The Mk3 Octavia TDI water pump thread

[jjc]

just had this happen, reg in Jan2016 will add details once I know them

 

John

[alfalincs]

I've not had it happen yet on my 2014 car but when I bought the car nearly two years ago the independent I took it to for a service warned me to keep an eye out for it happening. He thought they were fitting modified pumps, but who knows these days. You can't trust manufacturers to be entirely straight as it costs them money when they are !

[jjc]

Just got car back all fixed under warantee, must say the whole process was handled very well by Skoda Assist.

 

Car reg date was 13/01/16

Dealer said that this was possibly the latest the old style pump was fitted.

Said they had fitted the new type and it should not happen again

 

John

[pist0nbr0ke]

1 hour ago, jjc said:

Car reg date was 13/01/16

Dealer said that this was possibly the latest the old style pump was fitted.

 

Mine was registered May 2016 and was a factory order with options, (i.e. not from pre-built stock) so definitely only built at the earliest March/April 2016.

 

Will be interesting to see if any newer cars have the problem.

[xman]

Engines are built for stock well in advance of car build at a different factory. So build week of your car is no indication of the build date of the engine which is probably several weeks earlier.

Edited 30 October, 2018 by xman

[pist0nbr0ke]

^^

Very true, fair point. 

[kmob]

This happened to my 2014 diesel VRS.

Production date:  2013-10-24

It failed in July 2018, the replacement pump is indeed an updated part number. 

 

[kloeffon]

16 hours ago, kmob said:

This happened to my 2014 diesel VRS.

Production date:  2013-10-24

It failed in July 2018, the replacement pump is indeed an updated part number. 

 

 

Have Skoda footed the bill out of interest? My 2014 has just had its first overheating session!

[kmob]

3 hours ago, kloeffon said:

 

Have Skoda footed the bill out of interest? My 2014 has just had its first overheating session!

Nope. I went to a private specialist. That said, I didn't ask Skoda as I needed the car back ASAP!

 

 

 

 

[Williami33]

This has just happened to me , Driving home from work on mon evening , Warning light came on , car overheating , Temp gauge in the red ,stopped  for about 2minutes , when restarted them gauge back to normal. 

 

 

• Year of registration May 2015 Scout 
•  Engine.  2l 150 PS
• Mileage when fault occurred. 61000  
• Dealer name & response    Hughes Skoda Aylesbury , called them on Mon evening , car booked in for Wed , got car back on Thurs morning, new Water Pump fitted.
• Warranty or goodwill contribution?  Warranty - took out 5 yr  extended Warranty when I bought the car so all covered 
•  Any other info.  Full Skoda service history

[RobH1984]

Had mine replaced yesterday on my Mk3 VRS Diesel DSG. Car was 6 months out of warranty, details as below:

 

May 2015 car, factory built to order during April 2015 (cost over £30K with all options on it)

2.0TDI VRS

40100 miles

Lancaster Skoda Milton Keynes

Full Skoda history. Bought new from this dealer and serviced there every time. incl. all recommended additional (brake fluid change etc..). Car has been nowhere else except for tyres. I also have Skoda assistance extended for 2 years after first 3 years which came with it. Didn't take out the extended warranty because its been so reliable, in fact, best car I have ever owned until last week :(

 

Happened whilst my wife was driving, she pulled over straight away and switched it off and called me. I told her to leave it 5 mins and restart it, problem gone so she went home and got Skoda assistance out from there. Bloke who came out knew the problem straight away, recommended replacement water pump. Took to garage next day after telling them it needed a new one, I got it to replicate the fault with a  little enthusiastic driving on my way to the garage....

 

When I dropped it off told a diagnostic was £72, fair enough

 

Got a call saying water pump had failed. Cost to replace £600, to get cam belt and water pump done as package was quoted at £480. At this point I started to vent a little frustration about the situation and was asked to wait whilst the dealer spoke to somebody about the warranty. Called back 10 mins later to offer 70% off labour and 50% off parts, confirmed I wanted the CAM belt doing. So I am thinking the whole job is going to cost somewhere around £250. I asked for confirmation and he said he needed to check it all so would email it to me (this never arrived).  Got a call later saying car would not be ready that day, but I could pick it up on Saturday.

 

Go to collect on Saturday and get presented with a  bill for £435 WTF. It was a different guy on the service desk and to be fair at that point he could not do anything as he didn't know the history, and its Saturday morning and nobody else is around. I needed the car so had to pay (at this point I was already 30 mins late for my sons 4th birthday party and my wife is going nuts as she is looking after 30 kids on her own!). He put a note on the job sheet saying I had reluctantly paid and that the dealer manager will call me on Monday. So I wait for a response, now they have my money I feel pretty powerless....

 

I will be picking up the dodgy quote with the dealer manager and the premature water pump failure with Skoda UK.

 

Ironically I was about to order a Superb Sportline 280TSI @ just over £40k. Based on the result of the next 48 hours I may well be taking my business elsewhere.... Especially as this is a known issue (I find out now after doing some research)

 

 

Edited 4 November, 2018 by RobH1984

[Adrianiacob]

Hi guys mine is a vrs 2.0 litres 64 plates number  problem come on 65000 miles luckily was in guarantee I have only one question for you guys if they fix the problem and they replace what they must replace i’ Wondering if the problem will come back??? 

[boozeroo]

They replace with the later design, so shouldn’t be a problem again.

[WallMeerkat]

My mechanic said he replaced it with the VW part, are the proper VW pumps stronger than the second rate items that were shipped to Skoda?

[Greenie58]

My car is a 2.0 TDI Scout Registered March 2016, mileage 33,000, does anyone know if this water pump fault likely to happen to my car? is there a recall for this fault? any help appreciated.

Edited 13 November, 2018 by Greenie58

[aguamoose]

Typically this decided to happen on the sunday before driving to Germany on a family holiday the following Thursday!! Exact symptoms as others although It seemed to happen as the engine was warming and reaching optimal temperature. Instead of settling on 90 it just kept getting warmer. Happened twice with dash warning and beep then the third time I was keeping an eye and as it reached 90 degrees and started to increase past I lifted and coasted (thankfully quiet road and down hill) and it went back to 90.

 

Called Bristol Street Motors Darlington on the Monday and they fitted it in the Wednesday for the 'water pump cambelt' deal at about £480. Service staff were great and did all they could to fit me in quickly and get it ready for holiday.

• Year of registration May 2014 
• Engine.  2.0 Diesel 184 PS VRs 
• Mileage when fault occurred 46000  
• Dealer name & response - Bristol Street Motors, very helpful but not any mention about this being a common problem.
• Warranty or goodwill contribution?  Out of warranty. Staff asked Skoda for goodwill but received non!
• Any other info.  Full Skoda service history.

Quite disappointed this has happened as a key reason for buying the Octavia was reliability. But I guess parts can't last forever and all be perfectly designed. 

 

I will be detailing my disappointment in the feedback e-mail Skoda have kindly sent.

[Greenie58]

I Rang Skoda and they denied theres a potential water pump problem..I mentioned that the replacement  water pump was a modified version so why why would that be if there wasn't a problem..

Silence...then denial about a problem. 

 

I'm not impressed.

[KevC_Derby]

On 14/11/2018 at 16:23, Greenie58 said:

I Rang Skoda and they denied theres a potential water pump problem..I mentioned that the replacement  water pump was a modified version so why why would that be if there wasn't a problem..

Silence...then denial about a problem. 

 

I'm not impressed.

 

It depends what the criteria and way the question was worded. If your dealer sold predominantly TSi or has only been a recent appointed Skoda dealer (mine has only been Skoda for 18m) then they may not have seen a large number.

There are lots of components on all cars that have had improvements or replacements released during their life for multiple reasons while maintaining interchangeability.

I reckon the failure rate is less than 0.5% during the 3 yr warranty period, high considering they measure in ppm (parts per million) in comparison. I think the VAG supplier base must demonstrate less than 400ppm (0.0004%) although I’ve also seen 100ppm mentioned.

 

[Paul_284]

Okay so have my car going through 500mm of water in 400 miles, does the water pump leak? My car's never gone above 90 degrees no matter how I drive it.

[jtypecav]

Mine sipped water like that for a month or two before the pump went the first time. Can't say if it's the same reason, but had a coolant level warning a month before the first one went. Had I known what it was, I wouldn't have driven back from the south of France like it!

[kloeffon]

• Year of registration:  January 2014
• Engine: 2.0 TDI (CKFC)
• Mileage when fault occurred: 47,000 miles
• Dealer name & response : Didn't bother trying with a main dealer, just went to a local specialist.
• Warranty or goodwill contribution? £410 for cam belt and water pump.  New part number was 04L121011L.

No loss of coolant, the engine just lost the ability to keep its cool when under strain (e.g. going up hills)... turning up the heater brought it back under control.  Ridiculous that these things are failing so early.

[crossmania337]

 

Failed without any signs or warnings. I was going uphill on the highway and I saw that the water tenperature was above 100. Stopped the car immediately, without turning the engine off, turned the heat to the maximum level. Skoda covered the defective water pump.

• Year of registration

July, 2014

• Engine

2.0 TDI 150ps

• Mileage when fault occurred

60.000 km or 38.000 miles

• Dealer name & response (i.e. "don't want to know"/"yep, they all do that"/other)

Bulgarian Skoda Dealer.

• Warranty or goodwill contribution?

All covered by warranty. Fast response!

• Any other info. (Full Skoda service history/independent?)

Full Skoda service history. The car is now at 160.000 km or 100.000 miles. The water pump was changed again, this time preventively with the timing belt.

Edited 20 November, 2018 by crossmania337

[gm73]

How can I find out what pump mines has and if it will be affected. 

 

- March 2015

- engine 1.6 CR tdi

- mileage 106,124

 

 

[Nickj633]

On 14/11/2018 at 16:23, Greenie58 said:

I Rang Skoda and they denied theres a potential water pump problem..I mentioned that the replacement  water pump was a modified version so why why would that be if there wasn't a problem..

Silence...then denial about a problem. 

 

I'm not impressed.

 

See my post on this topic from 19th October. Skoda UK have stated there is no known problem with the water pump, and that post on a forum are not to be taken as an indication that there is anything wrong... if or when this happens to me, as I’m out of warranty I will go to my local independent VW/Skoda and get them to do it. If there is no sign of a problem by the time it gets to 5 years old, then I’ll just replace as usual a advised on the schedule..

[Russ77]

On 11/10/2018 at 18:17, Russ77 said:

I think mine showed the first signs of this on the way home tonight, was cruising in traffic, around 50mph, 8 miles from work, 8 miles from home and I got the coolant temp warning up.  Pulled into a garage, turned it off, opened the bonnet and started it again, coolant temp dropped off and I drove home the rest of the way in stop/start traffic without issue.

 

December 2014 registered

2.0 TDi CR Elegance

82K miles

 

As the car is nearly 4 years old and only saw a dealer for it's first service I know I'm getting no joy with any kind of recompense from Skoda so I'm going to get me mechanic friend to change the water-pump and cam-belt in the near(ish) future.

 

Just wondering if anyone can confirm something that happened to my car on the way to work this morning as an indication the water pump is definitely failing.....

 

I believed my car was gearing up for a DPF regen this morning, revs were hanging at 1K when idling after 4 miles of driving, stop/start was also unavailable.  I then made a conscious effort to drive in a gear where I could maintain 1750-2000 RPM to help keep the engine/DPF up but after another couple of miles the water temp went up.... and up.  My scan gauge indicated it hit around 118c at it's peak (I was watching in real-time) and once it'd got over around 105c the vehicle information displayed "unable to maintain operational temperature".  When I was in freer moving traffic travelling at 50-60mph I drove "normally" and the temperature returned to normal but then went up to over 100c again as I approached work and was 98c when I got to work and turned it off.

 

My thought/theory on this is that the water pump will need to work harder to maintain 90c during a DPF regen as the engine needs to be hotter.  As the water pump seems to be struggling anyway this is just to big an ask and it just can't maintain the flow under these conditions to keep the temperature how it should be? 

 

I'm obviously going to keep a very close eye on it driving home tonight but ultimately I'm desperate to avoid a water pump/cambelt change just before Christmas if I can help it.