***Update****Add me to the statistics (Water Pump fail and Sunroof creak)

[OceanJack]

Bought my CPO 2017 GTI back in June with about 34k miles, it was an off lease car and super clean.

First 6 months were problem free, only thing I had to do was just an oil change. Dealer changed the DSG fluid, threw on OEM pirellis which are awful and basic things before they put it up for sale. I enjoyed the car a lot, but then started seeing a small coolant leak around September.

Didn't think much about it nor did I fill it as I wanted to watch the speed it leaked, which was very slow. I live in the NJ/NYC metro and don't drive too often except for when we visit my in-laws in Upstate NY, typically I save this time for installing mods and doing service.

So it's now got about 40k miles on it, I am still here up north and the car took forever to heat up one morning. Usually I get heat within a mile of driving, I drove about 5 miles and the oil temp was 160 and the coolant was only 158, which was super strange. But as I turned the car off and came back later to go somewhere, it was fine.

Finally I made an appointment and dropped it off at the local dealer here and just a call this morning, welp no surprise it's the Water Pump, they're replacing the thermostat as well. I told them about my sunroof creak and will apply a "modification" to fix the creak.

Said it should take about a day or two since they need to order parts. I'm not mad since it's a CPO but I never had a car with such an early failure in it's life, I don't feel that it's unreliable as any other car but to be honest, it's not like a completely brand new engine they just came out with.

Kinda amazes me that Germans cannot get cooling system reliability down like the Japanese (I had owned a E39 at one point).



*****Update*****

Hey everyone, Happy New Years Eve.

Got my car back last night from the dealer, extremely nice and friendly people. Did not question my visual mods and they replaced the following below with part numbers added.

06K121011C - Water Pump
06L121111M- Thermostat
06L121131- Union
and they listed G13 Coolant but didn't mention if they just topped it off or flushed the system?

Failure happened at 40k miles.

They said they performed the "sunroof recall" but it still makes a tiny bit of noise, I will do the gummi stuff most of you have mentioned and report back. The service writer said to come back when it's warmer and they'll be able to look at it better.

Other than that, pretty straight forward. Just had to pay my CPO deductible of $50

 

[swcrow]

Kinda amazes me that Germans cannot get cooling system reliability down like the Japanese (I had owned a E39 at one point).

I was fully expecting this car to be like all the other VWs I've owned and have a plastic crack pipe

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

Frankly - I don’t really get it either. If German manufacturers can engineer the best cars in the world for performance and driving pleasure, why is it they can’t build something that doesn’t break?

 

[Keehs360]

Frankly - I don’t really get it either. If German manufacturers can engineer the best cars in the world for performance and driving pleasure, why is it they can’t build something that doesn’t break?

A lot of ancillary stuff comes from Bosch, borg Warner etc

I doubt vw engineered that water pump. Now when I think of it I don’t think any manufacturer makes their own pump. I could be wrong though, it’s just a hunch

but yeah vw definitely didn’t pick a good pump. That’s for sure.

 

[jimlloyd40]

A lot of ancillary stuff comes from Bosch, borg Warner etc

I doubt vw engineered that water pump. Now when I think of it I don’t think any manufacturer makes their own pump. I could be wrong though, it’s just a hunch

but yeah vw definitely didn’t pick a good pump. That’s for sure.

Or thermostat housing which is where the coolant leaks most often.

 

[Keehs360]

Or thermostat housing which is where the coolant leaks most often.

U know what? Maybe that’s why a tsb/recall hasn’t happened yet? Maybe it’s a matter of having the third party who made it admit fault?

 

[jimlloyd40]

U know what? Maybe that’s why a tsb/recall hasn’t happened yet? Maybe it’s a matter of having the third party who made it admit fault?

Well it's been happening for years and with the 1.8 engines also.

 

[Keehs360]

Well it's been happening for years and with the 1.8 engines also.

Oh. Well fuck.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Oh. Well fuck.

What year is your GTI? Has your thermostat housing leaked yet?

 

[Keehs360]

What year is your GTI? Has your thermostat housing leaked yet?

2020. No issues

my wife’s GLI is also a 2020. And in 5k miles I caught the fluid at the bottom line twice. I refilled it with radiator fluid to the top line (engine cold) and the dealer is saying it’s fine

 

[jimlloyd40]

2020. No issues

my wife’s GLI is also a 2020. And in 5k miles I caught the fluid at the bottom line twice. I refilled it with radiator fluid to the top line (engine cold) and the dealer is saying it’s fine

The thermostat housing leak is a slow one. And it only leaks when driving and it will pass a pressure test.
If you have to fill it again I would visually check for leaking.

 

[Keehs360]

The thermostat housing leak is a slow one. And it only leaks when driving and it will pass a pressure test.
If you have to fill it again I would visually check for leaking.

I did. Had it on the lift. Removed the skid plate. There’s a sweet smell but definitely no leaking at all. Engine isn’t consuming it either, exhaust smoke looks normal too.

 

[Gray_Panther]

54k miles and no leaks with original tstat and waterpump.

 

[RennWerks]

Well it's been happening for years and with the 1.8 engines also. [Emphasis added.]

Decades, actually. I bought one of the first 300 Golf Rabbits sold in the U.S. in 1974. Its first water pump died at 30k; the second at 60k. Nothing changed in the intervening years except you can't see the water pump now without crawling around under the car, and it takes six hours to replace the damn thing.

 

[ReadTheBook]

U know what? Maybe that’s why a tsb/recall hasn’t happened yet? Maybe it’s a matter of having the third party who made it admit fault?

When I spoke to my service advisor about it after my second replacement he straight up told me that they were told the thermostat housings failing were due to a “supplier issue”. Who knows.

@OceanJack can you tell us what part number was used in your thermostat replacement? I’m interested to know if there has been any further revisions. The last part number revision I knew of ended in “M”. This was February 2020 but they were using that same part as far back as at least April 2019.