-mike-

Hey all! Quick update, the noise returned very shortly after the new filter so I assumed the worst and booked it in for checking. Long and short of that is - the complete timing assembly was renewed and now there is no more tapping at all on cold starts! However, the car has now developed a new issue where it will not idle smoothly, with the revs flitting between as low as 560 rpm and 640 rpm. You can stabilise this behaviour somewhat by putting on a high load consumer like the AC. Car has plenty of power (I think..... feels flat compared to my bkd but I guess it would with a flat torque curve), but will not keep a smooth idle. The plugs were changed when the timing chain was done, misfire is mainly showing on cylinder 4 in vcds but will sometimes count one on another cylinder. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this? Going to take the car back to the garage that did the work on Friday, the idle was previously smooth whereas now you get a backside massage at times! Ignition timing also has quite some swing which I assume is it trying to stabilise the idle? Thank you :)

Think I'll wait until this oil has a few k on it and then change the filter and extract the oil. Half tempted to extract the oil and not change the filter given it's done all of 300 miles on this filter but something tells me that would be frowned upon! Thanks Phil.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, when Skoda last serviced it - they put 5/40 in it! No idea which to go with now :|

Hey Phil, I previously owned a rover turbo which had the oil changed every 4-5k, I don't go much on this long life servicing malarky myself.... can't see how oil at nearly 20,000 miles old is nearly as good as oil at 10,000. From now on, I think I may get it serviced at the garage once a year and perhaps switch the stuff out myself every six months. Her mileage has increased massively between locations now and so I want to know it's running around on the best oil state it can be! Will get some oil tomorrow and suck the fairly fresh stuff out... think of it as an engine flush I guess! Thank you so much, to you, and all for your help!

So far, so good! I'm very tempted to extract the oil and put some fresh in as the invoice doesn't state the grade filled. I'm assuming the Castrol LL 5-30w is the correct one? Always a bit concerned about the recommendation from online motor factors. I believe 502 00 is the correct vw grade? Thank you all, so much!

Hey all, The part number on this filter is 03C 115 561 H! Looks like the fitted filter is the wrong one :/ Do I tell the garage this or just leave it be? Will fit shortly! Thanks so much for all your help!

I figured enough deliberating over this - I've ordered one from the Skoda dealership in town - will pick it up on my way to work and post back with the part number I'm given!

Gents, thank you both for your replies - this is interesting and could potentially be the issue - I've just put the reg in the DVLA vehicle checker to try and ascertain the correct date but I'm not sure how much I can rely on this information? - Vehicle Details Vehicle make SKODA Date of first registration February 2011 Year of manufacture 2011 Would this put it in the needing a non return filter category, or not needing one? I was put off this engine based on hers but when it's running it seems to run pretty well and isn't a bad performer if you wind it up - certainly no vrs, but more than adequate for her going to work and back and a lovely place to be compared to her old renault I love my BKD lump but it's completely the wrong engine for my usage now! Sorry for the delay in replying gents, work has been hectic of late! Thank you so much for all your detective work!

Hey Rich, Thanks for the reply, the noise occurs quite often on her car certainly with enough frequency to cause alarm. After checking her engine a minute ago, it has a bosch filter fitted, part number is F 026 407 181 though I can't find any mention of any valve fitted or indeed not fitted, to this particular filter. I was hoping to find some guide to a rough check of the chain condition through vcds as I know someone who has it, and has offered to let me use it - so far no such luck though! When the guy had the car to service it, he was unable to see a bung to inspect the tensioner length which was disappointing.

Thank you for this reply! I read more for the twin charged lump, but have seen a youtube video or two with the lower powered caxa lump also! This is interesting, I don't know currently as the car isn't home but will check this evening and make sure it's the correct part or one listed as suitable for the car. Will report back on this later! Does anyone know if there is a tensioner inspection hole with this engine at all?

The car has been serviced yearly, previously she was only doing 4/5k miles a year but this has increased now due to working further away. If it were my car I think I'd want to be changing the oil every six months reading the issues with this engine. I'm tempted to extract the oil and change the filter every six months whilst keeping the yearly visit to the dealer for its annual change. I'm not sure what grade they are using there but assume it would be correct? The first owner of the car had it on long life servicing for the first 30k miles - this probably didn't help! Thank you for your reply. So far - no EML light has ever been thrown but that's useful to know thank you for your reply Unfortunately I guess for us, we are not the lucky ones where it has lasted! The car has just crossed the 70,000 mile mark which would be good going for a cambelt I guess - shame the 'fit for life' chains aren't fit for life! Thank you for your reply.

Hey all, Wondering if any of you can offer any advice, or if you've experienced anything similar - my partners octavia (2011) from cold makes an awful death rattle sound, not always but fairly often. It's just been serviced and was doing this noise prior and is still, after. I've been looking online and found a few videos of stretched timing chains on the CAXA lump, but typically only read about failures on the larger higher powered engines. Is there any way to check the chain without disassembling everything, would vcds be of any use in diagnosis of the issue at all? (I don't have it, but a friend does). The noise is very much like the one in this video - Any help would be massively appreciated, the mechanic we use didn't seem keen to investigate the chain as the noise typically, was absent when he had the car for two days. I however, am convinced it's a noisy chain or at that side of the engine. Thank you