Well, what a crappy surprise to come back to after a lovely 13 day holiday last night. Come back to the car (06 VRS) at an off-site airport parking site, sit in the car - first off the seat and mirrors are completely misadjusted. Annoying, but I know they drive the cars a few miles don the road to the parking site. Get comfy again, just wanting to get home now. Turn the key, and the coolant warning light comes on. I'm semi-used to this as I had the common coolant tank sensor problem for a while last winter, but had the whole header tank replaced early this year. Turned the engine off and then on again, as this often temporarily solved things. No joy, light comes back on. Popped the bonnet and sure enough, the coolant level is way past the minimum mar, in fact there's barely anything in it. Then noticed a fairly substantial drip underneath. Anyway I drove the car out of the parking site and directly to the next door petrol garage. I couldn't see any obvious signs of leakage, but the undertray hides a lot of the pipes. I debated on just filling up with water, watching it for a while and maybe starting the journey home, but saw sense and just called the RAC.

I then walked bac to the parking site office and asked to see the duty manager. I explained the situation and just asked if any drivers had reported a warning light, or noticed any coolant puddles but, predictably there had been nothing reported. To be fair the manager was pretty decent, came over to the car had a little look. Helped me top the header tan back up and checked for leaks again, and there was a pretty steady drip from around the undertray. He said we could wait for the RAC in reception with a cup of tea. The RAC were very quick and the guy pressure tested the system, which caused a lot of water to be forced out. He whipped off the undertray and said it seemed like the radiator itself was leaking, as all the main hoses were dry. I agreed to just be radwelded up as a get-me-home measure, and it seemed to seal things up as the coolant level stayed up and the drip stopped while we waited a good 20 minutes or so. I've checked all my warrantydirect documents and I'm covered for rad failure so touch wood, I'll get it sorted through them.

What I'm really confused about is how a car goes through being perfectly fine (I regularly check my fluid levels) to having such a substantial part failure having been driven 7 miles by a parking company in total and been sat parked up for 13 days. I've checked the front end and there is no evidence of a bump. I'm really not sure whether to get the airport parking company involved if my warranty claim fails for any reason, although to be honest it seems very odd that such a big problem arose while they had possession of the vehicle?

Oh, and also the RAC man spotted that my DMF is starting to show signs of wear (slight juddering on idle), and that my EGR seems to be leaking. Welcome back to reality eh?

What was the coolant ratio?

What was the coolant ratio?

Standard VAG spec G12, don't know ratios, trusted Skoda specialist do my servicing though. Had no problems this winter, save the header tank sensor mucking about.

Coolant in tank has dropped 1-1.5cm overnight and dinner plate size wet patch under car by rad near the bottom hose, even with some radweld. Must be a pretty big hole / crack. Warranty covers the rad at a 20% parts contribution due to car mileage. Just noticed warrantydirect top cover includes flywheels - good to know in a future worst case scenario!

Edited 15 May, 201115 yr by TeebsVRS

Hopefully you can get this sorted through your warranty. I always keep a note of the miles done on the car before leaving it with any car parking services such as the ones you used. That way you can determine exactly how many miles they had driven your car because as far as you're concerned, they may have went for a little spin round a few blocks (fingers crossed this isn't the case).

Coolant in tank has dropped 1-1.5cm overnight and dinner plate size wet patch under car by rad near the bottom hose, even with some radweld. Must be a pretty big hole / crack. Warranty covers the rad at a 20% parts contribution due to car mileage. Just noticed warrantydirect top cover includes flywheels - good to know in a future worst case scenario!

The cup half full view is you've had a lucky escape. The rad could have run dry whilst you were driving to the airport. Then you'd potentially be with a knackered car and still miles from your flight.

Have a search around Briskoda. Radiators are known to go, cracking near one of the bottom pipes. But also, the coolant temp sensor or switch on the radiator is known for leaking and the seal fails. So maybe you need a radiator or maybe you don't.

HTH

J.

Oh well, radiator failed due to corrosion. Warranty company refused to pay as corrosion damage is one of their disclaimers, regardless of wear and tear allowances, so best part of £300 out of pocket. A radiator to corrode to a major leak within 5 years seems unreasonable to me. May think twice about renewing the warranty as the list of parts covered is impressive, but the disclaimers aren't.