Hi guys and girls,

 

I have a 2014 Octavia 1.6 diesel green line, it’s done around 51,000 (motorway) miles and never skipped a beat. However, this week I have found my first fault ! Whilst doing 70-75 the oil gauge which usually sits at 90 went to 130 and the car gave me the usual warnings. I brought it to lookers to be looked at, they did a diagnostic and said there were no warnings on the fault log. They did a full service and said it should be fine. Today it happened again and I really am not sure what to do. Lookers charge a fair bit to look at it and since they already have and couldn’t find anything, I thought I’d seek some help from you good people. If anyone has an idea or has encountered it before please feel free to educate me !

 

 

thankyou,

 

 

Alex

Lookers ought to look again if the service wasn't due.  They've taken yer money and not fixed it.  when you slow down does the oil temp start to drop?

Do you have an Oil Temperature Gauge, or was it the Coolant Gauge that normally sits at 90*oC, once the coolant is up to temp.

That going to 130*oC shows a possible problem, thermostat, water pump etc.

 

If the Oil Temperature on Maxidot normally sits at 90*oC after getting there eventually goes to 130*oC with some speed, 

driving of that style that is not an issue, oil temp can rise to 130*oC and then get back to normal operating temp, 90-100*oC type temp.

The oil temp has dropped when I slow down, it seems to be at sustained speed on the motorway. I believe it’s the oil temperature gauge. Sits in the Rev gauge ? If it is the thermostat or water pump ? What price would I be looking at ? It stays at 130 until I slow down, then within 5-10 minutes of slowing down it goes back to 90.

 

thanks guys 

If you have done 50k miles but only get this now, something has changed.  If the alarm goes off you should slow and get it fixed.  The oil will not give as good protection when it gets this hot.  

 

If your gauge looks this, its the water temp and you must definitely avoid temps above 100C

 

Do you have the owners manual?  

Hi there, 

 

its the bottom left of the picture attached. If it is the coolant, when checking the water, it seems tepid and not hot at all, I think maybe what has been suggested above may be correct and it may be a thermo/coolant problem ? 

 

N.b the picture is from images as it’s howling outside ! 

Yes thats the coolant not the oil temp.

 

The sensors do fair fairly regularly but that would give a fault code.

 

“gauge which usually sits at 90 went to 130 and the car gave me the usual warnings” ... what usual warnings?

It’s a weird one actually, when Skoda took it in it didn’t actually show any logs on the fault log (their words). It came up on the centre display telling me the temperature was excessive and I presume telling me to pull over or something to that effect. It was only momentarily and the beeping starts (like when a doors open or a seatbelt isnt on. There was no lights on the dash itself (that I remember) 

Alex, you are very lucky not to have severely damaged the engine.  You will face enormous bills if you don't get this sorted.  It could be dangerous if your engine fails when you are doing 75+ on the motorway.

It’s booked in for Saturday now. As I said, the first time it did it (Tuesday I think) I booked it in to skoda, they gave it the all clear “, Wednesday I used it and it was fine on small trips but this morning, it’s done it again so I pulled over and it’s been parked ever since. Should be back to the garage saturday but I’m a little dubious about whether they will fix it properly or not ! Bit of a mess about really 

In my experience, so long as you are firm, but polite, most garages will try and keep customers happy.  They obviously did not fix it first time and they should find the real problem without extra cost.  If you get any hassle, go to Citizens' Advice.  Or just ask Lookers to tell you what their complaints procedure is.  They will belong to a professional body and MUSt have a written complaints procedure.  But as I said, try and keep it friendly and polite.  You catch more flies with honey than vinegar!

 

 

If there’s no damage and it’s fixable it’s not really an issue but it’s definitely not acceptable to send out vehicles that aren’t roadworthy. If I wanted that I’d of fixed it myself ! 

 

Thanks guys,

 

I’ll keep you updated 

Have another look on the forum for the 'Overheating' thread. It seems that the coolant pump fails at some point with the same behaviour as you describe. It only happens to diesels if I remember correctly. 

Oh really ? I’ll have a look now, thanks gttoma !

As I understand it, the water pump on diesels has a moving blanking device that stops the pump pumping much when the engine is cold. It can get corroded / clogged and intermittently stick in the blanked position and thus cause an overheat, which can kill your engine. You need to get it fixed ASAP!

It’s booked in tomorrow. Bizarre turn of events how the car can be so rock solid one minute and the next it’s falling apart. I’ll be passing in all of this info to the mechanics just in case they miss anything. Really appreciate the information your all passing on. 

The good news is lotta warranty, Skoda give 50% discount on water pump replacement as it a known problem.

 

With being a known problem I'd be asking Lookers WhyTF they done nothing earlier in the week & how are they going to recompense you?

 

Whether it needs it or not, get the cambelt changed at the same time, its no more labour & minimal parts cost.

I think it jams in the half on position so it pumps enough to cool it at low heat production around town on low revs but  wellying it down the mway you will be producing more heat than a half flow water pump can cope with

The other thing worth bearing in mind is that the temperature gauge is designed to lie. It will show 90 over quite a big range of actual temperature, not sure exactly but let’s say 80 to 100. This is to avoid drivers getting fixated on minor variations in temperature indications. Which is why it seems to be very static most of the time, but in the event of an abnormal condition it is suddenly near the stops.

You can always display the oil temp on the OFF & to assure you nothing is about to go bang.

Hi guys,

 

progress has occurred at least. They need to replace the cooling unit. £570 something to do with the seals or something. Bit annoyed tho as they didn’t run a cooling systems check on Tuesday when they knew the heating was an issue but hey ho ! Thanks again for all your help 

When you collect the vehicle, ask to see the "cooling unit"  I wonder if they mean the radiator?  I'd love to see some photos if can manage to get some.

Quite happy to for you ! It’s due back weds but I’m going to go in tomorrow and give them a kick up the bum