I have a 2006 vRS and the last week or two it has been slowly loosing coolant. I previously changed the timing belt along with the metal impellor water pump at 60000 miles..The car now has 78000 on it The expansion tank was changed round about the same as this as the sensor kept playing up as well.

Now the header tank seems to loosing coolant out the flap/ vent on the left handside of the tank and after i changed it again today it is doing the exact same . I changed to a new cap so that should all be fine and its booked in tomorrow for a pressure test on the system. its not using a huge amount but i have topped it up 3 times in two weeks.

Is there anything else to check for ?

The gauge for the temperature i have never seen higher that middle (90) and the heater is working very well. The pipes seem to be fine that i can see and although its hard to see properly the sensor in the lower side of radiator seems to be dry and no sign of leaks.

The pipes dont feel very hard to squeeze and theres a steady water flow back to the expansion tank.

One thing I have noticed is that the fans never ever come on . The ac hasnt worked for the last year or so but the engine fan doesnt even turn at a slow speed as I thought its meant to?.

If the pressure tests suggests all fine i will probably get a sniff test done. Is there any thing else that could be causing some pressure in the expansion tank ? There also isnt any pressure so to speak after its been left overnight to cool down.

Could it be oper pressurising due to the fact that the fans arent coming on as they should ?

Or is it HGF?

Sorry for such a long post !

Mine done exact same things. The fans not coming on turned out to be a broken wire on the terminal into the radiator.

When they done a pressure test in mine it all came back fine. The same with the sniff test as well.

Mine was pressurising the cooling system on a long run and only when I gave it a boot full. It was only when it was on full boost that it was enough to lift the head/head gasket and put exhaust gasses in the cooling system. However mine was under serious pressure in the mornings to the point it would be a mini explosion of coolant directed at me when I checked it.

Luckily enough mine was under the Skoda used car warranty and the head gasket was changed only on recommendation of a vrs owner who worked at the dealership. There was no signs of HG failure ie coolant oil mix. And as I said the pressure and sniff test came back ok.

But 2 months and 2000 miles later all is good. Better mpg more ooooomph and not used a single drop of coolant!

Get the fans looked at, look at the fuses and check the wiring/plug to fan sensor in the radiator. That's a lot cheaper than the HG! If the fans dont come on its making the coolant boil over and the only way out is the pressure overflow on the header tank. In the long run it will bugger the HG and maybe even warp the head if it goes bang big time!

Hope this helps mate.

Danny.

Edited 24 July, 201213 yr by danny6189

Well i got the car tested today at Vag specialist Kennys autos in Inverness who diagnosed and replaced the thermostat. He said that it wasnt allowing the fans to come on or something to that effect?? He also said that the car is leaking coolant around the nearside bottow corner of the radiator and I was qouted a price of £265 +vat for this to be done although im not sure if that included labour. I dont have the car home with me tonight but i am going to have a good route around underneath tomorrow night and see if I can see the leak for myself. Also going to try and test the fans to make sure they do come on as they now should and hopefully that means no more coolant coming out of the expansion tank? Could it just be a case of no fans meaning extra pressure in cooling system and the weep from Rad meaning I was loosing coolant ? And not head gasket gone ?Thanks

The leak might just be a hose that needs replacing. As soon as the fans work the coolant shouldn't boil over any more. Keep us updated on how it's going.

Danny.

Ill investigate it tomorrow night and hopefully see what needs sorting now! Fingers crossed thats it ! Will do.

+1 for the radiator. Had mine replaced last year @ 140k Miles. Initially thouhgt it was the HG too

Depending on the size of the leak, some radweld might shore up a small leak to give a little more lease of life. However there are likely other areas that could go soon. Weird as my fabia is on its original 2001 radiator and no issues at all.

Well I took the engine tray off the car tonight and had a good look around the bottom and the radiator. It seems to be eaking out of where I was told yesterday. Couple of pictures I took on my phone so you can see for your self. It also seems a little bit higher up than the pipe in the pictures but maybe this is blown up the way when driving the car ?

Not so keen on using radweld because I've seen it mentioned that it can react with the coolant.

Checked the fans after a good blast home and they came on after about two minutes with engine idleing after I had arrived home.

Where the leak is it amost seems as if there is a seal possibly?

Sorry in advance about the quality of the pictures, Its the hose that runs from the front of the engine block down through the centre and round the back into the bottom left of the radiator, pictured)

thanks