1 Day old urban woes

[The Gremlin]

What a difference a day makes. After the joy yesterday evening picking up my lovely white urban, today I have the trauma of nursing it back to the dealer after it overheated on a 5 mile commute in rushour traffic. I know these things can happen but it wasn't really what I wanted with my first foray in skoda ownership.

Anyone else had similar issues? Or convince me all will be well?

Maybe I should have chosen a better username!

T G

[Austin 7]

Sorry to hear of your trouble - seems unfair after such a short time. Did the temperature gauge go right up ? If this happened in slow moving traffic it suggests a fault with the radiator fan. In an emergency older drivers will remember the trick of putting the heater on full blast to waste away some of the engine heat. Alternatively if you just got a warning light this could be low coolant level, something that should have been checked at PDI.

[angrybeard]

Sorry to hear of your trouble - seems unfair after such a short time. Did the temperature gauge go right up ? If this happened in slow moving traffic it suggests a fault with the radiator fan. In an emergency older drivers will remember the trick of putting the heater on full blast to waste away some of the engine heat. Alternatively if you just got a warning light this could be low coolant level, something that should have been checked at PDI.

I learnt the heater trick from a ray Mears program a few years ago, always helps to open the windows!

After suffering from constant, never diagnosed over heating issues in my x-trail I can sympathise, but i can only think that as the car is new that its probably something simple like a hose not tightened properly, or as Austin 7 said a incorrectly done PDI, nothing to severe hopefully.

Sorry to hear you had a disappointing first day, but you'll hopefully be back on the road soon enjoying yourself and the problem a distant memory.

[suzyfluz]

I can remember the days of driving a mini 1275gt and having the heater on all the time even in hot weather so that that engine didnt overheat. Those were the days. Loved that car. Just hope I love my new Yeti as much when she arrives.!!!!!

[The Gremlin]

Thanks guys i'm hoping it is something simple and more importantly that it hasnt damaged anything.

Sadly I'm old enough to remember the heater trick which i tried en route. Oddly i couldn't get any heat out of the fan though. Its possible i had the wrong setting on, but i doubt it as i had similar dual climate in my golf until yesterday!

Anyhoo, looking forward to the call from the garage in the morning.

[angrybeard]

Just make sure you milk the problem what ever it is, so as well as being fixed, you get a little something for your troubles...

[speedsport]

Thanks guys i'm hoping it is something simple and more importantly that it hasnt damaged anything.

Sadly I'm old enough to remember the heater trick which i tried en route. Oddly i couldn't get any heat out of the fan though. Its possible i had the wrong setting on, but i doubt it as i had similar dual climate in my golf until yesterday!

Anyhoo, looking forward to the call from the garage in the morning.

Lack of heat from heater coupled with an overheating engine sounds like an air lock in the cooling system, a thermostat stuck closed, - or a duff water pump.

Did you detect the overheating just from the gauge being high (how high was it?) or were there any other indications?

As Angrybeard says, strongly emphasise your displeasure to your dealer and your concern about any possible collateral damage! Good luck.

[r999]

Many years ago, car makers switched from water valve heaters to air blender heaters. Ever since then, the heater is on all the time, whatever you do with the controls. It's just that its output of hot air is diverted outside the car until you "turn on" the heater (actually, close the diverter flap) to bring it inside. So "turning on" the heater doesn't have a big extra effect on cooling the engine these days, although if you set the fan to its highest speed it can pull a bit more heat out of the heater matrix.

[iceni]

I consider myself lucky then Gremlin with a three week old white Urban, so far, troubles confined to a mal-adjusted rear wash, and a very wacky Amundsen that doesn't lower the radio volume for the sat nav announcements and adds a random "at the second" to many of the turn instructions. Good luck in getting it sorted, sounds like a one-off.

[kenfowler3966]

Many years ago, car makers switched from water valve heaters to air blender heaters. Ever since then, the heater is on all the time, whatever you do with the controls. It's just that its output of hot air is diverted outside the car until you "turn on" the heater (actually, close the diverter flap) to bring it inside. So "turning on" the heater doesn't have a big extra effect on cooling the engine these days, although if you set the fan to its highest speed it can pull a bit more heat out of the heater matrix.

Hence my wifes Fabia Mk1, which is hot all the time as the air valve motor has failed. A common fault I believe, and very expensive to fix, so we are having to live with it, as the car is too old to justify such an expense, particularly when the repair often fails again in another 12 months or so

[The Gremlin]

Thanks for all the advice, but It's back! The alternator belt had snapped which also feeds the water pump, hence no cooling. The broken belt took out a pulley guide too. Its had the once over and everything else was fine but i suppose only time will tell if there was any internal damage.

I'm just happy to have it back. Hopefully won't need to go back to the dealer until service time now.

[Brijo]

What a difference a day makes. After the joy yesterday evening picking up my lovely white urban, today I have the trauma of nursing it back to the dealer ....

On the second day of your ownership of a new Yeti the alternator belt snapped??!!

[vegit8]

The alternator belt had snapped.

Did you not get any warning lamps lit? The alternator warning lamp would be an obvious one...

[900000]

On a modern car with climatronic your heater is probably always sending heat into the car to be honest. Your AC produces a constant cold temperature of 16 degrees or so. Most of us have our internal temperature set between 19 to 22. Where does that extra 3 to 7 degrees come from even in the middle of summer?! The heater of course!

[The Gremlin]

Did you not get any warning lamps lit? The alternator warning lamp would be an obvious one...

Yes, the battery light had come on just before the temp shot up. It's much simpler with hindsight, but at the time I thought i had overloaded the 'new' battery, with lights, rear screen, heated mirrors etc whilst stuck in stationary traffic. I'd then become somewhat fixated on the temp guage.

Anyhoo, went for a bit of a spin yesterday and all seems fine. I checked the oil filler cap for signs of any white gunk but all was fine. To be honest I've not got much of an idea what else I can look out for. I would guess a compression test would be required to check the head gasket properly?