YetiSweden

Well, one more update: total engine failure! The garage dong the engine repairs messed up somehow so that the engine took in air, failed, and has had to have major repairs again, this time on the top of the engine. It is now finally repaired properly by the Skoda garage, with the insurance company from the previous garage footing the bill for the botched work. But now, finally, hopefully, it's all over and we have a decent car again!

Thanks so much for the detailed advice! This is quite mysterious about the oil quality thing. From googling it seems a lot of people are confused about whether or not there are oil quality sensors in these engines. The sound has gone for now. It came from the front right, from the driver's perspective. I'm not 100% sure it's from the engine space, it could have been brake pads on that side. I will try to troubleshoot it more on the next cold damp day when I expect it to return.

Yes, they did. Two of them. And the garage doing the work (supposedly specialised in Skoda servicing) concurred that this is what has happened. I won't be paying for the oil change, so OK, they can do it. I don't know what that is... It goes away when the engine is warm. Yes, I noticed it before the water pump change, and mentioned it to the mechanic. He thought the change (done for coolant leakage) might fix it. It actually seemed worse after the change, but now it seems to have gone away. Thing is we've had warm weather though, and this seems to be a cold weather thing.

Sweden prices :( I actually don't know, but I suspect now that it must be on variable if it's the oil quality that's triggered the service warning It doesn't do it while idling, which makes me think not (?) Accelerating and turning sets it off, and it stops after 10 mins or so of driving.

An overdue update to the Yeti saga. It's been back to the garage once more and needs to go back again. The last time was a loss of coolant and I was worried it had a damaged head gasket and was burning it (instead of oil as it was doing! My husband calls it a flexifuel car), but they reckoned it was just a leak in the water pump so that was £400 for a replacement. Now after 400km since the engine overhaul it's showing a message that it needs a service... but it isn't due a service. The local Skoda experts (not the people who did the work) suspect it's bad oil quality caused by dirt after the rebuild setting off a quality sensor, which makes sense. So i really hope that's the issue as a simple oil change will do the trick (and was even recommended by Rayx, above). I really long for the day when I don't have to keep taking it in for work... but maybe that will never happen... it's making a chirping noise on cold days. I really want to trade it in for something that's under warranty, but I don't think we can justify the expense given how little we actually use the car. When we need it we really need it though.

Thank you so much, that is really great advice! I made sure the trip milometer was zeroed after the piston change, so will keep an eye on that. Fingers crossed for no more engine troubles!

I got the car back the other day. The contact from the garage reckoned that after replacing the gasket, there haven't been any issues in his test driving, and it seems ok to me for now... we'll see. Even if there are no issues in the near future, it will be a while before I feel comfortable doing a long drive in it. The odd thing is I got them to send me a copy of the invoice and it had come to around £3,000 not the £5,000 that the dealer told me he paid. Not sure why he felt the need to lie about that.

That's all the information I have regarding the oil leak/EML light. I spoke to them again this afternoon and they think it's fixed, but they said they'd rather hang on to the car for a few more days for more test driving to make sure the EML doesn't come on again. I said to keep it for another week. We cycle to work, so it's not such a big deal. It's not so cold now :) The good thing is we will have a warranty on the engine. I don't have the full details yet so I don't know how long, but it will be covered in September, when the car has to have its equivalent of the MOT, which includes an emissions test. So that's good to know.

Nope, though I didn't have the car for very long before dropping it back off with them. The only place I parked it was in our garage, which already has a floor saturated with crap from the previous owner's car! But I will anyway have a look for an oil puddle when I get home from work.

Another update: I still don't have the car, but apparently it was an oil leak (can this be the cause of the engine warning light (EML) ?), and the garage has had to order a gasket.

Thanks!

I just dropped it off at the (unmanned) drop-off point. I asked for the full paperwork the other day, and they said it'll be in the car when I get it back. i also have a bad feeling. I was hoping someone could put my anxious mind at ease, but I guess not! *sigh*

That's very good advice. I will do that. The crazy thing is that the Skoda garage quoted me £5000, but the seller didn't want to go with them, because he thinks they're too expensive, then it ended up being £5000 anyway, but without the Skoda-specific knowledge. I hope this doesn't drag on too long. I really enjoyed driving the car this morning. We've just had a load of fresh snow overnight, and it doesn't bother the Yeti one bit :) The engine seems a bit quieter than I remember, and I checked the oil this morning and it's oil colour, rather than mucky-brown.

They told us to drive as little as possible and drop it off with them asap. Dropping it off tomorrow. It just seems too much of a coincidence for it not to be related to the work they did, so I guess it's unlikely to be the Lambda sensor.

Sorry, forgot to add, it's the yellow/orange check engine warning light (http://i.imgur.com/2Mgqg.jpg) Edit: correct term emissions control lamp