130 miles and so far so good. Fingers crossed thats the end of it

so for those following...two main culprits where - Blocked Radiator & faulty water pump.

Edited 21 May, 2011 by Insanity-74

[kerms34]

hope thats it mate ,,, been following

[Insanity-74]

hope thats it mate ,,, been following

Cheers, Me too bud.....took it for a good thrash and so far so good, no coolant loss to speak of, everything running fine.

Off to Donnington tomorrow for the SeeRed classic car racing...if I make it through the day without having to "Top up" I will claim success.

300+ miles so far.

Edited 20 May, 2011 by Insanity-74

[TriggerFish]

Off to Donnington tomorrow for the SeeRed classic car racing...if I make it through the day without having to "Top up" I will claim success.

Should be a good day out. Went to the Silverstone classic/old car racing as we have a friend who runs in it - that was a good day. They were advertising the SeeRed quite a lot then, so I'd hope for a decent turn out.

Been following this too as I lost a mass load of coolant in the winter, but not lost any more since, but seems it's not going to be the same for me as it was you. Anyway, glad it's fixed *crosses fingers*.

Edited 21 May, 2011 by TriggerFish

[kerms34]

still losing small amount and getting pressure in the tank here ,, although nothing indicating wrong at all, every couple of days i release the pressure. Dont have the cash to start replacing rads/pumps just yet

[Insanity-74]

OK...back from Donnington (a bit sun burned)and all is still well....so as a result I am claiming success and a fixed vRS.

Many thanks to all those who have helped, it has been very much appreciated...a bit of a baptism by fire into Briskoda.net but so far so good.

[Insanity-74]

Well some months later and nearly £2000 spent the problem still persists.

If I ever meet the former owner of this car

The turbo went about 6 months ago so replaced it with a garret.

still the water problem. everything has been replaced. Turns out it was the head gasket which is currently being replaced as i type. But along with that the cams are worn and need replacing so £1000 to fix all that.

Hopefully that will be the end of it otherwise it will be the end of my Skoda ownership for ever.

To keep me busy I purchased another Celica GT4 which I have stripped to a bare shell and turning into a rally car....idle hands and all that

Edited 16 February, 2012 by Insanity-74

[Tula]

well mine is in the shop now its ste372's old one having the same issue as yours i just hope its not the head...

[Insanity-74]

Well, over a grand later, a new cam shaft, various seals, head bolts, skimmed head & new head gasket its so far so good. I wont go as far as to say its fixed...not yet anyway. A few teething issues...for some strange reason the power band has moved about 500rpm up the rev range....odd.

fingers crossed thats the end of it.

[vindaloo]

Well, over a grand later, a new cam shaft, various seals, head bolts, skimmed head & new head gasket its so far so good. I wont go as far as to say its fixed...not yet anyway. A few teething issues...for some strange reason the power band has moved about 500rpm up the rev range....odd.

fingers crossed thats the end of it.

Cam timing possibly. http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Big-Changes-from-Tiny-Adjustments/A_112521/article.html

J.

[Insanity-74]

Well I think its all finally sorted now, two new turbos later its nearly working as it should....just keeps blowing turbo to intercooler pipes off.

Who ever owned this car before me should be banned from owning a car ever again.

[armstrong21490]

I am having the same symptoms as these. Did it turn out that replacing the head gasket worked (what was the cost)? My car is an 06 plate and has only done 68k miles so I don't think it should have gone.

Ross

Edited 11 June, 2012 by armstrong21490