'03 1.9TDI Skoda Octavia Estate

IT-Guy

Hi guys, hoping someone here can give me some help with my car. It’s a diesel ‘03 Skoda Octavia Ambiente Estate, 1.9 TDI, automatic gearbox with an ALH engine. There are a few issues that hopefully someone can shed some light on:

Overheating
For the last week or so the engine has been overheating to the point of engine warning lights coming on and STOP flashing on the display. The temp gauge hovers around 100 for a few mins before gradually climbing to the point of warning. The car had seperate coolant level warnings during the summer (July approx.) which was tracked down to 1) a new engine temperature sensor not fitted properly and 2) the seal on the new temp sensor had to be replaced as coolant was still leaking. Since then the engine had been running perfectly using only water as coolant. In the last week the water level has dropped and there appeared to be water on top of the gearbox below the engine temp sensor. Initially I assumed the leak had returned but I got no coolant level warnings and when the car overheated, the water was boiling in the expansion tank. I’m assuming the water on top of the gearbox may have been from the overflow.

A mechanic friend of mine drained the water and replaced it with coolant, before this I could drive about 30 – 40 mins without any overheating. With the coolant I get about an hour’s driving before the needle climbs above 90. There’s plenty of hot air in the vents/fans in the dash. Having read up a little on this issue, potential causes could be the thermostat or the dreaded head gasket. Anyone got any tips on where to go from here in isolating the cause?

Judder
The car has developed a judder when mildly accelerating from 60kph in top gear. It’s very bad when going uphill and the only way to get it to stop is to drop a gear or ease off the accelerator. It can also occur when driving at around 100kph when taking a bend in the road. My mechanic buddy and his friend had a look and said the engine mounting on the gearbox side had a bit too much play and replaced with a mounting from a 99 Octavia. The problem remained afterwards and I’m not sure if his is due to the replacement being worn or the engine mount not being the problem. He also blocked off the EGR valve but the judder was still there. The gearbox was serviced during the summer with fluid and filter replaced, the judder was there beforehand and remained after.

Another issue that may be related to this is a creaking/groaning noise when turning left at speeds above 80kph. In reading up on this I came across a forum post where someone mentioned it could be the CV joints at fault for the judder (mechanic doesn’t think so though he did say he had to repair one of the boots on one of the joints with a clip). Worst case scenario, injectors?

Surge
The surge occurs mostly when cold and again is very noticeable when going uphill. If I’m going 80kph and above uphill, the engine revs ‘surge’ by about 200rpm and return to normal again, this might occur a few times before the road levels out. Have put this separately but think it may be related to the judder. It’s not a serious issue but maybe of diagnostic value to someone here?

Apologies for the long post but I’d like to get the car sorted as replacing it is not an option at the moment and it’s still giving me over 50mpg!

Chimaera

Quite likely the gearbox is dying. Your car is probably using the type 01M auto and they're well known for dying once you get beyond 200000 km.

IT-Guy

Chimaera wrote: »

Quite likely the gearbox is dying. Your car is probably using the type 01M auto and they're well known for dying once you get beyond 200000 km.

Thanks for the reply, not what I wanted to hear! The car has 186k and change clocked up, would the gear changes be affected also? The reason I ask is the gear changes are perfectly smooth most of the time with the occassional one being accompanied by mild juddering or vibration though it's always been like that

Chimaera

I'm assuming the 186k is miles in which case you're well into the window for possible failure on these. I'm not familiar with the specific symptoms of the failure, but I'd be surprised if wasn't the issue. Do a search through www.tdiclub.com for 01M failures and you should get a clearer picture. It's a huge problem for the mk4 Golf over in the US because a lot more autos were sold over there.

Regarding your overheating issue, I'd have the cooling system inspected end to end. It's not unusual for the water pump to fail and leak water out and if you're getting overheating after a while I'd be inclined to point the finger there. You're due a second timing belt around now if it hasn't already been done anyway, so it's a good opportunity to get that done.

IT-Guy

Chimaera wrote: »

I'm assuming the 186k is miles in which case you're well into the window for possible failure on these. I'm not familiar with the specific symptoms of the failure, but I'd be surprised if wasn't the issue. Do a search through www.tdiclub.com for 01M failures and you should get a clearer picture. It's a huge problem for the mk4 Golf over in the US because a lot more autos were sold over there.

Regarding your overheating issue, I'd have the cooling system inspected end to end. It's not unusual for the water pump to fail and leak water out and if you're getting overheating after a while I'd be inclined to point the finger there. You're due a second timing belt around now if it hasn't already been done anyway, so it's a good opportunity to get that done.

Hi, I updated the thread over on Briskoda.net after tonight, took the car for a 40 min run, came back and the radiator was cold. Thats the overheating issue explained hopefully, thought the juddering seems to be occurring only when the engine is warm and the overheating occurs if I let the engine judder for a while. This gives me some hope the gearbox and torque converter may in fact be ok. Took some video of the instrument panel as the car was juddering, will try to get it up on youtube and post a link.

Edit - YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WQq3GxwvY

IT-Guy

Changed the thermostat and the overheating has been sorted, tested the old thermostat and it was stuck shut. Looks like the torque converter is the source of the juddering so it may just be cheaper to drive it til it fails and replace the car then. Shame as the engine is in great condition and am getting up to 60mpg out of it but at the same time I'd like something a bit more comfortable, quieter and better specced

braddun

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/posts/?t=81605