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Because the saving lives bit has been thoroughly debunked as over egged and, whilst not false, largely incorrect in terms of scale. And because people value convenience and their time more highly than they value the issues that are 'solved' by the alternatives. I'm not saying either is correct but that's the way it is.

Made some progress today, thanks to a clever pal of mine who also owns a long ladder. We tried a few ground-level options first, without any improvement in the situation. Got the looong ladder up to it and we (I) tried bypassing the masthead amp while ground team tested to see if it worked without that involved. Nope. TV signal was noticeably worse, but box still wouldn't connect to internet via ethernet cable. Much headscratching later, Ed settled on the hypothesis that the TV rf was bleeding through to the ethernet port of the BT box somehow, which was then affecting the EE 4G router in some way. Testing appeared to support this. A laptop connected via WiFi running connection speed tests repeatedly, with BT TV box connected by ethernet reliably showed slower and more variable speeds when TV aerial was connected to BT box. Solution appears to be WiFi-based TV streaming things like Firestick. Thanks all. 🙂 PS, I didn't fall off the 7m ladder and die. Not even once. 😁

Thats been a decent series and has shown that used EVs are no more a gamble than a used ICE car in terms of needing major repairs, to my mind anyway. whenever someone says to me 'what about the battery failing?' I always counter with what about a blown engine or goosed gearbox on your ICE? Even old and therefore degraded batteries still have a range useful for day to day use, especially seeing as most commutes are less than 10 miles.

Pin 1 is earth, brown wire. Pin 4 is a switched 12V, black/violet wire. Pin 2 is labelled INT (intermittent operation?) on circuit diagrams, fed by a green/red wire. Pin 3 is labelled WW (wash/wipe?), a green white wire. These two wires originate from the BCM, and also connect to the terminals of the washer reservoir pump.

After the Buzzard encounter it turned in to a lovely evening..........

Arrived at a local country park earlier and this (? Buzzard) dropped a squirrel right in front of the car! My camera was in the boot sadly so had to make do with Dashcam footage Sorry to report the squirrel didn't make it although a real privilege to see up close........... L_20240824180012_35~5.mp4

Only if one is interested in old LEAFs. The LEAF was the forerunner mass market EV but the tech us known by many of us to be flawed. The battery pack only had passive heat release to the environment and particularly the 24 and even more so the 30 kwh pack can degrade faster the just about any other EVs battery pack. The Zoe which has also been made in the hundreds of thousands gas less issues due to its active air cooling and now all EVs as dar as I know are liquid cooled it is a non issue. EVs on average will achieve twice as many miles with the original engine in place.

Fronts yes rear no….

Haha, I, love the bus too, seeing as they don't cost me a penny and I can go almost anywhere in the country, but it's all the standing around at bus stops in all weathers and the sheer amount of time that it takes along with the time limits placed on my senior bus pass that does my head in. Plus of course at 75 years old I'm not any as nimble or fit as I used to be in my 40s or 50s and even getting up the stairs is a bit of a struggle these days as well. So on a pure financial basis the bus would a no-brainer option if it was just myself that needed to be somewhere (as long as it was within the time limits attached to the free pass) but sadly the body says otherwise. Using the bus pass sort of takes me back to the time when I worked on them as part of the "perks" was that I used to get free travel at any time on the National Bus Network, and I used to do just that, but things do change.

I'd be very interested to learn more about debunking slower speed limit saves lives. Selfishness. Got it 👍

Metro/underground would be the evidence of not needing a car I would have thought. Then quick link to multi modal link. Birmingham International Airport, rail and motorway hub, with HS2 being added in the next few years if the only place in the UK I can think off that has a host of modes in one place.

Actually I don't think freedom is the full issue. It's actually more to do with convenience.

@ecr7 I don't think there is any such involvement with CAN. CAN wiring is always labelled as such on wiring diagrams, and none of these 4 wires are. It's also implausible that the only connections to the washer pump would be CAN wiring. I've proposed this before but will reiterate here in the hope that someone may confirm, but this is how I think it must work, given the connectivity. Ignition switched power and earth - power up the minimal electrics/electronics inside the rear motor assembly, ready for input controlled action. WW input taken to 12V while INT is at 0V = wash wipe cycle initiated (washer pump will run in appropriate direction for rear wash while these inputs are so polarised). INT input taken to 12V and simultaneously WW taken to 12V, intermittent wiping function initiated and continues until both are taken back to 0V. (Washer pump won't run because both connections to it are at 12V). I can't see how else it can work, but would be happy to be shown if someone knows different.

Hi Don't discount the possibility that it's a wheel bearing. This gives a moaning/droning noise that gradually gets louder over weeks as the bearing wears. The pitch is proportional to road speed, and it's most noticeable at 30 to 50 mph on smooth roads when it isn't masked by tyre roar or wind noise. The noise will pervade the car and be hard to localise to one corner. Dipping the clutch and coasting won't affect it. Sometimes cornering one way will make it louder, but I found cornering to have no effect. For a 2WD car a rear bearing can be checked by jacking up one wheel and spinning it by hand. Front bearings are harder to diagnose due to driveline drag, but sometimes the vibration can still felt by holding onto the hub/spring whilst the wheel is turned.

Which probably reflects the quality (or lack) of the alternatives

Yes but that's a sleeper train which isn't a totally representative Price is it as it includes the "sleeper" element. The "base price for travel from London to Penzance by train is closer to £80 (which granted is still up there but is nowhere near the cost of having a cabin) and look at all those CO2 savings you can brag about to your green friends ;o) Meanwhile a National Express ticket for the same date/time is I do of course concur that the same journey by car would be cheaper especially if multiple people travelling presuming a petrol car at 40mpg thats 7.6 gallons/28.8 litres which at average london prices (£1.42/litre) is £40.90 (presuming fastest route taken) so actually the National Express price for an individual travelling is quite competitive plus you get driven

Magnets may well be there. Many recent (last 25 years approx) VW group cars use this system, with alternating magnetic poles in a ring integrated into the inner face of the wheel bearing assembly; Speed Sensors & Rings: A Complete Guide - ACTRONICS LTD

Michelin cross climates would be my choice . I've had them on my present MK3 and other cars prior to that . I've found them to be good all round tyres.

Thanks ☺️

This video is very informative I thought and helpful.

You'd want to be very confident that you can unlock driver's door mechanically with the key so that you can get to the bonnet release when you get back and want to reconnect the battery. No other issues occur to me.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! Just had this exact issue yesterday. Moved car 200mtrs and parked up - found fan running maybe an hour later. Remote would not unlock doors despite several attempts. Eventually doors unlocked. When I opened a door, fan stopped. Closed door fan restarted. It ran till battery was flat. This morning, I took the advice here and went for the relays marked 645 in the engine bay fuse box and replaced them. Jump started ok and I have engine warning and limp home power. Maybe mine was trying to do a regen yesterday?? I’ll need to get out for a good drive at high revs to try resolve it. I hadn’t had an engine warning light before. Car has over 400k kms.

Re that Hybrid charging. Maybe a 13kWh battery if it does 30 miles.) If the dude can park there and does park there as the cars are in the picture the cable from a 3 pin plug on an extension could be plugged in and charging. If that wall / road side is where the Driveway entrance is going to be if it gets planning permission. Stopping others being able to park there...

Thanks everyone. I have now released the glove box and replaced the fuse. I blew the 12v outlet when using a badly wired camp bed pump. I used a flat screwdriver to deflect the tabs as suggested above.

I would take them back, saw this recently when I had. The great idea of using my Octy coils on a Furby ( temporarily). Approx 1/2 - 1” too long . Not used them ECP for a long time but understand they do not have a good reputation for the right part. Get a refund and go somewhere else. ( well Iwould 😠) 🙂

On motorcycles we had decades of 25w/35w non halogen single headlights. I know what poor headlights have been like in previous decades. Headlights blows, try and replace or wait until dawn !

Oh for the record, I was implying that you said the buses were the answer, did you close, the railway goods service down? That was I believe the government of the day and hence the question was aimed at politicians, and hence why I don't have any faith in the governments over the current electric car policy which I firmly believe will be proven in due course to be the wrong strategy Problem is that for me to use the park and ride, I have to drive out of the city to park and bus back into the city to go shopping, juggle 5 or 6 bags of shopping onto a bus to go back to the park and ride car park and drive back into the city, zero logic there for me, just juggling the bags is a no-no, I can't walk that far, not particularly steady of my feet either, yes, yes, I know, the right tool for the job, which is exactly what I'm already using. I'm like you, speaking from a personal view point of what is right for me. You will never get the other options right for most people in today's society, people lead such a busy life now, many have second jobs in order to make ends meet, and the places that have to be at various times are these so often in opposing directions and locations. Years ago all shopping, banks, dentists, libraries, dentists etc all used to be in the town centres, these days that is no longer the case (London might still be one of the exceptions due to its maturity). In my city for instance, it used to be a small market town that has steadily grown over the years and is now granted city status. All the essential services that people used on a regular basis were all located in the town centre which was then tightly encircled by housing estates. This growth has meant that the town centre could no longer cater for peoples weekly food shopping requirements and many of the buildings were listed buildings and so knocking them down and building larger shops was not an option. That meant that supermarkets moved out to the edge of town where there was open spaces for them to build big stores and car parks. Then along come more housing estates beyond them and the shops etc that they vacated have converted into flats etc in the city centre so we have a city centre that is mainly residential and eating establishments with a couple of shopping malls that are decades old and there is not a single food shop in either of them. Now I have seen the same thing repeat itself time and time again all across the country in smaller towns. In the old days, you never had to wait long for a bus to arrive as the town was pretty small and so a bus would take only a few minutes to go from end to the other of its route these days the routes are so long that there are no routes that do that, all routes now from the edge of the city to the pedestrianised centre and back again, hence they are called shuttles now. So depending on where you need to go it could involve multiple bus changes and walk a across the pedestrianised centre to reach your next boarding point add in a fixed (currently £2 per bus, per person) it could be a lengthy and expensive process, and hence a car makes it so much more comfortable, quicker and easier and can also be cheaper than buses.

I never said saying buses are the answer. Right tool for the right job. The more built up area, the less cars. Cars go to park and ride then public transport into the said built up area. Key is having all the other options good enough so that most people use those as first choice. My main point is cars should not equal to freedom. This entrenched idea is what's driving the backlash against any sort of restriction and even at making streets safer. I totally agree that it is decades of poor short term decisions that lead us down this route. But it's never too late to change. Most of the time those fanning the backlash are not even remotely related to the area, just like recent racist protests.

I have 7000km on mone. No oil top up. VAG cars will consume oil if uou spend a lot of time in the top 1/3 ofthr rev range. I hada 2001 A4 1.8T. Sold after 240000km. I only ever once topped up the oil, and i had been driving the car hard that time. Regular and the occasional spirited driving stint will not consume excess oil.

But u don't have an RS3 engine......

People with cars also travel places without their car. This is the point of Park & Rides. The reason Train Stations had car parks, not just for staff. People from households use Public Transport if there is public transport. There are multiple occupied homes where people might be going different places in the 1.3 average cars. Then Bus tour holidays etc.

Just wait until the ad blue display says max 10l then put a full bottle in. It's a bit of a faff standing there holding a bottle up whilst it slowly trickles in so do it as rarely as possible.

This is my car, I took it up to @East_Yorkshire_Retrofits where they fitted blind spot assist and a rear view camera both work great and have a factory like finish. Since having the software updated I've had no problems with error messages or the infotainment system forgetting my favourites. I can't recommend Kieran highly enough, he really knows his stuff and it was well worth the 7 hour round trip to get these mods done.

Oh completely agree, I was simply clarifying the differences

On the subject of switching a car for train on a trip, how much do you think a sleeper cabin for an overnight train between London and Cornwall costs? £217, yes, that's right that's one way, not a return. No wonder car is king, well under half that price you can get 5 people to Cornwall.

Thu (22/08/24) Only really had half a day (food shopping in the morning and by the time I'd got to my mum's then had lunch it was about 3:30). Front Pads 1 Raised the front and supported on axle stands. Somewhat optimistically as it turned out, I removed both wheels and set to work removing the brake pads for a clean up and regrease. Before removing the wheels, I attempted to turn both. The near-side turned normally but the off-side was very stiff to turn indicating a problem. After some time researching on the internet to try and find what caliper I had for anything specific about removing the pads from these calipers I gave up and just had a go. The caliper seemed to be marked 542. Seems to be a large caliper for a Fabia but maybe that's because it's 105PS? It looked like the first thing to do was remove the wirey spring that clipped onto the top and bottom and into two holes in the caliper. Then I removed the two guide pins (each protected by a rubber cap) using a 7mm Hex bit. Thankfully, no turning nut to hold with a thin spanner as on some cars. After some light hammering, I managed to remove the caliper and tied it up to the coil spring, first removing the inboard pad from the piston. The outboard pad was stuck fast and wouldn't budge. I sprayed the contact points with penetrating fluid and left it a while. I eventually managed to release the pad, cleaned up all contact surfaces, greased with Ceratec and re-assembled. And that, was all I got done yesterday. Today (23/08/24) Front Pads 2 Did the same with the near side (the pads weren't stuck) which probably took half the time. There's always something to slow you down though. I'd already cracked open the rear bleed nipples (7mm) on Tuesday ( swiftly closed up), so now it was time to try those at the front. With a nice fat 10mm nut you'd think it would be no problem but a 10mm socket wouldn't fit. I tried a 10mm spanner on each of the (is it five) possible positions but on one it would not fit. Spent 10mins with a grinding attachment in my dremel type tool carefully grinding off what I assume was a burr on each of those sides until eventually the spanner fitted on, but tight. Then I used a 6 point socket from my impact set on a T-bar and after several applications of penetrating oil it cracked open.Phew! Bleeding Fairly straightforward with my years old Gunsons pressure bleeder. Followed the Rear Left, Rear Right, Front Left, Front right sequence. The fluid came out light green on the first wheel but got progressively darker as I moved on, looking dirty black by the finish, so probably not bled for a while. Underbody checks I'd already jacked up the rear to do the bleeding, so got underneath and checked the exhaust mountings, underbody fixtures (lots of plastic protection), then at the front, checked CV boot condition. steering gaiters, tie rod ball joint dust covers, lower suspension arm ball joint dust covers. Finally, while the front wheels were off, I gave them a clean on the inside with a mildly acidic wheel cleaner as it's obviously much easier to clean this area while the wheels are off the car. Replaced the wheels, torqued up and lowered to the ground.

@lol-lol You are having a laugh. The Pylons are still going up from Kintore to Tealing and then south, and the Substation. As to depopulation, well we know which Government has blocked the migrants coming and settling in Scotland. Manipulating Boundries really does not tell the story of a reduced population. The UK Government have no idea how many are in the UK or in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland or those other Isles that are part of the British Isles, / Channel Islands, IOM. (They do not count them on an count them off. Because that might be embarrassing / difficult to answer for.) Lets not shed a tear for EDF. When the last nuclear power station in Scotland, the only Nuclear power station i hope EDF pay the full clean up costs and not the tax payers or other energy company customers which seems to be the way things work out. (Lots of electricity produced by them in Scotland that was exported for use across the Border.)

Yes there is a control unit, it is inside the wiper motor assembly, it is a Canbus controller, the motor is not switched in the way you think it is which explains the bench test enigma. The wiper column switch switches a small control current from the relevant inputs of the body control module/comfort control module or whatever yours is called, this then sends data signals via Canbus to the wiper motor controller (and others that have an interest) and the switching is done on the circuit board of the wiper motor unit. It will have 4 wires, a large core live and neutral and a smaller twisted pair for the Canbus data line, if there are others then its because that node activates other equipment in the vicinity like high level brake light, door lock etc. Its all about reducing the switching current of switches and control buttons etc and reducing to a minimum current carrying conductors running around the vehicle relying on local controller nodes. You cannot test the operation of the motor in the way you would have done on previous vehicles, it requires a complete reset or rethink of your learned diagnostic experience and that goes for pretty much all the equipment on the Octavia 2 and later vehicles, the rear wiper motor is a good one to cut your teeth on and learn from, it was what opened my eyes. With VCDS and an understanding of how the canbus controllers work faultfinding, diagnosis and testing becomes very easy.

Here in my city, the railways used to have a pretty large goods yard and also small branch lines that used to run into local factory sites that are now large housing estates in the red square number 1 to the side of the station can be seen the old goods yard with small lines that used to go to Hoffman Ball Bearings factory, Marriages the flour millers and also Marconi's radio and TV transmitter factory, all now have gone and huge estates built. In the red square 2, there was another great big factory Crompton and Parkinson who made electric motors, electrical test gear, control panels and also did some electrical fit outs on diesel locomotives. When I was working on the engineering side of the then nationalised buses (Eastern National) who had the main garage and station on the other side of the road by the train station I often had to go and meet trains that were also carrying urgent spares for the buses, from the Coach Builders in Lowestoft (Eastern Coachworks), or parts from Bristol who made the bus chassis and from Gardeners who made the engines or even CAV who made the electrical parts. When Beeching made his cuts, all of those items were transferred to road transport and the diesel locomotives went up north somewhere to be fitted out. So that was a shot in the foot because look at the problems we have today with roads and the pollution from the exhausts, CO2 nox etc, which ever you look at it, many of the problems we are facing today are the direct result of poor political decisions taken years ago.

They need to use satellite tech, have a word with Elon.

I assume that you have tested the fuse? You could try using a pin (to connect test meter) piercing the wire insulation near the connector to test for 12 volts, this would also serve to prove the column switch.

Railways are OK if you live in a town or city, but if you live way out in the sticks with minimal or no bus service the car is your only option. Then there is the cost of using a train. If I drive to Manchester and back it would cost me around £60 in diesel. If I use the train I would have to walk 1 1/2 miles to the station,then a train to Waterloo, tube to the embankment, tube to Victoria, Victoria to Manchester, cost of more than £120 return. I could have 4 people in the car and luggage. On the train the cost would be x4 and luggage would have to be carried from train to tube etc. Railways have their place, but so does the car.

Well my system is due to be upgraded and thoroughly tested as it throws up oddities. So they've also done a diagnostic scan and there's a few faults that only a master technician can resolve. They've also found the virtual pedal sensor and module isn't working so needs to be replaced and done, so it goes back in on September 11th for 6hrs to have all of the updates & repairs done.

Well but at least they are not having enough of money from selling cars to owners they need also money for additional functions etc. Thats why they will lose on market against Chinese cars.. I am very unhappy with this new Octavia and software. When i apply also handbrake i am receving message about handbrake error and was already thinking about selling car, because this cannot be happening. They are receiving a lot of money from us but returning so little.

Sounds like an abs sensor or abs wire.

Conclusion to Autotrader's high mileage Tesla series. Interesting Range Rover are charging more for a tiny hybrid battery replacement compared to Tesla whole pack replacement. It's a disgrace. There is definitely a big gap with regard to trained service personnel to work on EV's. But then, stealership are known to only replace not repair. About 2 years ago, I felt steering loose on the Leaf and done an ATS free suspension check. They told me front right lower ball joint need replacing. But they don't work on EV's, so I have to take it elsewhere. Last week, before MOT I did another free suspension check, I am pretty sure left one is loose. Sure enough they told me left ball joint need replacing. This ATS branch do work on EV's now, and cheaper than the random garage I used 2 years ago. Result Probably just taken a course and been told don't touch orange wires. But this is desperately needed for all garages.

Thanks for the note - here is the bad news - mine is a mk iv VRS and the problem is in the new model too - interesting that the problem started when the car was in full sun for a few days - that is a clue for Škoda to consider.

Not sure if a KFC counts as a nice back backdrop 😁

Still worth finding a local VCDS/OBDeleven user... The airbag fault can be cleared but if the fault still exists or happens again, it will illuminate the light again. However, both of those code readers should give enough detail to figure out what caused the fault code which will help fix any future issues. I'd suggest trying the list or map so you can PM someone local rather than hoping they see this thread https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/224376-vcds-owners-map/ https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/