Padredante

Have just had the same happen.. Occasionally displays the glow plug warning light on at start up but then goes off when pulling away, sometimes appears while on the move but then goes off again after a couple of mins. Took it to a local garage. They plugged into it reported the fault was with the actuator (wastegate). Booked it in for this Tuesday and they want £320 to replace the actuator. Being quite a sceptical person, I'm very interested in the comments in this thread that it could be a faulty brake light switch instead. My question is this; if too low a pressure (actuator sticking open), or over boost (sticking shut), surely the car would run roughly and / or go into 'limp home mode'?.. The car runs perfectly, no power loss at all. Very smooth as usual with no noticeable unusual engine characteristics. Would this be the case if the actuator was faulty? I know £320 is probably much cheaper than what Skoda would charge but it's still a lot compared to a tenner for a brake light switch.. Can anyone offer any experience or advise on this? Thanks

No... Don't go!.. I don't think you're at all dumb. Not having the ability to grasp an argument doesn't mean you are of limited intelligence or a 'Troll". I'm sure there are plenty of areas in which you could excel at in life. You must start appreciating yourself a little more. I appreciate you. In fact some of your comments have provided me with some side splitting laughter fits. At one point, with your cute little tantrum's, I thought we had Victor Meldrew as a guest. Brilliant! Thanks for making my week a little brighter. You little star you.

8 years old.

....And because it's a car it's not to so important? This is exactly my point. I believe common spring damage / failure is simply due to crap springs and that roads, potholes, salt or whatever are just the'excuses' we are fed, which most of us just 'chew and swallow' If higher quality springs are fitted to a motorcycle's suspension (for whatever reason), that result in zero failures, then the same should be done for all other vehicle types. My guess is as I said before, that higher quality means a higher cost and therefore less markup.

I still think the amount of springs that break on relatively young, low mileage cars be they Skoda's, Fords, BM's or what have you, is down to either poor quality materials or poor manufacturing process (or both). I also think there's too much general public acceptance that it's just the way things are. I've had a number of bikes including some high performance wrist rockets in the past i.e. R1's, Fireblades, GSXR's and I've NEVER had a spring on the mono-shocks go and I've NEVER heard of it happening to any of my mates or anyone else in over 40 years. So why should this be?

Well, in my experience that's not the case. I'm not saying I've never hit a pothole at speed, but it's certainly never been a common occurrence. In the main, the majority of potholes I've seen have been where I'd expect them i.e. small country lanes/ tracks and these type of roads normally 'force' a low speed anyway. What I would agree to is the high number of speed bumps that seem to pepper most roads here now but I tend to 'straddle' these where / when possible but again, if I've been unable to straddle because of a parked car or suchlike, I can't ever remember going over one at speed i.e. anything over 5mph.

So, the front springs are heavier duty because they have to contend with more weight (engine & driver), and forces (weight transfer under breaking), which to me says that in terms of longevity, they are on par with the rear springs that have an easier life. If it's viewed that the rear springs should always be replaced in pairs due to the wear rate being relative, then the front springs should be replaced at the same time?

I partly agree but would you consider replacing the front pair at the same time also? Or are front springs heavier duty due to the fact that they need to carry the extra weight of the engine along with the drivers weight at all times?

No, no tow bar. Me and the missus have always made a point of avoiding cars that had or had had a tow bar because of the potential high load to rear suspension, especially with single axle trailers / caravans. Also regular towing puts additional stresses on the engine so, yeah I'm with you on this one. Yes, it had crossed our minds that the previous owner could have give it some stick but when all 'looks' OK and there are no signs of abuse at pre purchase how can you really ever tell? As I mentioned previously, I would consider changing springs in pairs under certain circumstances. "not that it will change your mind" ...Now why did you have to go and spoil our chat by adding that spiteful, hurtful little dig? It was going oh so well XX

Depends on who you speak to but I wouldn't always go along with that view. I think if the car was particularly old and the new spring might make it sit higher one side and / or would affect road holding then I'd replace the pair. I might also replace the pair if a spring broke after a nasty bump or pothole as logic would tell me that both springs took the hit. Some say that if one spring has gone, then the other should also be replaced as they wear at the same rate and therefore the second spring would fail soon after. I don't agree with that view simply because they don't go on to say you should replace the front pair also which (in most cases) would be the in the same state of wear as the rear springs. I think you need to make a decision depending on the circumstance.

Now I do recall reading about this somewhere

Now, now, there's no need to get all sarcastic honey! If you disagree with my view on this that's fine, but take a chill pill and try not to get personal... Thank you. When you say "I expect the same result as you are getting on here" I thought (until now), it had all been quite a healthy debate... I don't think everyone disagrees. When did I last inspect the springs for corrosion? Well, I'm not that anal about it but, about two months ago I looked at them when I stood under the car at the same time as the MOT examiner and guess what? all four looked to be in great condition. In fact the reason for this last spring braking wasn't due to corrosion as it hardly any surface rust on it let alone deep corrosion. I imagine it's more to do with the constant compressing / flexing affecting the weakest part which eventually fails. I would say that in order to detect these weak points before they fail would require all springs to be removed and scanned with a Rigaku portable X-ray diffractometer called "X-ray stress analyser" but I have better things to do most weekends.

380K? Wow!

I've driven cars and motorbikes for over 35 years and I don't drive as you describe above. In my experience over this time no other vehicle i've owned (except the Skoda), has ever had a broken suspension spring, let alone two. Nope, in my opinion such a high rate of spring failure on a car that has been treated very carefully in terms of driving conditions and loads is nothing short of unacceptable but I accept not everyone will agree. I wonder where most car manufacturers source their springs from?

I don't know about the roads in your area but I can honestly say that the roads here are nothing but good to very good, unless you venture off on to some of the smaller track roads which this car has never been down. And anyway, surely a component such as a suspension spring SHOULD be designed to cope with much more load and stresses than what it would expect to receive on a generally level, smooth surface? In the real world roads are not all like this and so as a 'fail safe' measure it's stands to reason that such a simple but important component should be relied upon to deal with these differing situations - That's the reason it's there for. For example when making hydraulic hoses I have to issue a certificate of conformity. This is document which guaranteed the pressure rating of the hose. In order to meet conformity the hose is pressure tested to 2.5 times the rated pressure. Don't get me wrong, if a normal family car was continuously pounded over third world type roads day in day out, of course you'd expect failures and quite frequently but on our roads in GB? Nah, I don't thinks so. I put it down to a 'buy in as cheap as possible, banging 'em on and get them out quick' attitude. Of course I could be wrong... I have been in the past.

I don't see how lighter weight, cheaper suspension springs breaking, with potentially catastrophic consequences especially if travelling at speed, can benefit anyone. There's cost savings and there's stupid decisions... Grenfell Tower?

You have to question either the quality of steel used or whatever processes are used to manufacture these springs. Suffice to say that if a spring can / does last the lifetime of the car, there has to be something wrong with those that fail, especially on such relatively low mileage cars... and considering todays roads are normally kept in much better condition.

The car's only just turned 98k so not high. Outcome was a broken spring. The grating noise was caused by the bottom half of the spring getting lodged between the damper and the inside of the rear alloy. Luckily no real damage other than a slight marking to the inside surface of the rear wheel and a very light scuff to the exhaust tailpipes caused whilst unloading the car as it was so low. Very reasonable price to fit new replacement spring. Car was back on the road this morning at 10.00. Since having this car I've replaced a number of components. The air con compressor went at around 70K. Drivers window wouldn't close (broken retaining clip inside door panel) at around the same time. Columbus unit - Complete failure (88K). Front passenger side seatbelt wouldn't retract. Indicator on Drivers sideview mirror failed (about 2 months ago). Various issues with the DIS wrongly displaying failed bulbs. MAF sensor packed up whilst on holiday. Replaced Rear shock absorber (under warranty) shortly after buying the car and this is the second broken spring I've replaced. The first was on the offside front and went whilst reversing out of my drive.. I had an old J reg Audi 80, 2 litre 16V for 15 years prior to the Skoda and never replaced anything except for tyres and the odd bulb. Believe it or not it still had the original clutch and exhaust on it when I sold it... Lower tech? yes. Lower build quality / materials? definitely not - Built like a tank and no emissions cheat either! Not sure I'll return to this brand, but then again I don't suppose Audis, BM's or any of the other manufacturers are as good now as they used to be quality wise? Anyhow at least I'm back on the road.... for now.

Hi all, Has anyone here had a similar incident?... Today, whilst approaching a roundabout, I heard a bang which came from the rear of the vehicle which was then followed by an alarming and very loud grating / clanging noise so I stopped immediately! I noticed the rear of the car felt low and at first thought I'd had a blow out and that the grating noise was the ally wheel on the tarmac. I daren't move the car so I stuck the hazards on and got out to have a look. Both rear wheels where fully inflated but it was evident that their was something seriously wrong on the nearside rear. The car was lop sided and I couldn't fit my hand between the top of the tyre and the wheel arch. BLOODY HELL! I slowly crawled the car out of the way of traffic and the clanging noise started again. I stopped and called RAC. Called police as i was still causing an obstruction and waited for recovery. Car was towed to local garage and will be inspected tomorrow. The car was that low at the rear that the exhaust was scraping on the tarmac as they loaded it on to the transporter. Same again when they unloaded it. The recovery team reckon the spring has broken or somehow become detached and is resting on the wheel which was making the clanging sound. I'll find out tomorrow no doubt. Very worrying to think this type of failure can happen under such normal use..

OK mate, So, is there a later Columbus non DAB (LCD?) unit that you could supply that would plug straight in?

Morning Rustynuts, Pics of the data label you requested..

Thanks Chris, I thought that'd be the case but thought it worth pursuing. I'm already in conversation with Rustynuts over this, hopefully my unit is repairable.. I'm sure I read somewhere that HDD can be replaced with SSD. This would be something I'd consider but probably way too complicated for the likes of me. Anyhow, for now, I've got to figure out how to upload the pics of my units data label for Rustynuts.. Thanks for your advice.

Hi, Does anyone know of an after market replacement for the Columbus unit? I have a Skoda Superb Mk2 and the unit has packed up, so I am wondering if there's a replacement out there that retains ALL FUNCTIONALITY i.e steering wheel controls and full communication with the Maxidot (display radio stations, phone calls, and directions etc.) or would I have to fit another columbus in order to achieve this? Many thanks..

Is it a straight swap or do I need to muck about with fitting a new DAB aerial or anything else i.e. GPS etc?

OK. I'll do that but not sure how to go about getting it out. Might take me a while but I will get back to you. I appreciate your help.