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Another thought, if your black plastic trims, perhaps the wing mirrors too, unless they're painted, are now grey, wash them off, wipe over with alcohol, allow to dry and coat with a very thin film of baby oil. Cheap as chips (actually much cheaper nowadays) and works. It may need a re coat every few months, but it's so cheap it's worth it. I posted the wrong link above a better one is https://youtu.be/kVYPYF_n_Ms

Jenolite is good, I think it has both tannic and phosphoric acid in. I used to use Lanoguard, and before that I've used the Bilt Hamber stuff. Have a look at mobile rust doctor on youtube. He recommends the BH stuff, and interestingly suggests NOT power washing, but just dry brushing and treating. He says why on the vids. Yours are ok from what I see in the pictures, definitely worth doing. The suspension bits should be reasonably ok, otherwise it would have been flagged at the last MOT. With the chassis don't be afraid to really mechanically attack the rust. If it's gone through, welding repair is a must. The car is generally worth saving, as they were build better than the modern Stellantis style offerings. I was lucky as I bought mine about 8 years ago and did everything I could see, so the suspension got coated then, with Lano, but every year it needed doing again in places. With BH it gives a dryer coat that is more robust, and is overall cheaper. They also have a tech department which has proved useful when I had my usual picky questions, though their website info is very comprehensive. One thing that is useful is a compressor so you can blow all the dust away before coating, then because everything is dry, the jenolite can creep into everything. I was surprised also how much loose paint flakes got lifted and removed by the air. Another thing is having a large 2 deep plant watering tray to put on the ground to catch the crud, then it's just lift it and tip it. If you use an electric wire brush anywhere, avoid the angle grinder ones. They are dangerous, and burnish the rust instead of just removing it. It looks good, but the surface then stops the Jenolite getting down to the metal. The BH stuff also has rust inhibitors in, so any bits you can't get with Jenolite will be caught by BH, which will also go over grease at a push, so no need to worry about degreasing. My budget for anti corrosion and other MOT related fixes is £2000 a year. Sounds a lot, but it's £40 a week, and where can you get a car for that? If it passes the MOT it's a useful piece of kit, if it fails it's useless, and worth very little. Here's a rustdoctor link, https://youtu.be/1RAw9UqUZXM (and there's more) his vids are good, whereas some, well................I have better ways to waste time. Would be good to see how you get on. Mine will be welded in just over a week, so I'll post the finished results. I will take the liners off again next year, if I had done that 8 years ago I wouldn't have welding to do now. Every day's a school day.

I followed the instructions and smartlink is activated, thank you

Hi everyone, I recorded two videos of a strange noise coming from somewhere around or behind the glovebox on the passenger side, although sometimes it sounds like it’s coming from the center of the dashboard. The car is a Škoda Octavia IV 1.5 TSI e-TEC mild hybrid. In the first video, the noise occurs when I release the accelerator and the car goes into coasting/mild-hybrid mode, with the engine shutting off and the RPM dropping to 0. At that moment, I hear this strange sound. When I press the accelerator again and the engine restarts, I hear the same sound again. It sounds almost like some kind of flap or actuator opening and closing. In the second video, you can hear basically the same sound, but this time I’m manually turning the climate control/AC off and back on. Has anyone experienced something similar or know what could be causing this? Video_01.mp4Video_02.mp4

Yeah, that's pretty much what the service manager at my dealer said regarding driving it to get the SOC back up, unless you're doing a multi-hour trip on the open road at decent (or indecent...) speeds. Far better to occasionally charge put it on a tender, a lot less hassle and expense. This is a good explanation of the differences between EFB and AGM batteries: Do you need EFB or AGM Battery?| VARTA Automotive BatteriesEFB or AGM? Find out which battery suits your vehicle best ► Compare VARTA® battery technology for start-stop and high-energy vehicles.I think Skoda/VAG just tried to save costs fitting EFB batteries with the smart charging system, given the amount of electronics on these cars, particularly the higher spec models an AGM is a much smarter choice IMO.

Yes that's where mine was, however, I can't get the MPG into the middle screen......!

Great info thank you so i had my passenger side rear liner off a couple of days back as i am going to degrease,power wash and treat those and the cills first before i get into the underside. I decided to buy jenolite rust converter to cover first before I use Lanoguard underseal kit to finish off. I’ve also got new capscrews to replace all of the liner ones as a lot of them look rotten. I have attached some pics how bad are these would you say am I fighting a losing battle or am I in a half decent position?

I have a Kodiaq with 18 inch wheels on Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons and they seem good but they've only been on a few months so I haven't used them in bad weather or snow yet. Previously I'd had Michelin Cross Climates on an Octavia 4x4 and they were excellent and would have been my first choice for the Kodiaq but the Goodyears were significantly cheaper

Hello everyone, I'm desperate, after installing all 4 shocks bilstein b4 a noise comes when passing from certain holes, déformations....little knock from all 4 shocks! Everything is new arms, shocks, adaptation(module 14) is done! Sometimes the shocks sims loose! Every bolt is ok Everything sims ok, but that noise... skoda superb 2017 2.0 tsi L&K 280cv 4x4! H&R installed! With oem shocks Everything is ok......

Trying to get the SOC back up by driving the car, especially with the present smart charging is not a great idea IMO and just a waste of fuel The family, Jan 2026 Polo,only seems to keep the SOC around 72/74% and a round trip last May dropping someone off at the Airport bears out the very low charging rates. The average charging ignoring engine off time and starting load was ~ 3.9A at 13.51V and, even after 23 miles the charging rate was less than 4A on overrun at 14.8V (SOC still only 72%). However, I will let it soldier on, the other 7.5 year Polo now passed down the line previously operated almost the same as this one and if I can get 8+ years out of the battery in both I will be happy enough I think, stop/start always works when requested so perhaps running at ~ 70% SOC isn't that such of a disaster after all?. LOG-261C10532-logged Airport Battery Data2 74%.xlsx

thamestrader I was actually in drive when I braked at 75 mph to slow on the M5 near Torquay as the speed was increasing on the slope. Had to use the flappy paddles to put back into 7th. I find the only way to get the car to change gear at sensible revs is to use a really light throttle. My previous Scala 1.5 DSG was a completely different beast when it came to gear changing. Had a new manual Fabia colour edition as a loan car when mine went in for service and that car was telling me to change gear about 2000rpm!

On my 25 Sportline 1.5 DSG it displays in the middle screen when I have MPG showing, this is in normal mode, hope this helps.

235/45R20 fitted to 8J rims are very prone to kerbing damage. 235/55R18 fitted to 7J rims have excellent protection from kerbing damage, give a much better ride, are quieter, and are much cheaper. Changing to 18" wheels might cost around £500 more than fitting new 20" tyres, but the old 20" wheels could be sold to recoup some of the cost. These 18" wheels are listed in the car's CoC (Certificate of Conformity), so it's not a modification...and therefore the insurance company doesn't need to be informed. 18" alloy rims (Kodiaq MK1) https://www.skoda-parts.com/catalog/kodiaq/spare-parts/accessories/wheels-steel-aluminium/aluminium-wheel/18-890.html Continental AllSeasonContact 2 235/55R18 100H (Euro label B B 70dB) https://www.camskill.co.uk/m141b0s11820p235302/Continental_Tyres_All_Season_Car_Continental_Conti_All_Season_Contact_2_235_55_R18_100H_EVC_TL_Fuel_Eff_%3A_B_Wet_Grip%3A_B_NoiseClass%3A_B_Noise%3A_70dB

For some time now, almost everytime I pull away (backwards or forwards) it leaps, pauses and then pulls away as expected. I've asked the question of various persons in the know but failed to get a fix. Two weeks ago, I had the front brake pads replaced. They were getting "grabby" and were well worn down. Almost immediately I noticed that pullimg away was much smoother. The second go at pulling away trick has now gone. I can only think that the front pads were intermittently binding up on the disc and letting go at the second push. Hopefully, this will help someone else with the same or similar issue.

When it comes to selecting parts - it’s check, check and check again. Do not rely on the make and model selection on the website. Autodoc presented brake disc sizes for all models even though they confirmed my model. Progressive Parts (and others) list my engine as CJXA/DNFE when they’re the EA888 Gen3 and Gen4 with differences. The Superpro Lower arms TRC1070 are advertised as applicable to basically every car made by VAG, yet they’re only applicable for Golf/Octavia. Because the Superb has a much wider track, as does the Audi RS3 which is suggested too. Turns out the MQB chassis which is the MQB chassis is not the MQB chassis. It’s MQB-A0 (Fabia) MQB-A1 (Golf/Ovtavia) MQB-A2 (Q2, Ateca, Tiguan) and MQB-B (Superb, Passat). Nuances like that really make a difference.

I 've fitted twin horns on other cars in the past by just removing the single and connecting the new hi-lo pair to the original wire. I was young then. Now I'm more cautious, whats the practical thoughts on doing this on an Octavia Mk2? If I use 2.5mm2 wire I don't envisage a problem, but if I ask questions the recommendation is to fit another relay and add a fused power wire from the battery. That makes it a tedious job. Does any of the Mk2s have twin horns, and what size wire was used?

As has been suggested, take the arch liners off. Though the fronts will have some crud behind, these are not normally as bad as the rears. The offside being worse than nearside. So start with the rear offside. The wheel has to come off of course, then find all the screws They will be Torx 25. A 2mm or 2.5mm drill bit is useful to clear the muck out of the heads, then the bit doesn't slip. You may have to brush away mud from the liner to find all of the screws. Once they're off, the most likely rust spot is at the sill. A hand wire brush and a screwdriver will find the loose bits, but carry on tapping if it looks soft, and you may make holes. There is no magic fix, it has to be welded, no amount of zinc will fix it. If it's ok, I use Fertan or any other rust converter will do. Though Fertan will creep and convert surface rust if you cover it with plastic film for 24 hours. This stabilises the rust, then I use Bilt Hamber Dynax underspray. It is less marketed than other more well known brands, and recommended by restorers. There are youtube videos, lookup "mobilerustdoctor". I've just done all mine, found some holes which are getting fixed next week, and to do it throughly took 1/2 day each for the rears. See pic of offside.

There’s also spareto but I’ve bought some lower arms from there recently and then got a bill from DHL for import taxes that wasn’t really announced.

One thing I learnt recently is to not let the battery get too low as it can cause issues, primarily with the airbag module. I had a period of use that involved lots of short trips which let the SOC drop, next thing there was an airbag warning. Turns out that the low battery caused a fault with the module and it needed to be replaced as it was essentially bricked, I know in some countries there are places that can restore the modules but I'm not sure if we have any in new Zealand. My car was only a few months out of warranty and the dealer wanted to charge circa $2000 for the new module, when I made them aware that this was a known issue on MQB platform cars and that I thought they should go to Skoda for a goodwill warranty they coughed and spluttered a bit but agreed to talk to Skoda who thankfully came to the party. It seems in this market at least, Skoda ship the vehicles with the cheaper and less efficient EFB style of battery when they really should have AGM batteries. I'm still on the original battery but will definitely upgrade to an AGM when this one starts to go downhill, it still tests OK but at over 5 years I'm guessing it doesn't have too much life left in it. Like @Warrior193 I now put the car on a battery tender occasionally or if it's not being used for some time. So far, so good and FWIW I don't use ASS, it gets turned off as a matter of course before every drive.

My wife has the Fabia and I almost go through the windscreen when braking. The garage have given me a Fabia as a courtesy car and it is the same - I am slowly getting used to it! Will be a shock to the system when I get back into my Octavia and there is no brakes compared to the Fabia

I’ve never heard anyone comment on the DSG changing gear at high revs usually the comment is it changes too soon and they use Sport mode to hold on to lower gears for longer. I don’t suppose you are in Sport rather than Drive?

The Service Plan is with VWFS they pay whichever Skoda dealer does the service - its not linked to one specific dealer.

I took delivery of a ex demo SE l Edition DSG 1.5 tsi on Monday. Traded in my 2018 Suberb for it. Must admit having second thoughts now

Evening guys, just thought I'd put a few pics of my octy on his coilovers (prosport) just incase anyone was thinking of lowering there's, is a bit bouncy now but is still comfortable enough

Glad you found the problem. Weird how an ABS/speed sensor can affect steering. I take it it pinged up on vcds. I've managed so far with a cheap copy scanner for just fault codes/resetting but reckon as my cars getting a bit older will finally have to invest. Alasdair