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You are obviously just careless but a garage has a duty of care to the customer and their car. If it had come off on the motorway at 70 mph and people had been killed or injured, do you think the court would say. "have neither of you ever made a mistake working on your own vehicle or doing your employed job?". I don't think so, as the judge hands out a £40,000 fine.

VIN can be discovered by entering your reg number at chipex.co.uk and reading from the resulting URL at the top of the page (may need to scroll across the length of it). Also visible through windscreen from outside, just below passenger side wiper, generally.

When in manual, the gearbox will change up at or about the rev limit. Manual means only the driver changes gear except at the limits of the engine.

Thanks all. I just got back from a professional garage. They did a laser wheel alignment and had a good look while up on the ramp. The work I had done yesterday was new back bushes and two front wishbones with ball joints. The only damage he showed me was one of the nearside wishbone bolt ends had sheared off where it had landed on the road. Also the inside of the nearside alloy wheel had some deep scratches were the disk had hit after the wheel came off the hub. The car is running true again and all seems well at this point. The only annoyance is I seem to be noticing a lot more road noise after the new bushes. Maybe I getting paranoid or they will settle in soon? Thanks for your support guys.. 🙂

Take the car back to the garage that did the work and explain the situation of the car pulling to the left since the issue with the wheel comimg off, disc and backplate needs checking for damage chips cracks etc, then bottom wishbone needs to be checked to see if it's at all slightly bent most of these type of issues land up with disc, strut wishbone damage in rare conditions the chassis could also be damaged or slightly misalined, you need them to perform a full tracking and degree setting, sometimes a simple messure from the centr hub on the wheel to the end of the wheel arch gives you a pointer at any thing not quite right (messure both sides in front of hub and behind hub to the arch and compare ) a few mm out is ok but if you are talking 10mm plus you have a problem. As a garage they have the responability to ensure the work done is correct and safe which in this case was not. Every one can make a mistake but you need to own it and put it right at no cost to the customer

Are you having to 'slip' the clutch while you are reversing?

If vehicle is now pulling to left after loss of wheel, it is very likely that, at the very least, the front alignment has been affected - the wheel hub/brake disc or lower suspension arm will almost certainly have contacted the road surface too. Strongly suggest you have an independent inspection for any damage caused by the mechanics gross negligence.

Actually if you put to manual and then choose a gear it does not like as in drop 2 gears of r 3 at whatever speed the DSG might ignore you. Self preservation. Or if you select Manual 1st and floor the accelerator and not shift up it might shift automatically. Preservation again. It is an Automated Manual. Then there is accelerator position. I do not mean the Kickdown but 1/3 rd pedal and how driven. Dynamic driving and how the DSG reacts. Play about with it and see how things are. You will not break it.

Yes it is. You can find more info from RossTech forum of this. I would say, that this procedure is part of "proper" maintenance of the gearbox along with fluid and filter change. And there is no harm of changing the oil before the manufacturers recommended interval of 80.000 something miles, quite the opposite.

I will find it on the screen faster than Laura would wake up...

Having picked up our new Scala Monte Carlo on Friday I wanted to protect the fabulous Velvet Red colour against the usual elements and sun fading. Dan, a Gyeon specialist from Dynamic Details Ltd in Basildon, Essex, did a fantastic job giving the car a mirrorlike finish. The paintwork has a full ceramic coating plus top coat, the wheels have been fully protected along with the brake callipers painted red and Gyeon coated. All the windows and panoramic roof have also been treated. He also PPF protected the top of the rear bumper which should help with wear and tear when getting things in and out of the boot. I can’t wash the car for 2 weeks, however on the way home the heavens opened and the hydrophobic properties were amazing, the rain just flew off the car leaving it almost dry by the time I put it away.

Dabbled with some light painting.

I always wipe the mirrors, its an old habit, same with the windows modern car batteries work hard enough so a quick wipe won't go amiss.

This is not a question of tracking and centralising the steering, its that the front and rear axles are not aligned with each other and the centre line of the vehicle, it is crabbing. All these so called experts have done is play with the tracking and it speaks volumes for their (in)competence that they cannot even do that and keep the steering wheel central which is imperative with electric power steering and a steering angle sensor. @DanielFenech Its not a big job, I did it myself on my driveway during Covid, unless you find a mechanic with a clue about the first principles of steering and suspension you will not have a good outcome, I suggest that you do what I did and take measurements from the wheel rims with the steering in the straight ahead position to the side of the vehicle, you could do it with string but you would need to make a carrier that compensates for the toe in and also spaces the string points out from the vehicle or the string would foul on the wheelarches. Using a laser level makes it easy to do on your own and the thickness of the level spaces the beam away from the bodywork, you dont strictly need to shim to make the wheeltrack parallel to get comparitive readings but its much better to. Armed with your results from that, the measurements which will for example be Front axle straight, wheels parallel projected back to B post (or even rear wheel centres) 60mm left side, 40mm right side you can tell the mechanic to move the subframe sideways or rotate it (dependant on the readings) to get to an even 50mm on each side. Hard to put into words, easy to do once you understand the principle, trying to explain to a stranger on the internet without being able to show them physically and for them to do the same to a mechanic is a tall order.

If the tracking is out you need to adjust each side to keep the wheel central. If you only adjust one side the tracking comes in but the wheel is off-true. I once had that so I knocked the wheel off and moved it around a couple of splines, but that was years ago when there were no airbags or such. It was just a two-minute job on my old Ford Prefect.

Unfortunately the car doesn't read traffic and road conditions like the human can which is why I generally prefer a manual gearbox. Driving different makes and models of cars (with manual gearboxes) I often find the computer suggested gear isn't the one I might want or use, I might go from 3 to 6 instead of the suggested 5 as the road is clear of traffic and on a downhill and other things like the opposite, not going to a higher gear as I approach slower traffic and an uphill. The VW (and others) computer programming is more concern about recorded mpg rather than engine or gearbox life and some/many may prefer it that way.

They take anything, thieves aren't badge snobs. Yours would be top of the list being a 280.

It does not surprise me, most of them have no conception of the first principles of vehicle steering and suspension geometry. Without a translation of the terms I cant be sure but am fairly confident that your car is crabbing after the subframe was refitted in a different position, I had the same problem myself, I was aware of the huge clearances around the fixing bolts and used spray paint to mark the position but it was not enough, the car pulled to one side and would only go in a straight line with a few degrees of steering input. My saving grace was not taking it to an alignment centre who would have mucked around as yours have done without tackling the root cause, the misaligment of the front subframe and also possibly the rear (mine is) relative to the vehicle centre line. I made a fixture to hold a laser spirit level onto the wheel rims at centre height, basically short bungees and a shim to compensate for the toe in, the laser was aimed at a paper target at the door B posts with the steering centred, the rear axle was slightly misaligned, - different dimension from the laser spot to the door on each side of the vehicle, this remains so as I could not get enough purchase on the rear securing bolts while under the car on my back. The front subframe was way out as I thought, in fact there was not enough clearance on the fixings to centre it (my car had also been accident damaged) without pulling it with a ratchet strap from the rear subframe. Afterwards the steering was straight and the car tracks dead straight without any pull, the rear axle is still very very slightly misaligned but well within the manufacturers tolerances. I got 55000 miles from the last set of tyres that were already part worn when I bought the vehicle and they all wore evenly with rotation when required and optimising the pressures according to the wear across the tread.

I used to worry about the Kessy vulnerability but no longer - it's not Skoda branded cars that attract the scumbags and scroats.........

I’ve tried quite a few of the pouches as they’re quite handy when out and about. I’ve never tried the one you’ve posted, but never had any luck with pouches lasting very long. Ended up getting a smaller box for my wife to take to work with her instead.

Which tool I luckily have from my earlier incarnation as an inveterate fiddler.

Hmm plenty of big tech companies have been working on holograms for decades and got precisely nowhere. [clicky click] Ford is patenting the idea of how to use a hologram, not inventing the hologram projector.

The only likely damage would be a kink and maybe some metal ground off the bottom of the disk backplate, also bodywork damage to the wheelarch but you would have mentioned that. Regarding the pulling to one side, highly unlikely from losing a wheel at 10 mph, you have not said what the work was that was carried out, that could be a more likely suspect. "pulling to the left more than it was" is the clue. Have a suspension alignment check done and if it throws up anything then the garage would I'm sure correct it and refund the alignment cost, as for the comments about legal action and gross negligence, have neither of you ever made a mistake working on your own vehicle or doing your employed job? I have lost count of how many of my wheels have overtaken me, flown over the sunroof or parted company over the years and that was without being distracted every few minutes by phone calls from customers or requests from colleagues.

Well done. Always remember these computers and computer programs have brain-farts and glitches, never fully trust them check whatever they tell when required. It took me a good number of attempts to reset the oil and then inspection on my wife's 2015 Fabia using the trip reset button. Oil I manage in about two or three attempts and inspection a few more, I carefully followed the same procedure each time so I've no idea why I was successful and unsuccessful. Lets hope that you have it sorted until next year. Good luck.

There is a Recall Action / campaign on various Skoda vehicles which is a software update. Apparently to stop keys being locked in the car. Check with a Dealership and see if your car is part of that. If so and your car is in, maybe you will not get charged £115 or more for a diagnostic on the fault you have.

I agree. An independent inspection by a Skoda dealer or a Skoda specialist and then speak to trading standards or even consider taking legal action.

I'm telling you or anyone on here, I am asking advice!! That's what this forum is all about.

@Tdawber or anyone else: Can you send me the file also? [email protected]

More than just "a tad" IMO. It's also way less likely to get broken when loading or unloading the bed.

I had wondered if resetting would just cause me to get the same 360 days notice however it seems to have worked?! No notifications as yet so maybe it was just one of those random things.

Picked my SE L up today and it has it on, tow bar coming in 2 weeks.

I have had this discussion with service dept every year. They want to replace the pads and disks for corrosion/ wear and the car will sail through its MOT same day. Dealer up selling. If in doubt get a second opinion and, as noted, the Skoda parts are way too expensive

I have obviously made modifications to the Caddy to enhance its performance, and others to change the aesthetics, but I am struggling to think of one previously that has specifically been made with road safety in mind, although I have an example now. I think it is also the first instance of my reinstating a modification that had been in place when I bought the Caddy and which I had subsequently removed. My son had been driving behind the Caddy and told me afterwards that the brake lights were not as noticeable as they ought to be, in the absence of a high level centre brake light. Given that he knows that the Caddy has no centre brake light and was therefore conscious to keep an eye out, this made me think that less switched-on drivers could miss my braking altogether, with disastrous consequences. I liked the idea of mounting a brake light externally above the rear window, except that would mean drilling holes in the cab back, which I did not fancy much. I thought it would be much easier to find a universal brake light to stick inside the rear window, but actually it took me a while to find one, and I was not happy with the quality of the best one I could find. After deciding I did not want to use it, I spent a few more weeks scouring kit car parts sites and the like to try to find a better part. The problem was that so-called ‘universal’ internal brake lights are designed to fit to the sloping rear windows of cars rather than the practically vertical rear window on a pick-up. Eventually I found another brake light capable of swivelling on its mountings to accommodate mounting on windows of different inclinations, and which appeared online to be higher quality than the first light I bought. When the second one arrived it proved to be just a shorter version of the first, so that was a set-back. At this point I resigned myself to not being able to find a better part to use, and decided to try to adapt the ones I had already bought. There were three features of the brake lights which I was unhappy with: the cable was routed through the rotating mounting, so the mounting could not be moved to the required position without pinching it; the case and swivel mechanism were horribly flimsy; and the open design meant that light could leak out all over the place, which I thought could be distracting when driving. As well as this, the longer light had three LEDs which lit only intermittently, and whichever one I chose would need a 2-pin connector fitted to it. Taking the two lights apart was easily accomplished, which is an obvious advantage of the flimsy construction. The fault with the LEDs was due to the lead on a resistor not having been trimmed after it was soldered, so that it was shorting across the PCB. With the lights disassembled it was straightforward to pull the cable back through the hole in the mounting and feed it through a new hole drilled in the body of the light. After that I made the lights a bit more robust by drilling the ends for bigger flanged screws to replace the tiny countersunk ones they had originally. When I took the picture below I thought I had them finished, but subsequently I took the smaller light apart again and added some black tape along the sides of the light lens, and some similar tape over the ridiculous lettering on the side. Adding the wiring for the brake light was simply a case of taking the passenger interior sill trim off and splicing into the loom between the B-pillar and the grommet it passes through towards the rear. The new wires were run up behind the B-pillar trim panels and then fed between the headlining and the roof using a straightened wire coathanger. By this point I still had not decided which of the brake lights I should use. From an aesthetic perspective I preferred the smaller one, so I tried that one first to judge if it was big enough to be sufficiently visible. For the purpose of this check I attached the light to the rear window with masking tape. My initial impression was that it was fine, but before I committed I left it overnight to see if I felt the same way the following day, which I did, so the light was fixed properly with double-sided sticky pads. I would like to think that my new brake light installation is a tad more tasteful than what it had when I bought it.

I've never driven one of these DSC things so have no experience of them, sounds like D is probably more set for 'Eco mode' how about have tried giving it more and quicker on the accelerator pedal to see if it can obey what you want from it in D. Or leave it in S and lift off accelerator to get it to change up where you prefer in the revs (I assume you can do this, might be wrong). I've driven a hired 2023 SEAT Arona, 1.0 litre, 3-cylinder turbo, 110hp, 6-speed manual that had 'Eco', 'Standard' and 'Sports' settings, I found 'Eco' was fine if not in traffic that wants to rush about and ''Sport' did seemed to sharpen they way it accelerated (or might just have been my perception. I found it best to drive in 'Standard' which it defaulted to, as I could dictate the revs and gear selection, because it manual, I take little notice of the recommended gear as I seem to have more idea of traffic and road conditions than the on-board computers.

5:30 bit saying only 5 cars can charge at full speed and if 19 cars come, can't charge at full speed. The reality is that battery charge rate slows down as they charge. No EV in existence can sustain full charging speed beyond 50%. So it is smarter to offer more plugs than capacity and share the capacity allowing more people to start charging and reduce the queue. This is why I like Kermpower rapid chargers because the screen will clearly state what is the limiting factor. In lieu of grid capacity, it is always possible to add battery buffers. Tesla was doing this back in 2017: https://electrek.co/2017/10/30/tesla-supercharger-stays-online-in-power-outage-powerpack-system/ There is some truth in the CEO's job role change: The reason is that they are planning to expand the company globally: https://www.current-news.co.uk/gridserve-global-expansion-plan/ https://evfleetworld.co.uk/gridserve-plans-global-expansion-to-drive-world-class-ev-charging-networks/ https://evmagazine.com/charging-and-infrastructure/gridserve-expands-globally-with-sustainable-ev-charging https://transportandenergy.com/2024/08/13/gridserve-announces-global-expansion-plans/ https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/gridserve-announces-global-expansion-plans Unless we can find numerous people were previously Gridserve employee, it's hard to verify people being made redundant statements. At 3:38 me thinks the truth comes out. This "anonymous" letter Geoff was "reading"...... Some people can't help but insert personal opinion disguised as factual statements.

Turns out the insurance company transported it back to the Home address. So all good.

Might I suggest you start to take it to an independent VAG specialist and not the dealer? I get the impression they see you as an easy mark.

Fabia project still work in progress, rear cage fitted and seats in, it’s a less is more

I have B8's with Eibach springs on mine - wagon 4x4 280, with those and the H&R rear ARB it handles a lot better and is a far smoother drive. I had all new hardware fitted at the same time, I put Audi TT spring pads on the rear rather than the very skinny stock Skoda spring pads.

The Sportline doesn't have standard suspension, ie. standard ride height...it has sports suspension, ie. lowered ride height. I would go for the Bilstein B8's instead of the Bilstein B6's. I looked at some information and the Bilstein B8's are only 20mm shorter than the Bilstein B6's, so the sometimes quoted opinions that you need at least a 30mm to 40mm drop for the Bilstein B8's to work is incorrect. This actually makes sense, because Bilstein want to sell their Bilstein B8's in large quantities, not restrict their sales to only cars that have been dropped by at least 30mm to 40mm. The Bilstein listings themselves say that the B6's are for standard suspension and that the B8's are for sports suspension...as you can see in the links below. Standard suspension = Standard ride height Sports suspension = Lowered ride height Bilstein B6 standard ride height shock absorbers (for Superb MK3) 35-229872 front shock absorbers https://www.autodoc.co.uk/bilstein/7522722?search=BILSTEIN+Shock+absorber+(35-229872) 24-229890 rear shock absorbers https://www.autodoc.co.uk/bilstein/7543304?search=BILSTEIN+Shock+absorber+(24-229890) Bilstein B8 lowered ride height shock absorbers (for Superb MK3) 35-229919 front shock absorbers https://www.autodoc.co.uk/bilstein/7522724?search=BILSTEIN+Shock+absorber+(35-229919) 24-229937 rear shock absorbers https://www.autodoc.co.uk/bilstein/7522727?search=BILSTEIN+Shock+absorber+(24-229937)

The language of this forum is English, you need to post only in English.

So I just realised we are long overdue an update! So the level sensor was fitted and the fault codes cleared and have not returned. but the issue was, the headlights kept moving through their full range of movements. So I ran the headlamp basic setting procedure again and this time, they stayed still.... I have been using them for the last 2/3 weeks with no issues!!! So that seems to be fixed. So I think because the basic settings were done with a dodgy sensor, it was trying to find that dodgy reading still. So onto the list of whats left to do, and whats next: Fit rear bumper brackets to help tighten up the gaps under rear lights Still have to calibrate the areaview, honestly havent had time Work out if there is anyway of auto swapping between front and rear cams when going from reverse to drive Fit a small piece of trim between the rear bench seats The next big issue is, I have a very very slow coolant leak - as in 1 litre over 3/4 weeks. Now this could be a few things as its only appeared since I started touching stuff; The custom piping I have made is very slowly leaking for the parking heater The parking heater has an internal leak (used it without issue since so doubt this) It is coincidence and there is a different part of the car leaking Either way, its a pain to find as its so small, will consider putting a UV dye in the coolant to monitor it. Now for whats next on the list of possible mods: 10 way massage seats - Having driven the new Audi A8 recently and range rovers they offer a lovely pnemuatic massage function which involves a small air pump and manifold that inflates and deflates bladders under the fabric. Whereas the OE massage function is simply the lumbar support moving, This is 10 individual bladders. This is only an idea so far and if I was to attempt it, I would give it a go on the back seats first as its less critical if all goes wrong. As its not technically OE it would be slightly moving away from the spec Ventilated rear seats - the rear seats dont offer any ventilation and of course there is no option for this with the control panel and if I really wanted to fit this it would be a massive job. First id have to strip the control panel and fit a second row of blue LEDs that are controlled by a different circuit board. Then id have to tap into the control panel LIN outputs and work out what buttons output what messages and mimic this on a custom circuit board to simply do the heated side of things. I would then have to experiment to find out what signals the 4B module (which has outputs made for rear seat ventilation, as its basically a BCM expansion) would expect to turn on its ventilated outputs and what feedback to send back to the custom module. It is all possible and the fitting of the actual ventilated parts is the easy bit. It would mean pulling out my signal sniffer and making custom surface mount circuit boards again. Could be interesting.... Sunroof - this idea is still in the back of my mind and if and when I do decide to get the paint touched up on the roof and surrounding areas it wouldnt be the biggest job. The old roof is cut off to the sills, the new roof is bonded on with glue as per the OE instructions and then around 15 spot welds on the front and back faces. The biggest expense in tooling is the special laser weld grinding tool (£450) and the spot welder can be rented for around £100 for the weekend. After this all parts including the panel, second hand sunroof (from 2023 car) and the adhesive come to roughly £1000. But again, this wouldnt be considered for a long time yet.

and finally git a picture of Amber in there This was us loaded up for a week in Arran (myself, GF & her mum + Amber)

As @Paws4Thot says the standard air filter is not restrictive at all, it's the same air filter assembly fitted to the 100 bhp variant and you need good filtration in dusty Greek rallying conditions and since the standard filter is inside the engine cover just leave them both alone. Spend any money on safety, brakes and handling, you can fit the 288mm front brakes and struts from a VRS, get the FARB as well for a useful upgrade, it's stiffer than yours.

@chrisdodge - Based on doing similar in the UK, and presuming you want to be able to use the same car for "speed hillclimb" (and/or sprint and/or auto gymkhana), notes on your shopping list:- 0) I don't know Greek rules in detail, but in the UK the starting point is to carefully read the RAC "Blue Book" and relevant championship regulations. Do this before spending out any money beyond getting the car. Roll Cage - Get an FIA weld in cage. It will cost more initially, but be legal right up to international rallying. New Steering Wheel - Get one with a quick release hub. Same reasoning. Bucket Seats - Again, make sure they're FIA approved. Same reasoning. Battery to the back conversion New less restrictive air filter - Save your money; the stock filter and box will flow about twice the air the 1.4MPI needs. New less restrictive exhaust - Check whether or not any new system will pass championship and/or venue(s) noise regulations. Abs delete and new brakes - Brake refresh with competition pads is a good idea; ABS delete may be essential or illegal depending on championship rules. ac delete - Rally cars often retain a/c in Mediterranean countries. Suspension - Again check what's legal for your championship. Underfloor Covers - Similarly engine cover delete - This may be just undo 3 bolts and put the plastic cover on a shelf.

And the total cost for parts... €861.93 Incl VAT @ 23% Plus my mechanic and my time.

This sounds really stupid, but next time it happens, try pressing the dead centre of the stop/start button. My car started suffering from this, garage couldn;t replicate the issue when the looked at it therefore wouldn't sanction a replacement under warranty. It was the service desk who told me this and it's always worked for me. As per above, it's a cheap fix to replace the button, but never bothered now that I know to press the dead centre of the button.

More than a year later on and 20k very tough miles towing overloaded removal trailers and everything is still fine and dandy with the clutch, no air drawn into the system.