- Engine / equipment
- 1.8 and 2.0 TSI/TFSI EA888 gen 3 (Golf VII GTI/R, A3/S3 8V, TT 8S, A4 B9, Octavia III, Leon III, Passat B8, Tiguan II, Superb III…)
- Period mentioned
- 2012–2020
- Symptoms
- Slow coolant loss, sweet smell, low-coolant warning and coolant residue under the intake manifold. Overheating is rare unless the level drops a lot.
- Possible cause described
- The water pump and thermostat form a single plastic module next to the exhaust that cracks with heat cycling. It often fails before 100,000 km and Volkswagen recognises it as a design fault.
- Check for the garage
- Look for coolant residue where the module meets the block and between pump and thermostat, check the level and pressure-test the system.
- Cost cited in the source
- Complete pump and thermostat module with coolant: approx. €470–740 at a specialist (converted from Canadian dollars)A rough figure from the original database, not an up-to-date quote.
Mileage cited in the database: up to 100,000 km. This is not a maintenance interval and does not predict a failure.