1st post! Octavia Ambiente 57reg fascia advice please

[dragnfly]

Hi!

 

I'm a new Skoda owner! Really pleased with my Octavia and look forward to racking up a million miles in it over the next decade or so!

 

Now, I've had a fairly good trawl around the forums and can't seem to find a straight forward answer to my query, which I thought would be quite simple - can you help? Sorry for all these questions on my 1st post!

 

My car is a 57reg Octavia Ambiente estate. I want to swap the stereo for a single din unit which I have removed from my old car, so as to be able to use bluetooth and usb from my iphone.

 

The stereo in my car is called a 'stream MP3'. It looks like the one shown in THIS THREAD

 

I've been looking into it for a while and purchased what I thought would be the right bits and bobs, but hit upon a couple of issues I need some (good) advice on:

 

 

1 - I noticed that the rear windscreen heater brought up a notification on the stream head unit when switched on - will swapping the stereo have any effect on the operation of the rear windscreen heater? I don't mind not getting the warning, but I do want the heater to work.

 

 2 - the fascia I bought is a rubbish fit - there's gaps (a couple of mm) along the top and bottom of it when I try to line it up in the original fascia (which I had a good battle with to remove the top edge). Is this normal? The one I bought was this one: THIS ONE. Is the bad fit just down to it being a cheap crappy mould, or is it the wrong version?

 

3 - The new stereo appears to be getting a permanent live feed and doesn't switch off when the keys are taken out of the car. I would like it to switch off when the ignition is switched off because I'm a complete muppet and will likely forget to manually switch it off on a daily basis. So - where can I get easy access to an ignition related live wire to attach to the red wire going into my new stereo?

 

Very many thanks for any advice or tips you can offer to help get me back in action again.

 

Dave T (newfoundskodalover)

Edited 26 November, 2014 by dragnfly

[wiilydog]

1) no changing your stereo will not affect your heated rear screen

 

2) Skoda do the nicest kits but they are around £60, your kit looks cheap and nasty, you could try one of these instead

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skoda-Octavia-stereo-radio-Facia-Fascia-adapter-panel-plate-trim-CD-surround-/160785855169?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item256f9572c1

 

3) you can get a switched live from the fuse box at the end of the dash at the drivers side and use a piggy back fuse holder like this

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230502231905?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Edited 26 November, 2014 by wiilydog

[dragnfly]

Briskodian

Wow - that was FAST! Thanks for the excellent and concise advice, which I shall act upon right now! Great stuff. I love that piggy back fuse!

 

Much appreciated. These forums are grrrrrrrreat. TY.

[dragnfly]

Any idea which fuse it is I need to swap?

[wiilydog]

just take your pic as long as it is a switched live one it will work,

 

note you can get mini fuse one too which is less bulky (there are a mixture of the two in the fuse box so either type of connector will work)

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINI-ADD-A-CIRCUIT-FUSE-TAP-PIGGYBACK-EXTRAFUSE-MINI-BLADE-TYPE-/231009521343?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item35c93d8ebf

[Phil-E]

There are a few empty fuse slots in there that are switched.

 

If you have a multimeter it will help you identify one that live when the ignition is on.

 

Phil

[dragnfly]

Alrighty - so I ordered the fascia on the link above and sadly it is the wrong one again. I'm amazed what a mission this is turning out to be. It should be a piece of cake. I've had 2 fascias off Ebay neither of which fitted, and the chap in Halfords tried 2 more and neither of those fitted either. This is doing my nut in...

 

Can anyone tell me exactly, with a good degree of certainty, which fascia I need to buy, or provide a part number or link? I've attached a photo of my current head unit. I need to fit a single din. My car is a 57reg skoda octavia estate. The stereo removed was a stream mp3. There are no controls on the steering wheel. I've got all the wires I need, its just the fascia I want now.

 

The ones I've already tried are: 

This one was very close, but far from a perfect fit - there was a mm gap top and bottom. - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350623900495?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

and the one on the link in Willys post above above - which was about 15mm short on each side and nowhere near right.

 

 

 

Here's hoping... Thanks again for your help.

Edited 28 November, 2014 by dragnfly

[wiilydog]

I used the proper skoda kit but still need to change the facia to avoid the gaps on the side, so you probably need one of these too, to get rid of the gaps

 

http://www.skodaparts.com/product/octavia-radio-trim-for-sat-nav-2004-2008-50284

 

 

 

Edited 28 November, 2014 by wiilydog

[dragnfly]

Hiya Willy - thanks for your reply again. 

That part actually looks like a reasonable price!

Is that fascia (not the main surround bit) - the same as the one you linked above, or a different version?

[wiilydog]

Hiya Willy - thanks for your reply again. 

That part actually looks like a reasonable price!

Is that fascia (not the main surround bit) - the same as the one you linked above, or a different version?

the link is for the outer sat nav trim, you will need a non face lift / non climate one and if the holes look right for your model it will fit.

 

the one in the picture above shows a climate model as the bottom controls are different for yours but the top half will look the same when fitted.

 

http://www.skodaparts.com/product/octavia-radio-trim-for-sat-nav-2004-2008-50284

 

once fitted I think it will get rid of the gaps for the 2nd kit you bought on e-bay as it looks very similar to my original skoda kit

[dragnfly]

So - I have now officially been driven completely round the bend by this.

 

I've bought and returned 4 fascias which either didn't fit, or were so crap that they fell apart while fitting and looked terrible - so I bit the bullet and after advice from Willydog (thanks) and after consulting skoda directly and getting a direct link from them for what was needed.

 

I shelled out£70 for bits of plastic (which was a complete rip off but seemed to be the only answer) - and now that has been refunded because the parts are no longer made, and there's none in stock. Absolutely brilliant. I'm left with a large seemingly unfillable hole in my dash, with my lovely sony head unit sliding around inside, with bits of wire hanging out. Not the appearance I first envisaged for my lovely new car.

 

Now what? Am I stuck with that ****ty old 'stream' head unit with no blue tooth or satnav?

 

The chap at skoda recommended something called a columbus, so I googled that and the 1st post I saw about it was on this forum saying it was cr@p. He also said I'd have to do something strange to it, to reset it or something? Didn't sound very ideal. and *edit* they appear to cost in excess of £400!!

 

 

Sorry for the grumbling.

Edited 3 December, 2014 by dragnfly

[dragnfly]

Having looked into columbus more, they do indeed look the bees knees - and mighty expensive too. Also, how can a unit like that not have blue tooth on it!?

Anyways, I finally found a fascia that works, but the fit is not brilliant, and looks wise if give it a 5 out of 10 - but the combination of this with my iphone is soooo easy and convenient, I've gone with that instead of a columbus.

That said, if I had the cash, I'd definately love a columbus.