Replacing coolant tank with Silicon bag

[fredgroves]

These forums can create a certain amount of hysteria- a few isolated cases giving the impression of an endemic. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any data on how common this problem is.

I'd not call it hysteria.

Over the 5 and a bit years I've been on Golf mk7 forums I've watched carefully for the recurring problems.

Heater matrix at 3+ years is the only thing I've seen appear with any frequency - other than water pumps which seem to fail very often.

The heater matrix getting messed up it now seems people have actually uncovered the cause - until this last week or so I've never seen anyone explain that before.

If I planned to keep my Golf after the end of the warranty period, I'd get the damned tank changed because that is a few quid vs a massive bill for the heater matrix.

[mcmaddy]

Up until this week Fred I'd never heard of anyone having a heater matrix replaced let alone the possibility of the silica bag bursting!

[SRGTD]

Up until this week Fred I'd never heard of anyone having a heater matrix replaced let alone the possibility of the silica bag bursting!

There’s been a few owners over on the Seat Leon forum who’ve had issues with poor warm / hot air output from the car’s heating and ventilation system. Likely cause has been cited as the silica bag bursting and its contents blocking the heater matrix.

[Yusee]

These forums can create a certain amount of hysteria- a few isolated cases giving the impression of an endemic. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any data on how common this problem is.

I'd not call it hysteria.

Over the 5 and a bit years I've been on Golf mk7 forums I've watched carefully for the recurring problems.

Heater matrix at 3+ years is the only thing I've seen appear with any frequency - other than water pumps which seem to fail very often.

The heater matrix getting messed up it now seems people have actually uncovered the cause - until this last week or so I've never seen anyone explain that before.

If I planned to keep my Golf after the end of the warranty period, I'd get the damned tank changed because that is a few quid vs a massive bill for the heater matrix.

I'm not saying it is hysteria- I'm saying it could be, particularly because the consequences of the bag splitting are catastrophic and I bet a good proportion of these get reported on various forums.
Still very little to say how common it is, I am genuinely interested to hear views from garages/dealers as to how often they are seeing these

[Rob_benton]

Up until this week Fred I'd never heard of anyone having a heater matrix replaced let alone the possibility of the silica bag bursting!

Unfortunately google brings up many cases across various forums dating 2-3 years old.

[mcmaddy]

Up until this week Fred I'd never heard of anyone having a heater matrix replaced let alone the possibility of the silica bag bursting!

Unfortunately google brings up many cases across various forums dating 2-3 years old.

how many compared to volume sales though?

[Grahamt]

These forums can create a certain amount of hysteria- a few isolated cases giving the impression of an endemic. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any data on how common this problem is.

I'd not call it hysteria.

Over the 5 and a bit years I've been on Golf mk7 forums I've watched carefully for the recurring problems.

Heater matrix at 3+ years is the only thing I've seen appear with any frequency - other than water pumps which seem to fail very often.

The heater matrix getting messed up it now seems people have actually uncovered the cause - until this last week or so I've never seen anyone explain that before.

If I planned to keep my Golf after the end of the warranty period, I'd get the damned tank changed because that is a few quid vs a massive bill for the heater matrix.

Totally agree with your comments,  whilst mines under warrenty I'll leave it in, the moment its out of warrenty it'll be the first job.

Stupid design IMO, I mean most cooling system changes are at about 5 years, well outside warrenty and well outside having a negative cost effect on lease / servicing deals so why did VW spend time, resources and money fixing a problem that doesn't really exist. Maybe if the G13 is degraded by the car being subjected to high heat thermal loads, by constantly being thrashed by an owner that doesn't give a damn etc then an algorithm in the ECU should be able to compute when it needs changing, just like variable servicing internals on oil. Still I'm sure to VW "seemed a good idea at the time"

[Rob_benton]

Update

The new tank from VW didn’t contain a bag. So I’ve simply removed my old bag today and shall renew my coolant every 2-3 years from now on.
The bag material is surprisingly strong and thick. My bag was intact.
I can only think the bag rubs against the inside of the tank and eventually splits.

[silver38]

Update

The new tank from VW didn’t contain a bag. So I’ve simply removed my old bag today and shall renew my coolant every 2-3 years from now on.
The bag material is surprisingly strong and thick. My bag was intact.
I can only think the bag rubs against the inside of the tank and eventually splits.

Do you know the part number of the new tank?

[Rob_benton]

Update

The new tank from VW didn’t contain a bag. So I’ve simply removed my old bag today and shall renew my coolant every 2-3 years from now on.
The bag material is surprisingly strong and thick. My bag was intact.
I can only think the bag rubs against the inside of the tank and eventually splits.

Do you know the part number of the new tank?

I don’t I’m afraid. Only one part number came up for my car and when I saw the new tank I said to my garage to send it back.