Three problems related to water pump have been reported for the 2017 Volkswagen GTI. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
There is a constant coolant leak coming from the thermostat housing and water pump area. It started as a slow leak, every 10,000 miles or so I would have to top it off and now it has gotten to the point where I have to fill it back up every day. Looked into it online and it seems that nearly everyone that owns this car has the same issue and everyone's leak comes from this area. The leak happens at all times but is greatly accelerated when driving and the coolant system is running.
Discovered coolant leak on oil pan and contacted dealership. This was during routine inspection. Dealership inspection revealed a failed water pump housing. Dealership replaced housing, thermostat and thermostat gasket under warranty.
Thermostat housing & associated seals on the current 1. 8l and 2. 0l Volkswagen/Audi ea888 gen 3 engine are prone to failure, causing loss of engine coolant. This could affect any vw/Audi vehicle using the 1. 8 or 2. 0l ea888 gen 3 engine. Vw has a long history of water pump/thermostat housing issues and the current generation of vehicles is no exception. Many other reports can be found on various online forums such as reddit. Com, golfmk7. Com and vwvortex. Com, etc. This is a costly out of warranty repair requiring removal of the intake manifold and has been reported online by owners of 2015 ��2019 us my vehicles. Some vehicles, such as ours, experienced a repeat failure. There are three failure modes that I am aware of as reported on the sites mentioned above. My wife and I have experienced failure modes 1 and 2. When this issue is occurring owners often report the smell of coolant outside the vehicle 1. Housing heating/cooling causes expansion/contraction and warping resulting in a slow weep or leak from thermostat housing assembly & associated seal, most of the time not detectable at the housing assembly/seal without pressure test. Often, vw service centers are unable to verify there is a leak, even after pressure test, owners are sent on their way, and yet coolant still disappears from the tank. My wife's car went in for testing multiple times before issue was found. 2. Housing heating/cooling causes expansion/contraction and warping resulting in a small but constant leak large enough to create a small puddle or stream under the car. A low coolant alert may/may not appear depending on speed of the leak. 3. Housing heating/cooling causes expansion/contraction and warping resulting in a sudden catastrophic failure resulting in rapid loss of coolant and causing a visible large puddle under the car and a warning alert to appear on the dashboard.