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Well this was something else.... Not bad for 14 hours work.

Hi All, Below you will find a solution to the handle snapping off from the ski hatch (common Skoda bullpoop for Octavias and Superbs). Mine was quoted 280 GBP for repairs as my 2017 superb was out of warranty. Should take 20-60 mins depending on your DIY experience and . I will post my thought process after the solution to not bore you. Just please, after you have unlocked the ski hatch, instead of pulling on the handle with all your might, push on the arm rest instead to pull the lid away from the seats ! It's a Wonky DIY fix ! SOLUTION - Make your own piston (fixing on a spring): I engineered a piston to pop out into the hole on a spring , securing the handle. I had a bracket intact on the right side, so was just the case of pulling it out to hold the handle there (after lots of messing about) Tools (basic): I had all of my tools in my toolbox (too lazy to go find my cordless drill), scavanged resources as I went: Nail of approx 50-60mm length, strong nail with a small head. Screwdriver , 2 screws approx 50mm long, 1 narrow and 1 wider core (to match or be wider than the nail) OR a drill with a narrow drill bit to accomodate the nail Small (or any really) wallplug which will tightly fit the nail (stop) old or any ballpoint pen spring (worth the sacrifice) tool to cut the spring any tool or screw to pull an existing right fixing (if it is intact, otherwise figure a static fixing yourself) Steps: See video or text below 1. Pull the right handle fixing out of the ski hatch frame with a screwdriver or any other way (hook screw for me). * If you have that broken off, just assess the situation and think which side of the handle you want the spring piston to be attached to. create a static fixing like a screw on the opposite side 2. Drill or screw 3 holes through the left* side of the handle (if your right side is sorted). TRY to align the holes in parallel to the handle face, as I had mine at an angle. Had to mangle a massive hole in the ski hatch frame. 3. Take a spring out of a ballpoint pen and cut it to approx 2-3 cm length. Can always adjust later. 4. Place it on your nail and slide the nail through the holes to see if it pops out after you push it in 5. cut a wall plug with any tool to have approx a 1cm section which will tightly fit the screw 6, place the plug in the large section of the handle and hammer the nail through it to create a brake for the nail, so that it doesnt fly out of the handle (ski hatch has a hollow frame) 7. check if your nail pops out but stays within all 3 holes for stability 8. expand the left hole of the ski hatch with a screwdriver or other tools to fit the head of the nail when it pops out 9. place the handle back into the ski hatch, first matching the right side, then the top ridge, then push the nail into the handle to contract the spring, and finally push the whole handle in 10. check that the nail has popped into the expanded hole, and if it didnt, make the hole bigger 11. Test a couple times if it all works, and enjoy your ski hatch again ! ============== P.S. ======== Sorry if you don't like the track on the video You probably understand my though process now. I thought that it would be nice to have some sort of a springed fixing (piston?) to attach to the handle , then inspected the handle, found a ballpoint pen in my toolbox, thought about a spring , found a nail, spring fit, had an idea. Tried it, worked. You are all welcome! and hope it lasts ! Love my Superb, although disappointed with Skoda for classing this as a Wear and Tear damage on a 4 year old car 😞 GOOD LUCK !

This evening's moon is remarkably orange!

You cannot get them from Skoda, unfortunately discontinued end of 2021 along with a lot of other Fabia Mk1 parts!

Dremmel did the job cleaned out the tubes and new cables dlid in handbrake feels fantastic now thanks guys.

Perishable shock absorber seals? - Perish the thought!!!! Every Skoda that I have owned has had sagging and/or broken coil springs, I have replaced them all with Lesjofors usually going for higher load rating ones on the rear. I also agree that the dampers are what need attention but inspect the springs carefully, I bet at least one has lost the taper ground end and has a fractured end bearing on the spring platform.

Supie 2021 L&K,147kw dsg 35000km

Seats work with ignition on but engine off.

A few from Brands Hatch today.

This would be the right one from that website.... https://www.jandrcvjoints.co.uk/skoda-fabia-1.9-diesel-2005/product/bootkits-511/cv-boot-kit/BK187

So hi everyone. I have a remapped vrs tdi which is about 235 to 240 ( awaiting dyno figures to be sure) and i would like a bit more turbo howl, woosh, owling whatever people call it. my reasons are i like the noise and i am using my car as a mobile advert hence more noise more attention. It has basically standard barring the flash map. How is it possible to get a bit more noise out of the turbo, i know the exhaust helps etc but tonight i heard an a3 tdi howl like mad when he changed gear? I know ill get the whole "why do you want this" beef but a different hat for every head and all that. I am genuinely after some help with this please.

Hi! Been lurking a little while but not posted. Having had a Superb estate for four years from new, I just got myself a new iV PHEV Superb Estate, and I've never before bought the same car twice. If anyone is unsure about this car I can say for my family it's really impressed us. We just completed a trip to Austria and back and I was a little nervous about mpg, hoping for high thirties realistically, (fully loaded boot, four adults onboard plus a massive roofbox filled with four sets of boots and skis and other holiday essentials!). I was really impressed with how the car manages it's power sources, even after the battery range has been depleted the energy recovery and smooth switching through the gearbox is masterful engineering. Driving at around 140km/hour for about half the journey on autobahns, and between 100 and 130 in France, Belgium, Holland and Austria, the car returned 41.2 mpg. I couldn't believe how good this is, as previously I owned a dreary Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with a dumb 2 litre normally aspirated petrol engine - on the same trip at similar speeds it returned 24mpg. It never went abroad again after that! I'm happy to say this Skoda is fit for long trips in comfort and relative economy as well as serving my daily commute on nearly all battery. If in doubt, don't worry, this is a great car!

No probs mate 👍

Cheers Lee, I wouldn't have noticed those issues. If they're 404-ing then it may be because they're linked to the old addresses with Geocities. I had issues across the board with this and I think these are ones I didn't transfer. I'll sort that out tomorrow morning.

Yes The car is awesome. We have it in Mamba Green Estate and we love the car. The petrol engine is awesome, interior is stunning and driving the car is pure joy 😁

So I used to live near (60miles north of) Helsinki and would drive maybe once a week to the office. When the clocks moved, I would either need lights or not. Back in September, my wife got a new job, so we moved another 300km north. My commute is now 400km. It's difficult to relay how different the roads are here to the UK. Of the 400km down, the first 50km is lit. Then it's darkness all the way until about 25km before Helsinki. There are junctions that are lit, small sections maybe, but most of it is dark. And in October, November, that means *dark*. No snow to reflect light, just damp asphalt that eats it. I'd not realised how bright moonlight can be until a trip a few weeks back. But we're hurtling towards summer again now. It's still not completely dark outside and it's 2130 here. We're a complete 2 months away from the solstice. For the next weeks, when I drive down, it will be light. When I come back up, it might be dark for the last couple of hours - in a month or so, not even then. Then, in July, things will start rapidly getting darker again... Now add in the wildlife: that's the foxes, bunnies, wolves (yes, really), badgers, wolverines, deer and elk that roam the place. You want to see them well ahead of time, and i'm driving during dusk and sunrise, the times they're most active. I would much rather see them than meet them. And to be honest, the traffic levels here.... well, the other week I counted 10 cars coming the other way on the 9 between the motorway south of Kuopio and Suonenjoki. That's about 30kms, so call it 20 minutes of driving. It gets busier closer to Jyväskylä, but it's normally pretty empty. So light becomes *really* important, as you don't want to be caught out with an Elk when it's -26C. This is all road-legal in the EU, the reference is only 45. With 35 from the original lights, we're at 80. 100 is the limit. TL;DR:light is life up here.

i ordered my Skoda Scala montecarlo in february this year... Got an update that it will be delivered to Slovenia in the last week of april or first week of may

Hi I broke the sensor trying to get it out so had to take the disc off. Thats when I thought ****e it’s the hub, sections missing etc due to rust and breaking up maybe around 70k ( can’t really remember) wasn’t much visible rust to be seen, just the thin metal of the abs ring

Neaten up all the other retrofits and install rear seat heating and 3 zone climate control.

What engine, tdi or tsi? what size engine?

No software changed at all. Brettikivi describes the process perfectly. The whole process shouldn't take more than 5 mins

Brilliant, thanks for sharing @Komap Now a video on fixing rusty pliers please! 😁

https://m.facebook.com/skodafavoritclub/posts/946837022003733/?refsrc=deprecated&_rdr

A little silicone grease helps.

as Ecomatt says 312mm up front and 272mm in the rear. The pre MY16 VRS TDi and all petrol VRS have 340mm fronts. Unless you're trackdaying your car, just get OEM equivalent pads and brakes.

J&R is..... https://www.jandrcvjoints.co.uk/catalogue/drive-shafts-509

just looking at that without googling the part number, I'd take an educated guess you've got an Amundsen and you're going to need an OEM sd card. I'd be more questioning the dealer as to why the car wasn't sound with one, or were they an optional extra?

This video is a VW Golf but it's practically the same. If you look at the video at about 7:40 he said he used heat on the tube to soften the broken plastic piece to get it out....

You can slightly move the steering wheel too. Or on cars with ACC, radar triggers the car in front moving off and starts the engine.

No, a much better garage this time haha 😅 I haven't been back to that garage after they messed up my brakes sometime last year. They hadn't bled them correctly twice.

Another car wash. Summer wheels back on, manual polish but got tired so pulled the dual action out to apply wax. Even tyre gelled after the grief I got last time 😉

Wonder why it’s so annoying for some, to remember to disable stop/start with that thing… ermmmm…. what is it….. it’s on the tip of m…. YES, I remembered; it’s A SWITCH?!? You don’t forget to turn a key or press a button to start it, so why is pressing the Stop/Start disable switch such a faff?

I have a set of 18" Octavia III VRS Gemini alloys on my Superb. These look so much better than the original 16" Moon alloys the car came with, the only problem is now I need some spacers and lowering springs to complete the look. 😛

This should do the job. Problem solved.

Yep, I sold my old one three weeks after Scala landed. I like the fact that the old chap is still happy and driving around with a new owner 😁😂

Didn’t get any time on my car over the weekend as was offered complementary box seats to watch Arsenal vs Brighton, which of course I couldn’t turn down Great day out but glad I didn’t have to pay the £540 per ticket for me and Zee to go watch, especially as I’m a Liverpool fan 😮 Anyway, the issue with the valve lifter has been resolved. Had a chat with the engine shop and explained my situation. The advise I was given was that as long as the lifter can be pressed down it was all good. Winner. So I cracked on with getting the head rebuild starting with re-oiling everything as I should really be using the assembly lube but as I’m reinstalling the original cam, lifters and springs I’ve been told I’ll get away with just oil. So I soaked it all! The cam-caps were reinstall with new bolts, torqued to 12nm + 270 degrees. Obviously, you can’t just chuck them on in any old fashion and simply torque them down as you could bend the cam. So, I started with the outer caps first, tightening as far as I could with my fingers, then onto the middle two. Although the bolts felt tight, the caps were miles away from the final seated position, so grabbed a 3/8 ratchet and the #10 multi-spline socket. As I screwed in the bolt I could feel when there was resistance and moved on to the next bolt. I Kept doing this until the caps were just about flush with the head, then swapped to a torque wrench. The fancy torque wrench I have access to has a degree function, which made life much easier. Before I put on the cam rockers, I grabbed a spanner to make sure that I had put it all together correctly and that everything spins and moves as it should, which of course it did Next up was to put back on the cam rockers, which like everything else was put back in the same position it was taken from during the strip down. The big bolts weren’t stated as needing to be replaced, so reused the old ones. The were torqued down to just 10nm. Again, have the cam sprocket a few turns to make sure everything is still a-ok. As the injectors have been removed I need to adjust the injector lash. Nice and simple job, but I could only have a little practice using my eye as I couldn’t get my hands on a DTI gauge at this point. I reattached the three black brackets, along with the tandem pump bolts just as a exercise to try and reduce the pile of nuts and bolts I still have left Cambelt & waterpump kit was bought today, along with a new auxiliary belt ready for Friday when the install starts. We’ve only got 4 cars booked in for tomorrow, so I’m hoping I’ll get a good start on the strip down tomorrow afternoon. The plan is to get everything ready and stripped off my car tomorrow afternoon / evening so that Friday morning I can walk straight in with literally the first job being to take the cylinder head currently on my car off. Once it’s all off I should have a much better idea as to where exactly oil is leaking from and get a parts list together, if necessary, as the local motor factor is open on good Friday I’ll also clean up the oily mess whilst everything is out of the way, including the battery and tray etc. That’ll give me Friday to reinstall everything and work through any problems …..

Try hitting the ball of the towbar with a hammer, so you're hitting it towards the car, i.e. it's levering it up, whilst at the same time trying to turn the release lever. If it's been on a while it could be a bit seized and a good whack can free the locking mechanism up.

The OE towbar is made by Prof Svar, not Westphalia. Like @softscoopsaid, the key number is engraved on the lock. A dealer might be able to get you a replacement if you give them this number.

I suffered that issue not so long ago. I used OBD11 to do a basic headlight adjustment routine and that sorted it.

Sometimes the next "size" up is cheaper due to present usage/demand, that was the way it was when I bought a new battery for my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI - but remember if you choose to do that, check that the battery tray can handle the next size up, VW Polo at least, use a different battery tray for each of the battery sizes - though I think that you could possibly just cut the raised lip off at one end and let the battery slightly overhang or maybe just sit on top of where that raised lip was. Edit:- that 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI (16V) 110PS came from factory with a 027 size battery which is 59Ah and 242mm long, I am replacing that with a slightly cheaper 096 size battery which is 70Ah and is 278mm long and is an AGM - that was my choice at the time of organising getting hold of a replacement battery, probably overkill - as usual!

I used it on my Touareg a while ago and it worked great,

Pedal box is a box that you plug in between the accelerator pedal and the car that allows you to tune the feel. Can make a big difference especially if the actual power of the car is enough. Induction kit is a replacement intake. There has been videos on tuning the 2.0 and induction kits usually add noise only and can sometimes reduce the power. What I would do if not willing to wait for a map under a different insurance company: - Pedal box, your insurance may not increase as the power isn't affected. - Check the air filter is clean and the oil changed and run it on premium fuel permanently (not just a tank now and then). - Consider handling upgrades like lowering springs and/or sport shocks. - Last but probably the most important thing so should be first, good tyres. Make sure they are all the same and you check the pressures. Maybe even play with the pressures to fine tune the ride and handling.

If you check out what people are doing while driving, than you understand immediatelly why so many drivers drive in the fog without turning on low beams with rear lights, yet alone turning on rear fog lights.

Just in case I haven't got enough pictures of my Sportline iV - I took some more today after fitting the summer Supernova wheels.

6 months of owning and we love it even if it has a few flaws due to being 10 years old but she is a beauty! I suspect she was a demonstrator with the colour and the end of the reg! I keep getting people stop me in car parks and tell me how good looking she is 😍🤩 2.0 TDi Elegance 4x4 with L&K pack

my 2010 170 tdi dsg.fitted with the v6 exhaust

Poor man's S4 Avant... Until I can get the money together for a B7 RS4 this will keep me entertained! Got lots planned with a BBT K300 turbo next on the shopping list.

Have not had time to work on body but I did lower my car. Before: After: Now parts used are mishmash. I have Eibach lowering springs in the front with VW Polo 6N upper strut mounts. They are roughly 10-15mm lower than stock ones. Front Eibach spring only lower around 30mm. Stock on left: But also comes with an issue. Cup that mounts on the very top of the sturt has to be much shallower. Even the shallow ones I got are not enough. Whoops! Stock parts were actually not that much better. Anyway, in the rear I have H&R lowering springs because they lower the car around 40mm compared to only 30mm on Eibach. If I have any issues then I might install H&R in the front aswell. Now you may wonder why I even bothered doing something stupid like this. Uhm.... Yeah. Lets hope everything stays together.