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Hi all, A quick question for any one who has experience with this unit (Columbus head unit, fitted (stock) to a 2013 Yeti L&K 170 without the upgraded amp/sound system option). I'm installing an aftermarket amp & speakers to improve sound quality, and have read a few different threads that suggest this head unit can be coded to provide low level outputs by selecting the sound system option. I'd like to do this to give more options with gain levels on the new amp. My local car audio shop has VCDS and is happy to have a play, and I'm hoping someone here could give me/them a quick guide as to how exactly to do this on this unit. They're not convinced it will be quite as simple as just selecting the sound system option because they suspect it will then 'look' for the official amp via CANBUS and of course it won't be there. They believe it may still be possible to force the low level output, but if anyone here has done something similar before then your experience would be appreciated Thanks!

So I've never heard a car with the uprated system, nor have I been in a facelift model, so can't pass comment there. All I can say is that I agree with @Andy916 that the standard speakers on the pre-facelift have very harsh treble and very little mid-bass to bass - to the point of making it pretty difficult to listen to. It's far worse than a golf of the same era, or the pretty lamentable base BMW systems, for example. But then, when there are others in this thread singing the virtues of the stock system, it makes me think that they must have changed something at the facelift. When I do get around to upgrading the stock speakers I'll add a comment to this thread - may be useful for someone searching for info in future.

Hi Andy, I was just searching this top and came across this thread so though I'd add my two pence. I can't recognise the glowing reviews of the standard system that others have been making either - I have a 2013 pre-facelift L&K and the standard sound is truly dire. The treble is incredibly harsh; I had it reduced to about 2 steps above minimum, with a moderate boost to mid and bass and a strong fade to the rear, but to be honest this only helped a bit. I have recently installed one of the new Kicker 'key smart' dsp/amp units - costs about £200 and works wonders on the standard EQ and soundstage. It's a 4x45w amp with a 40 channel equaliser that self-calibrates using a microphone, and for the money the results are pretty astounding. Even on the standard speakers the sound is night-and-day different, although now that the intolerable treble harshness is gone I do notice how muddy the mid bass is, particularly for rock and orchestral classical music. I imagine this is due to the stock speakers, so will swap them out at some point. The contrast between our experiences, and those of the earlier thread you linked to, relative to the posts others have been making makes me think there must have been changes made at some point during the Yeti production run. My Yeti (which has the Columbus HU) had easily the worst sound system of any vehicle I've owned. Even the guys at my (well regarded and long-standing) local car audio shop passed comment on how harsh the standard system was - they were surprised as most VAG cars of that age are actually half decent.

Just to finish this thread off for anyone who reads in future with similar problems, the haldex pump replacement has solved the problem. Lots of 4x4 work in Snowdonia over the weekend went without a hitch.

So dealer has just called, they've just confirmed exactly that: Haldex clutch pump failure according to VAG-COM. I've been told this wasn't the fault wasn't recorded previously, but I guess the pump was likely to be on the way out and probably caused the system to disable the first time. I'm getting a 50% contribution from the dealer and Skoda, so it's only costing a couple of hundred quid. If the bill had been thousands I'd have pushed for a bigger contribution, but life's too short to get worked up over that and it should be fixed tomorrow.

Well exactly. I suspect if push comes to shove it will be covered as I can't really see how they can reasonably argue this to be an unrelated fault to the one reported and confirmed within warranty. They even admitted that they were unable to diagnose why the fault originally occured as there was nothing 'obvious' wrong and they did not attempt a more thorough diagnosis given that the oil change might solve it.

Hi all, So in answer to one question, the car is a 13 plate and had done about 38k miles when the fluid was changed. I haven't owned from new but believe it was the first haldex change. Full Skoda main dealer history. Unfortunately last weekend, whilst scrabbling up the increasingly knackered track to the mountain house, the 4x4 failed again. Exactly the same fault I believe, feels as though everything 'disengaged' and I am left with one wheel spinning away. No drive to the rear and no braking of the slipping front wheel. Descent control still works. Just managed to get up to the house and tested the car on a wet, slopping grass field the next morning. Same problem, one wheel spins hopelessly leaving the car stationary. Driving back south through Wales, I noticed lots of wheel spin and TC intervention in first/second if accelerating hard out of wet turns, up steep hills etc. (170 bhp diesel). Shows how much the system contributes without you really noticing on road too. Now the original fault was logged within the warranty period, and when the dealer said they had logged the error and simply performed a haldex service and reset the fault I did query what would happen if this did not solve the problem as the warranty was on the bring of expiry. I was told, categorically, that becasue the original fault was recorded by them within warranty that if it recurred it would be covered. Nothing 'obvious' had caused it and they wanted to try the oil change before going for a deeper diagnosis. I was happy to try that given that assurance. Clearly it did work for a while, but has now failed again so wasn't the root cause unless this is one hell of a coincedence. Car booked in for Thursday for diagnosis. Let's see if they try and back track on the warranty situation because it did work for a few months following the oil change, there were hints of that on the phone which has me concerned...

Update: all seems to be working since the reset. Our farm is on the mountain so I went for a little 'play'. Very wet conditions. It's a pretty remarkable little car actually; traction is very good given the tyres (Michelin CrossClimates, which have a token nod towards off road capability given their M+S rating). I did some extremely steep climbs on wet grass and it scrabled up as well as the Landy used to - you can really feel the brakes limiting slip across the axle. Obviously it doesn't have the clearance or mud capabilities of a proper utility vehicle but it's mighty impressive for what it is. I also had to do some towing over soft ground and the softened throttle map in the 'offroad' mode makes it very easy to move off without any slip.

Hi, Sorry for the delay. There was a fault code logged; they cleared it. I didn't really get a proper answer from the technician - he said it may have been because 'of the condition of the haldex oil' which was changed for the first time during this service. I'm heading back up to Wales this weekend so will try it again and see what happens. The fault is now logged with Skoda within the warranty period (just!), so if it recurs and it turns out there is something more substatial wrong I've been told they'll cover it because the original fault code was recorded by them within the warranty period. Sad555, yes the car was purchased a few months ago; the starter was sluggish when the salesman started it the first time on the forecourt. However, it recovered after the test drive and there are no apparent issues with it now now so I guess it will be fine at least until winter.

I thought this too but it didn't seem to be - it was almost as though the whole system was disabled. Felt just like a normal FWD car with one wheel stuck on a muddy verge. The OSF span for a few seconds, the textured brown finish down the drivers side of the car is testament to that... To get past the point where I was stuck I had to back down and take a run at it - not something I like to do as it's very rough and better suited to crawling. I will ask the technician tomorrow for an explanation and follow up on this post.

Thank you. I believe the car had been standing for a while before I bought it. Battery appears absolutely fine now - no hesitation on starting etc. Is it true, then, that the hadlex can remain disabled even if the battery recovers (or is swapped for a new one) until the hadlex fault/status is cleared via service software?

Hi all, A few months ago I purchased a 2013 Yeti L&K 170 manual. It's a nice little workhorse and I bought it because from time to time I do actually need the 4x4 - we have a farm in Snowdonia and one of the buildings in particular cannot be accessed without reasonable ground clearance (and traction if wet). Long story short, I got temporarily stuck half way up the track to this building, O/S/F spinning freely and apparently no drive to any other wheel. The car was in 'off-road mode' and both rears were on stone with good traction. The passenger got out and confirmed that only the O/S/F was spinning - just as you'd expect an FWD with no LSD to do when traction levels are very different across the axle. No warning lights etc., but then I understand there is no way for the hadlex to notify the driver of a fault. I've driven this section of track many times in Subaru's and Landy's without issue. The car is booked in for a service tomorrow - is there anything in particular I should ask the service manager to check? It's the 40k service so hadlex oil change is being done. I did notice the battery was quite low when starting on the forecourt when I bought it. I've read conflicting reports that a low voltage can disable the 4x4 until reset by the service software. Does anyone have experience of this? Thanks