AndySutton

Thanks - if it were a speed sensor would the fuel / temp / revs all go off at the same time as the speedo? I assumed the mechanics had checked fuses, but perhaps I should just to be sure ... is there a fuse for just those four instruments? Is it accessible?

Thanks - yes they do all go off at the same time. Just the needles - all the dash lamps still work. Does that signify anything to help cure it?

Hi folks, 1998 Octavia Estate diesel. Intermittently the four needles on the dash (revs, temp, fuel, speed) all drop to zero while driving. The pop back usually after a while. Sometimes they can be off for an hour or so, sometimes on for an hour or so without fault, usually the gaps between on and off are much shorter than that. Doesn't seem to be related to engine temp, it can do be on or off from cold or after a good run. Occasionally it seems that going over a bump or flicking the indicators on will cause it to go on or off, but it's probably easy to imagine that, and it certainly doesn't consistently respond to these prompts. I've tried switching everything I can think of on and off in case it suddenly makes it work. Took it to my local Skoda dealer who had a look, scratched their heads and didn't find the problem. They say the next thing to do is take all the dash out, at least £250 worth of work. Way beyond me to tackle, so I think I'll have to let them do it. But before I do I thought I'd ask here in case anyone has some idea to try before I part with all those pounds, or something I can tell the guys there that might help pinpoint and cure it quickly. Many thanks for any ideas Andy

Thanks everyone - she said it plays six, so I guess it's that one, and I'll reassure her she should be able to play them. Many thanks folks.

Hi all, my friend is in the process of buying a used Octavia estate, 18 months old, which I assume has the CD player it was fitted with. She has been advised that it will not play CDRs, only shop bought CDs. She likes to make compilation CDs of her own music and play those. Can anyone confirm whether or not it's true that her own burned compilations on CDRs will not play? Many thanks for any info, Andy

Hi again - actually it wasn't

Thanks for the advice folks - the dealer I got it from has offered to replace it for two quid - sounds good to me! Cheers, Andy

Hi all, my 1998 Octavia has a small round knob on the drivers door that rotates up or down to select a mirror then acts as a joystick to adjust the chosen mirror. The knob just came off in my hands. It looks to me as though it has snapped along a small length of clear plastic. I'm not terribly optimistic that a drop of superglue would be sufficiently strong to hold under the twists and turns of normal use. Anyone had a similar problem and managed to fix it? Or is it simple to replace with a new knob? All help appreciated. Cheers Andy

Hi all, Got my first Skoda on Friday, Octavia estate 1998 diesel. It has been fine, including a trip Nottm - London and back on Sunday, and lots of general running around on Saturday. But yesterday, and possibly Monday now we think about it (maybe before??), it hasn't been starting well. More than half the time it starts fine. Sometimes it cuts out just after starting, ie the ignition turns the engine, it sounds like it has caught, but it stops. Usually it starts second time, and I thought maybe I was being too tentative. But yesterday evening my wife was using it and just couldn't get it to start at all. She tried a good few times. She called the AA and when they arrived 30 mins later it started first time. So I took it out later and after a couple of miles pulled over and just tried starting it a few times. Mostly it was OK, sometimes it needed two goes. One time the immobiliser light on the dash came on, flashing. At this point I didn't want to try again in case I got stranded so I drove it home. The light flashed all the way. At home I stopped and started it again was OK, no light. It started OK this morning. My wife is out and about in it now delivering children to schools and herself to work, and has texted to say one time it took three tries to start. We have two keys, both seem the same, so we suspect the car not the keys. We bought it used from a Skoda dealer and it has a warranty, so we can take it back to them. In the meantime, does anyone have anything to suggest, like anything obvious we might be missing, or that would be very simple for us to try? Many thanks Andy

Thanks so much everyone - what a wonderfully friendly and helpful group. I will try gently with the aerial now that I know it should come away. Thanks Quentin for the kind offer of selling your changer. I'm actually thinking now of swapping the whole thing for a unit with a single CD slot on the dashboard. But haven't made a decision yet - went over budget getting this car in the first place. If you get an offer from elsewhere for your unit please don't hold it back for me. It could be ages before I actually get round to doing whatever I eventually do. I unscrewed the case of the dummy cassette part of my adapter and discovered what looks like a needlessly complex mechanism inside that includes a ratchet mechanism with cogs that turns a rubber wheel just after the tape head part. I suspect this simulates tape passing through to, in theory, fool the player mecahnism into thinking it was still playing. Only it doesn't. I have a feeling it might work without that - worth a try I think since a) it was cheap, I can reassemble it, and c) I have nothing to lose. I figured the autoreverse probably senses that the spools aren't turning freely, rather than detecting the movement of tape past near the head the head. I've disassembled a few domestic / portable cassette decks in my time with autostop and that's how they seem to operate. I'm not sure exactly what player I have, it looks very like this: http://www.grundig-car-intermedia.com/produkte/car_audio/rds/set_rds.htm but has a green LCD display (I think!) and slightly different lettering, but buttons etc are mostly in the same places. I'll have a better look when I get in. The reason I think it is the original fitted one is that I got this car from a Skoda dealer and when I picked it up they didn't have the code to enable the radio. The car had one previous owner and they rang the skoda dealer who had sold it to him to get the code number (that dealer had it on file). But of course they might have fitted it later .... Anyway, I ramble, thanks again everyone Andy

Hi all, New owner of a 1998 Octavia diesel estate (verly pleased with it too). It has the Grundig cassette radio, which seems OK for my needs, but I'm wondering: 1) I note it is ready to have a CD changer attached which I assume would go somewhere in one of the side compartments in the back. Never having fitted such a thing before, I wonder how easy it would be. Obviously it'll need power and audio signal cables. Have Skoda been very kind and fed the necessary cables through already, or would I have to thread them through from the front of the car to the back? 2) In the meantime I have a personal CD walkman and one of those adapters that puts a cassette shaped thing into the cassette player which then plays it as though it's a tape. I have found that the autoreverse in the cassette player kicks in every few seconds, the indicator switches from A to B, and the sound drops momentarily. Thus it is too disruptive to listen to it. This never used to happen in my old car (which had autoreverse on the cassette player). So is it possible to switch autoreverse off? Or will a new adapter be better? Is there some other way of doing this? Or can these devices not be used with this player. Oh and a daft question I think: 3) The rooftop aerial - does it unscrew to remove before a carwash etc? It looks like it should. I had a little go and it seemed tight. Rather than force it I thought I'd just check here first. Any help apprectiated. Andy