Experienced no heat in the cabin. Went to approved local Skoda approved garage for assessment. Assessment results: heater matrix is clogged and needs replacing. No root cause of the problem and requested payment of over £1k, as it's labor intensive task- which I understand. The suggested coolant expansion tank from the approved garage I've received was: 5Q0121407M, which doesn't contain silica bag anymore. What a surprise!As the root cause has not been identified, I have decided to go to third-party independent garage, they've identified silica bag damage in my expansion tank, which has resulted in clogging the cooling system (and heater matrix) with the silica particles. The coolant fluid wasn't able to flow through the matrix and successively, no heat went through to the cabin.Third-party garage managed to remove the bag from the coolant tank, flush the system with additio of pneumatic air, clean the whole system with coolant system flush chemical, change the tank for a new model, drain and replenish the coolant fluid. ~£250.Knowing that this is a manufacturer fault should encourage the VAG group to recall those vehicles before they get clogged and force the owners to spend money to flush the system and replace the part. The suggested coolant expansion tank from the approved garage I've received was: 5Q0121407M, which doesn't contain silica bag anymore. What a surprise!The evidence for design change in newer vehicles is clear for me, as the newer cars, even post 2015+ don't have silica bags in them. Please check this online; I am also not alone, as it appears this is a common issue for many owners!I have sent official complaint to Skoda to look into this matter and I have been told that I have used third-party garage to confirm this findings. If I will allow approved garage to do the full process, this will be a different matter and the query will then be added to the recall system.The problem is... That the approved garage did not managed go conduct full and robust corrective actions and advised to change the heater matrix part.. I trust this might be the case with most of the people.Financial compensation has not been issued.To the community: please be aware for this issue and check your vehicles for silica bag. Remove it asap and follow by routine coolant fluid change at required intervals.The main argument for the silica bag to be in the tank is to keep the solution silica content sufficient enough in the system overtime, as the fluid degrades.Probably the best way will be to change the fluid periodically and I would like to see VW vehicles doing something about this matter for the people that currently have vehicles with silica bag.
Claim your business profile now and gain access to all features and respond to customer reviews.
Search for new and used cars, book a dealership car test drive and take part in the government scrappage allowance scheme.
