Most (all?) VW cars have a little bag of silica cystals inside the coolant expansion tank. Over time, the coolant loses its ability to prevent corrosion of the internal components. The water pump is particularly vulnerable. So to prevent this, manufacturers add silica bags that gradually leach silica into the coolant, counteracting any loss and making the coolant last for the life of the car. However, they have been know to burst and when they do, all the hard little silica granules block up your heater matrix and in the case of the Skoda Octavia, land you with a £1200 bill for its replacement and a flush of your coolant system.
After reading several horror stories, including one today of a 2014 Octavia VRS, I decided to remove mine and found it had already started to split. Mine is a 2015 1.6 Octavia TDI with 37k. Thank goodness I decided to remove it!
I didn't film the removal process, but it is simple:
1. Remove the coolant out of the expansion tank (turkey baster or other such implement to suck it out).
2. Uclip the electrial connection
3. Unclip the 2 coolant hoses (I clamped the large one to prevent any loss but you don't need to)
4. Remove the exansion tank from the car. The reason you remove it is if because the bag has already started to split, it could leak granules in to the expansion tank and down in to you main hose. If you have removed it, then it doesn't matter if it splits on removal as you can just rinse it out under a tap.
5. Remove bag
6. Refit.
It took me a total of 15 mins and that included removing the coolant and topping it off again at the end.
I will now need to change the coolant every 5-6 years or so (assuming I keep the car), but that is much better than having the bag split and a large repair bill.
It's your car and it's up to you. But I hope that gives you something to think about.
Негізгі бет Clogged heater matrix? Removing silica bag from expansion tank of VW, Audi or Skoda
No video
Пікірлер: 88