Hi there, 

 

I've recently purchased a 2010 Scout 2.0tdi.

Currently I am having issues with the air-conditioning not getting cold. As well as an overheating issue that only presents itself on long uphill stretches of the highway. Turning on the heater helps keep it just over 90° and once returned to a flat or downhill section the temperature quickly returns to normal, without the heater it will continue to rise, I have never let it completely overheat in the few weeks that I've owned it. 

 

My main question though is, can these issues be related in anyway. 

 

I'm aware it may be the thermostat and or water pump as well but as I'm on a very tight budget at the moment I need to see all my options first. 

 

Also while the car feels like it rides and steers well, I am getting a fair amount of knocking noises on the left hand side, mostly towards the front. I can't feel any of it through steering, just the sounds. 

 

Also Note: the car had its engine replaced at 306,000kms

That's an early mileage for replacement of engine. I presume it has suffered bad treatment as these engines are very robust and looked after should go on easily for twice that mileage before you even need to look into anything like rings or bearings.

 

Regarding your question, I had an overheating issue that was accompanied by unexplained loss of coolant, none ever reaching the ground or leaking in the engine bay. Eventually the fault became clear when I went to start one morning and suffered a hydraulic lock. It turned out that the EGR cooler whilst being in a nice stainless case, is inside made of mild steel that rots out over time with the presence of nasty exhaust gases. It may start small with subtle symptoms. In my case I noticed that my Octavia turned over in the morning much slower than our other Octavia and that did not change despite a new battery. With a tiny split, any vacuum left after the engine is stopped was pulling coolant all the way back to the cylinders. This was not enough to cause hydraulic lock or damage my engine until the day it was too much. I should have looked deeper into the coolant loss but it seemed that everyone I asked had no idea where it was going.

 

As a new EGR cooler made entirely of stainless is not a great deal of money, I would recommend to consider it. There's no inspection you can do that will reveal any internal failure; only signs and symptoms. How many miles has the replacement engine covered?

 

Of course this may not be your case and I hope it isn't but I thought it worthwhile to point out the vague connections one can find between symptoms and issues. Not having a working heater was exactly one of my issues and driving on inclines could see my temp rise rapidly. I even purchased a new all alloy cross flow double thick radiator from Gravity and when that did not help me much, I began getting concerned. I just did not catch on fast enough as to what was really happening. A silent engine killer working away in the background; deteriorating more every day, until your bank account is walloped with a massive bill and decision to strip engine and fix or replace it.

 

Hope this might help someone chasing down a weird cooling and heating problem. Keep in mind these six pointers:

 

(1) Car turns over slower in the morning that it should or normally does

(2) unexplained coolant loss - starts gradual but increases to the point of needing to carry emergency coolant.

(3) Heater won't get warm

(4) Radiator and engine get very hot.

(5) Inclines quickly put temperature gauge well above normal.

(6) Temperature can rise to unsafe level - don't continue - stop engine and wait at least an hour.

 

Curiously you'd think the dealer network would be aware of such issues, but seemingly not. I don't trust the answer I got that they have never seen a failure of the EGR cooler. I also run very fast when the dealer says the engine needs to be dismantled to find the fault. This sounds like a monkey without a brain. Monkeys do much better than this.

Thank you so much for that, at the least that's some good info for me to keep in mind for the future. The car was pretty cheap so I knew it would come with problems. If the repairs end up being more than the cars average used price I think I'll just cut my losses and sell it (really don't want to though, even with its problems I love driving it) 

 

To answer your first question, the replacement engine has done a little over 100k km's, 

It was used as a rideshare vehicle before me so it's been driven a lot over the last year

 

I currently have it being inspected by a mechanic, I will have a list of things that need to be repaired/replaced over time as I'm able to afford it. On a pretty tight budget at the moment unfortunately 

 

I'll post the results later on today! 

Best place to get your parts is from the SKODA outlet in Plzen, CZ. Sensible prices, avoid dealers, great service, help identifying stuff, and they supply you a schematic any time to help you. They are happy to dig and do the leg work. Can't rate them highly enough. I wouldn't have been able to bring my car fully up to scratch without them. Dealers are often like dumb creatures; not geared to after sales parts at all and certainly not to helping one do it oneself. Go to SKODA-parts.com and ask for Miro. Tell him Richard from Torquay, England, UK sent you and you may get some discount. Not much but worthwhile. Of course they're just down the road from SKODA so they can get all the stuff.