Ben W Bell

I'd just like to point out I know next to nothing about cars and haven't modified it in any way. I know from past experience what a MAF is, but a dual-weighted flywheel?

No the car lifts in front, as I'd expect it to, and I feel no shaking through the column at that point. Tends to only be when driving around 2-3000 rpm. Mind you I also think the gear ratios have shifted up slightly, though that could be due to the slick seeming loss of power. I used to be able to do 30 in 4th no problem, not it's nearing stall if I drop lower than 28 so I have to be careful. I also find I'm shifting into 5th slightly later on acceleration as well.

Okay. My Octavia (a 1.9 TDi Ambiente estate) has been through the wars. In October last year it was hit nearly head on by a Clio doing too much in a residential area (my car was parked). Anyway they only fixed bodywork, and the turbo had gone which they insisted wasn't due to the accident so I had to replace the turbo out of my own pocket. Anyway this co-incided with me losing my job and since then the car has only done about 3,000 miles if that. The issue I have is that the car doesn't feel right. There is a shuddering that goes through the car often on acceleration now, moreso uphill, but it's almost always present. I can really feel it shaking through the steering column. On top of that the performance isn't as responsive or good as it was just after they replaced the turbo. Now no work whatsoever has been done since the turbo replacement, but these symptoms have been ongoing the last 4-5 months and I've not bothered to have anything done about it. Does anyone have any ideas before I take it to the garage? It's due an MOT soon anyway and I'll have a minor service done.

Okay, I have a Y reg 1.9 TDi Octavia Ambiente. As some of you may remember I've been having a few issues with power on it of late. Basically when accelerating a lot of the time there isn't the power that was once there and it has become sluggish at accelerating up inclines. I wonder if the turbo isn't working. Is there any easy way of diagnosing this? Does anyone know at what points and under what conditions the turbo should kick in on this engine?

I drive 90 mile a day, just over half of which is on motorways usually doing around 85 or so. I'm not just pottering around in it.

Okay. The hot weather has now passed, but my power hasn't come back. So back to the drawing board. Could there be something wrong with my turbo? How would I tell?

I'm up to 96K, so that's another ~6 weeks to 100K.

Hi all So the Symphony 6CD changer that came with my Octavia seems to be on it's way out. Keeps saying SURFACE on every disk now and try as I might blowing air into it I just cannot seem to clean off the lense. Lense cleaner disks aren't working either. So I may just have to buy a new stereo. So the question is, how easy is it for someone to take out the old symphony HU and replace it with a different unit? I was looking at ones that take SD and USB drives to play MP3s plus a front CD unit.

Okay thanks for everyone's responses. I'll put it down to weather, especially since I'm in Kent and have the aircon running constantly.

The car was serviced just four weeks ago, a full service, so all the filters should be clean and new anyway. If you think it's just the heat then fine, but it does sometimes feel like I'm driving a different car.

Hi all. I have a Skoda Octavia Ambiente 1.9 TDi. The estate version, and it's a Y reg. Okay, that's out of the way. In the last couple of weeks I've noticed a slight drop off of power from the engine. It's most noticable when climbing uphill or trying to overtake. It's not a total loss of power, just about 15-20% or so, but I don't know why. The car seems to be running fine other than that, no noises, serviced last month and the like. I have to go uphill in a gear lower than I could before, ones I could accelerate up in 5th now I maintain speed up in 4th. Now I don't know if it's just a case of the turbo not cutting in or something, I'm not terribly au fait with the performance on cars. The gears do seem to have a slack off period where the power from a gear seems to drop off a bit and then come back a bit later and in some cases it actually feels a bit like driving an automatic with it changing gears on you. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Anyone experienced this before? Anyone have any questions they can ask to help with this?

I'm afraid I must give them a bad writeup. I took my Octavia down there with an air conditioning fault. I knew from the independant garage I normally take my cars to (convenience and trust more than anything) that power wasn't getting to the compressor and it was an electrical problem. I told all this to the woman on the service counter at Caffyns but all she took down as notes was the compressor wasn't working. They looked at the car and came back to me to say I needed a new compressor at a cost of £936. When I asked if they were sure it was the compressor they said "Yes, 100% certain". I took the car to another Skoda dealer who listened to me and found the problem was a burnt wire near the relay, total cost to rectify £76. So I'm afraid I have no trust in Caffyns whatsoever.

When another Skoda dealership completely misdiagnosed a problem with my air conditioning system (I knew from an independant dealer that it was an electrical fault) I took it to Motorline Skoda. I booked it in last minute on the Thursday evening. I took the car round on Friday morning and they are wonderful enough to have a passenger lift service to take you back home or to a train station etc due to their distance from the centre of town. Anyway their staff listened to my description of the fault and what I knew, they made notes on it, they looked at the car and found a rectified the problem charging me only labour to replace a burnt out wire. I got a great feeling of competence and trust from the staff and would have no problems giving them return business.

Hey I've no problems with it, everything I say is factual. It was Caffyns Skoda in High Brooms. The woman on the service desk didn't listen to me when I was telling her about the problem, didn't pass that information to the service team. When I went to pick the car up I specifically asked if she was sure it was the compressor that was at fault and she replied "Yes, 100% sure", exact words. Motorline Skoda in Canterbury had the car for a day and a half from the following day. They squeezed me in at very last minute short notice, gave me a lift home, took note of what I told them and after spending time on the problem found the faulty wire and replaced it. Highly recommended.

Okay, turns out it was a burnt out wire. One of the feed wires between the relay and the compressor had corroded and burnt out. Total cost £76. Much better than the fact that another dealership in Tunbridge Wells wanted to charge me £968 for a new compressor despite the fact I knew it wasn't the compressor.

Assuming worst case I need a new one. Is this an expensive and longwinded job or simple cheap and easy?

Okay, I have a problem with my air conditioning in my Octavia. I'm going to take it to a main dealer to try and get it sorted but I thought I would check to see if anyone has any ideas before I go down there so I know what I'm talking about and don't get swindled with something I don't need. The Air Con isn't working. The light comes on on the dashboard when I press the button (normal air con only, I don't have climate control). The fuse is fine and has been checked several times by myself and an independant garage. Now the independant garage says that power isn't getting as far as the compressor, clutch or water pump so the problem doesn't lie there. They say the problem must be electrical somewhere to stop the power getting that far but they don't know enough about the electrics in the Octavia to be able to properly diagnose it. Any thoughts?

Hmmm, they said they tested all the fuses in the main fuse box and they were fine, but the power isn't getting to the compressor. I wonder what else could be wrong then.

Hi all. Does anyone know where abouts the fuse for the air conditioning compressor is located on a Y reg Octavia 1.9 TDi. The Air Con has packed in and a garage looked at it. The compressor seems to be free to move okay but when they checked the power to the compressor it wasn't getting through. They suspect it may be a fuse that has blown somewhere but are not sure where that fuse is as it doesn't seem to be located in the main fuse box to the side of the steering column. Anyone got any ideas on this?