Hi, I have a water leak coming from the right hand side (As you look at the engine) near the engine and next to the battery and airbox. There is a large rad hose and if squeezed, water and/or bubbling can be heard from somewhere under that area. It is not a massive leak but when hot, will necessitate the expansion bottle being refilled perhaps frequently. I am unsure as to if it may be the water pump as I know there are auxiliary drive belts on the opposite side of the engine, nearer to the coolant bottle on the left, (Again,  as you look at the engine). I am unsure if the coolant pump will be with those belts or if there is another  belt on the other end of the engine. If it IS the water pump then fine, its about time to change but if not, what else is that side? Could it be the thermostat and its housing, etc?  Although I know the pumps and belts need changing regularly, I am unsure where they are!!! I always assumed it was the same side as the visit;le belt, that drives the alternator among other items!

 

I have the 1.4 TDI greenline, 2009.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer,

Gary.

Might it be item 20 here that you're describing Gary?

https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2009-608/1/121-121055/

I find that diagram a little hard to follow, unfortunately!!!

 

It seems to be in the right area and where it looks like it joins the engine there seems to be a silver metal cover of sorts. It then seems to drip down on to the transmission, where it just cooks or on to the floor. Mine is also the 3 cylinder engine I think it was a BMS but I could be wrong.

SKODA ROOMSTER 5J 1.4D Coolant Flange / Pipe 06 to 10 Water Firstline 038121132D

 

 

 

Does that look like the part you mentioned, Wino? They are only around £8 so not sure if I should just order one and have a proper close look when it arrives in a few days! Where I could see though, looked like a silvery-metallic covering. That is not to say the water is not coming from here...

 

Would the pump be on the opposite end of th engine, though? I just want to eliminate it, if it is!

Thanks.

Pretty sure the water pump will be at the other end, someone else must know.

Cheaper still just to buy the o-ring, probably.

You will be completely right in saying about the O-ring but I guess by the time you order one rom Skoda or find the exact size, then take the trouble to remove the item to fit a new O-ring, I may as well fit a new flange as the old one will be ten years old anyway. Many thanks. I may just take it to my local guy, after getting the part as ECP and CP4L seem to be double the price and I can't find them on the online store so no extra discount code, either!

I might just add a little K-Seal for a few days until its sorted. Then complete change of coolant.

 

I too, think the pump is at the other end as I can see no sign of belts/covers, etc. There is a metallic caring just above this flange but I am unsure what that is either, it has a black plastic face to it, with around five or so security screws. (Torx type things). 

Thanks for the heads-up, regarding the flange, though. I think it IS either that or one of its adjoining pipes. 

Edited 10 August, 20205 yr by mrgf

The Firstline part will very probably be rather cheap and nasty compared with your 10 year old original. It'll probably have rough, ridged seams that the hoses will struggle to seal on, and may well be less rigid, made from cheaper material etc. Really wouldn't recommend going cheap on this mate.

 

Part number (and size) of the o-ring is given as item 21 in that same link. There's very little chance of there being anything wrong with the housing itself.

What you may find though is that the surface of the head that the o-ring seals against may need a bit of TLC to get rid of any corrosion and pitting if it's been leaking at that point for a while.

 

Oh, and don't bother with K-seal.

Edited 10 August, 20205 yr by Wino

I bit the bullet and ordered Febi version which still came in at just under a tenner, deliver free. I think that brand has a half-way decent rep for its products. The K-sealwas just a stop-gap so as to be able to continue for a few days but I don't really like that sort of thing. I do however, think K-seal tends to be a better, safer bet then many other brands. I used it on a few cars previously to no adverse effect, where others (One that sounds like drinking holes) Has given up fairly soon and been not worth the money. I just read about black pepper, bizarrely! Apparently it swirls about, plugs a little hole and expands a bit, without deteriorating so may help you get home.

 

(Eggs, cracked into the rad was an old, old favourite, to some drivers if stuck out in the sticks or somewhere eggs are easily found and garages not).

 

I take your point in quality but if I am gonna get someone to fit it, They will spend longer cleaning up and hopefully sealing the old one, over just slipping on the new!

 

Edited 10 August, 20205 yr by mrgf

Post some photos of the new one when it arrives, particularly of the surfaces that the hoses will try to seal against.  

Worst case, you won't have paid all that much for the o-ring even if the rest of it looks dodgy.

By the time you'd ordered an o-ring and either paid for delivery or collected, you'd've probably spent a tenner.

My part arrived this morning (Thursday) But I also ordered some G12 longline coolant as I have been "Watering down" the existing coolant for a few days!

I ordered 10L as the Haynes manual states the capacity as 6.2L and the seller (Ebay) had two 5L bottles for £15.99, delivered. This is the ready mixed version, made by a company called Mannol, which meets the VW specs at a fraction of the cost!

 

So, when that comes, I plan to remove the battery and the airbox, to gain better space to remove and refit the flange. I will most likely run the car on de-ionised water just prior to doing the refill with the G12, to remove any impurities in the normal tap water. I am happy that I won't cause any damage just filling with water for such a short amount of time, though, just being a little fussy and de-ionised water is fairly cheap. I may also look in to swapping the temperature sensor as it needs to be taken off, to change the part anyway and I think they are only a few quid!

 

I will try and add a photo of the new flange but it does look fairly robust. Not as cheap and nasty as I was thinking after Wino mentioned the firstline part might be!

I have had difficulties with my phone so I will see what I can do...

 

On looking at youtube clips, replacement of these flanges across the VW range, is a fairly common thing and a few higher powered vehicles are more prone to have them fail multiple times.  One person even made a supply kit of replacement parts:, flange, thermostat housing, etc made of metal, with a flat face and a paper gasket, rather then the rubber O-ring. It was mentioned that perhaps VW should have built them that way! (It was also suggested that you could custom paint/powdercoat the parts, if desired). 

They did, however, carry a premium price, in the range of $120 or so!

Edited 13 August, 20205 yr by mrgf

As temperature sensors seemed a little higher in price then I thought, for a genuine one at least, I decided just to order a new O-ring and the retaining clip as they cost around £3.50 from the Skoda dealership. Unfortunately, its not a stock item and the O-ring is a difficult size to find in kits so I ordered one to be delivered. Still topping up with water for a few more days, then! 

Took the initiative and did the task, today. Took a while as I was working in the street but removed the old flange, examined it and fitted the new one. The oldie's O-ring was sort of stretched, soft and leaky, along with the temperature sensor's O-ring so I am glad I waited for both parts. I had a new plastic clip, too but managed to mis-place that, whilst doing the job. (Probably turn up one day, in a really silly place). Luckily, the old one was still good and actually felt stiffer then the new one. Not sure if that was good or bad but it seemed sound. 

 

The actual hose-clips were a proverbial pain in the ain.. If I need to do this or another hose related job again, I would either buy a dedicated tool, to remove/refit them or swap the clips for stainless jubilee clips. Trying to open and remove/refit them took a disproportional amount of time, compared to the task in hand.

 

After making sure all was water-tight, I then re-drained the whole system and filled up with fresh G12 coolant. Filled slow, squeezed hoses, filled more, etc until I was sure I had a decent amount in. Then ran the car a bit, squeezing again and turned off. Let all settle, checked level, topped up, repeated until seemingly full. Went for small drive, got the little "Beep-beep and thermometer light, checked level again and topped up. Drove again and checked again. seems fine since then. Hopefully there is no more air in the system.  All this was done with the heater on full, so as to run the whole system. 

 

Later, checked level, went for a ten minute drive to get fuel, then popped to shop. got home again and level still bang on the upper level of the coolant tank. I can see it flowing and can hear the pressure releasing on unscrewing the cap, which was not so prominent when it was leaking. I can also hear a small kind of pressure release shortly after switching off the engine, as if the system releases gas/pressure itself, I am unsure what it is but it sounds healthy! (A little like hearing the fuel pump return unused fuel to the tank or something settling down).

 

I have just one student tomorrow so thats handy to see how things go, during the lesson so I will keep the excess G12 I have left, in the boot for a while. 

Although I took photo's of the replacement flange on my phone, I am unsure how to load them on to this thread but the unit looked a decent quality unit (Febi Bilstein part). I might try putting the eBay listing photo up.

 

So, the job seems good and fingers crossed, tomorrow after the lesson, on getting home, the level will be exactly the same as now.👍

 

FEBI 46298 COOLANT FLANGE

 

 

Edited 18 August, 20205 yr by mrgf

Re-posting this as someone else has a leak and looking at this post may help them. The job has been sound, coolant level steady ever since completion and a few days to be sure there was no air in the system.