I had a Octavia VRS 2013. It had a cooling loss, very little at first but got progressively worse. I took to a Skoda Garage and they said they had been in touch with Skoda UK and they said that the car had been designed that way to prevent the turbo from overheating. As well as this it had white smoke coming from the exhaust which the Skoda Garage said it was due to the cold weather but on one occasion a huge cloud of smoke came out of the exhaust. I have a nagging doubt about the design of this engine and who knows what will happen to this engine particularly when it comes out of warranty. Needless to say I have now got rid of it.

  I would just like to say that I had the previous model VRS and to my mind a much better car.

Thank you for listening. 

Welcome to the forum.

So who you dealt with and spoke to was a liar, and a total muppet.

 

Yes Coolant finds its own level, bleeds out air,  and the pressurised system has safety to release pressure, 

but designed in Coolant loss is just garbage.

To protect the turbo is just total rubbish.

 

Please just name that Dealership where an employee told you that.

What was their job, Service Manager, Service Desk Receptionist or Master Tech?

 

george

I had a Octavia VRS 2013. It had a cooling loss, very little at first but got progressively worse. I took to a Skoda Garage and they said they had been in touch with Skoda UK and they said that the car had been designed that way to prevent the turbo from overheating. As well as this it had white smoke coming from the exhaust which the Skoda Garage said it was due to the cold weather but on one occasion a huge cloud of smoke came out of the exhaust. I have a nagging doubt about the design of this engine and who knows what will happen to this engine particularly when it comes out of warranty. Needless to say I have now got rid of it.

  I would just like to say that I had the previous model VRS and to my mind a much better car.

Thank you for listening. 

 

They are talking complete rubbish. The cooling system is a sealed system, and engines do not consume or lose coolant as part of their normal running. 

 

When an engine is brand new, or the cooling system has been drained and refilled, the coolant level in the expansion tank can drop of the first few hundred miles or so. This is normal and is because there will be air pockets in the system from when it was filled that cannot be removed except by running the engine. It would not, however, continue to get progressively worse.

 

It is normal for the exhaust to produce water vapour, particularly when it's cold, and this can look sometimes like thin white smoke. However again, it should not produce actual smoke over any colour. I would suggest that with the symptoms of coolant loss plus white smoke from the exhaust, it is possible that coolant is somehow leaking into the cylinders and being burnt; possibly a leaky head gasket.

 

Either way they have lied to you and should have sorted under warranty.

Almost certainly a coolant pump issue as others have experienced in this thread

My VRS TSI gets a cooling level warning every 5-8k miles, it's been into the dealer twice and they just tell me there's nothing wrong and 'normal' for it to need topping up. I know this is complete rubbish and I also have an issue of petrol smell in the cabin which they can't find a fault.

It won't be my problem for much longer as I've ordered a VRS 4x4

It is a shame to land the next owner with it though.

 

Can you not call Skoda UK Customer Services, raise a case, have them arrange for a Dealership with Competent Qualified Technicians 

to collect your car and properly repair it while you have a Courtesy Car.

Maybe the Dealership Principals top of the range perk of the job,  which does not lose Coolant.

 

Let the Dealer Principal drive your car daily with petrol smell /fumes until you collect your new car.

Edited 24 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

Just to clear this up most new engines incorporate 2 coolant pumps:

1 electronic pump that serves to circulate coolant when the engine is not running.

2 a mechanically driven pump that works all the time with the engine running.

The latter now tends to run of a small toothed belt driven by the cams on the gear box end of the engine.

In the case of your car fluffyeyeball - the pump and thermostat housing at the front of the engine was leaking from one of the seals. This seal was not available as an individual part hence the full, new housing.

 

1 electronic pump that serves to circulate coolant when the engine is not running.

 

I presume this is the noise (whirring) I hear when I turn off the engine off lasts a minute or 2.

Edited 25 January, 201610 yr by bhoywonder

I think these probably have a small auxillary oil pump that keeps oil circulating around the turbo bearings whilst the car cools.

The 1.4 TSI Fabia vRS has this.

....Or it may be the coolant....I know the newer TDI's have a water cooled turbo and water to air intercooling so could be that.

Edited 26 January, 201610 yr by pipsypreturns

Hello again

As a follow up to my previous mail, I have been in touch with Skoda UK head office customer service and they said that some coolant loss is expected on this car, alarmed by his response I asked what would happen is this continued outside the warranty and there was subsequent damage to the engine. He said you would not be covered. I have asked them to send me a detailed e mail to explain why this is so. I will keep let you know the outcome if it arrives. This is a new design of engine and my worry is what will happen to it in the future. My advice is to get rid of the car before this story gets out and second hand car prices plummet. I have done just that.

'They said',  was that a call handler, a Customer Services Manager or 'The word' from the Technical Department.

 

'Some coolant loss' can be expected over a long enough period of time.'

Noticeable Coolant loss and a company like Skoda part of the Volkswagen Group will be able to give a figure for this.

 

Or they can keep digging deeper and talking total crap.

Winning customer faith back with Honesty the VW CEO and Board talk about when caught lying and cheating and they have Employees still at it.

"They said" was from a Customer Services Manager at Skoda HQ. Now on the point of coolant loss over a period of time, all I can say is that I have had a number of cars in the past of different manufacturers and I have never had coolant loss from any of them.

  I have still not received the email as promised to explain what is going on.

I had my coolant loss investigated, while it was in for its second service this week and, sure enough, they said it was the water pump leaking, which will be replaced under warranty, no arguments, no fuss.

Coolant Loss update

Hello 

I have an e mail from Skoda UK Technical Department to confirm that coolant loss is acceptable on this model and they have been in touch with the Skoda Garage that did the test and said that the coolant loss on my car was within tolerance. My car was losing about 1 litre every 5,000 miles, I find this to be alarmingly high. I leave you to draw your own conclusions, but I said before I would be really worried about this kind of loss when the car comes out of warranty.

Acceptable to whom? Just because 'they all do that sir' doesnt make it acceptable in my view. Does the email give a reason why it happens and what the reasoning behind the acceptability is?

I would love a copy of that email. I would show it to my dealer before I sign for my brand new vrs and tell him its not acceptable and that they will be stumping up the consumables as and when!!

I have read Emails from Skoda Customer Managers were they got the decimal point wrong and they were assuring customers about 

'within tolerances'.

 the 1 litre of oil used in 500 miles as an example rather than the Owners manual figure they Publish of 0.5 litres in 1000km.

 

1 Litre in 5,000 miles is just pure nonsense,  they now have cars with Variable Servicing not just the 372 days / 9,400 miles.

 

No way is 2 litres of coolant required between fixed services or more than 3 before a Variable Service within Tolerances.

 

Just Name the Customer Services Manager that is communicating with you maybe.

There were some under Alasdair Stewart Brand Director Skoda UK that were quite sensible,

like John Good, Tom Chadwick, Dan Wilson and some others, 

then there have been some recently that just have not a clue.

 

Anyway Alasdair Stewart has moved on, back into VW,

i hope the new Boss at Skoda UK gets on with sorting out some of the fools in Milton Keynes.

Within tolerance?

 

I'd call that unacceptable personally - and tell them where to shove their order!  a 1959 Mini didn't use that much.

 

The question is where is the coolant going?  As has been said before, it's possible to for the level to settle within the first couple of thousand miles (although shouldn't as filling systems at the factory fill by volume - which should be pre-set and not change) but to get through what is half the coolant capacity between oil changes is ludicrous!