Mk III Octavia overheating issue

Chelon

In last couple of days my car has alerted with a low coolant and overtemp warnings. It's a 2014 Skoda Octavia diesel with 100k on the clock.

Topped up the coolant but it has now happened 3 times so I don't feel the problem is going away. Reading the UK Skoda forum it appears that this is a very common problem with the 13/14 Octavias and is probably the water pump on the way out (sounds expensive also).

Some are also saying that Skoda may make a contribution even thought the waranty has expired.

I'm suspecting things may be a little different over here, has anyone had a similar issue and had to approach a main dealer?

dzilla

Chelon wrote: »

In last couple of days my car has alerted with a low coolant and overtemp warnings. It's a 2014 Skoda Octavia diesel with 100k on the clock.

Topped up the coolant but it has now happened 3 times so I don't feel the problem is going away. Reading the UK Skoda forum it appears that this is a very common problem with the 13/14 Octavias and is probably the water pump on the way out (sounds expensive also).

Some are also saying that Skoda may make a contribution even thought the waranty has expired.

I'm suspecting things may be a little different over here, has anyone had a similar issue and had to approach a main dealer?

Without being dramatic. Get straight to a mechanic. I have a 141 Octavia, coolant light came on at Christmas and engine was overheating. Turned out the pump was gone and spray was going all over the timing belt. I was blessed it happened within a short distance to my mechanic i was able to pull over and get it to him otherwise belt could have gone.

Chelon

dzilla wrote: »

Without being dramatic. Get straight to a mechanic. I have a 141 Octavia, coolant light came on at Christmas and engine was overheating. Turned out the pump was gone and spray was going all over the timing belt. I was blessed it happened within a short distance to my mechanic i was able to pull over and get it to him otherwise belt could have gone.

I've already taken it to a mechanic friend; the problem went away even though we left the engine running - he said it may not happen until it gets very hot, but he did suspect the water pump. Told me to run it and watch for the leak next time it happened.

I take it you didn't go to main dealer; how much cost involved in a new pump fitted?

dzilla

Chelon wrote: »

I've already taken it to a mechanic friend; the problem went away even though we left the engine running - he said it may not happen until it gets very hot, but he did suspect the water pump. Told me to run it and watch for the leak next time it happened.

I take it you didn't go to main dealer; how much cost involved in a new pump fitted?

I had to get a new timing belt aswell. The casing around the belt had melted. It was about 1k. Didnt go main dealer

Chelon

There's a whole lot of stuff on this forum, this is the sticky thread; some have had a contribution from Skoda, but some haven't:-

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/453298-the-mk3-octavia-tdi-water-pump-thread/

josip

Chelon wrote: »

There's a whole lot of stuff on this forum, this is the sticky thread; some have had a contribution from Skoda, but some haven't:-

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/453298-the-mk3-octavia-tdi-water-pump-thread/

I'm the last poster on that thread
Also on this one.
https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/398112-overheating/
Happy to answer any questions, but the main thing is there's no need to panic.
It's just the water pump and as long as you use the fan/heater to keep the temp out of the red, you should be ok.

Chelon

josip wrote: »

I'm the last poster on that thread
Also on this one.
https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/398112-overheating/
Happy to answer any questions, but the main thing is there's no need to panic.
It's just the water pump and as long as you use the fan/heater to keep the temp out of the red, you should be ok.

Yes I seen you over there, it's a great forum :-)

I'll call the dealer to see what they can offer but I suspect it won't be much; I'm aware of the hack of turning the heater/fan on but that's just a "get you home" fix surely.

Chelon

Dealer is offering new pump and timing belt for €680

Also telling me Skoda has reduced the interval for replacing these parts down to 4 years or 210,000km whichever comes first; he agreed with me that those figures seem a bit odd...

wonski

That's not a bad price tbh and will give you great peace of mind for few years.

josip

Well in our case, it was a get us home from Greece fix

But the nature of the problem, or at least ours, was that it would only happen once when the engine was going from cold to hot and the clever water pump forgot to go back to dumb mode.
Whenever it corrected itself, it would remain working properly for the rest of the driving that day as long as the engine remained warm.

I've continued to get the car serviced in the garage I bought from, so there was a decent amount of goodwill available from them once they'd confirmed the problem.

They also said about the 210,000km recommended interval; was it 240,000 until recently?
I was wondering if the reduction was in any way related to the water pump problem or have they been seeing more timing belt failures in the 200-250,000km range than they would have expected?

Toyotafanboi

I thought Skoda done a replacement timing belt kit and water pump for €399? VW garages do it for €449, no way I'd pay a dealer 680 to do it when they actually advertise it for less.

The shroud around water pumps are very prone to failure in those, seizing on and off intermittently and the symptom is generally the temperature rising so I'd say that a new water pump should see you right.

josip

Laharts in Kilkenny are advertising €449

https://www.laharts.ie/offers-and-news/skoda-timing-belt-replacement/

That would include VAT?
You should ask/get your Skoda dealer to match that.

dzilla

josip wrote: »

Laharts in Kilkenny are advertising €449

https://www.laharts.ie/offers-and-news/skoda-timing-belt-replacement/

That would include VAT?
You should ask/get your Skoda dealer to match that.

"From 449"

Toyotafanboi

It's not clearly stated there but the "from" refers to any VAG car 2.0 or less in engine size.

dzilla

"ŠKODA Timing Belt Replacement
Timing belt replacement including water pump change now from only €449"

Chelon

dzilla wrote: »

"ŠKODA Timing Belt Replacement
Timing belt replacement including water pump change now from only €449"

I phoned them and it is from €449 but depends on engine size etc; plus I'd have to ge the car to Kilkenny which may be a bigger problem.

I suspect for my car they'd charge closer to the Dublin prices.

wonski

Chelon wrote: »

I phoned them and it is from €449 but depends on engine size etc; plus I'd have to ge the car to Kilkenny which may be a bigger problem.

I suspect for my car they'd charge closer to the Dublin prices.

So you rang them and they didn't tell you the price?

Surely if you gave them details of the car they could check, or did they expect you to drive to them with a vague "from €449 T&C apply"?

Chelon

wonski wrote: »

So you rang them and they didn't tell you the price?

Surely if you gave them details of the car they could check, or did they expect you to drive to them with a vague "from €449 T&C apply"?

I think the technical guy wasn't there so she wasn't sure; also the dealers say they would need to bring it on to run a diag and pressure check for €100 (refundable if work goes ahead). Suppose they're just coveing themselves in the unlikely case it isn't the water pump that's the issue.

FGR

Apologies to mods if this thread is too old to resurrect - just wanted to add I have the same problem.

Sat out in my 2015 VRS TDI yesterday only for the warning light to come on to check coolant. Tank is empty and there's a puddle on the ground underneath. The tank was definitely full four weeks ago.

So I got it towed to the local dealership - my car is out of warranty 11 months with a full service history from the same dealership. Is there any hope of getting some good will here if it turns out to be the water pump?

mickdw

Well they are woefully troublesome those pumps so you would expect some help at that age of car.
I'm not that familiar with them but it seems they have made the pump a bit more complicated than would have been the norm, all in the name of efficiency.

barneygumble99

On the 1.6 there are 2 different types of water pump , one is quite expensive.

FGR

mickdw wrote: »

Well they are woefully troublesome those pumps so you would expect some help at that age of car.
I'm not that familiar with them but it seems they have made the pump a bit more complicated than would have been the norm, all in the name of efficiency.

Here's hoping. The car cost over €35k so wasn't expecting to be left stranded for a car that's so relatively young. I always thought my older cars (10+ years) would be the ones on the back of a truck, not this one. Ironically the older cars never had a problem that resulted in them being towed. This car is my pride and joy, too.

barneygumble99 wrote: »

On the 1.6 there are 2 different types of water pump , one is quite expensive.

Mine is the 2 litre 184bhp model, fortunately (?)

I've seen the threads on briskoda and it's clear Skoda have revised the water pump as it's a very different part compared to the one it's replaced. I've heard stories of dealers feigning ignorance of a common problem - I'm hoping my own will be fair with me.

Charles Ingles

Sounds like the thermostat they can work intermittently when the way out