Paul52

"You might start spending it more on gambling and loose women". Nigel, I thought we had agreed we weren't going to mention this on the forum? There are some loose lips here and we really don't want our other halves to question whether on Friday nights we are really at bible study together. I had a hard time convincing my wife that it's normal practice to use Pinot Noir as a stand in for Communion wine and that donations to BetFred on the credit card are charitable donations to help Betty and Frederick with their living costs; foreign holidays, maintaining the Mercedes etc. (Hopefully I'm not offending anyone - I still recall Bob's exit from the forum some years back for his misunderstanding of political correctness. Although on this forum the M word might be the problem).

Thanks for all the additional thoughts and information. I will run through Johngerard's checks tomorrow. After my pointless trip to Halfords (two or three miles return) I turned the engine off and it restarted without a problem. But it was hot (from idling for about 90 minutes) so it will be interesting tomorrow morning. I have two booster packs charging here now, pessimist that I am. And thank you for drawing my attention to Tayna, several options there. And finally benefiting from a local government pension so I have a comfortable and reliable income Crucian's four year regime of battery changing does have some appeal. I'll now wish you all good night.

OK, at the risk of "we told you so" I ordered a Yuasa battery from.... Halfords. They even gave me £5 off. I had a confirmation of order text and email telling me not to come to the store until the order had been processed. Twenty minutes later I had another text and email to tell me it was ready for collection. All good so far. Having got the car started I can't risk turning off the engine so my wife comes with me to sit in the car with the engine running whilst I collect the battery to fit when I get home. The assistant asks for my name and the order number. Enters this on the computer, checks the three cupboards behind him, rechecks my name and order number, disappears out the back, comes back, consults a colleague before checking my name and order number for the third time. Then I'm told the order has been cancelled, by Halfords! He tells me they tried to phone me but there was no reply. I advised him I have been sat alongside my phone because, not unsurprisingly, I was anxious to collect the battery asap because the store would close at 5pm. The next explanation was that they must have the wrong phone number for me, so we check and, sure enough, the number they "called me on without my answering" is the correct number - the number they have been sending the text messages to. So I pull up my call log and, mystery of mysteries, I've not had any calls today, let alone one from Halfords and definitely not since the text to collect the order. Now there are two theories here. Theory one is that dark forces are at play malignantly trying to stop me buying a new battery for my car, possibly as part of some wider plot to overturn western civilisation as we know it. Theory two is that Halfords cancelled the order by mistake and decided to make it the customer's fault, forgetting that with modern technology their blatant dishonesty is easily proved. Thank you Halfords for a wasted Sunday afternoon but on the positive side some more competent business will get my order. And to add insult to injury, the cost of the battery is showing on my credit card but not the refund. Hands up all those that are surprised by that. No one?

Quick update. I've left the engine running for an hour or so and my cheapo meter is showing 14.0 volts. (I'm not competent to be let lose with a multimeter but this is probably a reasonable approximation of what is going on). I've not moved it yet but everything seems to be functioning but I've got three warning lights on - tyre pressure, traction control and ABS. I seem to recall a selection of warning lights is normal after a battery is disconnected and reconnected and these switch themselves off after a few hundred metres so I'm not panicking yet. I'm waiting to collect a Yuasa HSB027 which is recommended for the Yeti and has lots of good reviews. Just a little concerned the width is listed as 129mm which is a lot narrower than the current Bosch 170 but it's not unusual for a web-site to get the dimensions wrong and any problems fitting (I can just about manage that and I don't have the problems of stop/start and coding, I think) and it will go back. Ah, it's a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.....

Thank you everyone for your help and advice, it's much appreciated. I'm responsible for running a 93 year old father-in-law to medical appointments etc. and have an elderly dog that's keeping the vet in a lifestyle I'd have if I didn't have said elderly dog. I take Warrior 193's point that even if I can get a decent charge in the battery it might only be a short term solution so taking all that into account, and the fact I've had four years out of the battery, I'm going to take the advice that I've offered people on this forum over the years - that in the cost of running a car replacing a battery possibly a bit prematurely isn't a bad thing and it does mean at least if a problem persists it is something that can be crossed off the list. Again, thank you for your help and advice; and on a Sunday.

That's right, it's the Classic Yeti so it's not stop/start. I've just been out to the car and after about an hour the battery has recovered to 8.8v and the dash lights came on and the tailgate unlocked - then I decided not to push my luck. I will check the voltage when I can get it started as Johngerard suggests. I've been doing the same pattern of driving, mainly 5 mile each way trips and an occasional longer run a couple of times a month (but still around 40 miles round trip) for several years now since retiring without any problems but a charger seems a sensible investment - things are fine until suddenly they aren't. I don't want anything to clever and I'm thinking about one of these https://www.toolstation.com/ring-smart-battery-charger-maintainer/pAF045 The blurb says it is compatible with lead-acid, gel, calcium, EFB, AGM and lithium-ion batteries" and it's weather proof so I can leave it hanging in the car port when needed. Thank you both for your quick and helpful responses.

Morning all. Went to start the car this morning and lots of dash lights came on and a horrible noise from under the bonnet, as you can hear in the video. After three or four attempts at starting everything is dead, no warning lights, no sidelights and I'm not going to risk locking and unlocking as the tailgate has locked itself. As you can see in the video I tried connecting a jumper "battery" but now find that this one from Lidl doesn't hold it's charge as well as my father-in-law's Noco one, so it's now on charge - pay cheap pay twice?). A cheapo battery meter is now showing just over 7 volts. The battery is a Bosch fitted in September 2022 with a four year warranty (so just six months out of warranty). There's been almost no warning although I mentioned to my wife the last couple of mornings that it seemed a bit sluggish starting but was fine for the rest of the day. It gets at least two 5 mile runs every day. I'm hoping it's just the battery given up rather early (I'd rather buy a new one than take a chance on getting this one back functional - at least this time it's let me down in my own drive) but decided it's worth asking for any thoughts here before I rush into anything, not least whether the battery failing like this could be a symptom of other problems. It's as well to be prepared for the worst. (This could be the day I regret not buying a battery charger "just in case"). PXL_20260329_101158679.mp4

1.2 tsi so petrol rather than diesel but mine is still going strong. I seem to remember reading on this forum years ago the exhaust is stainless steel(?) but I wouldn't swear to it.

Zenga, in case it will help anyone else in the future, did you find out what the problem was with the central locking?

Right, the good news. I've just been out to my Yeti and using the physical key the first unlock only unlocks that door, in my case the driver's door. The other doors and tailgate remained locked. If you then try and open any other door the alarm goes off! I then tried unlocking, re-locking and unlocking straight away, All the doors unlocked - I could hear the "bolts" click back and I physically checked they would open. This seems to reproduce what you have been experiencing and hopefully this says that all the expensive stuff inside the car is working as it should. Your post says 2009 Yeti. Do you have more than one key and if so do you have the same problem with both? For the sake of a few pounds I would replace the battery in both key fobs and see what happens before I started looking for anything more serious. If they still have the original batteries I'm not surprised they have stopped working, even the one that you might think of as the "spare". (I'm remembering problems I had with one of my laptops which wouldn't hold the correct date and time. Someone more technically minded told me to change the CMOS battery, a button battery costing about £2, which took five minutes and the problem was solved). Even if the key fob is flashing the battery may be so exhausted you don't get a clear signal from it. (This may sound like I know what I'm talking about; don't be fooled, I don't). Hopefully it's going to be a quick and cheap fix for you - a good way to start the New Year. Let us know how you get on.

My reading of your post is that both you and your wife will be sad to see the Yeti go - and having owned mine since 2013 I can well understand why. I'm now familiar with the sill height issue - my wife, who also has a problem with her back, can only just clear the sill and a friend who frequently travels with us once seated has to lift her leg for her foot to clear the sill. Whilst I'm not yet at the point of considering parting with the Yeti I have been interested in the problems you have been having in finding a suitable replacement. And this lead me to wonder whether it is solely the accessing issue or whether there are other reasons that for you mean it may be the time to make the change; after all with a 15 year old car that day will come. For me when considering a change the sill height will I'm sure be a consideration but also the driving position - the high seats makes getting in and out easy - and the comfort of the seats; I've had cars where after an hour or so a break has been essential to relieve back pain. All of this leads me to wonder whether, if it suited you, there would be a way to practically address you wife's problem so you could delay making a decision and see if anything else comes on the market that meets your needs. At the risk of seeming to have finally lost the plot (and some would say that ship sailed some time ago) would a low step help your wife in (and out?) of the car, something that could be easily stowed in the boot or behind the seat? The other possibility that occurred to me, watching my friend lifting her leg to swing her foot into the car (she doesn't seem to have a problem getting out) would be some sort of strop that would help your wife lift her foot without putting unnecessary strain on her back. Again, at the risk of being considered "different", these are made as dog tugs but the larger sizes could be wide enough to easily get a foot in and out and long enough without having to bend and hurt her back whilst helping to lift the foot. Realistically a new car may be the only option but perhaps something to think about even to help over the next couple of months or so whilst waiting for the replacement car - they are around £5-£10 in the usual places. If you do move on from the Yeti I'll be sorry to see you go but then on the positive side I'll be one step closer to being the longest serving member on this forum still with his original Yeti.

Hi Sally. Unfortunately the VAG sunroofs have something of a reputation for letting in water - I have one on my 2013 Yeti and so far I've been lucky but it always feels like "so far". Water getting in is always going to be a worry so I thought it might be useful if I shared with you some of the things that have come up on the forum over the years. It's not a magic bullet solution unfortunately but might help you to start thinking your options through. I'm not an expert on this (far from it) but sometimes it is the drain pipes from the channel that the sunroof sits in become blocked and this can lead to water into the car. From reading this forum it seems to be quite easy to clean these with careful use of compressed air or a thin, flexible rod to expel the blockage. If the cassette that holds the workings for the sunroof has cracked some people have been successful at sealing the leak with a sealant called Captain Tolleys but you need to know what you are doing and it's quite a long and painstaking process. Worst case scenario if it is the sunroof leaking (and you can get leaks elsewhere obviously) you have to ask yourself how much you are prepared to spend on a 10 year old car. A new sunroof fitted by a main agent is an eye-watering cost. Some independents claim they can do a permanent repair for a lot less (but still around £1000, talking to the one near me) but how effective that would be I don't know. If it is getting more light in the car is more important than being able to open the sunroof than there has been discussion on the forum about sealing around the sunroof (and removing the fuse to prevent accidentally trying to open it) or possibly having a vinyl panel over the whole of part of the roof. Finally, if you haven't already emptied the boot out it's worth carefully looking around to see if there are any signs of water ingress - staining around any bungs or down panels. Possibly over 10 years something has become dislodged or warn and water id getting in from underneath. Good luck.

Each year I click the link to renew this but I was wondering if anyone had used Skoda Ensurance after an accident and how did it go? Specifically are there any advantages to going through them rather than straight to your insurer but also are there any disadvantages, such a finding yourself liable for unexpected costs if the other party's insurer excludes parts of the claim? I did a quick search on the wider Briskoda forum but nothing helpful came up.

Welcome to the forum. The first thing to do is ..... enjoy it! Mine is twelve years old with close to 100,000 on the clock. I bought it new, never regretted it and my experience, and it seems to be the experience of most of the forum members present and past, that they are well built and reliable motors.

Following on from Austin 7 anyone that's been on the forum for a decent length of time will see posts where all sorts of strange electrical gremlins came down to a dodgy battery, usually one that's fairly elderly. (I experienced this myself). Before spending a lot of money I'd check the age of the battery - if it's getting long in the tooth think about replacing it now rather than when it fails (it's probably not that far into the future and in the big picture it's not a lot of money). Even if it turns out that replacing the battery doesn't cure the problem it's one critical thing eliminated and you can proceed with other tests knowing its a good battery.

I can't help with sourcing a replacement but I've just checked and mine is on the inside of the fuel flap, so you looked in the right place.

For what it's worth I bought my 2013 Excellence right at the end of the Classic run as I wanted the quirkiness of the earlier styling. It's the 1.2 petrol, has 90,000 miles on the clock and other than tyres, a battery and replacing the front shock absorbers (picked up as "misting" at an MOT rather than they failed) have had pretty much 12+ years of trouble free motoring. As you may have picked up elsewhere there are a few 1.4 petrol models around if you can track one down but the consensus seems to be the 1.8 petrol is for those with deep pockets. My understanding is there wasn't a step change from the pre to the post facelift Yeti, it was more building on what was a solid car from launch. One thing I have picked up from this forum, and I stand to be corrected, is the Amundsen unit in the FL seems to have more problems than the earlier Bolero so it's one of the things to look for when you are looking around but there's a lot of information on this forum and You Tube about fixing/replacing the unit. Although the car inarguably is getting a bit long in the tooth now (well, they stopped selling them in 2017) it's still a fun and versatile car to drive. Keep your expectations sensible and I don't think you will be disappointed.

As DogBook and I think it would be worth trying to take some better pictures to give a clearer idea of what is going on - I can't make out if the shroud isn't properly activating, has the jet become misaligned, is the jet partially blocked? Have you recently changed screenwash and if so are you getting more foam on the windscreen and rear screen? Is it only happening on one side? Also it can help to give the model and age of the car - is it pre or post facelift? This sort of information will help the more mechanically minded on the forum guide you towards possible causes and, hopefully, a remedy. What do you mean "it only happened after my full service cancelled"? Do you mean this has started with no-one else having access to the car rather than it being something that's happened after a service?

If that doesn't work don't rule out the problem possibly being related to the battery, particularly if it is still the original. There are lots of posts scattered across the forum where weird electronics related problems came down to a problem with an apparently healthy battery actually being not quite up to the job. I experienced this myself with odd lights appearing and going off at random even though the car started without a problem. For what it is worth, if the battery is either the original or possibly a replacement getting on a bit at least replacing it isn't a huge expense even if it turns out this isn't the cause of your problem and does mean you are going into winter with a new and hopefully reliable battery. Hope you get your problem sorted.

I bought one soon after buying my car - having spent a lifetime replacing a wheel by hanging it on studs it seemed a recipe for madness to try and support the weight of a wheel and tyre whilst lining it up EXACTLY with a small hole before holding everything in place to insert the first wheel stud. These should be included in the spare wheel kit (£1 each to Skoda buying in bulk?). Does exactly what you want when replacing a wheel. The first time you use it you'll think "Money well spent" particularly if it's dark and raining 🙂

There were definitely two different greens and it sounds like the one you saw was the colour that predated mine. I remember this because just after ordering mine I saw one one the road and really didn't like the colour so had to go back to the dealer and check that wasn't what I was going to get! 🙂 Fortunately I still like the Malacite Green, also used on Fabias although I've not seen on.

Mine is a 2013 Elegance 1.2 Tsi in Malachite Green. It seems there were only 2.2% green ones that year. There is (or perhaps was) one more car with this spec on the road from that time due to my unintentional meddling. I ordered my car from a local dealer but wanted the 16" wheels, which they couldn't spec. So, following advice from the wise men then on this forum, I wrote to Skoda UK's MD and asked for the smaller wheels. He confirmed this would not be a problem - job done. A few days later I got a confused telephone call from the dealer asking if that was right - I has two near identical cars coming? (And I'd only paid for one). It all got sorted and I hope the person that got "my" car on the standard 17" wheels has been as happy as I have been. Looking in more detail at the link provided about is indicates around 8% of all Yetis were green. Whether it was a more popular colour choice in non-UK markets I don't know but in 12 years of ownership I've seen very few green Yetis - I would say no more than three on the road plus I know the Goodwood estate had a small number (because the estate staff where very helpful with their advice when I was trying to make my decision).

Simple when you know how!! With a bit of effort the ring to which the tether is attached will pull over the fuel cap. The easy option is to buy a replacement ring and tether and just push the new ring back over the cap and attach the other end of the tether over the small stud by the hinge. When I did this I found the replacement ring was just slightly larger than the original - only 1mm or so but enough that it annoyed me. I removed it from the cap and pushed out the two small black plastic pins from the old ring, the same with two silver pins from the new ring (just visible alongside the tether in the photo) and put the new tether in the old ring, replaced the pins and put everything back together. Good as new and once you know what to do it's a couple of minutes work. Couple of minor points - the pins are obviously very small so would be easy to lose as you push them out. I punched them out using a suitably sized rivet into a hole bored into a block of wood so they couldn't get lost. The other thing is to work out which way up the end of the tether goes into the ring - one way everything falls nicely into place when you put it in the car, the other way it's awkward and twisted.

The rubber strap that stops the petrol cap getting lost recently broke. It was easy enough to find a supplier for a new petrol cap with this tether but as I only need to replace the strap (and the cheapest "sets" were all out of stock) I found this on eBay for just over £3 delivered. I think the part and petrol cap are common across a range of VAG models. My problem now is I can't see how to get the old ring off and the new one on as everything is rigid plastic and there are no obvious screws or tabs holding things together.. Before I use brute force and break something I'm wondering if anyone has had to replace this part in the past and what the secret is?

I agree with Scott 4x4, the first thing I'd check is the battery. I had a similar problem of a lot of warning lights coming on for no obvious reason ad because my battery was several years old I had new one put in. Problems gone. Over the years on this forum there have been a lot of reports of strange electrical behaviour being down to a failing battery. And if the battery is a few years old putting in a new one isn't really wasted money even if it isn't the cause of the problem - replacement was probably going to be necessary in the the not-to-distant future anyway. (Your English is fine by the way - I like that you've picked up "gunk" 🙂 )