I have a year 2000 Octavia 1.8T and I have two problems that I think might be related.

There is a whining noise from the engine which is related in pitch to the speed of the engine, sounds a bit like an old army land rover gearbox.

Also, this evening I was halfway through a fairly long drive, temperature was about 9centigragde outside but the temperature gague was only reading halfway between zero and mid-temperature. Normally it just sits on the middle of the range. Opened the bonnet when I got home and the radiator was stone cold.

I know Octavia waterpumps are prone to failure and mine wasn't done at the time of the cambelt (the car is now on 83,000miles) I'm just wondering whether the propellors on the pump have partly broken up and it's not pumping as much water round as it should and there was not much warm water getting to the temp sensor wherever that might be?

I have a 1.8t and the guage sits midway.I would imagine your water pump has gone.You need to be carefull not to boil the engine.

The waterpump may be dead, but there is sonething else wrong. The waterpump wouldn't explain the low running temp'

How hot was the heater inside the car,has the thermostat give up.

The heater seemed to be performing normally.

I'll take it in to the dealer this morning to see what they think. The engine temperature started to approach the midrange, but only when I was driving it fast.

Just in case anyone wants to know, I just picked the car up and it turned out to be 2 separate faults. Temp sensor and altenator both needed replacing but it came in at under £350 including VAT which was better than I was expecting

Sounds much smoother now too!