HI THERE, I SEEM TO BE READING A LOT ABOUT OVERHEATING OCTAVIA TDI'S, WELL MINE HAS JUST JOINED THE CLUB.

ITS A 51 PLATE 1.9 TDI ELEGANCE SHOWING 117000 MILES.

THINGS REPLACED IN THE PAST- COOLANT TEMP SENSOR & THERMOSTAT- BOTH GENUINE SKODA ARTICLES.

HAD NO BOTHER FOR 7 MONTHS EXCEPT OCASIONAL TOP UP OF EXPANSION BOTTLE - TWICE IN 7 MONTHS SO NOTHING REALLY.

ON TRIP TO FLAMINGO LAND TODAY IT DECIDED TO ALARM UP AS TEMP GAUGE CLIMBED, SO AS WE WERE GOING DOWN A LONG GRADIENT I JUST COASTED IT IN NEUTRAL AND PUT HEATER UP TO MAX & FULL BLOWER. THE HEATER BLEW COLD AIR WHICH CHANGED TO HOT AS THE GAUGE DROPPED BACK TO NORM. NURSED IT ON TO PARK AS WE WERE NEARLY THERE.

CHECKED UNDER BONNET WHEN COOLED DOWN AND THE EXPASSION BOTTLE WAS AT NORMAL LEVEL & NO LEAKS VISIBLE.

ON RETURN TRIP TO TEESIDE I FOUND THAT IF I KEPT THE REVS LOW ALL SEEMED WELL BUT ANYTHING OVER SAY 1400 REVS THINGS HOTTED UP.

I'M MECHANICALLY MINDED SO THOUGHT EITHER HEAD GASKET OR WATER PUMP IMPELLER FAILURE. THERE'S NO MAYO IN THE OIL CAP SO I'M AIMING AT PUMP, ALSO RAD TOP HOSE HOT, BOTTOM HOSE STONE COLD SO EITHER NO COOLANT CIRCULATION OR BLOCKED RAD.

ARE MY SUSPISIONS CORRECT OR HAVE I MISSED SOMETHING ?

I HAVENT HAD THE TIMING BELT DONE BUT IT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PAST ALTHOUGH I WAS CONTEMPLATING HAVING IT DONE ALONG WITH NEW PUMP IN THE NEAR FUTURE - MAY BE A LOT SOONER NOW !!!

ANY ADVICE GREATLY RECIEVED, CHEERS MIKE.

No need to shout, I'll move this to the right place

Sounds like your looking in the right places, would be worth doing a head pressure test too. I'm unaware of tdi's being prone to it, not our age of tdi, these are understood to be the most reliable.

Radiator fans coming on?

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mind you mine dont come on but she never goes above 90

The way to flamingo land is pretty hilly that's why I'm asking about fans lol

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ah i see, i must get my fans done some time.

Water pump come off the spindle?

If the car has never had a new water pump, then the original ones were plastic, of a type that could degrade with temperature.

Newer OEM ones are made from an improved composite and won't do the same.

Quite common for the water pump to break up seriously plastic!

Dunno about diesels but my Vrs one I got a few months back was metal and it was oem from VW

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dont rule out thermostat, even if its just been replaced

i would guess headgasket unfortunately, see if u can smell any exhaust/hydrocarbon smell in the coolant, these engines quite often dont get the mayo in the oil or the slime in the coolant, but you can usually smell exhaust smell in the coolant if the hg has gone.

dont rule out thermostat, even if its just been replaced

i would guess headgasket unfortunately, see if u can smell any exhaust/hydrocarbon smell in the coolant, these engines quite often dont get the mayo in the oil or the slime in the coolant, but you can usually smell exhaust smell in the coolant if the hg has gone.

True noticed with just about any of the engine parts none oem seem to fail quickly on Octys

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Radiator fans coming on?

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Hi there, the fans are working as they were on when i finally got home - kept the revs low, about 35mph max - you should have seen the cars behind me on the whitby road back up toward birk brow !!

dont rule out thermostat, even if its just been replaced

i would guess headgasket unfortunately, see if u can smell any exhaust/hydrocarbon smell in the coolant, these engines quite often dont get the mayo in the oil or the slime in the coolant, but you can usually smell exhaust smell in the coolant if the hg has gone.

hard to distinguish the smell although the coolant has never been bright red in colour so somethings in there contaminating it.

First thing I would do is a pressure test to rule out the head gasket m8 seeing that the coolant is a funny color.

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Oil?

Check the water pump...

Take the cap off the reservoir and raise the rpm to about 2500 rpm. If the pump is OK you will see a steady stream of coolant flowing out of the return pipe back into the reservoir

First thing I would do is a pressure test to rule out the head gasket m8 seeing that the coolant is a funny color.

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thanks for the advice, i'll look into it when i get the cambelt and pump done as the head gasket failure could have been caused by the pump failure. for the record i'm still using the car with the thermostat removed to drop the temp a bit till i get time off work mid week to get it seen to, seems to be driving ok.

Its unusual for Octys to overheat, my petrol and loftys diesel both seem happy to sit at 94 when stationary, so head gasket and water pump would be the first thing to look at

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Oil?

the oil's fine but the coolant's not very red, there's a lot of muck in there. when i bought the car there was evidence of the expansion bottle venting off with rusty water stains every where, you couldnt even see the coolant level in the bottle, i'm guessing the head gasket has been done before. i changed the bottle for another clean one and flushed out the coolant for new red solution, though this has slowly discoloured.

Water pump I'd say.

My Vrs was 10k over due for a cam belt and coolant change but the coolant was still the right colour. Don't think coolant should change colour as rapidly as yours has

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All vag coolant bottles ive seen are clear and the coolant bright pink, and clean eveen after 4/5 years. Ones that are rusty and dark i can only assume have greater problems underlying.

lil bit off topic but still relevant

How do you test the radiator fans easily, both me and lofty have come to realise that we both haven't heard or seen our fans come on and both our cars even though mine is petrol and his diesel seem to be happy sat at 94 when stood still for ages lol

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water pump is my guess... especially at over 100k.

My Elegance water pump got replaced with cam belt at 100,000 miles now 127000 miles - no overheating - eve spent 4 hours in traffic jam on a hot day (yes there ere some recently) and the fan only kicked in one. Had air con on max because it was so hot. I think as suggested that water pumps should be replaced regularly especially with cam belt change.