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I thought I'd done all that but I'll have one last go... Then it's over to the spare key (and its 12-yr-old battery...)

Just a quickie! J After 12 years the battery died in the key fob of our lovely old 2002-registered Octy (must be record - I don’t remember ever changing it). Replaced it - central locking worked fine for a week or so - then nothing, no red light, no top lock-y/unlock-y action. Though it might have been a duff battery so replaced it again with a better quality one - got a week or two out of that one, then same again; nothing. Note: I don’t have to any kind of resetting or anything - changing the battery just operated the central locking straightaway. I can only think that I’ve been unlucky with batteries or that something I’ve done wrong in the battery change means that the fob is consuming power - for whatever reason. Any suggestions? (At the end of the day we’re not too bothered since the key still opens the car and starts the engine, but I’m curious as to how the original battery lasted so long and the new ones haven’t...)

Thanks, all, for the info above. Our back wiper started misbehaving some time ago - I just took the fuse out. Finally got round to taking the wiper off and did my best to clean the whole assembly up but it was just totally seized. Gave it up as a bad job. Tried looking for a secondhand rear motor, got all sorts of prices from 30 - 70 quid (inc delivery) then it occurred to me that there was no guarantee the replacement wasn't going to be in just as bad a state as the old one. We haven't missed the wiper so will try just bunging it up with 1 x 'Halfords Blanking Grommets 25mm' Cat code: 208116-0. Or something. pmb

They just did water pump and timing belt on our Octy and very reasonably too. More than likely saved it from dying spectacularly. Nice people: we're more than happy with the service - again. No Christmas card this year though. We'll have to find another garage.... NOT!!!!!

Last service with a dealer advisory stated 'Rollbar banging and needs replacing'. Quoted

Thanks for the the tip, Pete. Re: VAG-COM, I've heard it mentioned but thought it was someithng just dealers had. I assumed it was a program running on a laptop (but that needed some fancy interface and book of codes to interpret the results). Anyway I think I might end up going to a local independent Skoda garage I've just found in Nottingham. Will post to let people know if they're any good. (If anyone's interested).

Hee hee helping a taxi driver.. you must be a real knight of the road or an AA man by profession

Hi, just checking in: don't want to just post when I have a problem!!! (*If I get to the bottom of this I propmise to post back, just in case anyone else has the same thing). Checked clutch - stalled every time so I don't think there's a problem there. Maybe it was just my crap driving. (You do start picking up on every little thing when a fault develops - well, I do anyway). It's been up the same hill many times since, no bother. D'oh! Anyway, back to starting - tried Vaseline on all the joints I could find except the 2 on the return into the diesel filter (as I wasn't sure about gunking round there) and the two right at the back. Still a bit 'iffy' on occasions. Having said that it started first turn on 2 mornings this week. Can't pin down why that would be. Both wet days is all I can say. Can't see why that would make a difference (though the chaps at work kicked off about how cars do start better with damper, 'heavier' air... ). I'm even wondering whether it's affected by whether I park uphill or downhill (though we're not talking about Everest here!) Also, turning it over *as soon as* the glowplugs light goes out. All just specualtion at the moment... Still seeing bubble over an inch long in the fuel line but it doesn't seem to affect the running of the engine. One question: if there *is* air getting into the fuel line, wouldn't that imply some kind of diesel leakage *out*? Or is it a question of the same air in the line, just going round and round and sometimes ending up in the wrong place? :confused: If this is a 'priming' issue, I'd love some more information as to how the mechanism works (and how it might be going wrong!) Is there a 'Noddy's guide to diesel engines' kicking around? Thanks for the tips - don't feel obliged to respond, BTW - there's always the garage at the end of the day. Interesting to find out about this, though! (And great to solve without having to replace loads of sensors... )

Roofbox.co.uk definitely good. Got roofbars + 4 bike carriers for under 100 notes for our Ambiente. Cheapest by far I found after much looking around. You gets what you pay for, mind - cheap and cheery but they make no bones about it on their site - and they do have a range of options.

Thanks, will try both suggestions. Delighted with your responses, btw. If only the dealer were as helpful...

Sorry, should add that the car was fine for the rest of the journey (on the flat). My impression is also that it's a tiny bit 'sluggish' - hardly noticeable but just not as 'punchy' as it used to be....

More trouble.... .. this morning the car really struggled to go uphill. Standing in a queue of traffic at the brow of a (relatively) steep hill, really took revs to get it up there. Had to put the handbrake on 3 times over a 10 yard stretch, rev really high and drop the clutch in slowly. Even when fully in there just seemed to be no power being delivered, just had to keep revving. Could this be related?

You may have guessed from the way I've described things that I'm not that au fait with things under the bonnet - a long time since I've had to do any work on a motor (car used to be a company one). So my plan was to buy a Hanes manual to identify just where I need to be applying the grease. However, I've just had the bonnet up + if you're talking about that transparent pipe to the front left as you look into the engine space, then I noticed a bubble in it about an inch long. (This was immediately after parking up after a 13 mi 3/4 stop/start journey). Is this a bad thing? (started the engine and off went the bubble... stopped it quickly and smaller bubble floated back up the pipe). :rubchin: Sorry for going on...

Thanks for the tips Ken + cheezemonkhai. Will try all your suggestions! :holmes: