RJVB

Yes, and you are near to the Familistère! Pierrefonds is at about 20-25, just too far (or should I say too long) to be a place we go on a whim for an ice cream or other kind of treat. St. Quentin is indeed what I thought of when I wrote "on the far side of the region". I'll be passing the 13.1 exit on my way to the Netherlands, but by then it'd be a bit late to detect I have a failing injector I've fired up a new subject for the VCDS question:

Can a VCDS scan really detect any pending injector issues? If so it shouldn't hurt to meet up somewhere if you're not on the far side of our region (and it's cheaper than having the same check done at my local workshop who should have the "valise" too). I'm near Villers-Cotterets, where are you?

Anyone?

Hi, A couple of years back I had an injector failure, the electronic part. I was in Italy at the time and was fortunate enough to find a nearby garage that had the expertise to rebuild a working injector from the old, still-fine mechanical part and the electronic part from the incorrect injector that had been sent to them - just a day before the 15th-of-August national holiday where everything is closed for several days and hotels booked to the max. Anyway, I'd been noticing a faint, high-pitched ringing noise, not to say whine, when cruising at speeds over approx. 115km/h (say from a a bit over 2000rpm in 5th gear), barely audible even with windows closed and ventilation almost off. IOW, highway speeds in not-too-hot summer weather. I don't often drive under those conditions so I usually don't hear that kind of noise, but I did again last week, I think *before* I did a fill-up and added a dose of injector cleaner (Wynn's, both bought at a BP station :)). Is this an early warning sign that I have another injector going south, or is it normal? The sound level is certainly low enough not to be alarming. My wife's 2018 Fabia makes a similar sound when the airco is active, but in my case it's unrelated to that, and definitely related to the engine (it stops when I release the throttle or go downhill with cruise-control on). Are there any other warning signs that I can keep an eye out for (besides an evident lack of acceleration from low revs, not that the 1.6TDI has so much of that under normal conditions...)? Can a multi-brand workshop run quick tests to check injector health? (I'll be doing a 500km round trip in 2 weeks to get a "barely legal" young puppy from the Netherlands, and really wouldn't want to break down then...) Thanks!

Apologies, I was too knackered to search for similar issues when I posted this ... Someone can close this thread, the other one is indeed about the same issue.

Same issue here. Sometimes giving assistance helps, but sometimes the darned thing will go down again (esp. at the 1/3 point) even if I'm pulling it up rather strongly. I had the doorseals replaced when I got the car (100k km on the odo back then) because they weren't very efficient at wiping water off the windows. Still aren't, and it was a rather expensive operation. How much is a new motor, and how much would replacing it set me back? Can any workshop determine if this is indeed the only possible repair or would you have to go to an official VW workshop for that?

I have long had an intermittant issue where the front passenger-side window would not close automatically (and be hard to close holding down the command switch); instead if would act as if it encountered an obstacle about 1/3 up and another about 2/3 up. At times it might not have been wrong as I have side deflectors installed and the one on the right wasn't fixed properly, but that's been corrected. Today I apparently spent about an hour trying to restore proper function, without full success. Closing the window with a single touch still doesn't work (nor does closing it via the keyfob :-/), but at least I can close it with a prolonged press. It will still stop at one or both of the apparent problem locations but at least it won't go down again (and will continue to go up when I renew the button press). Is this a common/known issue, and does anyone have suggestions what I can do about it? In particular, can one deactivate the "let's scroll the window back down" feature? FWIW, my passenger (wife) is not used to fully automatic windows, and has a habit of starting to close her window just before I use the commands on my side to close all windows. Can that simultaneous activity throw the computer off-track?

7k in 2 years? Wouldn't that be a good reason to stick with a 2-year interval? I checked this morning. As I thought the most time consuming for them was to hunt down the barrel with the VW 5w30 for diesel engines among the collection. So it's got Motul 504-rated 5W30 inside, which should be fine until 2021. I too noticed that there is in fact no difference between "regular" and "long-life" oil for this engine. FWIW, there's VW-group dealership in the next village over, sitting almost on the national VW distribution site grounds. They claim they're servicing taxis that have over 600k km and have always been on the 2y/variable plan. Of course the workshop boss also claims that there are no known (recognised?) issues with the injectors in VW diesel engines, or with the EGR valve, so I'm taking much of what they claim with a healthy dose of salt.

I know and trust him well enough to believe he used the diag tool if he says so - and he said so because it's apparently a slow operation and they were running out of time to get the car finished before closing. So I think it's more likely that they just missed the option to stick to a 2y interval, due to being a bit too much in a hurry. What's with the fixed vs. variable terminology btw? I now have 1 year-or-15k km instead of 2 years-or-30k km. Both are fixed in time and/or distance and probably variable in one of the parameters unless you always cover the exact same distance in a given time span...

Hi, I had the Octy serviced last week, it had been telling me that the 2y mark had passed for a number of days. At 150k km she apparently was in only for an engine oil change. When I collected her the guy at the counter (who also handles the electronics/computer stuff) told me the software had indicated a 1y interval when he did the reset, and sure enough the dash also tells me I'll be in for another service in about a year. This time I didn't specify explicitly that I wanted a 2y service, and I haven't yet checked what oil they put in but I'd assume that they used the same oil as 2 years ago (workshops here put a label on the hatch support brace that lists the engine oil type and date). The workshop is at the other end of the village, it'd be a 10min walk were it not for the fact it's "on the other hill", so it'll be easy enough to go verify the exact specs. Any ideas how this could have happened? Does the system have an internal reset to the 1y interval if you wait too long after the due date (and how long would that be)? Did they just miss an option you have to tick each time, or hit the wrong button? Assuming that the oil is indeed the right one for a 2y interval, can I just do the reset from the dash in a year, and then make certain I get the right service done in 2 years?

FWIW, the mini antenna for the Mini is getting very good reviews about its sensitivity and the fact it's small enough to leave installed in the car wash. Annoyingly I couldn't find any information about the 2 bolts it is delivered with, and at 30€ I didn't feel like ordering it just to find out.

My car came with a radio (Swing) but without an antenna, so I installed the one from my wife's C3 which came with an antenna but no radio. It works well enough but I'm getting the very distinct impression that one of my plumed little neighbours has taken up the habit of using it as a perch and leaving his little marks around my 3rd brake light. So, I'm on the lookout for a reasonably priced and reasonably sensitive compact replacement, possibly even one of those "sharkfin" models you see on BMWs if those exist for installation on top of the existing mount/connector (and don't require an additional power supply). I live on the country side and the station I listen to most is distant/weak enough that I don't receive it inside (where I only have radios with a simple wire antenna). I've seen a few from Metzger that look interesting but come without user reviews, or the warning that they're not compatible despite the fact they include at least M5 and M6 adapters. Should I avoid antennas that are for radio + GPS (which my car doesn't have) even if for all I can see the connection goes just via that single bolt? Come to think of it: aren't the roof bars hollow? If so they could be a great place to carry a sensitive bipole antenna! Edit: then again, there are sufficiently few stations here that I actually care to listen to that I don't want to invest lots of money or effort into an antenna project.

Well, they said that they were told (by Volkswagen) to put in 508.0, presumably because I had not left clear enough instructions that we were going for the 1-year plan. I didn't ask about the price difference, but that stuff is 30€ per liter, i.e. roughly 4x the price of Total 504.0 rated 5w30 in a 5l bottle (and I'm quite certain we'd pay less for that oil in a workshop). In the end the appointment was cancelled because they weren't even certain their software was up-to-date enough to do the zero reset even for an oil change (and I learnt all that too late to make a new appointment at the VW dealer in the neighbouring village). Progress I guess...

We'll see what they say in the (independent) workshop where we've been going, and what the price difference is here. The car will be put on a 1-year interval anyway.

Yeah, the VIN isn't a problem, it's also on the registration card. It's enough if you have access to the official databases, which I don't so I was looking for the engine ID. I've since learned that one is probably also on the same label, plus on a larger one that should be on the driver-side B-pillar. Either way, I have the advantage of living 1 village away from the central VAG import hub (disadvantage too as we get lots of car transport trucks through our tiny centre). 1 phone call told me that the car does not yet have the PF (whew!), and (surprise) can take either 504.0 or 508.0 oil. The guy could not tell me though what had been put in, which doesn't really surprise me.

I fear you're right, I tried to find an image of the thing and the only one I found looked like something that will be sitting somewhere under the car in the exhaust pipe. At least that means it probably shouldn't take much more than 30min or so to replace it if the ashtray gets full

Can't I just look once more under the hood and check if the bloody thing is there or not? The engine bay in my 1.6TDI Octy is a lot more cramped and yet the PF is clearly visible (once you know what to look for). BTW, the car was order at the beginning of February 2018, but I guess we can't be sure if it was built to the Feb. specs or to the April specs (if ever those were different).

Can't see an ID plate pinned to the engine block, just an engraving on a ridge sticking out of the front of the engine (looks like some kind of serial number), and a sticker on a plastic part to the left of the oil filler orifice (seen from the front of the car) and that says "CHZ 897 624" and is dated April 13th 2018: (Dang, I did not notice the sticker faintly visible above and to the right of the engraving, eyes being adapted to blinding sun and all)

I don't have access to the printed manual right now, but have the car configured via its VIN in the MySkoda app. That gives me access to the manual, in theory that could have been the 100% accurate-for-this-car manual. But sure enough this is what it says about engine oil - exactly as the printed manual does. I haven't yet had the time to figure out if the (very slow) app allows me to find the exact engine ID or if I have to dive under the bonnet for that. I was going to include the VIN but then realised I don't know if that's unwise - but I can share it in a PM if anyone has free access to a VIN decoder that I don't have access to.

Doh, of course, that makes sense... I had gleaned that much too Don't GPFs burn that off just like the diesel variants do (under optimal conditions, yada yada)? And again, how to know if there's one on a car built in the transition period? Evidently fuel prices are high because of taxes. If not they couldn't be so much lower in certain other countries, and we wouldn't have a form of diesel here that costs a lot less despite having a nice colour added to it (so you can get a heck of a fine when it's found in your car because it's intended for heating, farming etc). I try not to think too much about it and consider it just the price to pay, but the recent tax adjustment on diesel we've had here in France (to remove the "artificially lower" price at the pump compared to petrol) does hurt. The government *could* have been clever with these taxes, and make them higher in places where traffic should indeed be reduced (big cities) and comparatively lower in places like where I live where you cannot do without a car. Then again, remapping is concerned with the ECU, and those can probably change more often than the engine itself. Though you're right that there could be small differences in parts designs too, even in the core where I guess demands on oil specs are highest. I haven't read the manual that came with the car from front to back but I can assure you that the information is not in the places where you'd expect to find it. The section on oil change only gives the list of oil types that covers the entire series engine range (in text, not even in a nice table), and so includes oils that according to you would damage the engine. The lock-in I referred to is not to VW-branded oils, but to servicing workshops. Law dictates that you can have your car serviced outside the official network without voiding your warranty because of that simple fact, but also that you should be able to do basic maintenance like oil changes yourself. To me that means that the car should come with clear, unambiguous information about what you need, that doesn't require access to sources available only to professionals. As an analogy: what would you think if the manual just gave an inlined list of all the bulbs used throughout the car without detailing which goes where? There you could still take out the original bulb for reference; with oils that's a bit more complicated. (Bulbs are an appropriate analogy also because no one ever thought of imposing easy access for bulb replacement that doesn't require aggravated disassembly, so owners can actually use the spare bulbs they're required to have at hand...)

Edit: so you checked, I didn't just overlook the info in the 2018+ manual? I did check if it wasn't listed with the individual engine specs at the end (that would have made sense) but not elsewhere in the manual. What does the middle number stand for (the 70 in 1.0 ltr/70, 81kW)? Has the 1.0l TSI changed in mechanical design between 2017 and early/mid 2018? If not it's hard to imagine that what's good for it in the 81kW mapping would not be good for it in its lower power (70kW) mapping from barely a year later. But there is the issue of warranty of course. What exactly is the problem with ash content? Ahh, such a pity gas prices and (direly needed) ecological regulations make it impossible to just get an old(ish) American big-block that breathes and lives almost forever and should be dead simple to service

What I meant to say was What's annoying here is that the car manual is the same for all engines, and just enumerates the various ratings without stating which goes with what engine. That reeks a bit of customer lock-in, and it's surprising the EU hasn't caught on to that yet.

Heh, yes. When I discussed Guzzi's recommendation for Agip 10W60 with my dealer, his reaction was that this was undoubtedly simply because of some agreement between the 2 companies, and possible the fact that Agip didn't have a suitable full-synth 10W50 or 10W55. Going over the various offerings in the supermarket this morning I saw that all the 10W40 oils had the same range of different car manufacturing ratings listed on them. That suggests that it might still be possible nowadays to pick an oil based on viscosity rating, mineral/semi/full synth and petrol vs. diesel.

But is the xWy rating system is orthogonal to that, so that two different 5W40 oils are indeed comparable in the properties which are represented by that W rating? This at least is something that the customer can understand ...

Can someone explain what is better in the W30 than in the W40 spec oil? As said, for my motorcycle W60 was made compulsory (instead of W50 before), which is a racing spec oil also used for BMW M6 models. The cited reason was better the oil's better resistance to the high engine temps that had gone up even further due to Euro-3 compliance. You'd say that any engine would benefit from this as long as viscosity remains the same for low(er) temperatures.