miho

Thanks for all the useful information. I found it since our car's (2001 1.9TDI estate, comfort) PAS started acting up today. On starting after a previous short drive the PAS indication on the dash did not disappear and there was no assist noticeable. After a few minutes driving the light went out and PAS was working normally. This happened a few more times. After reading through all the comments here I suspect an electrical power issue. Apparently after starting the battery voltage is too low for the PAS to work correctly. After a bit of driving the battery voltage seems good enough, again. I assume this is caused by some corrosion or breakage in a power cable. So far this is just a hypothesis as I am on holiday without so much of a tool set to even take the battery out. I hope to get home over the weekend and have a good look at all the cables. If I can find someone with VAG COM I'll try getting the fault codes read. Do you think that is a reasonable course of action? The battery is only about a year old, so less likely to be the culprit. I don't know if the steering angle sensor has ever been replaced. Is it possible to see it without disassembling anything? Thanks, Mike

Seems like you figured it yourself. The amplifier that is already built into the foot of the antenna needs a power supply. VAG radios supply that but aftermarket units don't. So you have to get the 12V supply onto the antenna cable via that PC5-52 that is connected to 12V. Good luck, Michael

The cambelt should be changed every 60k miles. So you are quite late with that and should get it done as a matter of urgency. The consequences of a failure are pretty dire. Even compared to the not exactly cheap new belt...

Our 2001 TDI estate is leaking also. When we bought it two years ago I pointed out the stains on the rear doorcards and the Skoda dealer cleaned them up before we actually bought it. At that time I hadn't found briskoda and didn't know about the leaky door problem, yet. The problem has come back since and the car is now out of the used car warranty. To make things worse, after another garage (prescribed by the insurance) repaired some minor accident damage to the passenger front door, that one now seems to leak slightly, also, even though the window carrier including seal was replace. Let me know when you get anywhere with your complaint to trading standards. I'd be happy to join in. Michael

They use kph because it's a sensible unit of measurement. They can easily be converted to other units. Of course, meters per second would be even better in some circumstances. Michael

Sounds like you are really better off with a complete spare part of the resistors themselves are gone. Michael

If you are an electronics engineer, have a closer look at what's in that resistor pack. I disassembled one of an Augi 80 some years ago. It was a couple of resistor and a thermal fuse in series with these. Usually the fuse blows but since initially some settings and not just the full setting went, it might be the resistor itself. just check if short-circuiting the fuse helps. If so, should be a part for a couple of p in Maplin or the like. Saved my dad about 15 quid on the part... Good luck, Michael

Very likely was the wind. Drag and hence the required force to sustain speed goes up with the square of velocity (velocity for that matter is your speed on the road + the speed of the wind). Just a slight headwind drives up your fuel consumtion as if you'd be driving a lot faster. And there you wouldn't be surprised about low MPG readings. I regularly get that effect between Cambridge and Norwich where westerly winds prevail. Michael

Hi All, I noticed last winter and this time again that the fuel economy on my Furby 1.9TDI estate drops from around 60mpg to 50mpg if temperatures are below 10 degrees. It's not just on short trips where warm-up time is a large part of the drive but also 1+ hour runs on motorways and A roads. I guess that is not too unusual. What's your experience in winter? Cheers, Michael

Any idea why that is? Do you mean shifting up or down at 2k rpm? If I am not in a hurry I quite often shift up to the next gear at around 2k rpm. Keeps the car nice and quiet. Michael

what you are supposed to fit with an aftermarket HU is NOT a booster. It's just a device that couples the power supply for the booster that's already in the base of the aerial onto the cable. Do a search on my user name. I did post a more detailed description of that problem a while ago. Your problem almost sounds like you actually bought a real booster which doesnt help since you'd be amplifying both the weak signal and the noise from the aerial. So you don't improve the signal to noise ratio that is important for both AM and FM reception. Signal strength alone says nothing about sound quality after demodulation. Michael

Likely there is an a lot cheaper solution. That heater resistor consists of the resistors that limit the power for all fan settings but the highest one and a temperature-sensitive fuse. If the resistors get too hot, that fuse breaks. I bought just that fuse a couple of years ago for my dads Audi 80 and soldered it in myself. I suspect, maplin or the likes do sell that fuse. Bought it in a german electronics shop back then. As a not-so-safe short-term solution, just short out the fuse with some strong wire. Michael

While my GF was driving our Furby the electric front passenger window made a strange noise when closing it. She tried opening again and it just dropped into the door. No way of getting it out myself easily. Reading up on that problem on Briskoda I realised that it might be tricky to fix myself and took it to the local dealer (Vindis Cambridge) this morning. They secured the window in the closed position with a bit of cardbord and told me they'd need to order a regulator. Sorted me out in 15 minutes in the morning and didn't even charge me anything. Brilliant so far. I asked for a quote for the repair and the guy told me around 180

That's exactly what it is. The amp is in the aerial and needs a power supply via the aerial's cable. The Skoda HUs do that themselves. With an aftermarket HU you need to provided that separately via one of these IIRC PC2-52. Do a search, I described it in more detail a while ago. You definitely do NOT need an amplifier. That's only going to make reception worse for weak stations. Michael

I remember overtaking some car with a large digital speedo that I could read while driving our Fabia. My speedo read about 78mls, the other one 72. Most speedos are set a bit fast... Michael