Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

"Gutless"? I'm not taking it down brand hatch, I'm upgrading a 2004 Panda to ferry my family around.

Snotty reply, sorry. One of said family members was losing her shit. What I mean is, I am not looking for a Dammit level fast estate. Just more room and comfort for long distances.

What if you get chased by the Sicilian mafia? I mean yeah it'll be fine if you just want to go from A to B.

Low mileage but doesn't look that cheap for a 2015 car of that spec.

Here's a better spec, 2018 car for a little but more:

https://www.cargurus.co.uk/Cars/l-Used-Skoda-Octavia-d2502

Seems to have linked to the search rather than the specific car. This is the one I was looking at

2018 Skoda Octavia 1.5 TSI SE Hatchback 1495cc DSG - £11,400

Depends. What do you need to know?

I've spent a bit of time around them. If it's a specific issue can probably defer it to my brother.

Having issues with the cooling system on our MK2 Diesel and various mechanics are being a nightmare. It's been nearly a year now of not really having a car because of it and I just want it sorted. Had the head changed last year, but the mechanic who did it did a shoddy over priced job of various other bits and I no longer trust him. Soon after head was done car was overheating and pressure builds up in expansion tank until it's dropped down to empty. Every few days I have to release the pressure by opening expansion tank then it returns to level. One mechanic checked it and said sniffer test showed head gone again. Original mechanic had it back and said head all fine... As I said I don't trust him so trying to get 3rd mechanic to confirm either way except he's had it for over a week and hasn't even looked at it yet. Area seems full of shoddy mechanics. Basically I want to find out if anything else such as blocked rad or air in heater system could lead to over pressurising coolant system. Car no longer seems to be over heating, no scum in oil, don't think there's any bubbles in coolant and it isn't losing any. I'm at the stage I want to try and do it myself if I can then I know exactly what the problem is and can actually get back to using the car. It's a lovely old Golf, always wanted one, and my wife and kids are fed up of not having a car to use! Cheers!

My wife's car has a 1.6 engine, and is a similar size. It is great for town / combined driving but its efficiency dramatically reduces on long motorway slogs as at 7o it sits well above the efficient band on its rev range.

If you are planning a lot of motorway driving a slightly larger engine 1.8 to 2.o litre would pay dividends in terms of fuel efficiency.

Ah, well, never had a diesel one but that sounds rather like the head is gone. Does the heater work? Have you just been using it around town?

Yeah just around town. Furthest we've been in months is about 15 miles out. Yeah it does, that's the tricky issue. Trying to get the mechanic to stick to his warranty is a bloody nightmare. Heater isn't as good as it was

Cooling etc is the same on Diesel as Petrol

I presume you've already tried replacing the tank cap?

Well that was done previous to the head gasket going so it's only a year old but tbh I can't see how the cap can be holding that much pressure in so I'm going to replace it anyway just to make sure

Does the thermostat open up? they can get cooked when a head gasket goes, also check the cooling fan cuts in the fan thermostat in the rads are prone to failing on them.

If I remember bleeding the mk2 system can be a right pain, particularly with he heater core than can have jammed bypass valves etc. If you're lucky, maybe the first mechanic left a giant airlock somewhere. However with those symptoms you'd normally get a sniffer test, and as it sounds like you have and emissions were detected in the coolant.

Thermostat is also an easy change. The normal drill... check coolant is flowing --> change cap --> change thermostat --> bleed coolant system

I'll ask my bro has literally done this dozens of times on various golfs. You're not loosing coolant except the stuff which ejects out expansion tank right?

Dodgy mechanic no.1 said he had replaced thermostat and water pump... Although funnily enough not when he did the head he decided to get it back in a few weeks lager and charge me another £300. When I mentioned the overheating he claimed it is fine to replace the 85c(which I think this is) with a 87c or whatever and that could be why it was overheating. I had the thermostat out previously and it was fine. With him saying it had been replaced I didn't check again but on the back of the 'any thermostat would do the job' comment I'll get it out again

As far as I can tell no coolant loss. I'm presuming I could do a sniffer test myself.. might be worth buying one just to confirm either way. As I say, two different mechanics two different sniffer tests two apparently different results.

Changing cap and thermostat to rule them out wouldn't cost much

Our Octavia is 1.4 tsi and that is plenty powerful for family use. Motorway driving in 6th is very efficient fuelwise, and there's plenty of power when you need to overtake. I'm comparing this to an 09 Punto 1.4 which really wasn't designed for motorways and seemed to run at almost double the revs at similar speeds, maybe like your Panda? The boot is so cavernous you can have a permanent nappy changing area at the back and still store all the family detritus behind.

Yeah if you could ask him re bleeding it. I feel limiting that would be good to do too. Especially as heater seems to be playing up

MR2 MK3 in slough with a slipping clutch...

Hola,

Interesting that two garages gave two different results.

Is it the 1.6 or the 1.8? Have you got access to a ifrared thermometer? Any idea what caused the headgasket to fail initially?

1.6.

I know, it's hardly a difficult one to get wrong. Either it is reading positive on the sniffer or it isn't. I suspect one could be covering their backs in terms of the warranty and the other did a sniffer in about 30 minutes and got it back to me... Hardly in-depth! Ergo the desire for a third opinion. Infrared thermometer as in one of these? No but could definitely get one. What for?

No, although we have had coolant pressure problems for awhile.

A lot of mechanics don't seem to want to work on old cars like this.

Thanks, as always, for any help!

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Yes that is the ir thermometer. Was thinking to start to look at the basics, is the rad getting uniformly warm to colder so is the rad in good condition. Then are all the water rubber pipes temperatures similar? Trying to see if the water is circulating.

Are you in London?

Ok got ya. I'll get one and test. One issue we did have (not sure if it is still the case will check) was one of the rad pipes would be solid the other pretty limp. Do you think perhaps,the rad isn't returning coolant to the expansion tank properly?

No, in Scotland. Used to be down south. Definitely more difficult to find a consistently good mechanic round here.

Am trying to work out if the water is circulating properly, not sure there could be an airlock as the coolant reservoir is the highest point of the cooling system, if I remember correctly. The solid/stiff pipe shouldn't be like that.

What happens if you start the car from cold and leave the car ticking over with the coolant cap off? With the heater to the hot setting.

EDIT: If you are bying a non contact thermometer might be worth while to get one that goes to over 500c if you want to use it for pizza. I have this one as it tops out at 520 https://www.nisbets.co.uk/nisbets-essentials-mini-infrared-thermometer/df673