I check the coolant level every second week or so. About every three months I see the coolant level has gone down about half an inch from the full mark (still above the lower minimum level) and I top it up back to the top level mark. This has happened since day one,Sept 15th 2011 when my Yeti was delivered to be exact.

As my 2.0 Lt. dsg is still under warranty I drove to the dealership garage not far from my home,and asked the head mechanic if this is normal.

His answer was a straight NO. According to him,the cooling system is sealed and it should not lose a drop even over time.He suggested I leave the Yeti there for a few hours to have the system checked for leaks.I did not leave the Yeti there ,told him I would come in another time,and drove off.

This is where you ,my friends, come into the picture.

According to my logic there are four points that deterred me from having the system checked:

A. Losing half an inch of coolant in three months is acceptable.(Or is it not?!)

B. The temperatures here soar up to 44 Degs Celsius June to Sept.(btw today it is 27) which surely puts some strain on the whole works.

C. Even if there is a leak it is too minute to be detected (given the top up intervals and quantity).

D. I am not sure the system is 100% sealed , as the feel of the filler cap once closed suggests.

My Question to you ,my learned friends,is if you need to top up your coolant level from time to time,even if you do live in a cooler climate,like the British Isles or North Continental Europe. If you too top up ,what coolant loss in your view is acceptable over what period of time?

Hope my query is not too lengthy and I would very much appreciate your opinion.

Edited 29 November, 201213 yr by oriki

No top ups here in UK in 25,000miles

Edited 29 November, 201213 yr by geordiebroon

I topped up Scout's coolant when the warning light came on. Caught me by surprise because I also thought it was a sealed system that doesn't go down.

No further top ups required in the three months that have followed this. Dealer categorically told me that it was normal for it to go down over time. They charged me for the diagnostic pressure leak test and then got me out of there.

Nothing's happened since, but I'm not sure what was the problem. Perhaps the level went down after the water pump was replaced?

Topped up twice in 23,000 miles but both early on. My monsters coolant system has a bizarre habit of going up as well as down; sometimes it's on the full mark and others it's about half way to the min, when 'cold'.

VAG diesels do occasionally have issues with leaking EGR valves and water pumps.

TP

No topping up with the Yeti but I did have to with the Roomster I had previously. I asked the dealer to check it and they had to replace the water pump.

Fred

If any vehicle of mine sets its own level at 'Min' & never moves, then i am happy.

My Fabia has been topped up twice by a Skoda Technician when in the workshop & is back at 'Min' by the time it has been up to running temperature then stopped.

My previous Fabia was the same and almost everyone i have looked at sits at 'Min'.

Many many vehicles i have driven over 4 decades set the level, and then never use or lose Coolant.

Sealed system,

(except acually the system has an overflow and releases pressure and thats hot Air/Steam if it ever needs to, Stam is liquid when cool.)

correct mix/ratio of Coolant/antifreeze/summer coolant/rust inhibitor,

bleed properly or when they are self bleed, check they are bleed correctly, run and checked level,

cap left on & never removed unless coolant is cold

& the world is a great place if it never goes below 'Min'.

Too many people mess IMO, causes more fai'ures than leaving well alone. Again JMO.

george

I had the same issue as the op and it was diagnosed as a slight leak on the water pump. All done under warranty and not a drop has been used since :-)

I also have a coolant loss. Only slight initially at 2 & a half years old, but it then suddenly leaving a pool of water underneath overnight.... but only if the last journey had been a short one (less than 5 miles) from stone cold. I eventually dropped the front undertray off (and got wet!) to find signs of water dribbling down the front of the engine block, but where it's coming from I cant see. The suspect area is roughly central & quite high up behind a whole load of gubbings that I've not been able to christen yet.

Off to dealer.... they kept her in for observations overnight (2 nights actually) including a pressure test overnight one one night, but could find no sign of a leak. They agreed however that the level goes down. They've asked me to keep an eye on it and take her back in in a couple of months by which time there may be a dried antifreeze residue on the block that they trace back to source.

So, I've got her back, level still going down but only very slightly (about an inch in the last 6 weeks).

So she'll be going back for further observations soon, though if they don't find the cause I'm going to suggest they try putting a UV dye in the header tank!

MY SM is the 1.8 petrol by the way, so I would have thought that they'd have plenty of experience of diagnosing leaks from this motor in other Skoda models by now.

Not terribly impressed - just as I'm not terribly impressed that they've not been able to find the fault on one of the Bi-Xenons that sometimes doesn't work on Auto at start up. (which has been discussed & cured on many other Yeti forum contributors' cars yonks ago!).

Edited 29 November, 201213 yr by speedsport

Topped up twice in 23,000 miles but both early on. My monsters coolant system has a bizarre habit of going up as well as down; sometimes it's on the full mark and others it's about half way to the min, when 'cold'.

VAG diesels do occasionally have issues with leaking EGR valves and water pumps.

TP

Thanks for the valuable info, Plumber.What does EGR stand for?

Thanks for the valuable info, Plumber.What does EGR stand for?

Exhaust Gas Recirculation; it's one of the emission control devices.

May also of interest;

http://www.cambustion.com/products/egr

Regards,

TP

I also have a coolant loss. Only slight initially at 2 & a half years old, but it then suddenly leaving a pool of water underneath overnight.... but only if the last journey had been a short one (less than 5 miles) from stone cold. I eventually dropped the front undertray off (and got wet!) to find signs of water dribbling down the front of the engine block, but where it's coming from I cant see. The suspect area is roughly central & quite high up behind a whole load of gubbings that I've not been able to christen yet.

Off to dealer.... they kept her in for observations overnight (2 nights actually) including a pressure test overnight one one night, but could find no sign of a leak. They agreed however that the level goes down. They've asked me to keep an eye on it and take her back in in a couple of months by which time there may be a dried antifreeze residue on the block that they trace back to source.

So, I've got her back, level still going down but only very slightly (about an inch in the last 6 weeks).

So she'll be going back for further observations soon, though if they don't find the cause I'm going to suggest they try putting a UV dye in the header tank!

MY SM is the 1.8 petrol by the way, so I would have thought that they'd have plenty of experience of diagnosing leaks from this motor in other Skoda models by now.

Not terribly impressed - just as I'm not terribly impressed that they've not been able to find the fault on one of the Bi-Xenons that sometimes doesn't work on Auto at start up. (which has been discussed & cured on many other Yeti forum contributors' cars yonks ago!).

Exactly the same as mine but Progress Skoda of Letchworth had already identified the problem on their system before mine was even driven onto a ramp - its a dealer bulletin for the 1.8tsi yeti so unsure of why your dealer missed that. It's the water pump as mentioned above - front centre of the engine block iirc.

Exactly the same as mine but Progress Skoda of Letchworth had already identified the problem on their system before mine was even driven onto a ramp - its a dealer bulletin for the 1.8tsi yeti so unsure of why your dealer missed that. It's the water pump as mentioned above - front centre of the engine block iirc.

Many thanks for that. I half suspected it was the water pump, but I wasn't sure exactly where it was, now I know!

Time for another visit to the Yeti Vet I reckon.The contributors to this forum are incredibly informative. Goodness how people go on without the wealth of information on here!

Cheers

John H

Hello I have a smialr problem and my new manager / mechanic is hopeless 

My TDI Skoda has started to display a check coolant light 

 

Twice in the last 4 weeks I have topped up with water twice 

 

Took it to the garage - got a pressure test nothing is wrong with the pressure test they mentioned EGR issue ... expensive they told me my understanding is that it would have been the water pump as we know it is a common issue. can EGR issue actuallt get the check coolant light? 

 

 

also he said I have a leak oil leak... 

Cheers

The EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) valve has it's own cooler, much like the engine oil does too.

 

If the EGR cooler is leaking then your coolant level will drop.

 

The oil leak is likely to be unrelated, but leaking fluids of any kind are a bad thing and should be remedied as quickly as possible.

 

Your profile is a little sparse. What year and engine does your Yeti have? Earlier models had a separate (cylindrical) EGR cooler, the later models incorporated the cooler into the actual EGR valve, making it's replacement quite a bit more complex / expensive.

Never topped up any of my 3 yetis in nearly 150k.

However my wifes 2000 Fabia had a persistent drop in coolant level which needed topping up and I think led to the head of the engine warping eventually when  she didn't stop after the red light came on. Traded it in to get rid of the problem as not worth enough to fix at 6 years old.

This leak only happened at full engine temperature and was the seal on the temperarture sensor which was screwed into the radiator frame.. It only came out as a very fine mist under pressure to immediately be disbursed by the cooling fan, so no trace of the leak normally.

Edited 20 February, 20206 yr by kenfowler3966