Waterpump / thermostat question Mk7 vs MK7.5

[LimestoneR7]

I've just had my Mk7 R serviced. It had a coolant leak and the dealer said it was a leaking thermostat, which had to be replaced at a not inconsiderable cost pf parts and labour.

Reading here and elsewhere, coolant leaks due to the failure of these components are fairly common, and that despite replacement (and the parts being revised by Volkswagen), these components can be almost counted on to fail again at some point in the not too distant future.

I've read that many of the parts are plastic, and that the Mk7s are better in this area as the parts were metal.

Is this correct? And if so, are the MK7's overall more reliable than the MK7s?

I'm contemplating upgrading to a Mk7.5 R Wolfsburg at some point and I suppose if the general consensus is that they are a bit more reliable, the upgrade would be more justifiable.

[Lucas_R]

Best way to explain it would be to look at an image of the waterpump/thermostat housing.

I recently had the waterpump/thermostat replaced (due to it leaking) in my Mk7 GTI and my mechanic recommended this Geba pump.

Geba Water Pump 11235/1 - Made in Germany | Run Auto Parts

You can see the waterpump section is metal/aluminium, but the main thermostat housing is plastic. The plastic gets brittle over time and with heat cycles and more often than not, the leaks start from a crack in the plastic housing or one of the various seals.

The general consensus is, if you get about 50-60,000km or 4-5 years out of a waterpump then you are doing well.

Mine was replaced at 55,000km on a 2015 Mk7 GTI.

[gregozedobe]

From the reports I've read the plastic thermostat housing on the Mk7.5s are still failing (despite numerous upgrades by VW) so my thought is that it is simply a bad design, and apparently easy to make a mistake in installing, leading to future leaks.

IMO while the early Mk7 Rs had a few extra issues (eg turbos), the Mk7.5s aren't really that more reliable. Some changes are nice (7 speed DSG, configurable dash "instruments", matrix headlights etc), but if you are happy with your Mk7 it is hard to justify changing to a Mk7.5, especially with the Mk8 coming out in the future.

[amunra]

waterpump/thermostat is basically the same in mk7 - mk7.5 apart from the revisions that basically did nothing to improve them... they all leak after approx 20 - 30k kms.. if u get 50 -60,000 then ur doing good.. ive had about 4 replaced in the life of the car since new

[Sharkie]

waterpump/thermostat is basically the same in mk7 - mk7.5 apart from the revisions that basically did nothing to improve them... they all leak after approx 20 - 30k kms.. if u get 50 -60,000 then ur doing good.. ive had about 4 replaced in the life of the car since new

Yep, replaced the waterpump on mine at 23K km !!!! Lucky it has/had a 5 year warranty so should get another 1 "free" before I have to pay for it. Hopefully by then a proper metal 1 will be available.

[amunra]

Yep, replaced the waterpump on mine at 23K km !!!! Lucky it has/had a 5 year warranty so should get another 1 "free" before I have to pay for it. Hopefully by then a proper metal 1 will be available.

yeh would be good if they came out with a solution to it leaking so easily ( metal housing) prob would fix alot of the problems but not sure it would fix the seal problem which mounts to the block but maybe... doesnt seem to be such a problem in other cars .

i saw the 5 year warranty pumps on ebay but payed less for 1 year warranty.. was going to get one for even less china but didnt want to wait.. they look like oem with the brand scratched out so hopefully lasts a little while too ... thankfully it isnt that hard to change over after you know how to do it but it was a bit of a pain in the arse till then

[kevvie]

There’s a class action in the US that was successful and VW are paying for replacements for cars up to 8 years old. I’ve done two in mine and don’t really want to sell the car, but $1k per year for water pump levy doesn’t really do it for me. Please reply if you interested in adding your name to make a claim here in Australia.