Volkswagen Caddy Radiator: Specs, Fitment & Common Faults

If your Caddy has an EA888 TSI engine, VW has legally admitted to using "inferior thermoplastic materials" in the water pump housing — a real class-action settlement covers this.

Illustration for editorial purposes

OEM Part Numbers

Manual gearbox, all engines	Standard radiator with no transmission cooling circuit — genuinely simpler than the DSG/S-tronic equivalent
DSG/S-tronic (automatic), all engines	Main radiator remains largely the same core, but the car additionally has a separate oil-to-water heat exchanger for the gearbox mounted into the cooling circuit — confirmed as a genuinely different part from the radiator, so "the radiator" alone doesn't cover the whole DSG/S-tronic cooling system
Higher-power/performance engines	Larger-capacity radiator core to handle the increased heat load from these more powerful, more highly boosted engines — not a straightforward swap from the standard engine's radiator despite similar mounting points

Accuracy note: genuinely worth knowing: automatic gearbox Caddys typically need a radiator with a built-in transmission oil cooler that manual versions don't have — ordering the manual-spec part for an automatic car will fit, but won't cool the gearbox oil properly.

Confirmed: A Genuinely Serious, Class-Action-Level Design Flaw on TSI Engines — Volkswagen Caddy Radiator

If your car has a TSI turbo petrol engine (particularly the EA888 family used across much of VW's range from around 2015 onward), this is genuinely the single most important thing to know before anything else on this page. The water pump and thermostat are combined into one integrated plastic housing, and this plastic becomes brittle and develops hairline cracks after thousands of ordinary heat cycles — leading to a coolant leak that's often difficult to spot at first. This isn't a minor manufacturing quirk: VW has confirmed through legal documents that "inferior thermoplastic materials were used" in these water pump components, and the issue has been the subject of multiple class-action lawsuits.

What VW's settlement genuinely offers: a Technical Service Bulletin extends the warranty on this specific part to 8 years/80,000 miles, and the class-action settlement goes further still — up to 10 years/100,000 miles warranty, reimbursement of qualifying repairs, and crucially, reimbursement of up to £3,300 for consequential damage if the leak went undiagnosed long enough to damage the turbocharger or EGR system. If you've paid for this repair or suffered related engine damage, it's genuinely worth checking whether you qualify before assuming the cost is yours to bear.

Watch for a low coolant warning, a sweet smell in the engine bay (especially after motorway driving), or fault codes P00B7, P2681, P1889, or P0128 — any of these are worth investigating immediately rather than topping up and continuing, since this failure can escalate from a slow leak to sudden, severe overheating within minutes. If this does need replacing, the entire water pump and thermostat housing assembly must be replaced together — never just one part of it.

The Part That Keeps Everything Else From Cooking

Nothing about this component is glamorous, but almost every serious engine failure that isn't wear-related traces back to a cooling system problem left unaddressed. Catching the early signs here is genuinely cheap insurance against a much bigger bill.

Volkswagen Caddy Radiator reference plate

Before you buy: radiator size and design vary significantly by engine size, transmission type, and whether your car has air conditioning. Always confirm against your VIN before ordering.

What It Does

The radiator transfers heat from the engine coolant to the surrounding air, keeping engine temperature within a safe operating range. On automatic versions, it often also cools transmission fluid through a separate internal circuit — one more reason the correct part number matters so much here.

Faults, DIY Difficulty & Aftermarket Advice

These are the same regardless of make or model — see our full Radiator Guide for the three common failure modes, confirming fitment against your VIN, and OEM vs aftermarket guidance.

More Volkswagen Radiator

The same part, covered across other Volkswagen models.

Volkswagen Caddy Radiator: Specs, Fitment & Common Faults

OEM Part Numbers

Confirmed: A Genuinely Serious, Class-Action-Level Design Flaw on TSI Engines — Volkswagen Caddy Radiator

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