Engine temp warning light came on today when I was travelling down the motorway.. pulled over to hard shoulder, slowed to a stop and went out.. continued my journey to the peak district, noticed oil temp reading on the computer was reading 118ºC !!! In the peak district on the way home, temperature was up and down a bit..one point it kept increasing and didn't look like it was going to drop.. gave me a bit of fright!  had to keep revs low below 2000rpm and the speed down a bit (60mph on the motorway).. it was sitting in the 95ºC to 102ºC range depending on revs, gear etc..

 

the car is due a service, but I noticed the manual says this is more coolant related than engine oil, which I checked yesterday before my journey and was fine..

 

can anyone confirm?

 

Thanks..

 

When you say you checked your oil before the trip, was that a Cold Check?   Where was it on the dipstick?

 

What about the oil level on the dip stick when you do a proper check at Operating Temperature?

When you say you checked your oil before the trip, was that a Cold Check?   Where was it on the dipstick?

 

What about the oil level on the dip stick when you do a proper check at Operating Temperature?

 

It was a cold check.. if you had to split it up into quarters.. I'd say 3/4 or just a little over.  I've never done one at operating temp, I wouldn't want to burn my hands off, and besides I've heard never to do one when the engine is hot.. I think I probably read it in the manual..

Worth reading the owners manual.

 

Up to 2014 the only engines that got a Cold check were the 1.2 44kW ones.

 

Skoda had bad translation and said Warm while VW said Operating temperature, 

or 'Normal Temperature'

and 'Wait a few minutes'.  (Not saying, 3 or 4 or 5 minutes, but they advise checking when Fueling, 

so it is not 10 or 15 minutes. *few*

 

This is why so many have the wrong quantity of oil in VW Group Engines.

 

IF YOU KNOW HOW HIGH IT IS COLD WHEN NEW THEN YOU CAN USE THAT LEVEL FOR FILLING UP,

IF THE PDI WAS DONE RIGHT.

BUT YOU AT LEAST NEED TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE FROM A COLD CHECK LEVEL AND A HOT CHECK.

So read what the Owners Manual says,  COLD Check, or HOT Checks.

Edited 1 May, 201610 yr by GoneOffSKi

The oil temp will fluctuate and run much higher than that of the coolant, this is completely normal.

The warning light on the dash is for coolant only, there can be a few different warnings associated with coolant:

-coolant temp low (blue level light)

-coolant temp high (red level light)

-coolant level low (either red flashing dot on the temp gauge, if applicable or the same light as the red low level warning, but flashes)

most will be accompanied by a text warning on the MFD.

The oil temp will fluctuate and run much higher than that of the coolant, this is completely normal.

The warning light on the dash is for coolant only, there can be a few different warnings associated with coolant:

-coolant temp low (blue level light)

-coolant temp high (red level light)

-coolant level low (either red flashing dot on the temp gauge, if applicable or the same light as the red low level warning, but flashes)

most will be accompanied by a text warning on the MFD.

 

it was a red light with a text warning saying temperature high.. it didn't flash as far as I can recall.. but the needle was well beyond the typical vertical position..and the temp was well up as mentioned..

 

I looked at the coolant level.. it was at the min level indicator.. but I didn't want to open it after a 60+ mile drive home.. perhaps too low do you think? even with expansion it seems a little bit low to me.. I'll check it in the morning, but after a 4 hours of no driving the engine temp indicator got up to 70+ pretty quickly after only 2 or 3 minute drive to the local shop and back this evening..

 

I don't think there would be any harm in putting some extra coolant in given the level.. do you agree?

 

aside from all of this, I haven't actually asked yet, what is the cause of the high temperature?

Edited 1 May, 201610 yr by skodaTDI

I believe that the newer engines are designed to heat up really quickly, in order to try and get to operating temperature nice and quickly in order to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. 

pop some extra coolant or fresh boiled water in for the time being.

If the 1.4tdi uses the same type of electronically clutched water pump that the other diesel engines use then it could be the beginning of water pump failure.

That's just an educated guess though.

thanks guys.. I'll pick up some fresh coolant tomorrow.. pop a little in and see if it helps.. didn't know about the fresh boiled water though..

The water needs to be uncontaminated, ideally distilled but boiled will do if you can't get hold of coolant.

UPDATE - well the car was behaving badly Tuesday morning again, so I parked up outside the dealer where I bought it from.. asked them to have a look at it, which they did.  After an hour of investigation, they recommended the car not to be driven, so they gave me a courtesy car and I went on my way after collecting a few bits from my car and seeing various parts of the engine in pieces with all sorts of probes being inserted into various parts of it and a nice hot vapour eminating from one dismantled sections..

 

I got word early evening that it was a thermostat failure.  So a replacement part was ordered and was fitted this morning - actually took several hours to fit, bit of a bugger so I'm told.. in addition to this a bleed reed was also faulty so the coolant wasn't moving around as it should have been.

 

I asked if this was the first instance of this issue.  The mechanic had told the guy on the service desk, he'd never once seen this issue on a Fabia mk3 before, he  heard of the thermostat issue on BMW Mini's - apparently it's a common thing or was..

 

..anyhow, it was all done under warranty, so no charge and I've got my mk3 back and the repair form has gone off to head office.

 

It may be worth noting this - just in case anyone else with a Mk3 1.4TDi suffers the same issue. 

Good to hear it was all sorted!

Well, the plot thickens.. the problem returned this morning.. and so the car is in pieces again at the dealer with Skoda Technical at head office being involved not having much of a clue after the previous replacements of bits on the car.. the latest is that the water pump is next in line to be taken out tomorrow and diag tested. 

The switchable water pump impeller is a common problem on the EA288 engines. It stucks in closed position and only the electric pump circulates the coolant which isn't enough at bigger loads.

If a common problem then it will be widely known by Skoda Main dealer Fully Trained Volkswagen Group Technicians

and not a surprise and needing a conversation with Skoda UK, CZ or Derren Brown as the Dealership Employees try to tell owners.

'Head Office' are going to be of lots of use no doubt.

What you really need is a Salesperson or Call handler with secretarial skills when your new car has a fault.

New water pump being fitted tomorrow.. what caused which part to fail first is anyone's guess.. I'm waiting to hear of anything else needing replacing!

I'd say that the thermostat was faultless and just a stab in the dark.

It looks like the pump was at fault for the thermostat failure (which did fail by the way).. I've just been told by service desk that the "jacket on the blade was stuck.." so no coolant was circulating and so a new pump gets fitted in the morning.  I asked is it a common fault.. "not on the Fabias, but it was on the Octavias.." hmmm.. we'll see how long it lasts..

 

Additionally, they've done my 20000 service at the same time, so oil/filter change and the coolant is being renewed as it had all drained away with the pump being taken off.  The bonus is that I have a service package on my Fabia, which I didn't recall having.. hmm, must read the small print again..

 

Incidentally, the Fabia courtesy car I had (1.2 Petrol I think) also was running a high-ish oil temp on the trip computer around 102ºC.. I wonder if it had a dodgy pump as well? 

 

Be good to know how hot temp everyone elses Mk3s are running.. there may be a recall in the offing..

It's just my 2 cents but the correlation between the water pump faulting and the thermostat being replaced seems more like they had a choice of 2 potentially problematic parts and they picked the wrong one and now they are looking for justification for replacing it.

The fact the car suffered the same symptoms after it was replaced is pretty substantial evidence to back up this claim.

also if the fabia problem was being compared to the common issues on bmw/mini it begs the question if the tech working on it was familiar with VW AG technology.

I did mention the water pump in my second comment.

There will be more instances of this fault in the making accompanied by a tech bulletin, after all the O3 has been out for 2 years longer than the fabia 3.

Edited 10 May, 201610 yr by James@RRGRochdale

It's just my 2 cents but the correlation between the water pump faulting and the thermostat being replaced seems more like they had a choice of 2 potentially problematic parts and they picked the wrong one and now they are looking for justification for replacing it.

The fact the car suffered the same symptoms after it was replaced is pretty substantial evidence to back up this claim.

also if the fabia problem was being compared to the common issues on bmw/mini it begs the question if the tech working on it was familiar with VW AG technology.

I did mention the water pump in my second comment.

There will be more instances of this fault in the making accompanied by a tech bulletin, after all the O3 has been out for 2 years longer than the fabia 3.

 

Well they said the thermostat was faulty.. so it's a 50/50 if you believe it or not.. as long as I get my car back tomorrow all fixed, I don't really mind..

I wonder if the impeller had failed and sent gunk into the thermostat? Just hypothesising! 

The retractable outer sleeve that covers the impeller sticks due to a swelled seal, nothing breaks off them like older type pumps and the thermostats tend to be in a sealed plastic housing where it isn't actually visible or accessible so how they tested it I wouldn't know.

Well, I have the car back - not entirely convinced about it yet though, still looks a little high on the temp guage to me.. up to 97ºC on the drive home.. hmm, is all I can say..

?

What is the indicated Oil temp when the Coolant Temp is 97*oC.

?

What ambient temp are you driving in?

 

The coolant needs to be at the operating temperature to bring the Oil down near the more efficient operating temp.

If it is at 97*oC it is not being cooled enough.

 

Possibly readings wrong.

?

What is the indicated Oil temp when the Coolant Temp is 97*oC.

?

What ambient temp are you driving in?

 

The coolant needs to be at the operating temperature to bring the Oil down near the more efficient operating temp.

If it is at 97*oC it is not being cooled enough.

 

Possibly readings wrong.

 

Outside air temp today was about 19ºC

The only other temp is the one on the trip computer which is over 90ºC - what other temperature guage is there then?