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Rusting discs and missing fog light


jonbenj

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I took delivery of my yeti last June, 2nd owner, Skoda approved, 13000 miles. I've never been a fan of extended oil changes and cos I'm towing a caravan I decided to opt for the fixed service regime. I had it in at my local dealers last week for "my" first service, at 24000 miles. Fully expecting this to be a formality I was surprised to receive a call from the dealers informing me that the rear discs are shot.

I've read elsewhere on here about similar issues at lowish miles, all down to driving style, not using them enough etc. etc.

Since I got the car it's been pretty much used every day, including a cross country commute which involves negotiating a fairly steep gorge, so whilst I pride myself on being a reasonably smooth driver, I'm confident that the brakes should have been getting a reasonable work out. Factor in the caravan towing and I'm damn certain they've been well used. Given that the rear discs are well grooved, what are the chances that the damage was done before I got the car, and if so, should the supplying dealer have picked it up?

The other issue the garage flagged up involves the rear fog lights. Only the near side light comes on, but no bulb failure is indicated and the bulb on the off side has been checked. My garage think it might be the tow bar installation but apparently they reckon on a couple of hours to strip it and investigate.

Can anyone confirm whether or not a 2014 FL should have 1 or 2 fog lights illuminated as standard. As far as I can figure out, the towbar lighting is otherwise ok: it appears to be linked to the canbus as the fog light goes out when you plug in the caravan, and the car seems to recognise when the caravans hitched up.

I've read elsewhere here about the issues with trying to make both bulbs illuminate via vcds but don't know if that applies to all models.

Apologies for the lengthy post, I look forward to your thoughts.

John.

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From new, there's only one functioning fog light, the offside. There is a bulb in the near side but its only there for show in the UK. I think two would look much like brake lights.

 

Every S/H Yeti I looked at in my local dealership had new rear discs and pads fitted.

Edited by DonjSZ5
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JB, AB is correct, only the O/S fog lights up.

You would need to do a voltage check at the O/S bulb just to make sure you have power to it. No voltage  =   no feed. So you would need to have that checked out.

Try a local car electrical place if you don't want to pay main dealer prices.

 

Re, your brakes.

Its a reasonably easy job to do.

Remove calipers and brake disc. No need to disconnect brake pipes & no bleeding required. 

Clean up surface of brake discs with a rub down prep pad.

With some course emery or the like surface up the pad material, keep it flat.

Refit with a touch of copperslip on all moving parts. (don't get it on the surface of the pads)

Edited by Carlo diesel
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Corroded rear discs, well nothing good will happen here I'd reckon as is just the way things are!  For example, my wife has a new Aug 15 Polo and I reckon that unless I/she starts to drive it Kamakazi style I will need to replace the discs before it gets to two year sold.  In your case, using that car in the non-caravan season might be letting the lack of hard use rear discs "go off".  I'd have rear discs over rear drums any day, so I'll just put up with them needing changed a few times, though maybe VAG's rear disc supplier is providing discs of a material that is "more prone" to "going off"?

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JB, AB is correct, only the O/S fog lights up.

You would need to do a voltage check at the O/S bulb just to make sure you have power to it. No voltage  =   no feed. So you would need to have that checked out.

Try a local car electrical place if you don't want to pay main dealer prices.

 

Re, your brakes.

Its a reasonably easy job to do.

Remove calipers and brake disc. No need to disconnect brake pipes & no bleeding required. 

Clean up surface of brake discs with a rub down prep pad.

With some course emery or the like surface up the pad material, keep it flat.

Refit with a touch of copperslip on all moving parts. (don't get it on the surface of the pads)

 

I think that by what the OP is saying, the discs are beyond a quick rub/scrub up, they are grooved, which might be okay, though maybe the rear faces are heavily corroded and that info has been left out by the garage, a quick skimming with a lathe would sort them but cost probably 10 times the cost of fitting new ones and pads.

Also, living in the same area almost, I'm surprised that this winter has caused this problem, but there again, the constant rain has also trashed the discs on my wife's new Polo!

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I see you have the 170 bhp Yeti like I have, my discs could be similar, looking at the discs on my car, only a small area near to the hub is shiny where braking effect is happening, the outer 2/3rds of the circumference is heavily corroded. It has happened on both sides on mine but as the car recently got through ti's MOT and the brake efficiency was fine, neither myself or the garage are inclined to change them just yet. Further investigation in the Yeti technical section found that there seems to be a problem with the Bosch brakes used on these cars and the pins that the calipers slide on seize up over time. The Plumber has done a replacement and posted an how to thread in there, showing a modified kit out there to replace the sliding pins.

Ian

Edited by countryboy
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Rear discs. Had to have discs replaced at 4 years old and 38000miles. Very rusty. Never had this on other makes of cars with similar usage. Cheap materials comes to mind but good business for suppliers/ garages! Our Skoda garage says that this is very common on Yetis. Why????

Edited by survey
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I had the discs and pads replaced during the service, just a bit scunnered with the poor service life. The dealer assures me that the sliders and pistons are all functioning correctly.

I've heard it said that modern discs are softer and should be considered more of a consumable than they used to. I remember a mate of mine getting 100 000 miles out of the original front discs on his XR3. The replacements fitted by ford only lasted 15000. Go figure.

The fog light is a conundrum. If the Near side works, are we saying that both rears have been enabled via VCDS at some point and that some subsequent fault has occurred, perhaps involving the towbar wiring? Any recommendations for independant techs in Central Scotland?

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My Yeti's brake discs are still smooth and rust free after 4 years and 35000 miles.  I tend to brake gently if possible.  The answer seems to be to keep the discs dry by keeping the car in a garage and not washing it before putting it away.  (OK I know, that counts as pampering by today's standards) Even a single rainy night parked outside and there is a film of surface rust - the open design of the wheels gives the discs little protection from wind borne rain.

 

On other cars I have had discs with rusty areas which i have attempted to clean off with abrasives, but with very limited success, the best you can hope for is "shiny rust" if you know what I mean.  Passing the MOT is not a very stringent test, i would be unhappy if the effective area was less than say 75% of the total.

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I'm wondering if the OP's car has had the N/S fog light enabled by the factory by mistake as I wouldn't have thought fitting a towbar and electrics would make that happen, I presume it has a vehicle specific wiring kit fitted which just plugs into the control unit at the front of the car and is enabled by VCDS, unless the fitter ticked the wrong box changed the fog light from O/S to N/S.  I have a towbar and electrics on my car and all the functions work no problem.

 

Ian

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The answer seems to be to keep the discs dry by keeping the car in a garage and not washing it before putting it away. 

The not washing it parts not a problem, but the car lives in the open.

I'm wondering if the OP's car has had the N/S fog light enabled by the factory by mistake as I wouldn't have thought fitting a towbar and electrics would make that happen, I presume it has a vehicle specific wiring kit fitted which just plugs into the control unit at the front of the car and is enabled by VCDS

Wouldn't have thought the car would get through the original factory check, plus PDI, plus approved check before sale to me with wrongly assigned light. I have a vague memory of checking all the bulbs some time last year and it all working ok but I might be imagining that. I think the kit was retro fitted by the supplying dealer at the original point of purchase, but it may have been fitted by a third party. Whereabouts does the official kit plug in to the loom? 

Was it set up for a continental trip and forgotten about, I wonder.

 

I've played about with the headlamp beam LHD option but it doesn't make any difference.

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The not washing it parts not a problem, but the car lives in the open.Wouldn't have thought the car would get through the original factory check, plus PDI, plus approved check before sale to me with wrongly assigned light. I have a vague memory of checking all the bulbs some time last year and it all working ok but I might be imagining that. I think the kit was retro fitted by the supplying dealer at the original point of purchase, but it may have been fitted by a third party. Whereabouts does the official kit plug in to the loom?  

I've played about with the headlamp beam LHD option but it doesn't make any difference.

My tourist mode makes no difference to my fog light too, it just flattens the dipped beam. The official wiring kit will go to a control unit behind the interior trim on the N/S wheel arch, it then goes forward to a control module under the dashboard which is it's connection into the canbus system.

Ian

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I assume that the OP's Yeti is a pre-facelift car.

Back in 2010, there were various posts about how to activate the N/s rear fog light. It could not be done on RHD cars without introducing new wiring because there is no fog light wire (or pin) in the multi-way loom connector to the N/s light cluster.  Which is why in the various posts regarding the difficulty of activating the N/s fog light, merely activating it via VCDS was not possible.

ie the LHD car's loom has no Right Hand fog light wiring, and RHD cars have no left hand fog light wiring, even though in both cases, the light cluster does contain a bulb in the inoperative bulb holder.

 

Now, it maybe that Skoda modified the loom at some point after 2011 so that both LHD & RHD looms are now the same, but I've not seen such information posted anywhere on here.

So I suspect that if the N/s fog light is working on a RHD car, then either someone has added extra wiring to power that bulb (by linking across to the O/s loom maybe), or in error the car has had a LHD rear wiring loom fitted either at the factory or following a repair.

Edited by speedsport
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I've heard it said that modern discs are softer and should be considered more of a consumable than they used to. I remember a mate of mine getting 100 000 miles out of the original front discs on his XR3. The replacements fitted by ford only lasted 15000. Go figure.

This is true. Asbestos used to be used in brake pads, shoes and clutch plates. Its use is now banned, and I don't think they've yet found a suitable alternative that is as effective without wearing out the disks :(

http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/mechanical-repair/asbestos.htm

Jim

Edited by muddyjim
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When I purchased my 170 Yeti in August 2011, the previous owner had only done 2,600 miles from the car being new in March 2010.  The car was - and still is - in 'as new' condition, but the rear discs were showing signs of degrading even at the low mileage when I became the owner.  Further investigation revealed that the first owner drove the car 5 miles to the railway station and caught the train to London on a daily basis - hence the low mileage.  The brakes were not really being used, and with the bigger 170 discs on the front, the rear discs were under-used.

 

I tried to clean the rear discs, with a moderate degree of success, but failed to get them back to the same 'shine' as the front disks.  I don't drive on my brakes and the combination of diesel compression and a feathering of the powerful front brakes, coupled with a lot of 30/40mph limits, means that the brakes are not exercised as much as I would like.  The rear discs are, IMO, lazy and under-worked; they do get used more when the caravan is on the back, but good forward planning means that the brakes are not used much more than when driving solo.

 

Finally had all discs, cambelt changed, and full service last March.  Like others have already said, change of pad materials doesn't help and unless you lean on the brake pedal with a heavy foot, the rear discs - on the older Yetis at least - seem prone to rust.    

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After 2.5 years and 48000 miles still on original pads and discs ( which look in great condition). Also original tyres have done approx 33000 miles ( winters have done approx 15000) and still have some useable tread left. I'm not particularly hard on brakes and tyres but don't hang about either.

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I find the discs get light corrosion after driving rain at nights hits them when parked. The surface corrosion is removed by the time I get to the end of the road.

Regarding severe corrosion I have never had any problems. I believe it's because I do about 14000 p.a. and always drive the car for a short distance after washing it.

My wife's car only does about 5000 p.a. and when she had a Citroen ZX Aura we had to replace the discs every year! The dealer said they were warped due to low usage!? Her last two Peugeots have had no problems at all.

I hope my Yeti, because I do a reasonable mileage and "dry" the discs after washing the car, doesn't have the problems posted here.

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Christ - all this "replace your disks" nonsense - does nobody just skim them anymore? Seriously, 30 seconds on a lathe would remove all the crud and have them looking & working like new again.,

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Christ - all this "replace your disks" nonsense - does nobody just skim them anymore? Seriously, 30 seconds on a lathe would remove all the crud and have them looking & working like new again.,

Due to how relatively inexpensive rear disks are and the dearth of anyone that can skim disks properly nowadays it's probably just as cheap to replace them with premium quality disks and pads.

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John, bring it back round some time and I'll see what VCDS shows up, or let me know when you're in work next and I will pop down at lunchtime and scan it.

 

 

Domhnall 

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