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Not posted in a while here, changed my gear had a Canon 5D4 for a while which was superb, now gone mirrorless with an R5 and some RF glass. Taking a while to get used to it. A few shots below.

Yes. See the post on 24 Feb in this topic on page one from Planetse:- VW UK say 5 years regardless of mileage VW rest of the World say 160000 kms is a check only and replace if necessary. Read this email. 'I am happy to confirm that the information I previously provided is correct, and to confirm, the cambelt replacement intervals for your vehicle are 160,000 miles' 'Having your cambelt replaced every 4 years is a UK recommendation on most Skoda vehicles, but Skoda UK's Technical Department maintain that every 160,000 miles is the interval for a cambelt replacement on your Fabia based on the engine type and size' The Peugeot I had has belt changes listed at 120 000 miles or 10 years. I changed it at 8 years and 96 000 miles. Old belt was in good condition. Car still running at 18 years and 136 000 miles. Thanks, AG Falco

Think you’ll find most cars, and some very much more money than what you’ve paid with LED lights suffer from this problem, and not just Skoda. The other cars you’ve had that had old school glass headlights, ( that were probably banned by elf and safety) , would have halogen or xenon lamps that produced heat that dispelled moisture, LED lights run cooler and all suffer from misting.

Hi all, so an update to this situation. As most of you said the dealer wasn’t able to fit this themselves which was a shame. In fairness to them, they did try to find a way internally to do it but every tech person/department they tried all said no. I did shop around retrofitters and found a someone who can do it at a reasonable price. The dealer has said they’re happy to pay for that amount. I’d say a fair result in the end.

My thanks for all help. Seems I'm in the clear

I doubt the government give much of a rat's anus about older cars or their owners.

Re the Gap insurance, I went with one of the site sponsors as it was the best deal available.

A few things worth noting about ethanol in relation to its use as a petrol substitute: It has a higher octane rating than petrol (around 105-108) so it will ignite earlier in the combustion cycle It has a lower energy density than petrol (less energy for a given mass/volume of fuel) Higher ignition quality can be used to compensate for lower energy density if the engine is tune to suit; some modern engines can adjust ignition timing to match the fuel behaviour. Fuel lights earlier in the cycle so it gets more time to burn, and can burn more completely, releasing more of the fuel's energy. Higher ignition quality can also allow higher compression ratio and higher efficiency, but this has to be built in at the design stage. In blended fuels, the octane rating of the blend is the weighted average of the octane ratings of the individual components. If the UK is still using EN 228 as the standard for petrol, it does not specify a minimum octane rating for the individual components, only for the blend as delivered. In an ideal world, we might like the fuel manufacturers to use the ethanol mandate to increase the ignition quality of the fuel, but the reality is that they'll probably continue to make fuel with 95/97/99 octane rating as the market/regulations dictate, and take advantage of the higher ignition quality of ethanol to balance out the use of lower octane petrol in the blend. Depending on the blend, the potential is there for lower economy but it's difficult to quantify how much. On the rollout, as some posters have pointed out, it takes time to flush through remnants of old fuel from the tanks at a filling station (and at depots/refineries/etc.) so it is probable that there will be some kind of overlap period. I daresay if one were to dig around in the depths of the regulations it will specify how the overlap is to be handled. My guess would be that refineries/depots would be required to change over earlier in the run-up to the market introduction. Marking rules in EN 228 for pumps are that the pump must display the fuel being dispensed from that pump, so if it says E10, then it's likely E10 you'll get. Caveat emptor.

Fuel Conversation has been moved here:

I stand corrected, just tested it this morning and you are correct, the stats did update over WLAN Hotspot within the MySkoda App. Learn something new every day.

My father just had his Fabia mk3 cambelt changed and offered it to me to fit on my Octavia- no wear or stretch at all at 5 years old haha. My mechanic friend does lots of cambelts and hasnt seen a bad one for years- the material used now is far superior to what they used years ago plus a lot of modern engines dont run the cambelt around the water pump any more which reduces the stress and stretching too. My best friend totally neglected his 10 year old Honda Space shuttle never serviced it for the last years- didnt have any money to do so unfortunately ,cambelt had gone past the service by 5 years and he still had no issue with it- modern petrol engines sure are better than they used to be! Thinking of belts - i have had a Bosch washing machine from new for 23 years now- 2 sets of motor brushes, one drain pump are the only parts that have been replaced- but the belt still looks like brand new! My Citroen diesel engine cambelt was recommended change by the manufacturer- note not dealerships- 10 years, so i changed at 10 years- no stretch and still looked brand new- bearing in mind diesel engines are much harsher than petrol too! So after reading what i have written do you not think perhaps that all UK dealerships are in this Cambelt change together- i was told originally belt is for life on these cars and had a printout that was from Skoda factory, then Bristol Street Motors who gave me this printout - i was apparently given it by mistake when i questioned it a second time and told its a change every 5 years- you all make your own mind up and i will let you know in another 4 years how my belt is doing- car will be 10 year old then when i think i will change it for the first time.

Meteor grey VRS with aftermarket wheels and painted callipers 😁😍

This car has too much electrical cleverness, which doesn't always work very well. Instead of a perfectly good variable intermittent wiper, for example, it has a rain-sensing system which never matches wiper speed to amount of rainfall. One kind soul on this forum told me how to switch this off in the menus and use it manually, but even with that the fastest intermittent speed is too slow in many situations where the continuous setting is too fast (how Skoda, and presumably the VW group in general, managed to conduct hundreds of thousands of miles of testing all around the world without noticing this is beyond me). The curious thing is that automatic rain-sensing mode occasionally re-selects itself, which it obviously shouldn't, but even more oddly the continuous-wiping will occasionally start varying its speed according to rainfall, which shouldn't even be possible! This is only an annoyance, caused by manufacturers replacing something which worked perfectly with something that doesn't. However, something happened last week which is of far greater significance. I was reversing out of a supermarket parking space when a car drove past behind me. I am cautious enough for this not to have caused a problem, but it dawned on me that the car used to give a warning of this and, thinking back, it had been quite some time since I had heard that warning. When I got home I turned on Columbus and went into the appropriate menus, to discover that not only had it de-selected this option but had also turned off the blind-spot monitor. Now, these could be considered safety-critical features, in a way that rain-sensing wipers might not, and perhaps should not be turn-offable at all, let alone for the car to be able to turn them off without telling me! I would suggest, therefore, that we should all check the safety-feature settings in Columbus on a regular basis.

Diesel springs on the front and estate springs on the back should do it.

Right

Sounds like a fair result... as long as you get a warranty on the work, and the work doesn't invalidate the Skoda warranty. Might want to double-check that with the dealer...

Yes but by the time you change your car the technology will have moved on a lot and you may want to change your charger to suit. I’d leave it for the moment. I’m just using a handy outside socket.

Doubtful, that just speeds up the natural discharging of capacitors, which probably takes very little time after first terminal comes off battery anyway.

Yes but my point was that elegance was a UK trim level that went with classic and Ambiente. If they were still calling the top one Elegance, then they were still calling the lower ones Classic and Ambiente. S, SE and SE-L all came in at the same time. Hence the if they were calling the higher model Elegance that year, then they were calling the one now called an SE and Ambiente. What I'm saying is that I am pretty sure in the year your car was from, the UK equivalent model was called the Ambiente, not an SE.

The standard radio is a single DIN size....with either a cubby or drawer under it taking up the slot to make it a double DIN. However there is a trim space above top slot which is covered by the factory radio & this will now be exposed if you fit an aftermarket radio single or double DIN.. Part number 31 here:- Part number is 6Y0-857-231 or 6Y0-851-231-B41 dashboard dashboard fittings skoda Fabia [Fabia (2000 - 2006)] (7zap.com)

Enclosed LED fixtures would overheat and get damaged. They need to have some way to get ventilated, which is probably how the moisture gets in. https://lampslab.com/led-bulbs-ventilation/

IMO 6 clicks is ok, should pass MOT. I would recommend not to adjust below 4 clicks as the lack of movement of the lever mech in the rear drums hastens the inevitable tendency to stick on (due to pivot point corrosion). And the onset of "rear brakes" not wanting to release after being parked in rain etc. and drag when they finally release.

Blackcircle or ATS Euromaster can often supply Michelins quicker than others because Michelin own both of those retailers.

18 months and 12,000 miles, most of them driven pretty hard. A fair bit of wear, particularly on the outer shoulder. No sign of cracking or perishing.

Check the operation of the self adjusters (wedges). Also, when you changed them last time, you might not have got the shoes in the perfect central position (too far up or down). Check. Back off the adjustment wedges before removing the drums (otherwise you have difficulty removing the drums....I presume you know how to do this, there is a picture guide on Briskoda if you don't.....) Back them off completely before refitting the drums, (handbrake off). First thing is to operate the footbrake, after a few applications, press down hard on the footbrake a few times. Then pull up the handbrake several times, increasingly harder. Repeat until everything seem right, should have centralised the shoes and adjusted the wedges correctly.

Pfuuu...Hope that I can get my car until December

Any wheel / tyre of the correct size for the car goes in the spare tyre well and so will the tools. If the wheel / tyre does not match exactly the one on the same axle then treat as a emergency spare and slow down. Even if there is no warning sticker. http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/461276-spare-wheel-for-mark-2-fabia

Either way the sentence makes no sense. Paraphrasing: "This is really, really important to us so we're communicating poorly about it"

I am well pleased with my insurance that I took out for my 60 - GAP for two years and after that expert + 20% With 50% no claims 320 Euros p.a. A tad less than my Toyota Yaris!. French Insurer as I am in France. Excess 500 on damages however (except Wind screen).

G13 has been retired....to be replaced by G12++ or G12evo. [don't ask].

Front and rear colour-coordinated badges ordered from SuperSkoda (Kopacek) - it has to be done. And I had dispatch notification within the hour.

Me too!

Post a photo of the label.

Number 15 is the one you need to replace. I’ve found out the hard way and already replaced 2 sensors 🤦🏻‍♂️. If you look between the turbo through the gap you can see it just about at the back middle and the connector is located in gap of the air box and engine, brown plug.

Great example of experience taking a software driven computer-on-wheels to a traditional fossil engine dealer. The receptionist or the person giving your coffee won't know jack all. They are only there to look sleek. As with all main dealers, they feel the need to jack up the price to employ those people so you don't get to speak to the technical people in the know. Then the technicians have their hands tied to follow service manuals, and in this case, software update instructions. Unless manufacturer publish changelist like software releases, no one in the dealership (or anywhere) will know what has changed. They prefer you treat your car as a blackbox and physically visit them everytime there's a fault, wasting your time and money. I hate main dealers.....

Are you sure? I only ask as I've just been on the connect portal and it offered me a one month trial for the infotainment online stuff so I thought I'd try it... - checked the stats in the app, 18 days old - jumped in the car and turned on the ignition - phone connected via BT but wasn't wired in via USB - tried to use connect, as expected it was sad - poked the headunit until it connected to home WiFi - connect worked although underwhelming - checked the app, stats have updated! That suggests to me that the stats were updated via WiFi. It's possible it used BT so I'll try something similar tomorrow but with BT disabled to rule that out...

Expect the 190 to be slower (less power and torque) but better on fuel, also has the better 7 speed DSG too rather than the 6 speed. It will be fine fully loaded up for this size of car, just don't expect it to set your pants on fire. I'd expect the change was mostly economy/emissions related and the fact that the 220 eventually became 245 elsewhere in Skoda and VW group cars, which puts it too close to the 272/280 whilst leaving too big a gap between that variant and the 1.5 TSI. People swapping what would have been 2.0 diesel (150ps-190ish) purchases in the past, for petrol now, don't necessarily want 245ps. The bulk of Superb sales are under 200ps.

Indeed, as stated in the linked article, many places have already added the logos in advance, but that's not yet what is going into your car.

You / Your Mechanic can look at the belt by just removing one bolt and four clips. It takes less than ten minutes to do. The bolt hole is at the top of the black cover in the photo and is a Torx 30. Two clips are either side of the cover and want a flat head screwdriver. The other two clips hold two pipes in place on the face of the cover to the right of the label. Thanks, AG Falco

You heard some nonsense there. Nothing to do other than extract old, fit new. Careful not to break connector latches.

Suffix E is made by Eldor in Italy, I just bet suffix F is made somewhere else by someone else. The part itself won't have changed.

Well there's another diagram for cars built before that date, which probably has different versions of bits in it: camshaft timing chain; timing case; D ... - Yeti(YET) [EUROPA 2013 year] (7zap.com)

Snow foamed, washed, waxed, debadged, flaps added, roof rack and box added for Fam trip.

New wheels for my steel grey superb, love these new wheels

An interesting trick, IF you are having low battery issues, hold the key fob against your head when you press the button. The skull cavity acts and an amplifier for the signal (With t being a parabolic chamber its has a positive gain) and you should be able to enter the car.

When key battery needs replacing use a CR2032 (higher capacity, will last longer) which will fit even though it's 0.7mm thicker.

Erm - as in to buy or someone using it? They are super easy to buy, first hit on eBay for instance: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233866295090

Okay - I don't know why folk are going to G12 again; that doesn't seem right. G13 can be used in place of G12 and its variants. You can mix G12+ and ++ with G13 without any issues too.