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A couple of jobs done today. Replaced the drivers door inner seal as the original one had worn from driver getting in and out. The second hand one I got from eBay had a little wear but hadn’t split so I just rotated it about 45 degrees so the wear was on the back edge where it won’t wear any more. Pretty simple fit, you just have to take a couple of trim pieces off. As I had already had some of the trim off and it was finally a sunny afternoon I thought I would tackle installing the black roof rails. Thanks to @Kosin for the install tips. Pretty much remove anything attached to headliner around the edges, all pillar trims and top boot trims. To remove the sun visors and handles you need the OEM/Laser long nose flat pliers at £60 to £30. Luckily Ali express to the rescue again with a cheap tool that does the job perfectly for £3 https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHRShvy To access the rear of the front pair of bolts you have to disconnect the plug from the curtain airbag igniter. Not too much bother with the battery disconnected and an appropriate wait time to make sure everything is powered down. Apart from when I had fully reinstalled the liner and trims and got an airbag error warning and realised I had forgotten to reconnect the passenger side! Doh! So that half all got disassembled again to reconnect it. Now all done everything back in its place and all fault codes cleared with no issue. All in about 3hrs work. It would have been 2.5 without my airbag mistake! So that’s the last of the dechrome jobs done and now full Sportline-ish exterior spec (apart from wheels and stance both of which are outside the budget for now!)

So, it's about time I introduced my personal vehicle: Seat Leon 5F ST Facelift FR Year of manufacture 2017, 150 hp TSI A little about me: I'm 38 years old and from beautiful Styria, Austria. What I've done to the Leon so far: Retrofit for the assistant camera Retrofit for the lane change assist Retrofit for the tow bar Retrofit for Area View, which was never available from the factory on the 5F Leon. Retrofit for Area View, which was never offered as standard on the 5F Leon. Retrofit Virtual Cockpit Retrofit MIB2 Standard Navigation with MOST and DAB+ Retrofit Fabric Trim such as Glove Box, Door Pockets, etc. Retrofit Skoda Octavia 4VRs Massage Seats Retrofit Focal Speakers; the vehicle was originally equipped with the Seat sound system, but I'm now very satisfied with the sound quality. Retrofit Trunk Spare Cargo Area Carpet Retrofit Seat Leon KL Heated Steering Wheel Retrofit Door Handle Exterior Lighting (front only) Retrofit Red OEM Brake Calipers (front and rear) Retrofit Ateca Rotary Knob for Driving Profile Selection Retrofit 18" Cupra Cup Wheels These are some of the major retrofits. Other modifications included: Chrome Roof Rack replaced with Gloss Black Gloss Black Rear Bumper Insert Gloss Black Rieger Diffuser Second LED Lighting in the Left Side of the Trunk Rear Seat Upgraded with Illuminated OEM Audi Seatbelt Buckles Rear Doors Equipped with ambient lighting, controllable via MIB Rear footwell lighting retrofitted Ambient lighting extended to the front storage compartment for the mobile phone, as well as the ring around the 12V socket. Additional lighting added to the dashboard. Climatronic unit replaced with a VW unit due to the white lighting and the ability to activate the steering wheel heating simultaneously with the seat heating. Passenger sun visor replaced with a driver's sun visor (UK) to avoid the airbag markings. Light switch replaced with a white version; this will be implemented throughout the entire vehicle. Red switches will be replaced with white. Fog light bezels replaced with gloss black ones. Frameless rearview mirror installed. Of course, a few projects remain: Replace front seatbelt buckles with illuminated ones; parts are on order. Replace grille with OEM Cupra black grille. Install side skirts. Install rear spoiler. Install OPS 360° with Park Assist. Parts are ready for installation. Retrofit seatbelt height adjustment; it's inconvenient. I'm quite surprised, especially as a previous Skoda driver... Yes, that's pretty much it. Maybe @Binx1310 or @JR RS or @Bap33 or @travs or other colleagues will stop by here. A few quick snapshots from the not-so-clean, tidy car.

Had the car 10 Years from new and the car is now at 97500 miles. 10th Service and Seventh MOT done last year ( 2025 ) with nothing to report. 11th Service and Eighth Mot done last week (2026 ) with nothing to report. Still only had one MOT advisory in its life. Car is still on original brakes all round, original clutch, & battery. Apart from normal servicing it has wanted: - Lower front suspension arm rear bushes. ( the MOT advisory ) Passenger front electric window fuse! A look at / fix the AC recirculation flap motor housing. Lower front grill, that was both chewed by a rodent and head butted by a pheasant. Inner wing O-S-F plastic cover for access to headlight bulb that went AWOL. 3 AC re gas refills. Tyres, which do about 30K miles on the front. Some headlight bulbs. H7 Osram Nightbreaker's. Wipers front and rear. Engine consumes no oil between services and can still do above 60MPG on a good tank. Still like and plan to keep the car. Thanks. AG Falco

Sadly said goodbye to my mk4 vrs estate in black last weekend. Exactly 3 years old, 28k miles - a great car (apart from the Bridgestone tyres!) If anyone is after a good mk4 with pan roof, winter pack and complete Skoda service history, they have it for sale at Winchester Skoda and Ryan is your man. Took delivery of a brand new stock vrs estate in Smokey Silver. Tow bar, winter pack, pan roof, dcc, canton and simply clever pack. Early thoughts are they it sounds so much nicer on the exhaust note and the dcc is amazing. The Goodyear Eagle Supersport tyres - wow! The dash and door trims however are dissapointing. They've replaced the alcantara for some cheap material. The carbon fibre look on the dash is now a much cheaper textured plastic. They no longer provide covers for the isofix points in the back either. Just a few small things but sometimes these matter. Other than that, very impressed. Took the warranty up to 5 years so intend to keep this one!

I’ve just checked under the bonnet after a very stop start trip around town and everything is as clean as a whistle that I can see . Still has the smell but I’m hoping that will fade eventually! Car is running better .

@omeromeryigit Thanks for the information you shared. I followed the steps in the post one by one, and in the end my volume increasing issue was fixed. I solved the problem by cleaning the unit that the service said had to be replaced completely.

Your fuel consumption figures should decrease a couple of tics too.

Both !

Wow.....that is impressive!! Well done. U now have an Ultra Ultra Special Edition Leon FR with all those changes to it!! Lol

Update : Move had a new valve cover , injector washers/ring/njector valves , new leak off pipe and x4 injectors . A lot of money ! Presumably the smell of fuel will subside as any residual fuel burns off from the repairs ?

Update: I bought a pressure bleeding kit from amazon & primed it to 15psi. Opened the bleed screw and lots of air came out then eventually good clean fluid. Had my daughter pressing the pedal a bit towards the end, thought I'd got through the air bubbles stage and tightened the bleed screw. Tried it on the road and although it's 'ok' I think it could still be better, there's still maybe a few air bubbles in there somewhere so I'll give it some more bleeding when the dry weather returns. I'll get another bottle of fluid and bleed the other 3 corners.

Yes, of course, photos of the exterior will follow as soon as I've parked the car in a nice spot. I forgot to mention, the rear seat is heated; it was retrofitted.

We had a sense we were being watched earlier👀🦆

Hi. Please feel free to give us a try for insurance if you with. We can offer a fixed agreed value for pretty much any car as long as it's over 12 months old. Regards, Dan.

i thought that too at first

Reset the long term, it only goes up to 9,999 anyway so isn't since built. so you could use that for a holiday trip there and back?

Hi, On mine with light assistance in sport mode the lights move much quicker, I have matrix lights. I leave mine in normal as it’s a bit to much if your pushing on in the night the lights are flashing all all the place especially on rural roads a bit off putting for drivers coming towards you.

I set lane assist to last setting no problem mk 4.5 facelift

I've not given up, but I have slowed down, I bet none of you noticed. But I've jacked it up twice as high and it's WAY easier to get under now, my neighbour also loaned me a wheely sled thing which makes scooting in and out easier. Hopefully I can actually get in and rebuild some sill in the next few weeks. I'm feeling like I can make some progress again.

Maypole is the name of the company that made the one I got.

Not tested.

Fitted a maypole one to my old Seat and no probs. Similar age of car plus can bus. If your getting 12v to relay then maybe check your getting a good earth. On the maypole one there is only a live feed and the earth is on the car side section of relay. Check the trailer socket wiring again especially earth as its fairly easy to trap insulation rather than copper cable. I would also check car socket with multimeter in case theres a problem with the trailer lights. Alasdair

White with black trim and wheels and red calipers! 😍

Will message you both shortly, thanks for posting. 🙂

I would agree its currently not being broadcast. TMC crossed out. Whether its temporary or permanent pass. A quick Google on the subject nothing sprung out.

I called dealer and they confirmed it will be free of charge. I will get it booked in soon.

Was the fuel spray coming from the leak-off pipe - or from a faulty injector?

@nta16 1.2 TDI CFWA (CFW) These was part of the VW Defeat Device recall and the car might or might not have had the Software / Engine Management update. This was a disaster for many of these engines.

I thought I replied to this - weird. Speaking for the EA888, an external oil cooler is a pretty straightforward install (as aux coolers go). Offerings from Racingline, HEL, etc are virtually plug and play, with only a few holes needing drilled for mounting. For the EA288 it’s the same story AFAIK. I’ve seen good things from Darkside and Bar-Tek. To properly monitor oil temps you’ll ideally get something like a CANchecked readout. Anything above 125C is a problem. I’d speak to the boys at Darkside - they know their way around these engines.

Fearless!! VID-20260605-WA0013~2.mp4

What it needs is proper statesmen in the governments; without them, governments just tend to the bidding of the wealthy private profiteers who employ the best lobby groups, fund the think tanks and bankroll government parties to ensure that they get their way.

Thats a serious amount of retrofit. I didnt understand what you meant by the illuminated seatbelt buckles until i looked at the photos but they are pretty cool! didnt know they were a thing. It will look much nicer with all white switches. The positioning of the driving profile selector is very clever. Neatly tucked away. Can we see some photos of the outside? PS we are the same age! PPS - I am honored to be listed alongside such legends as @JR RS and @Bap33 !

My 2010 2.0 BKD with DSG is 16 years old, 123,000 miles and shows no signs of stopping. Worst thing I've had to replace has been the turbo, the gearbox has been great. I did hear bad things about the DSG, but also heard if it gets last 50,000 miles they tend to last quite well. Mines is by far the best car I've ever owned, and is in much better condition than the car it replaced at the same age - I scrapped the old one, the Skoda has years left in her yet.

That can't be right, the hand book states what the fuses are for are they saying you can't check!

Just to clear up something, I'm looking at engine CHHB. Not the CJXA. So it'll be the 220tsi in my case. I've found a useful resource that seems to answer my question Skoda Superb III Combi 2.0 TSI (220 Hp) DSG | Technical s...Technical Specs: Skoda Superb III Combi 2.0 TSI (220 Hp) DSG Station wagon (estate) /2015, 2016, 2017, 2018/ | Fuel consumption, Dimensions, 220 Hp, 243 km/h, 150.99 mph, 0-100 km/h: 7.1 sec, 0-60 mph I think this satisfies my question, so thanks for your help guys.

Thanks again, I'll let you know if I get anywhere!

You can feel the difference between normal and sport mode, mainly through the steering IMO. I usually use sport mode if I'm carrying passengers front and back and I'm out on a run, just makes the steering feel more weighted and secure. Haven't bothered with ECO or tried to customise my own

I’d get a 4.5 if you are going to change. The infotainment is much better than the 4 and the 265hp engine has a top end zing the mark 4 doesn’t have. Also the wheels are nicer (with the eco covers removed) in my opinion.

Hey there!! Can you please upload these someplace else as they are not available to download currently. Thanks!!

Headlight wiring harnesses manufactured and a full table setup carried out with unit 19,4B,09,D6&D7 etc. etc.

Having spent 40 years in the electronics industry, I think it is eminently sensible not to keep applying updates (unless a really obscure bug is found that would merit a recall). The only reason computers get updated so often is that they have to interface with an ever changing world full of hackers and multiple commercial concerns looking for that edge. The car is a completely enclosed system.

Micro hybrid is its correct term. It’s a software controlled way of reducing energy consumption and emissions by putting more work through the battery and only using alternator output when needed. It’s constantly varying and needs to know what is going on throughout the electrical circuits to determine the correct alternator output. It’s also set up to maximise the life expectancy of the battery during an average lifetime duty cycle. Unregulated charging overcharges the battery, excess energy is turned to heat. The last thing you need in a 12v battery is excess heat as it accelerates decay. A standard battery will work in S/S applications but it’s set up means it’s approx 50% less durable than the equivalent AGM. AGM - Absorbent Glass Mat Top spec SS battery that takes a lot of abuse very well and accepts charge faster than the alternatives. EFB - Enhanced Flooded Battery Entry level S/S battery with polymer based plate envelopes and electrolyte mixer elements to boost durability against abuse. A halfway house between SLI and AGM. SLI Flooded battery Starting/Lights/Ignition A basic battery that does the job but has no thrills at the expense of long term performance and resistance to abuse. Has a deep cycle frequency of around 50% less than the equivalent AGM. Will overheat quicker than alternatives if overcharged leading to moisture loss, wear, premature failure. Most likely to short circuit a cell or fail early out of these three battery types.

"reset procedure stated....Label" No idea what this means?

Thank you, I will finish the aforementioned open projects and then slowly close the Leon FR chapter. I've probably spent too much time with the car and various retrofits( Octavia & Kodiaq) over the last 18 months, even though I have a delightful daughter who will soon be four and my "wife" of over 18 years by my side. But it was probably my refuge because I'm ill, and this illness is incurable.