Water Pump Failure

[ALSW123]

Hi all

 

i've had a MkIII 2.0 TDI Superb Estate from new since Dec 2015 with a 4 year 80K warranty, Water pump has just failed 80700 miles and resulted in a £650 bill to replace it, timing belt and auxillary belt. Seems pretty poor to me for a little over 3 years and just over half the timing belt interval miles and nowhere close on age, so my argument was it should last at least as long as the belt plus i can do 700 miles in a week no trouble. 

 

Does anyone know if these cars have the pumps with the plastic impeller/ common fault? i guess since my car was quite early and higher than typical miles there might not be many who would have seen any issue if there was one.

 

 This is the second VW group car that the water pump has failed on me under 100K miles so not too pleased (last one was a Seat at around 90k) , so far Skoda have agreed to contribute £250 as goodwill not too impressed and reconsidering what i get next when lease runs out in December, wish i hadn't extended it to a 4th year  now but we're in the process of moving house so not great time for large costs! 

 

If anyone knows of any good routes to go down with a complaint as my experience speaking to Skoda customer services was quite poor unfortunately. 

 

 

Edited 8 February, 2019 by ALSW123

[SuperbTWM]

In what manor did it fail? 

 

You are are very lucky, mine failed at around the 3 year mark with only 30K on a Superb II, it started leaking from the seal.

 

The plastic impeller issues are way in the past now and got sorted a long time ago.

[ALSW123]

3 hours ago, SuperbTWM said:

In what manor did it fail? 

 

You are are very lucky, mine failed at around the 3 year mark with only 30K on a Superb II, it started leaking from the seal.

 

The plastic impeller issues are way in the past now and got sorted a long time ago.

Sorry to hear that  it's just not the  sort of life you would  expect at all. Mine failed  pretty catastrophically...outside lane of dual carriageway when coolant light came on, pulled over into parking area luckily metres away and pretty much all the coolant was gone. AA topped up and switched engine on the. It dumped all its coolant on the floor again. 

[Almonza]

I have just this Tuesday got my car back from the garage following a water pump failure. My car was a Jan 21st 2016 picked up at dealer car and the water pump failed 9 days after the warranty ended.... My car is a Jan 2016 2.0 TDI 150 manual with 112k kilometers on it. Skoda Ireland covered through Goodwill 70% of the part and 50% of labour and also provided a hire car through europcar and organized the collection of my car from my house on a truck. The garage suggested as they were that deep into the car and repair that it would be prudent to do timing belt also, I didn't disagree knowing the labour involved. The interval for the timing belt is apparently as advised by the skoda garage to be 210k kilometers or 5 years...again I'm just over half of those two numbers so not that impressed. Costs were  total of 409 euro to me. Total labour of 203 and parts were the balance. I have to say despite being just outside warranty they did alot for me, the water pump replacement was going to cost me 128 euro (after Goodwill) Car was washed and hoovered on collection. Garage was George Corbett in Waterford Ireland, not the garage I bought off buti will be dealing with them in future. Sorry for the long story but I feel it's worth putting it out there. If you have had your car serviced by skoda fully and you suffer something just out of warranty ask for Goodwill. Alan

Edited 8 February, 2019 by Almonza

[Mickey43]

Exactly the same thing happened to my Audi A6 after 75k miles.  

[pist0nbr0ke]

 

Common on the Octavia...

[IJWS15]

Belt replacement at 210,000 Km . . . . . risky.

 

I don't care what the manufacturer says I wouldn't want to run a timing belt much beyond 50k miles in my own car (The Superb is leased and the wife's isn't high mileage).  The cost of changing is far less than the cost and hassle of a failure.   

 

My father had a timing belt failure in a Volvo D5 at 60 odd K miles just out of warranty and the rebuild was many thousands, he went quiet about it so Volvo won't have contributed as much as he wanted. 

[JamKart]

My water pump has just failed - luckily with 6 weeks left on the warranty. It's only done 30k miles - so not great :-( 

 

Low coolant level warning came on and then I've had to constantly top it up while waiting for it to go in to the garage.

[NeilVP]

Skoda Superb 2l TDi, 2013 plate.

Water pump failure at 50k. £500 + bill. Not happy.

 

Failure at 1/4 the life of the engine?

Prior to this I had one of the original TTs bought new in 2001, 12 years & 100k miles later the only failure had been the nearside, side light. Twice.

 

[facet edge]

6 hours ago, NeilVP said:

Skoda Superb 2l TDi, 2013 plate.

Water pump failure at 50k. £500 + bill. Not happy.

 

Failure at 1/4 the life of the engine?

Prior to this I had one of the original TTs bought new in 2001, 12 years & 100k miles later the only failure had been the nearside, side light. Twice.

 

Wrong forum. 😉

[cronemeister]

I've recently bought a 2 year old Superb MKIII which has 18k on the clock and looks like the water pump has failed on mine.  Got the overheating message on Friday, thankfully i still have a years dealer warranty with it along with Skoda Roadside assist.  AA came out Fri night, towed the car to my local skoda dealer on Friday.  Courtesy Car delivered to me on Sat morning and just had the vehicle report from the dealer and it looks like this has gone - £936 quote in the cost breakdown....but rang the dealer and he's confirmed its covered under warranty thankfully.  When I was in on Sat booking it in he said they'd had 2 in for the same thing that week but they were taxi's with over 60k on them.  Find it weird that mine only has 18k on it and it's gone if I'm honest.  Pleased it's being sorted any how.

 

Absolutely love the car, coming from a 14 year old X-Trail I'm just wishing I'd made the jump sooner.

[Inoffski]

Mine went at 50k - overheating warning came up on Maxidot and temp gauge nearly in the red,

 

As car was 6 months out of warranty I didn't even bother taking it to Skoda dealer for repair, my local VAG specialist sorted it for me for £350 - new water pump and cam belt.

[Jim Reire]

Something very wrong some where when water pumps are failing at those sort of  mileages. What's the recommended service replacement mileage / time?

[roughrider10]

Had Cam Belt and Water Pump, Aux Belt etc changed in September, car is now 5 years old but only 20K on the clock, to me Cam Belt change every 4 year or 40K miles is ridiculous on a modern car but I could not risk not changing it, luckily my friend runs his own garage, so it was done at a very reasonable price using genuine Skoda parts.

I am now at the point where I am asking myself if an ICE car is really suitable for me and the journeys that I now make, cam belt change every 4 years regardless of mileage is the deciding factor.

[Ootohere]

VW Group Dealerships love their Schedules / Guidelines.

You have your 4 year Cam Belt, 4 year / 40,000 miles DSG oil Changes.  3 Year Haldex Services, 3 year then every 2 year brake fluid changes.

MPG / Emissions so the VED is a small part  of running costs, with the tyre and brake wear and service intervals it shows that in 2020 VW Group ICE vehicles are outdated.

 

Problem is that VW Group have yet to get the Software of EV's fit for purpose. 

Surely it will not take decades of messing about in the way it has been with Water Pumps, Belt or Chain timing and tensioners.

[Jim Reire]

10 hours ago, roughrider10 said:

Had Cam Belt and Water Pump, Aux Belt etc changed in September, car is now 5 years old but only 20K on the clock, to me Cam Belt change every 4 year or 40K miles is ridiculous on a modern car but I could not risk not changing it, luckily my friend runs his own garage, so it was done at a very reasonable price using genuine Skoda parts.

I am now at the point where I am asking myself if an ICE car is really suitable for me and the journeys that I now make, cam belt change every 4 years regardless of mileage is the deciding factor.

To be honest, personally I would be in favour of  changing the belt's every 5 years, as the composition of the belts can cause them to deteriorate over time, regardless of the mileage. That's understandable, but water pumps that need changing every 40-45'000 miles??  Sorry, thats not acceptable.  Neither do I have any problem with 2 year brake fluid change, or 40'000 Mile Auto-transmission change and flush.

[Sheriff]

Water pump failed on mine on it's 4th birthday. 112k on the clock, so had monies worth out of it!!

[Jim Reire]

On 14/11/2020 at 19:53, Sheriff said:

Water pump failed on mine on it's 4th birthday. 112k on the clock, so had monies worth out of it!!

 As these things go, yes you had your money's worth. But I'm not convinced that Skoda can't improve on the longevity of their waterpump's, given the quality of the other mechanical parts in their vehicles.  

[Foody]

I've just experienced the same issue on my 2017 70k miles car.  Pretty poor from a quality perspective imho, my previous 2.0 tdi Ford was still on it's original after 12 years and 140k.   I've been very lucky that the used dealer I bought it from has been very honest.  The warning light came on, on the way to get it MOT'd with them, 7 months after purchase. 

 

After a few phone calls they've pulled the diagnosics and admitted that the error had previously appeared prior to my purchase and are therefore doing it for free. Whilst obviously they should've sorted it before selling it to me, fair play to them for being honest and sorting it. 

 

Disappointed it's failed, but still love the car. Easily the comfiest and most luxurious car I've owned. 

[paddywack1878]

On 04/03/2020 at 10:35, Inoffski said:

Mine went at 50k - overheating warning came up on Maxidot and temp gauge nearly in the red,

 

As car was 6 months out of warranty I didn't even bother taking it to Skoda dealer for repair, my local VAG specialist sorted it for me for £350 - new water pump and cam belt.

thats a good price mate, was that with original parts?

[Inoffski]

On 10/04/2021 at 14:48, paddywack1878 said:

thats a good price mate, was that with original parts?

 

As far as I know - he gets all his parts from the local TPS place

[plasma99]

As someone who is trying to adhere to the continental 210000Kms cambelt change without time limit, I'm becoming increasingly alarmed by these stories.  I'm probably going to bottle it now.  German engineering? - what on earth has gone wrong?  I've never knowingly experienced a water pump failure on any car I have owned previously. 

 

It looks like the water pump is far more likely to fail than the timing belt based on the experiences being reported on this forum.   Is this what is driving the UK (5 year change) recommendation?  Also, is the water pump designed not to "seize" fail which would cause a big problem to the timing belt.  Does it just "leak" fail?  Therefore, you can experience a water pump failure without doing too much damage to the engine, assuming you catch it early?

 

I'm at 48K miles/>5 years and I'm really not happy about changing the water pump and belt right now.  The new pump could fail after another few years and you end up paying for two big changes in quick succession.  I'd rather keep a close eye on the pump and get the belt/pump combo changed midway through my ownership at about 7 years/70K miles.   I just don't know now.

[Nick_H]

Add me to list 2015 280 / 46k leaking water pump.

[Steviedakota]

On 12/04/2021 at 15:32, plasma99 said:

As someone who is trying to adhere to the continental 210000Kms cambelt change without time limit, I'm becoming increasingly alarmed by these stories.  I'm probably going to bottle it now.  German engineering? - what on earth has gone wrong?  I've never knowingly experienced a water pump failure on any car I have owned previously. 

 

It looks like the water pump is far more likely to fail than the timing belt based on the experiences being reported on this forum.   Is this what is driving the UK (5 year change) recommendation?  Also, is the water pump designed not to "seize" fail which would cause a big problem to the timing belt.  Does it just "leak" fail?  Therefore, you can experience a water pump failure without doing too much damage to the engine, assuming you catch it early?

 

I'm at 48K miles/>5 years and I'm really not happy about changing the water pump and belt right now.  The new pump could fail after another few years and you end up paying for two big changes in quick succession.  I'd rather keep a close eye on the pump and get the belt/pump combo changed midway through my ownership at about 7 years/70K miles.   I just don't know now.

I had my TB changed at 5 years, 70k.  I had a look at the old belt coming off and it looked brand-new.  No sign of anywhere whatsoever.

[Ootohere]

Cambelt failure is not high on the list of things that go wrong with VW Group components where ever the procure them from.

Water Pumps, timing belt and chain tensioners, door and hatch seals are common components that VW group co-ck up the buying of or fitting to vehicles.

Since about for ever really.  Well since the went water cooled. Das Auto. Vorsprung Durch Technik.