[JustinMK8]

So as the tile suggest went to go drive and the car lights up "check coolant levels". I go ahead and do so. It's not in the right spot though, it's all over my lower engine bay. I have no idea what caused it and neither does the dealer yet. Now I've been daily driving mine since 12/7 and have never had any coolant issues or overheating. Wish me luck, I hope it's something small. Anybody see something like this on theirs or older GTI's.

 

[Chuckable]

So as the tile suggest went to go drive and the car lights up "check coolant levels". I go ahead and do so. It's not in the right spot though, it's all over my lower engine bay. I have no idea what caused it and neither does the dealer yet. Now I've been daily driving mine since 12/7 and have never had any coolant issues or overheating. Wish me luck, I hope it's something small. Anybody see something like this on theirs or older GTI's.

This happened on your Mk8 GTI? Wow, surprising since it’s so new. How many miles on it?

 

[Windemere]

Oh geez. 😳 I saw one person on Facebook whose MK8 went back after 500 miles due to the following:

Radiator not properly secured from factory which cause it to break loose under acceleration, which caused the hose to come off which then rubbed against the serpentine belt breaking a hole into the hose

 

[JustinMK8]

How many miles on it?

2,300 miles and @Windemere hope that's what went on here. They are still tracking down the exact issue.

 

[deuce189]

Oh geez. 😳 I saw one person on Facebook whose MK8 went back after 500 miles due to the following:

lol, well time to go ahead and keep an eye on my radiator hoses/radiator to make sure there isn't any excess play. Maybe a simple fix before a catastrophe happens, feel sorry for those that had to be the ones to find out after the radiator hose blew out.

 

[TypeGTI]

So as the tile suggest went to go drive and the car lights up "check coolant levels". I go ahead and do so. It's not in the right spot though, it's all over my lower engine bay. I have no idea what caused it and neither does the dealer yet. Now I've been daily driving mine since 12/7 and have never had any coolant issues or overheating. Wish me luck, I hope it's something small. Anybody see something like this on theirs or older GTI's.

Interested to know your build date.

 

[JustinMK8]

Interested to know your build date.

I'll contact the dealer to see if I can't get the exact date but I think it was in the summer of 21'

 

[rjlem]

Not sure if your car in at the dealer, but if you have access to it, your build month / year is on your VIN Plate on the right B-Pillar.

I have a photo of it on my phone just in case I need it for reference.

If you have the paperwork that was stuck to the inside of the windshield on delivery to the dealer (off the truck) there is a date on there that I think is the likely exact build day.

 

[GtorMk8]

I literally just joined when I saw this post while research the web on this issue. My Mk8 is the shop for the same issue and now its the second time. First time they said one of the hose connections wasn't secure enough from factory, had to order the part. Now they're assuming something about the radiator bending when accelerating (the issue has happened while driving sports mode at "moderate" speed).

 

[JustinMK8]

First time they said one of the hose connections wasn't secure enough from factory, had to order the part.

This is what happed to me, and it caused it to hit a belt or something and tear it. Two weeks for the part and it was fixed. Annoying but it's fixed and driving again.

 

[GtorMk8]

Yep, I was able to talk to the dude on FB and he said the same thing. Hose hitting the belt cause the radiator wasn't secured enough.

 

[Chris_GTI]

Believe this just happened to mine. Low coolant light, smoke and coolant all over the driveway. Yippee.

Yup, confirmed. Radiator is loose, pushed the hose into the belts.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JustinMK8]

Believe this just happened to mine. Low coolant light, smoke and coolant all over the driveway. Yippee.

Yup, confirmed. Radiator is loose, pushed the hose into the belts.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So sad that this has happened to another person hope it fixed in a timely manner, VW needs to make a recall for this. It's only a few but a few to many.

 

[Windemere]

So sad that this has happened to another person hope it fixed in a timely manner, VW needs to make a recall for this. It's only a few but a few to many.

Totally agree, these stories are scary.

 

[Chris_GTI]

Pulley digging into the hose connector:

Here's a couple more photos. Play in radiator

This appears to be the receiving slot for the clip from the radiator that has come loose:

 

[Jonatroy]

Is this something that happened after delivery or did it come from the factory this way?

You may be able to lift the corner and push the clip in.

 

[Chris_GTI]

Unsure honestly. I didn’t inspect the engine bay haha.

They missed a couple of other things during PDI, but given the fact the sensor that got chewed up is plastic, I think the radiator clip just finally gave way. After that, the sensor wouldn’t stand a chance against the alternator pulley.


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[marty7]

This happened to me yesterday on a remote backroad. I came around a tight left hander in 2nd gear and suddenly had a 'low coolant' alarm go off. Coolant was spraying out from around the bottom passenger-side of the radiator, soaking my once immaculate engine bay! I couldn't identify where it was coming from at the time, but it looks in keeping what others have reported in this thread.
The car had about 2000km on the odo when this happened. It is a Canadian 'Base' spec model - I'm not sure of the build date.
It turned into a bit of an adventure to get back to cell reception to call BCAA. I had to hitchhike 30min back to civilization, call BCAA, and then hitch another ride back to the car. It occurred to me after I had hitched a ride that I could have used the SOS button, assuming it uses GPS, but I totally forgot it existed...durr.
The car is at the dealer and I should hear back from them in a few days with their diagnosis and hopefully parts won't take too long.

I'm thinking that this thread should probably become part of a sticky at the top of the subforum. I love this car, but this is disappointing and doesn't bode well for taking it to autoX where warranty issues could possibly come into play. Everyone should check that their rad is secure and not loose!

 

[rgsjr]

Several posts about this on the MK8 Facebook group. One member posted a video of his radiator being loose from the factory and how to push it back into place.

 

[Windemere]

This happened to me yesterday on a remote backroad. I came around a tight left hander in 2nd gear and suddenly had a 'low coolant' alarm go off. Coolant was spraying out from around the bottom passenger-side of the radiator, soaking my once immaculate engine bay! I couldn't identify where it was coming from at the time, but it looks in keeping what others have reported in this thread.
The car had about 2000km on the odo when this happened. It is a Canadian 'Base' spec model - I'm not sure of the build date.
It turned into a bit of an adventure to get back to cell reception to call BCAA. I had to hitchhike 30min back to civilization, call BCAA, and then hitch another ride back to the car. It occurred to me after I had hitched a ride that I could have used the SOS button, assuming it uses GPS, but I totally forgot it existed..durr.
The car is at the dealer and I should hear back from them in a few days with their diagnosis and hopefully parts won't take too long.

I'm thinking that this thread should probably become part of a sticky at the top of the subforum. I love this car, but this is disappointing and doesn't bode well for taking it to autoX where warranty issues could possibly come into play.

So sorry to hear this happened to you, very disheartening. Had you ever checked to see if the radiator was loose prior to the incident?