Overheating Problems

[Cupra r 225bhp]

Hi every one. last night my neighbour bought a seat leon mk1 tdi with 79k on clock for only £2500. he is the 3rd owner!!! but however he has found a problem with it! its overheating. it keeps losing water. so we checked for leakes but nothing, the water is really foamey like bubbley and water fizzes up when car running

however when the heating in the car is on the car does not overheat, gauge does not go above 90.

i thought it was thermostat but cant be sure. what do you think it could be?

cheers

 

[UncleFester]

I think Water pump - and if you're changing that you should do the cambelt as well. Stop driving it until you get it checked otherwise you might ( if it hasn't gone already) need the headgasket doing too.

 

[Cupra r 225bhp]

I think Water pump - and if you're changing that you should do the cambelt as well. Stop driving it until you get it checked otherwise you might ( if it hasn't gone already) need the headgasket doing too.

cheers mate, but how would u check the water pump?

 

[UncleFester]

cheers mate, but how would u check the water pump?

You can't ... it's buried in the engine - only way to check it is to remove it however the problem your neighbour is having sounds like that could be one of the causes. When you run the heating, the car removes heat from the coolant water. If thee heating is turned off then no heat is being removed - the waterpump would usually move water around the system, through the radiator and then cool it with the fans.

Out of interest, are the radiator fans and aircon fans working? If you put the aircon on, do both fans cut in .. or do they pulse on and off.

When the car is overheating, do the fans cut in at all?

 

[Cupra r 225bhp]

You can't ... it's buried in the engine - only way to check it is to remove it however the problem your neighbour is having sounds like that could be one of the causes. When you run the heating, the car removes heat from the coolant water. If thee heating is turned off then no heat is being removed - the waterpump would usually move water around the system, through the radiator and then cool it with the fans.

Out of interest, are the radiator fans and aircon fans working? If you put the aircon on, do both fans cut in .. or do they pulse on and off.

When the car is overheating, do the fans cut in at all?

yes the fans are working when Overheating. and aircon fan working aswell!
o dear if it is water pump then hes in trouble lol
thanx for your help uncle fester beter break the news to the neighbour hey lol

 

[UncleFester]

If he does decide to get the waterpump done - make sure he specifies a metal bladed one.

 

[Cupra r 225bhp]

If he does decide to get the waterpump done - make sure he specifies a metal bladed one.

ok thanks. i think he might just sell the car on. hes disappointed lol
i told him before he went to buy it to check these things

 

[UncleFester]

Tbh if it's got to that stage and he can get rid for what he paid for it ....... however if that's all that is wrong, there's no guarantee that a newer car won't need it doing.

It's 250 quid or thereabouts for the parts and labour ....... has he a friendly mechanic who will take a quick look and give an opinion? What's the rest of the car like?

 

[Cupra r 225bhp]

Tbh if it's got to that stage and he can get rid for what he paid for it ....... however if that's all that is wrong, there's no guarantee that a newer car won't need it doing.

It's 250 quid or thereabouts for the parts and labour ....... has he a friendly mechanic who will take a quick look and give an opinion? What's the rest of the car like?

rest of the car is mint but its all standard so not my cup of tea lol
i think he gna take it to german car specialist 2mz so see what he says

 

[Muttley]

I'm not quite so sure it's the water pump. The usual symptom of pump failure is overheating on the motorway but being ok at lower speeds - because the pump usually fails gradually (bits breaking off).

The heater feed is not cotrolled by the thermostat, it is constantly pumped, so it acts as a secondary radiator. If turning the heating on drops the temperature back to normal then I'd look at the thermostat first. Apart from anything else, the thermostat is easy to get to, an easy DIY job and relatively cheap to replace.

 

[UncleFester]

I'm not quite so sure it's the water pump. The usual symptom of pump failure is overheating on the motorway but being ok at lower speeds - because the pump usually fails gradually (bits breaking off).

The heater feed is not cotrolled by the thermostat, it is constantly pumped, so it acts as a secondary radiator. If turning the heating on drops the temperature back to normal then I'd look at the thermostat first. Apart from anything else, the thermostat is easy to get to, an easy DIY job and relatively cheap to replace.

Although as a 2nd hand purchase with almost 80k on the clock, it would be prudent to change water pump and belt at the same time.

The loss of coolant is a little more worrying don't you think?

 

[Cupra r 225bhp]

Although as a 2nd hand purchase with almost 80k on the clock, it would be prudent to change water pump and belt at the same time.

The loss of coolant is a little more worrying don't you think?

it is a little worrying i would just sell it on personnal. i dont like messin around with cars that have over heating problems to much stress for me loll

 

[Muttley]

UncleFester wrote

Although as a 2nd hand purchase with almost 80k on the clock, it would be prudent to change water pump and belt at the same time.

Yes, if the service manual doesn't show a timing belt change then it is well overdue, and if changing the belt then it makes sense to change the pump at the same time.

The loss of coolant is a little more worrying don't you think?

Yes, although we don't yet know how much coolant is being lost. Cupra R, can you give us a clue? How much coolant needs to be added to top the system up, and how often?

The boiling up is bad news on its own, and should be addressed immediately.

Compression testing may help to show if the head gasket is OK, but also check for water in the oil. As long as the head gasket is ok, then the belt-and-water-pump change should be regarded as a standard part of the cost of ownership of this car.

 

[Cupra r 225bhp]

UncleFester wrote

Although as a 2nd hand purchase with almost 80k on the clock, it would be prudent to change water pump and belt at the same time.

Yes, if the service manual doesn't show a timing belt change then it is well overdue, and if changing the belt then it makes sense to change the pump at the same time.

The loss of coolant is a little more worrying don't you think?

Yes, although we don't yet know how much coolant is being lost. Cupra R, can you give us a clue? How much coolant needs to be added to top the system up, and how often?

The boiling up is bad news on its own, and should be addressed immediately.

Compression testing may help to show if the head gasket is OK, but also check for water in the oil. As long as the head gasket is ok, then the belt-and-water-pump change should be regarded as a standard part of the cost of ownership of this car.

thanks for your help mate but i think my neighbour is getn it check out from vw specialist so lets she what the out come is. i will keep you guys informed.

 

[Bricey]

Heating problems

Hi people I have a mk 1 Leon sport however recently it seems my fan isn't coming on and when in traffic the temperature rise quite quickly is this a thermostat problem? Any ideas would be much appreciated cheers

 

[LEE69]

There is a fuse on top of the battery check that first

 

[Bricey]

There is a fuse on top of the battery check that first

I checked the fuse it was proper melted in, think i've found the problem thanks mate

 

[nd-photo.nl]

From another known forum:

Overheating: Waterpump, Thermostat, Head Gasket

Waterpump - Nearly all overheating problems I have seen on these engines has been from the water pump. VW uses a plastic impellar that is splined/molded onto the shaft. These splines strip, or the pump cracks and the impellar slips on the shaft at high speeds. If your car is overheating best bet is to change the waterpump. You can do the T-stat first to see if your lucky but every time I have seen people try this it's the water pump anyways. This happens as early as 35K miles. While your in there doing the water pump, change the timing belt. Timing belts on these can go as early as 60K miles. There are several companies that make kits to do the timing belt and water pump. www.ecstuning.com is a good one.

Also:

http://www.volkswagenvidz.com/vw/volkswagen-overheating-issue-1-8t-1-9tdi.html

Also found this pic:

ere's a common, common problem with VW and Audi's cooling systems. Their water pumps use plastic impellers to pump the engine coolant and, unfortunately, the impellers like to crack and freewheel on the pump's shaft. This will obviously cause overheating problems. Sometimes this can be hard to diagnose because, if the impeller still moves a little, the car will only overheat under certain conditions.

This waterpump, like many in the VW/Audi world is driven by the timing belt and these two services should be done together to save on the labor costs as well as to ensure a more reliable engine.

Note: At Integrity First Automotive we have a great relationship with a parts suppler than can provide us with aftermarket water pumps that use METAL impellers - they are our preferred replacement for these engines.

Below is a picture of a VW water pump with a broken impeller. This one is from a New Beetle with the 1.8T APH engine:

Source: http://www.integrityfirstauto.com/Engine-Mechanical/vw-audi-18t-overheating.html

 

[Bricey]

I had a new water pump put in when I had cambelt done with metal impellers

 

[monkeybreath]

I checked the fuse it was proper melted in, think i've found the problem thanks mate

But did you check why it had melted or just replaced it. Because it could be the fans are causing it to melt by starting on the second speed and not the first so there is to much load on the fuse