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Ran the gauntlet to Edinburgh the other day. Lasted an hour before bailing out. Just enough time to pick up a phone and some hifi cables which turned up this week after being messed about by three different hifi dealers. A few phone shots with my old phone before wrapping it up and giving it to swmbo for xmas🤣

Same way on iPhone. Click and add it to your Home Screen via the Safari Browser. No app, it’s just a simplified version of a browser window that you can have notifications on.

Since we are talking about oils, i will tell you what i have conclude over the years and how i deal with the lubricant issue in all my cars – i consider it successful since for +35 years i have never had a failure that was indirectly or directly related to lubrication and all my cars had negligible/almost zero oil consumption even after 140-150k km. - Short oil change intervals regardless of what the manual says. I change my oil around 8-8,5k km (before full synthetic oils even lower). Mainly because that is how far each of my cars travels each year and i don’t want to keep the oil running in for more than a year. 3-4 times happened to travel near to 10k km in a year while there were also times when traveled below 7k km, but as a general rule and as an average i change the oil around 8-8,5k Km. Almost never above 10k Km and definitely once a year regardless of mileage. - I always use synthetic oils (for the last 20 years at least) that meet or exceed the manufacturer's requirements. I'm mainly talking about the specific class/spec of the oil that each manufacturer requires, while i adjust the viscosity to the climate conditions in which i live and drive (going for the higher recommended limit due to warm climate). In the case of MK4 It is the first time i consider to go for an even higher than the recommended viscosity because I believe that 0w-20 is way too thin (obvious to me just for consumption/emission reasons) and will affect the long-term engine’s life. - I always change the oil together with the filter from a manufacturer that is considered quality and reliable. - Whenever i can (meaning most of the times), i force the technician to remove the oil while the engine is hot and i insist on letting them drain as much as possible. Also, whenever i can i supply the oil and the filter to the technician who will be doing the change and i am present during the work to make sure everything is done properly. - Although my intervention is rarely needed, i monthly check preventively and always make sure the oil is at the maximum level or at least slightly below it. - In the few cases where i bought a brand new car (only 2 out of a total 11 cars), i had the first oil change at about 1,5K km regardless the manual said it wasn't necessary. - I change the gear oil to my manual transmissions at about 80k km point regardless they are referred as “lifetime” use. - I have never used oil additives, no matter how fashionable they are. My opinion is that anyone who follows such or a similar lubricant plan will have the best possible longevity and reliability results.

Morning everyone.....I've been a Briskodian since 2005 but left the fold when my 2005 Fabia VRS was rudely written off by some clown in a Land Rover a fair few years ago 😥......nevertheless now back with a 2015 Yeti Monte Carlo and loving it ❤️

Sounds expensive for replacing 4 springs. It doesn't look right in the pics to me. It will of course sit a bit higher on new springs than on old/broken springs so don't let them fob you off if you're certain it's wrong. How to approach it? They need to put it right free of charge and with minimum inconvenience to you.

If someone in Northern Ireland fills their internal combustion engine car with fuel in NI and then drives it into Eire and back they are paying fuel duty on every mile covered even in the other country. I don’t see too much of an issue if an EV is charged per mile annually even if abroad. Individually, if an owner does a lot of mileage in Europe (maybe have property there) they would have to weigh up using the uk EV in Europe against having a car registered in a European country. Someone touring Europe on a holiday would have to weigh up using their own car or hiring one in Europe. I know my total mileage for a year is around 22k miles that’s for everything, work, leisure, holidays and I’ve never given a second thought about fuel duty I just know it will cost x amount for fuel, y for maintenance, z for depreciation etc and the total is the cost of motoring. I don’t get the meltdown about this tax at all, just enjoy the next 3 years EV drivers. Edit : I did 2000 miles in Europe 5 years ago travelling to Switzerland and Italy on a holiday. 2000 miles at 3p a mile is £60….

Hello everyone, sorry for the long delay in replying, but in my area I had trouble finding a car lift to rent. But the symptom: the first gear movement was hard to engage in 1st and Reverse when cold, and it was quite quick : no symptoms after 5 minutes of driving. In the meantime, I went to Skoda because my vehicle was under warranty. They obviously reproduced the problem BUT think it's normal and won't damage the gearbox (I have serious doubts given the grinding noise in Reverse). Anyway, I bought two 1-liter bottles of Liqui Molly Top Tec MTF 5300 70W-75W and I found a lift to change it (because chains like Midas, Speedy, etc ... will never use oil not specified by Skoda). First surprise: it was very, very difficult to access the fill hole. It's at the top of the gearbox and you have to unscrew a Torx screw that holds a plastic plug. Then, you absolutely cannot add the oil without a good quality syringe with a nice long, flexible tube. The bottle's tube is too short. The filling point is NOT overflow-style, so it takes 1.1 liters, which is more than one bottle, and you can't know how much you've put in because there's no access at all when I put my finger in; there's a metal part that prevents me from reaching inside. Worse still, with spills on the ground, the syringe to fill, etc., you don't know how much you're putting in... After some calculations, I determined that I might have put in 1.25 liters instead of the 1.1 liters listed for the oil change (and 1.3 liters for a completely new or disassembled gearbox). In short, I hope I haven't damaged my gearbox because there's no oil breather like there is for engine oil. At most, there might be an air pressure relief hole, but I couldn't feel anything with my finger (and again, there was no visibility). The oil change was yesterday, and today I only started the car three times today, including once this morning. So far, there's no suspicious smell (there was a little yesterday, but that's normal with the syringe that got a bit everywhere, and the heat), and the gears shift smoothly. So I think I'll leave it as is.

We headed to Castleton after visiting the Dams...........

Better to travel by air or train and pick an EV where one is going to be based. I found hiring an EV in Lisbon good value. Rental cost reasonable, company only required car back 70% charged rather than full if it was ICE. Public charging was very cheap. No way would have driven thru France, maybe caught the Plymouth to Satander ferry. No 3p per mile would apply. Get to try a different EV.

Sorry @nta16 but i can not help @Joja2k because i have ECU in my Felicia and no knoledge about the distributor. 🥺

Fyi, my 2.0tdi 2016 which is now at 117k miles, does a regen around every 250miles (once per tank fill roughly) and has done so since I got it ~6 years ago. Your ash residue looks very similar to mine from my diagnostic tools (VCDS). I drive a lot on country B roads and A roads for work. I always wait for oil temp to get to 60-70c using the MFD before giving it any right foot encouragement too and oil change religiously every 10k miles. CRMB Oil volume is approximately 4.6litres for a refill.

I gave up looking when we had our previous Black Edition (with similar skirts) after getting ones that should have fit but didn't. Our colour coded late SEL has four mudflaps 😁, I could be wrong but there was something about the Yeti City model (non Outdoor) maybe having some compatible ones, and I'm thinking Indian market for some reason. I'd given up by then.

I changed mine out a few years back as started to get a yellow warning on dash. It was to do with the start stop i later found out. VW stealers quoted me maybe up to £400 to replace. A local 3rd party place quoted me £150. I asked if they do the coding for that and they said they didn't bother on these cars, only the higher end ones. So i picked up a battery myself for £100 delivered and fitted it myself. Never bothered with updating the battery details with the ECU. Not had a single issue since (with the battery anyway...) One thing to note with these Fabias with the start stop and possible other makes. I found most of the time it's only actually charging the battery when on over run. So by that i mean for example, your driving along whatever speed, you lift of accelerator pedal and now the battery charging kicks in. Foot back on the accelerator, charging stops. I've changed my driving style now to incorporate more of these cycles. I'm sure the battery might well get charged outside of doing this depending on charge state and conditions, also the BMS doing whatever charge cycles it does. I thought my alternator was shot when i first discovered this, but monitoring the voltage on the cigarette lighter socket whilst driving revealed all. Occasional manual charging as others have suggested is good to do as well, usually end up doing that in the winter months when it takes a good kicking with sub zero cold starts and shorter journeys.

I had a similar problem with my 2000 BMW 740 Sport a few years ago. Broken front spring replaced with a standard item which made the car sit lop-sided. Garage told me that the "Sport" springs were only available in pairs,so they got the standard one without asking me. When I gently "blew my top" at them for not asking me, they had the car back and changed both fronts for the proper items only charging for the parts, including the refund for the wrong one. In your case, they have clearly fitted the wrong spring / strut assemblies, front and back. Take measurements of the ride height of your mate's car, centre of the wheel to the lowest point of the wheelarch, and compare that to the measurements on your "repaired" car; there will be a significant difference. Present those to the service manager and tell them to sort it..... If you still have the sales brochure for your car, it will state the vRS suspension is 15mm lower than standard but it only actually quotes overall height. You mention in the original post that it was a "major franchise EH"; is that a Skoda franchise or other manufacturer? If it's a Skoda franchise we need to know so as to avoid in future....

This is more focused information, but it's still not enough for anything more detailed..... I think it will be necessary to check the essentials! 1. Does the engine have enough coolant. (engine problems) 2. Does the engine heat up and in what time (yes - no, normal - very slowly, engine problem, coolant pump or engine thermostat valve problem) 3. When adjusting the car's cabin temperature, do you feel transitions between hot and cold settings. (probably problems with the hot-cold flap control motor, could be something else) 4. Are there any errors present, check ???????? This video might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oezrEvFqS1w

Thx folks for the replies, Williami33 - that sounds exactly it, bong for one speed zone to another when driving. I find the double dings useful for speed limits when in unfamiliar areas based on sign sensing. Thx. PD

How about charging EU visitors with EV’s a flat fee?…….

The way mine has been set up is the bong is normally when you move from one speed zone to another ie 30➡️40 and the dings are if you are driving over the speed limit perceived by the Sat Nav

Opieoils for me as well, for many years now.👍

There's a glaring flaw in that which kicked in a couple of years ago....

I had the same problem with a newly-purchased 2013 car and read that it's common for the the rocker switch in the front light assembly to corrode and fail. I found a replacement unit on ebay from a breaker who was knowledgeable of the issue and had checked the switch on the unit he was selling. It was an easy replacement thanks to a helpful youtube video and the rear roof lights were reactivated with the new unit. (If I can do it, anyone can!)

It's not an app as such in the normal sense, it's a saving of Briskoda on your phone's main page. To get the logo with direct link on Android, tap the three dots when on the Briskoda site then tap 'add to home screen'. Chrome will then ask you to tap and hold the widget to add it to your home screen. @Dean knows how to do it if you're an Apple user.

Most of the time I don't. It seems at its most noticeable when you're driving at speed with little steering input, and you need to make a minor steering correction and you're concious is just kinda sticks a bit. It's not the sort of thing you notice at (say) low speed manoeuvring or parking. Anyway, good to know it is on others - thanks.

Hi, As far as I remember, if you have less than 2000 km Adblue autonomy left, you should have a warning popping up on the dashboard each time you start. With a full tank of AdBlue, I used to have around 14000km of autonomy on my former Superb MK3 (also TDI190 equipped, with DSG6 4x4) You have a FL version, with Columbus MMI, you should be able to rearrange the App icons as on a Smartphone. Then you just need to press the 'Menu' button and you'll have your favorite Apps on the 1st screen.

Great thanks. I’m going to enlist one of my tech savvy kids to give me a hand. I’ll let you know the outcome.

Thanks, so it is a DTSB engine. darn websites and dodgy part look ups. Looks like it's off to halfords in the morning for a different oil filter!

Trip to the Uk was brilliant, 10/10 experience, honored to have been involved in some small way. Fella is probably the best driver i know, just got caught out at the worst time. Hope I can get invited back again. Nearly 183000 miles on my car now. Going pretty well. Suspect i damaged a boost pipe as its a bit more whistly now. Easy sorted if i can find the bugger.

In next week for NCT so in preparation mode for that. Have to change backbox anyway so stripped all off to tackle some rust. Wired all back best i could. SOAKED in kurust overnight. Started with Anti corrosion zinc primer. Then etch. Then stone chip. Will be sprayed white and then waxoyled once this sets overnight. Slightly better floorpan covers and brand new genuine undertray, again. Rarb has to come off. As does kbrace. Also have a flat sheet of metal I intend to do up a cover for the exhaust. Hide the downpipe better. Will fail on something. Im just giving them as few excuses as possible.

Car wasnt going to be lifted until saturday morning so we left late friday for scotland. Drove straight back up and crashed on a couch until the ferry came. (Not my pic but how it was lifted out) 4 new tyres for the MX5 AD08RS almost identical to what was on it years before i had it. Worked out about 1250 miles before i got home. So a lot of driving in a few days. Rac does 2 legs so starts in carmarthen and finishes in carlisle. Mate went off on the last day of the welsh leg. Either way we would have been driving to carlisle atleast. Would have worked out handy ferry wise, but not the end of the world. To be honest looking at how the northern leg went, probably did us a favour in a strange way. Took it out a few days later to assess what id done. Full deep scrub underneath especially. 2 trips on the irish sea and salted welsh roads had me worried. Have a video but too long so bullet points. Rubbed the underneath raw, broke undertray. Floorpan covers damaged slightly, backbox/fuel tank all rubbed slightly Undertray missing. Some of the mountings damaged. Exhaust mounts tweaked on downpipe. Damaged the lip mostly areas id fixed earlier giving way. Was gonna repaint it eventually so no big deal. Floorpan covers i had spare from a parts car, my old ones will be fitted to the sdi eventually. Sorted some rust underneath. Not too bad. Sprayed all white over it and used wax coating on top. Sprayed the floorpan brace also. Doesnt need to be much as it is covered.

Atleast in fresh snow it acted like a snow plow of sorts. But was embarassing to have to be pushed for so long until we hit road. Thursday night the stuff in the middle was turning to ice and needed to be pushed a bit again. Friday morning wasnt *as bad. Needed a push to start getting out. But aside from the ice it did get onto the road mostly ok. Said ice in the middle became very hard and did damage. Not terrible but not a pleasant run over the road. Wont let me upload the video but it sounded pretty horrible driving over (on) it. Leaving to follow the service van, copped the undertray was low. Very low. Was held on at that point by 2 screws only so ripped it off. About an hour or so of driving got a call that mates car had an off on SS8. (Not my pic but its where the car ended up) They're fine. Car is done for. So diverted to near it and met with the management cars and waited, chatted with some very nice locals too. Watched some very cool stuff go by until they could get lifted down to end of stage and picked up.

Long one. Gave the car another service after doing kirkistown and ahead of a long trip. Changed rear springs for my Heavy duty ones. Gave the car a quick polish and away to the uk. A friend was doing the RAC and I tagged along. Went belfast to cairnryan. Picked up a friend who lived nearish the ferry, loaded up and down in one shot to carmarthen for the start. Very cool seeing the serious amount of machinery on display. Showgrounds were huge. Stayed at a place nearish. Got snowed in. Every one else made it out but I did not. So tactical dump into a field entrance and walked back to the accomodation. Eventually got it unstuck some hours later. Snow was mostly around where we were, main roads were fine. But getting to and from them consisted of being pushed for about 2km. (Pic from the next morning)

Yes, pleased with it. It does not project far enough to interfere with the rear passenger either. A good bit of German/Czec engineering.

@Snowglobe another reason to simply mark the old filter (sharpie etc) if you don't have confidence with your service provider

Additional to my post above, on most models you will see that the a/c compressor is switched on automatically when you press the "max air to screen" button if the humidity is high. The water in the humid air is condensed to liquid water by chilling and then runs down a pipe to the outside.

It is out of date. It should be 332 now. It goes: 270,276,278,306,308,324,330,332. If I were you I’d download 308 and 332 and update them in turn. Everything is in the post I linked to.

I always use Opie Oils www.opieoils.co.uk for my supply and use Fuchs Oils, never let me down, deliveryand price is excellent. They currently have a black Friday discount as well.

99% - yes

We made our annual trip to Donna Nook earlier this afternoon 🦭 https://www.lincstrust.org.uk/get-involved/top-reserves/donna-nook/weekly-update Literally a few minutes old............

You only notice it if you try to notice it. Same on mine. Thanks AG Falco

Or alternatively it could be viewed as 'buy an EV and contribute a small amount in a similar way to per fuel duty' 😀

As always it's each to there own, to do as you please or suits you. Unless I was doing 18-20,000 miles in 12 months or under I would have the oil changed every 12 months anyway, just ask or tell the Dealership to do that, they ain't gonna turn the money down, as for warranties AFAIK in Europe the work don't have to be done at an official Dealership as long as the work done and parts and materials used are good enough. As for hot oil, note I put warm (hot), whoever is doing the work is responsible for Health & Safety, theirs and other peoples, over the decades I've done a few warm (hot) drain oil changes on engines, gearboxes and rear diffs and despite not being mechanical and a bit clumsy I've never had any trouble with the oil being warm (hot) - other than some always missing the bowl(s) and going on the ground, we don't all have lifts or pits or even any sort of shelter from the elements when it's too hot, too cold, too wet too windy, oh, the joys. ☹️ Farting about with cars is always a dirty, messy business, particularly petrol and worse still diesel engines but you do what you can to avoid oil, grease, rubber, dust, dirt and debris as much as you can getting on you and your clothes. Professionals are often more interested in speed of the job, and getting on to the next job, than taking time, being thorough (and giving a **** for many of them in my experience). Professional just means you're doing it as paid work not necessarily that you are any good at the job. I only started doing work on my cars because I was fed up or sorting and redoing properly work I'd already paid professionals to do, often I would do a better job not because I was better but because I cared about the quality of the work and outcome and didn't give myself time pressures. Is it worth worrying about any sort of real longevity on a 2023 car to make it worthwhile to worry about a bit of extra effort with the engine oil and just go with what many (most?) others do and just meet the minimum requirements for warranty then get the least expensive oil for whenever you feel the need for an engine oil change.

I will certainly wait another 10 months and 1 more oil change until the car is out of warranty. Until then i will stick with Castrol LL-IV 0w-20 that local Skoda dealers use (at least that they are writing at the invoice…). By the end of this period the Fabia from new will have total of 4 oil changes and about 35-38.000 km covered with the recommended 0w-20. But right after warranty expires and as mileage goes up i strongly believe i must change into something slight more viscous for better long term protection. I didn't know that there was a 0w-30 oil meeting VW 504 specifications. I thought there was only 5w-30. Been the case, 0w-30 sounds to me like a good alternative. As you mentioned i am serious thinking even to a C3 5w-40 which i was using for 6-7 years in my previous Fiat T-Jet with great results…

This 15-minutes video may be of general interest

I assume that you do know that there are actually two clutches in your gearbox? - 1 for even gears, and the second for odd. I'm not sure, but I think your clutch packs will be the dry type. I'd recommend taking it to a DSG specialist rather than a main dealer garage.

I got mine from The Wheel Shop, through Ebay, but you can go direct. Great deal and delivery complete with tools. Cheap Spare Wheels & Space Saver...Cheap Spare Wheels & Space Saver Wheels - Thewheelshop.co.ukThe wheel shop are the leading suppliers of cheap spare wheels, space saver wheels and steel wheels in the UK. Free delivery, Free fitting.

Hi, I just dissembled a lot of my Roomster interior... The tweeter has an electrolytic capacitor attached on rear. That's the only crossover as far as I can see. The speaker cable from radio goes into door to the 'woofer', the tweet cable is run in parallel from the door to the pillar. So I guess using the existing tweet cable for pods is the easiest course of action.

From what I've seen on their website, they recommend front IS VW 180 which is 2-way separate kit and for the back is IC VW 165. I might be wrong tho.

Good afternoon @silver1011 and @2010OctaviaScout, I'm sorry for bumping such an old thread but I just wanted to thank you both for kind and helpful posting here. I have the exact same issue as @2010OctaviaScout described in his initial post after having the garage replace the serpentine belt on my Skoda Octavia 2007 just yesterday. After reading that there was an intercooler hose that had popped off I went out to see myself and this is what I found: Actually this photo is taken after I (very lightly) tried to reconnect it again, so it was even more loose and open prior to me taking the photo. I'm not entirely sure but I guess it is a MAF sensor sitting on top there, and that this most likely is the reason to why I am having the "Check engine"-light coming up. When I try to accellerate a bit the car goes into limp mode and I strongly suspect this has got to do with it. I have scheduled a new visit with my garage so they can look into it and eventually replace the clips holding it in place and the gasket. Will update the post as soon as I can verify. 🙂

Rang the local Exeter garage and was told that it is not possible to alter the height of the brake pedal. It was the receptionist, not one of the mechanics, but I got the impression it's been asked before. I solved the problem by cutting up some left over carpet offcuts to fit EXACTLY under the driver's mat (the optional extra, not the main one!). Needs to be a precision cut to make sure it doesn't slide about. Needed three layers to raise the level about an inch (2.54cm) but it has worked well and driving is now so much more comfortable. Thought anyone having the same problem might find this idea helpful.