Creaking suspension on Octy II

[jonnybravo]

My car, which I bought new in Nov 2006, is currently back at the supplying dealers - Bickerton in Sheffield.

My car creaks like buggery, particularly when the steering wheel is turned, i.e. when parking or when negotiating roundabouts.

Also low-speed manouvering around housing estates........and I am pretty sure that body-flex comes into it somewhere.

The noise first came about when I had covered 900 miles, which coincided with the five day lay over period it had over xmas, but also with the first time I really started using it's power.

It went into Bickerton a couple of times, and initially they couldn't hear the noises, and I suspect they assumed it was partially in my head - after all it was a new car !

However, to his credit, Ian the service manager asked me to drive my car with him in it, and point out the noise.

Once this was done he recognised my complaint, and credit where credit is due - seemed to decide to take positive action.

I have now been without my car for nearly four days, and have so far been kept informed by daily calls from Ian, stating that they are still trying to find the source of the creak, and seem determined to do so.

He phoned me today to say he thought they had solved it, but after he had personally taken it on a twelve (!) mile test drive it had returned at the latter end of the drive.

Although I am unhappy with the car and the noise, the level of customer service has reassured me that I bought the right brand, and from the right dealer, I shudder to think what sort of service and attention I would receive from a Vauxhall or Fiat dealer for a similar problem !

He has therefore asked to keep my car another day, which considering he has lent me his newly valeted '07 Octavia TDI Elegance, is no great hardship !

Will keep you posted with any diagnosis, but agree with the comments that we should really press Skoda UK to address this, rather than leave it for independant dealers to try and sort.

Skoda UK seem very happy to use our ( i.e. Skoda Buyers ) feedback in JD Power surveys when it is positive, but I wonder how happy they would be if all the unhappy customers on here contacted someone like "Auto-Express" for an exclusive insight into the poor customer care that the importers display ?

I think it would be a potentially newsworthy story !..................

[VRStu]

Nice to hear, why not post your review in the dealers section for others in the future.

[GAFF]

My suspension creaking was sorted after the greasing done before but it is now back again.....another trip to the dealers is on the cards, hopefully something a bit more permanent will get done this time.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Time to resurrect this thread I think.
I didn't have time to get much done in the early part of the year but it's still creaking so over the last month I've been trying to get the suspension noises cured. It had been looked at when it was serviced in January but they couldn't find the noise

It went into a different dealer for a day at the end of may and I took the technician out for a drive and pointed out the noise. He was in agreement that something wasn't right at all and spent the day looking at it including a further road test where it creaked away. He also said that he could feel the vibration through the floor and the pedals as it creaked.

He was pretty sure that it was from the front nearside suspension but couldn't find the cause so it needed to be booked in again for a longer time.

It was in for two days this week and they thought that they had cured it but when I got home and drove over the speed humps it was every bit as noisy as ever.

The earliest they had a courtesy car available for yet another visit was the 19th and 20th of July which was no use to me so it was booked in for the 23rd and 24th with them making arrangements to have a representative from Skoda technical services coming out and looking at the car. I had also spoken to Skoda on the phone and complained about the apparent inability of their dealers to fix this.

I then got a call from the gargae today saying that the Skoda guy was off on holiday the week beginning the 23rd so it would have to be the week beginning the 30th. I rearranged my work schedule to be able to do this and then got a call from Skoda to say that their technical chap wasn't available that week either and that the week beginning the 6th of August was the earliest. That week was no good for me so it would have to be the 13th August to identify the problem and then yet another visit after that to fix it.

At that point the creaking noise will be a year old and will be getting a birthday card!

I phoned the garage back and got to speak to someone more senior, expressed my annoyance about the lengthy delays , and shortly after I got a call to say that there is now a courtesy car available for thursday and driday next week....


The saga continues.

[exFiesta]

Good luck with this guys, I had a similar noise on my mrk1 which I eventually gave up trying to solve and just lived with it!

Has anyone who has modified their suspension been suffering the same noises? Is it possible it is the anti-roll bar bushes like in the mrk1?

[tezza72uk]

Mine was creaking for around 6months with three visits to the dealers. They have now cracked it. I can't be more specific than a bush that was replaced on the front supension. Looking underneath it looks like the large alluminiun block type bush on the nearside. They tried greasing and oiling none of these worked.

[jonnybravo]

Further to my lengthy entry earlier in this forum, I apologise for the delay in updating, two reasons, partly due to ill health in my family, and partly due to the fact that I wanted to give the fault time to re-develop.

Bickerton Skoda in Sheffield, ( and in particular thanks to Ian Pepper the service manager ) have been excellent, and following a very lengthy period with my car have cured it of the N/S/F creak.

Following some persistence on my part that the noise actually existed, it was acknowleged eventually that I had a genuine grievance, and once he had heard it, Ian himself seemed to take it on board with a determination to get to the bottom of it.

After a week of trying various things ( including having the dashboard off ) he tracked the source down to a spot weld behind the dashboard that was "rubbing" as the body flexed.

He told me he had opened the area around the weld up, and this has cured the creak ! , I am assuming that he hasn't broken the weld ( I am unable to look behind the dashboard myself ).

following numerous attempts to solve this problem this appears to be the solution, I have now done nearly three thousand miles of various styles of driving, and the noise has yet to return.

I would recommend anyone with this complaint to make as many notes and even sketches as possible for their garage in an attempt to assist them, my own notes pointed to the fact that the noise seemed to occur mainly when the body was "flexing" i.e. through roundabouts and chicanes.

Good luck everyone, I know how much this noise ruins the enjoyment of a great car......but I can recommend Bickerton, they did not fob me off, when certain other garages would have done.

[patnmand]

Mine creaks from the front nearside, particularly when the car is cold. Speed bumps are bad. The dealer replaced a driveshaft in the hope of curing it but it still creaks. I'm always a bit uncertain about getting them to dismantle the car to find the creak - you never know what else will stop working or start rattling if they do that!!

[jonnybravo]

Only thing that cocked up when they did mine was the drivers side air vent dosen't close automatically with the climate button, but that will no doubt be rectified at the 10,000 mile service, it is a good trade off for getting rid of the creak !

Maybe getting your dealer to email Ian Pepper at Bickerton Skoda would help sort out the issue that Skoda UK are obviously in no rush to !

[andy2407]

I too have developed a creak over the last few months (54 plate Octy 2.0 TDi Elegance, 40k miles).

I notice the creak at a variety of speeds and particularly when cornering. Other have mentioned speed bumps as a problem, but they don't seem to have much effect in my case.

Anyway, its been in to my local dealer, and both the Service Manager and one of the mechanics / technicians have test driven it with me and agree that there is a creaking.

They had a look at the car, and said there were 3 potential causes listed in Skoda technical bulletins etc. This was on a Saturday, so they asked me to wait until they had spoken to Skoda Technical on the following Monday.

After that, they rang me to say their first action will be to replace the steering rack. I need to arrange a date for this, and will keep this thread updated with the results.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Mine is in today for what's the tenth visit in total!

I'll let you know which bits got changed and if it worked or not when I collect it tomorrow

[olski]

FWIW - Mine has stopped creaking altogether. It last went in over 6 weeks ago, when my dealer lubricated / re greased the top mounts. They said that had cured the nearside creak but not the offside and they admitted there was a problem. Took the car to the south of france for two weeks, creaked like a b@stard when braking, cornering to the left and over bumps, and then after we got home it stopped - altogether. I had booked the car in again for the day after we returned and had in mind to say to them I don't want it back till the problem is fixed, but now there's no problem!!!

I guess it will return - just a question of when....

Ollly

[Dr Zoidberg]

When it gets colder again

[olski]

I wondered about that, but it was very hot in France....

[Dr Zoidberg]

Latest update - they have changed the bushes and the drop links , and checked everything else they can think of and it's still creaking.

It's now being batted back to Skoda Technical for further suggestions.

The staff at the dealers seem to be genuinely interested in sorting this out , but at the end of the day my car still creaks

[GAFF]

Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg

Latest update - they have changed the bushes and the drop links , and checked everything else they can think of and it's still creaking.

It's now being batted back to Skoda Technical for further suggestions.

The staff at the dealers seem to be genuinely interested in sorting this out , but at the end of the day my car still creaks

Sorry to hear that mate, I listen to this with great interest.

[andy2407]

Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg

When it gets colder again

Mines been creaking for a few months, and does not seem to be weather dependent.

[andy2407]

Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg

Latest update - they have changed the bushes and the drop links , and checked everything else they can think of and it's still creaking.

It's now being batted back to Skoda Technical for further suggestions.

The staff at the dealers seem to be genuinely interested in sorting this out , but at the end of the day my car still creaks

Sorry if I've missed it elsewhere in the thread, but I just wondered whether the steering rack has been replaced during any of your ten visits?

[soviet]

My Ocky Mk1 does it, but only when stationary. Should hear it creak when the misses gets out the back seat. Seriously it does it more when the weather is chilly and damp. Ok in hot sunny weather. Have not noticed any noise while mobile though, Yet!


(All hippo's and free loaders in the back!)

Soviet

[Dr Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by andy2407

Sorry if I've missed it elsewhere in the thread, but I just wondered whether the steering rack has been replaced during any of your ten visits?

No it hasn't

[Superted]

Only creaks from cold and over the speed restrictions in the street, once warmed up ok.........very strange. Every time this happens i say to myself, 'must take this back to the stealers to sort' but after thinking about it for a nano second i say, naaa, waste of time, cos they are an absolute shower! For now i will just put up with it, the hassle at the stealers is not worth it for now....

[Dr Zoidberg]

Trouble is mine has got louder and louder over the past year and it's too noisy to put up with

[GAFF]

Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg

Trouble is mine has got louder and louder over the past year and it's too noisy to put up with

It a way its a good thing as it ain't to hard to replicate. The only thing I'd be afraid of the something is on its way out, louder is worse and might fail. I'm not saying thats whats gonna happen but it would be playing on my mind.

[Dr Zoidberg]

At least it only happens when going at low speeds over speed humps so it's likely to fail then too , and then it would be easy to see what the problem was

[GAFF]

Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg

At least it only happens when going at low speeds over speed humps so it's likely to fail then too , and then it would be easy to see what the problem was

You guys are luck so, some or our backroads are like a series of speed humps