Thread from the dead...

 

Although on reading I remembered that on the mk2 I had under warranty a leak which came from the radiator which had cracks that opened up at higher temperatures. It just dumped all the coolant one day.

 

I seem to remember the original version of 2.0 tdi also had issues with porous heads which allowed small amounts of coolant into the cylinders.

Bit of a revival... 

 

Think I made a post about mine losing coolant but thought I would reply here as it sounds similar. 

 

My mk3 tdi 60k miles has been losing coolant for some time now (maybe 1year +). Car is up to date with every service with full dealer history. 

 

Car went in for losing coolant. They charged me for diagnosing egr cooler. Still leaking. Went back and they charged me for charge cooler. Still leaking. Went back and they have so far covered the cost of;

 

Water pump (even though I'd had it done) 

Pressure test

Head gasket

 

They said they're struggling to find where the leak is coming from. I got in touch with skoda customer service and explained the story. We agreed the dealer would keep and road test my car for 1 week to see if they can identify the cause. 

 

Just spoken with the dealer today and we both agreed it could well be possible the head is cracked. Waiting to hear back on skoda customer service views to see what can be done. 

 

To be fair to the dealer they have been pretty pro active all things considered. 

 

I'm still in the situation that I have spent £1000s in the first batch of repairs and have a pretty useless car... No idea what will happen with the cracked head situation. It seems pretty common on these cars that they leak coolant, has anyone got any further than me with the whole situation? 

 

 

I think that you have been considerably unlucky.  Cracked cylinder heads are not a common issue. 

 

Options: they could re-sleeve the head for you (as long as the block isn't cracked to boot) or they could offer you a new engine if it has cracked, but ask you to contribute.  Just out of interest, when was the coolant last changed? 

 

Did the Skoda Garage do a pressure test on the header tank to see if the system was holding or not?

5 minutes ago, varaderoguy said:

I think that you have been considerably unlucky.  Cracked cylinder heads are not a common issue. 

 

Options: they could re-sleeve the head for you (as long as the block isn't cracked to boot) or they could offer you a new engine if it has cracked, but ask you to contribute.  Just out of interest, when was the coolant last changed? 

 

Did the Skoda Garage do a pressure test on the header tank to see if the system was holding or not?

 

 

i imagine whatever is wrong with it that its going to be expensive. Im not willing to pay any more towards it because i could of bought another car (that runs) for the amount its cost in repairs, let alone running costs.

 

Im not convinced Skoda will pay the bill, however they have admitted the problem exists.

 

I cant remember exact details when the coolant was changed. It was probably done when i had the waterpump changed. Its also been flushed by the garage more times than my toilet!

 

Not sure on their tests. Said they had the system under pressure over the weekend and couldnt find anything.

 

 

24 minutes ago, Dowsett said:

Bit of a revival... 

 

Think I made a post about mine losing coolant but thought I would reply here as it sounds similar. 

 

My mk3 tdi 60k miles has been losing coolant for some time now (maybe 1year +). Car is up to date with every service with full dealer history. 

 

Car went in for losing coolant. They charged me for diagnosing egr cooler. Still leaking. Went back and they charged me for charge cooler. Still leaking. Went back and they have so far covered the cost of;

 

Water pump (even though I'd had it done) 

Pressure test

Head gasket

 

They said they're struggling to find where the leak is coming from. I got in touch with skoda customer service and explained the story. We agreed the dealer would keep and road test my car for 1 week to see if they can identify the cause. 

 

Just spoken with the dealer today and we both agreed it could well be possible the head is cracked. Waiting to hear back on skoda customer service views to see what can be done. 

 

To be fair to the dealer they have been pretty pro active all things considered. 

 

I'm still in the situation that I have spent £1000s in the first batch of repairs and have a pretty useless car... No idea what will happen with the cracked head situation. It seems pretty common on these cars that they leak coolant, has anyone got any further than me with the whole situation? 

 

 

Near the end of page 1 of this thread is a possible answer.

On 29/01/2021 at 15:57, Dowsett said:

Bit of a revival... 

 

Think I made a post about mine losing coolant but thought I would reply here as it sounds similar. 

 

My mk3 tdi 60k miles has been losing coolant for some time now (maybe 1year +). Car is up to date with every service with full dealer history. 

 

Car went in for losing coolant. They charged me for diagnosing egr cooler. Still leaking. Went back and they charged me for charge cooler. Still leaking. Went back and they have so far covered the cost of;

 

Water pump (even though I'd had it done) 

Pressure test

Head gasket

 

They said they're struggling to find where the leak is coming from. I got in touch with skoda customer service and explained the story. We agreed the dealer would keep and road test my car for 1 week to see if they can identify the cause. 

 

Just spoken with the dealer today and we both agreed it could well be possible the head is cracked. Waiting to hear back on skoda customer service views to see what can be done. 

 

To be fair to the dealer they have been pretty pro active all things considered. 

 

I'm still in the situation that I have spent £1000s in the first batch of repairs and have a pretty useless car... No idea what will happen with the cracked head situation. It seems pretty common on these cars that they leak coolant, has anyone got any further than me with the whole situation? 

 

 

Massive revival... I'm guessing you're the previous owner of my current car as your name's all over the service history and has invoices for the replaced parts you've described here. Nothing about head gasket though or other things covered by the dealer, maybe removed by the garage who sold it to me to hide the fact it had an issue! Red, 14 reg beginning with V, diesel VRS, all the optional extras pretty much? I picked it up from a small dealer in Nottingham about 10 months ago.

 

Really nice car except for the coolant loss! Would have been nice if I'd have driven it a bit more during the 3 month warranty period to notice the issue. Now I'm back at work doing 100 miles a day I'm topping up the expansion tank every couple of days.

 

No other issues regarding the coolant, no overheating, no wet footwells, heating works great, no leaks visible anywhere with tracer dye. Don't notice any smoke either, no sign of it mixing with the oil, and the coolant is clear and smells like coolant should. I've done just over 6k in it so far and it drives perfectly fine (apart from the limp mode I had when the exhaust gas temp sensor went on the A1, which incidentally, you had the same issue I see!).

For anyone interested, cylinder head was removed and pressure tested, found to be leaking through a crack between the water jacket and exhaust valve housing in cylinder 2 so not really repairable...

 

2nd hand head purchased pre-skimmed and valves lapped, pressure tested all good so fitted and engine rebuilt with fresh gaskets and new cambelt and waterpump kit. Up and running sweetly, no coolant loss apparent, hopefully it stays that way!

 

@Cactusjack

 

Where did you use to do the work?

 

I'm in Nottingham too and on the look out for a trustworthy independent since Dave at DSB in Bulwell closed the shutters 😞

Edited 26 April, 20224 yr by Jono
Tagged user

Is that welded alloy intake plenum chamber standard?

On 26/04/2022 at 15:14, Jono said:

 

@Cactusjack

 

Where did you use to do the work?

 

I'm in Nottingham too and on the look out for a trustworthy independent since Dave at DSB in Bulwell closed the shutters 😞

I did the work myself in my garage, quite a large undertaking without an actual car lift!

 

I don't trust mechanics/garages as far as I could throw them, like Skoda not being able correctly diagnose the issue with my car, and many other examples on here...

On 26/04/2022 at 15:53, J.R. said:

Is that welded alloy intake plenum chamber standard?

Yes it's the standard charge air cooler.

Cactus Jack, my 1.6 tdi snapped a cambelt.

I fitted a new cambelt just to see if i was lucky, it ran but i could hear  something from the airbox area although engine revved ok. took it for a drive and everything seemed fine until about 5 miles and then lost power.

Engine still idled but a much louder sound now. I had it recovered.

I'm assuming a bad valve or rocker which accenuates the sound into the airbox chamber.

 

Anyway, it's going to be a head off job.

Can you or anyone give guidance for head removal - is there any technical info available or yputube videos etc?

Although not a mechanic by profession, i would say i'm a DIY professional and have always maintained my own cars including cylinder heads but on older less complicated cars.

 

Replied to your PM, good luck!