Well, after 4 trips to the dealer to find out why my car seemed to be drinking coolant, its been discovered that the cylinder head has become porous. They've told me that its been leaking oil and coolant because of this.

I was wondering if anyone else has had the same problem?

DC

porous indeed!!!

more liekely the head gasket wasn't fitted properly at the factory..... tell em you want a brand new engine

Porous? Eh, its made of alluminium!!!

it's not pure aluminum mind you.... it's an alloy made from aluminium, magnezium and silicon, they are normally pretty good too, iirc they are made in the vw foundry in poland....

They've ordered me a new one. I reckon by porous they meant gaping hole

New engine will be the next port of call if this doesnt fix it. One of the diagnostics they did was to put UV dye in the coolant and its shown up somewhere or other.

Car currently in bits in the garage. At least they have an account with Europcar and are getting a car to me before 5:50 (at work too)

glad they are treating you well.... and a courtesy car too

They are being really good. I've already had 2 phone calls from the technician working on my car asking bits and bobs.

It is a golf, but i always expect VW dealers to be a little less courteous and helpful than Skoda ones.

Done plenty of pourus heads on the 2.0 PD in Golfs and Tourans. They leak usually from the water way in the head into the inlet port on cylinder 1.

Not seen one on a Skoda though but have heard of the EGR cooler leaking into the engine on the Octavia.

The 2.0 gets worse and worse :(

How do the problems on the 2.0 compare to those on the 1.9 when it was introduced?

its not getting worse, these problems have been resolved and are on older cars. Most of them before Skoda got the 2.0.

I saw a porous head on a Felicia, as the engine was running you could see the coolant coming out of the top of the head.

I heard about a Dodge Viper that wouldn't start or run right at its' import centre. They spent something like 160 hours on it and eventually by swapping parts from one car to another they found that the plenum chamber was at fault, that turned out to be porous.

The C20XE Vauxhall engine was renowned for pourus cylinder heads, as is the K series from Rover (which also just corrodes away and warps).

Lummox - Is this something that they have fixed in the replacement heads?

The 2.0 gets worse and worse :(

How do the problems on the 2.0 compare to those on the 1.9 when it was introduced?

What do you mean the 2.0 gets worse and worse? what other probs has it had?

Lummox - Is this something that they have fixed in the replacement heads?

Yes mate, modified design. Not had a repeat failure.

What do you mean the 2.0 gets worse and worse? what other probs has it had?

Looking at VAG wide not Skoda specific here..

Head gasket issues (early Audi engines iirc)

Pourus cylinder heads (sorted now)

Turbo failure

Throttle body seizing (also blows cooling fan fuse)

Oil pump drive failing (no oil pressure)

EGR cooler leaks into engine

Glow plugs burn out dropping the end into the cylinder

Just a few ive done. More on VW though if i'm honest, Skoda seem to have done well as most of these issues have been addressed prior to Skoda getting the engine.

Just a few ive done. More on VW though if i'm honest, Skoda seem to have done well as most of these issues have been addressed prior to Skoda getting the engine.

Nice to see that VW and Audi owners getting their money's worth out of the price premium. What a privilege to be a beta-tester! :P

Yeah but Skoda had the Fabia first..lol. No PAS sensor faults for the likes of VW and SEAT..lol

Glad to hear a redesign has fixed it . Should have the car back tomorrow w00t!!!

Porous? Eh, its made of alluminium!!!

Vauxhall 2 litre 16v heads go porous, they're aluminium...

The old Triumph Acclaim used to suffer a porous engine block issue, they too were Aluminium.....

Regards

Nige

Still struggling to get my head round this porous metal idea...

I'm worried now - I have lost most of my oil and had to top up with 1 litre to get it to "MIN" and now the car sounds a little cranky.

Checking the coolent level cold, its below minimum !!

Not that I am going to get much response from the dealer over the easter bank holiday is it worth fighting my way in?

Still struggling to get my head round this porous metal idea...

Whats hard to understand? air pockets and little bubbles form inside the metal, or if an alloy is used I guess sometimes they dont blend fully meaning pressurised water can travel between very close oil and water pathways.

Vauxhall 2 litre 16v heads go porous, they're aluminium...

it was only the gm made c20 heads that went soft, the ones made by cosworth (coscast) were normally fine, i think when gm started making he heads themselves they must have skimped on the quality of the materials and the quality control procedures:)

mmmm Triumph Acclaim, my first car..required a new engine after six months, piston became detatched from the crank and stuck half way up the bore