Hi. I'm in France with a Skoda Octavia estate, 1.6 diesel, 2016. Edition model. 113,000km. Great car. Here's the 'problem' timeline. About a year ago the air con sort of went a bit  rubbish. Wouldn't get 'really' cold. Then about four months ago I noticed it didn't really heat the car efficiently either. At a service asked for it to be checked out and the conclusion was the  car's entire radiator/cooling system was gone and needed fixing immediately (at circa. €2,500). Because the engine was about to overheat and blow-up (sorry for all these technical terms!!!). I had my doubts, simplistically because the engine's temperature gauge never once moved above normal. And no warning lights. Any way yesterday, the car's temp gauge, after about 30 mins of driving on rural roads (so 70kmh max) suddenly climbed into the red, and the red overheating light came on with the dire warning to stop immediately. So something is wrong. But here's what I don't understand (!), the minute we stopped the gauge immediately returned to 'normal' in the space of a few seconds (not minutes). So I drove home, watching the gauge. It essentially sits at normal, put some load (accelerate, etc) on the engine and sure it starts to climb quite quickly, but the second you slow down or stop at traffic lights, etc. It immediately just goes to normal. I get there's a problem. But I sort of don't understand why a grossly overheated engine would return to a normal temperature instantly? And when you open the bonnet, the engine is simply not hot, not close. If you stop and leave the engine running the cooling fan is one. When you tyrn off the engine it stops immediately. Even though the gauge says the engine is overheating... help! Totally clueless about cars... Thanks

Perhaps related to the TDI water pump thread pinned at the top of this forum?

 

Gaz

I wondered about that. But it seems to 2.0 and to have been resolved by 2016? Thanks. A

 

Sounds exactly like what I had in my 2015 1.6 diesel and the waterpump had to be replaced.

 

The aircon being rubbish could be the burst silica bag issue but the temperature gauge going into the red then back to normal is exactly what I had before my waterpump was replaced. I was overtaking a truck when it first happened and when I pulled in the temperature went back to normal and I could drive to work. Any load on the engine and it would go into the red. Waterpump was replaced and the issue went away.

Hi. I've now actually read the water pump thread!! I'd only scanned it. Apologies. Seeing as many people are describing exactly the same scenario... I'm taking a wild guess that that may be the problem!! Thanks for the replies.

 

Going by Skoda UK's 5 year recommendation, you are due for a timing  belt change which will include the water pump.