paddypaws

No, actually a relay could be more hazardous, a relay coil will provide a huge voltage back spike, it's a theoretically infinite (it's not) but as the voltage is proportional to the speed of the collapse of he field in the coil (which is instant) the potential is huge. Its high voltage that kills semi conductors, static discharge will kill a semi conductor quick sticks. HID ballasts are an unknown as they are all different designs, but some will have better filtering than others. This page below is a good simple explanation. This stuff is very basic electronic principles, you always protect a driver transistor for a relay with a diode:- Quote from linked page '' When the transistor switches “OFF”, the current flowing through the relay coil decreases and the magnetic field collapses. However the stored energy within the magnetic field has to go some where and a reverse voltage is developed across the coil as it tries to maintain the current in the relay coil. This action produces a high voltage spike across the relays coil that can damage the switching NPN transistor if allowed to build up'' http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/blog/relay-switch-circuit.html

Relays are are an inductive load and if they are not protected by a flyback diode pose an equally dangerous hazard to a mosfet or any other semi conductor for that matter. As soon as the current is switched off the relays coil will produce a huge back EMF voltage. This is how ingnition coils work. Some MKII BCMs are perfectly happy with HIDs. Mine have been in for nearly 3 years with no problems. However to fully be sure a diode in series and one in reverse bias orientation in parrallel with the load will protect the mosfet. A couple of articles that will help with the detail: https://progeny.co.uk/back-emf-suppression/ http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/110574/how-to-choose-a-flyback-diode-for-a-relay

Yes £20 for four rear bolts!

Thanks for that TheClient, mine are the same, I've ordered them. they've gone up a bit £4.50ea +VAT for the rears!

Thanks for the replies, i will order some as i don't want to be stranded either.

My Scout is getting some new rear disks and pads. They are the 272 mm disks. A friend is helping me and he says I need to get new caliper carrier bolts. The local Skoda dealer doesn't even stock them, they're special order, so are they really routinely replaced? Thanks.

Yes serviced the Haldex as per the book, 40k oil and filter change, it was only 15k miles ago that it was done.

Yes its not a bad price, but i'm still annoyed, as the car isn't 4 years old yet. It would be great to hear if anyone has sucessfully repaired their pump. I've seen several threads which say they just needed to clean up the commutator. It sounded believable as I had a subaru with a radiator fan with no torque, I was about to spend £300 on a replacement then had a go at a repair cleaned up the motor and it lasted for years.

That's an all-in price aparently, but I didn't ask whether that included the oil specifically. I just said does that include everything, and she said it did. If anyone knows if the oil needs draining or has a link to a repair guide I'd be very grateful.

Yes thats what I found, several sizes offered, thanks very much!

I need a set of brake disks for the rear on my 2.0 deisel 2013 FL Scout. Anyone able to help with identifying the right ones to order, perhaps the part number, seems a bit of a minefield. Below is the options list from the boot sticker.

My Haldex 4 pump is reported as not functioning. I've just had a routine variable service and the dealer picked up the error code. They've offered a 35% discount as good will gesture as the part has failed 11 months out of the 3 year warranty, but still want £237 for a new one fitted. Do I have a go at fixing the pump? I've done some research on here and it is reported that cleaning up the motor will normally restore it to fully functioning again. Do I have to drain the oil from the Haldex? Is there a step by step guide anywhere that some one can point me to.

Yes, that is what I discovered a definite dark line down the centre of mine. I definitely had to do a slight mod to my bulb base / headlight clip for it to sit right. Here is the picture I took of the back of my FL when I put the HIDs in. You can see if you zoom in the clip is not symmetrical so only goes up one way, the seating of the bulb needed to be modded to get it to seat in the clip, as you can see the tab sticking forward at the top of the clip, would normally stop the bulb being put in the other way up. 50K miles now with HIDs in my FL with zero problems. It is possible to fit them with out blowing up BCMs without all the relays and resistors, but nobody to date on here can definitively say how/why. Also a relay is a pretty dangerous thing to drive from any semi conductor due to the back EMF spike but presumably Mike H. you checked that the relay has a protection diode built in? In fact the protection diode would most certainly be all that's required to protect a BCM from damage with a straight HID install, I'd put one in series with the +ve and ballast and one reverse in bias across +ve and -ve of the ballast to isolate the feed from the Ballast. (although in my case I didn't have to this, I'd had HIDs for a couple of years before reading reports of blown BCMs on here).

Not if you modify the fit! Mine are flipped. I can't remember now, but i think I filed the bulb base to make a symetrical tab, but I remember in the normal position the bulb throws its own shadow of the wire on the road and it is quite intrusive. I opened a thread on it on here at the time. It only took a few minutes, what ever it was I did. Take the headlight out and offer the bulb up I'll, be obvious.

Yes it does. On the ones I had the wire was visible in the beam. I modifed the bulb base by bending the tab up to put the bulb in 180° the other way and its a big improvement.

Reception was a bit patchy for me in my area with the stick on glass aerial. I got an external through glass aerial which is top centre of the windscreen behind the rear view mirror. Looks fine actually. Reception is much better with the external aerial. This one: http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic_DEGA-4001_glass_mount_DAB_car_aerial.html

Had a few sets of Nexens, N6000, N1000 & I've had good experience with them. In fact my independent tyre shop always say they are well reviewed by their customers, good value for money and recommended them in the first place. Thanks to all the other members who agree.

I've had good experiences with Falkens, Nexens, Kumho.

Thanks, I think I had both hands on the steering wheel. - I Just had a quick play with that button and its does as you say. There's nothing on top of the switch, maybe I did press it inadvertently, or may be the switch was stuck down a bit, very odd.

This is an odd one. I have a 2013 Scout, today I was driving along a straight piece of road and all the windows went down half way of their own accord. I then just put them all up individually and they seem to operate fine whilst still on the move. I've seen threads where this has happened whilst parked and put down to holding the key fob open button, but not whilst driving! The cranking has been a bit slow recently so I suspect the battery is a little low/on the way out, but surely when driving the alternator / regulator would keep the voltage up. Weird! Anyone got any experience or ideas as to what happened ? I hope it was a one off!

I went in to my local auto factors and asked for G13 coolant recently but they didn't have it. The guy in the shop said to use G30 which he did have. Its the same pinky colour as the original G12 that presumably the car was filled with from new. The bottle does say 'for VW, Seat, Skoda'. Should this G30 stuff be be ok to mix with G12 or G13? Its been in a month with no discernible problems, hasn't turned to jelly etc?

Did you need to re code the car when the HIS came out, or did you just put in the halogens and it worked fine ? Any bulb errors?

All tyres are pretty much the same wear Silver, although they are all down to about 3mm so will be up for a change soon. I'll ask the dealer to check it out when the service is done. Its also got a very slight coolant leak have to top it up very 500 miles or so, I'll get that looked at as well.

I have just put my winter tyres/wheels on and there's a marked improvement, the winters are a slightly smaller radius so lower geared perhaps that might explain the Improvement less strain on the drive chain. its not gone though just less noticeable.

Thanks silver I'll probably do that as its due for a service anyway. How would you check the haldex, floor it on gravel and see what happens?