pipemajor

Hi all, I know this topic has been covered before, but I thought the answer to my problem may be of interest. I don't use my car much during the winter (use the wife's) and it stays in the garage for weeks without being used. Battery would be dead after about 2 weeks even when a new battery was put in. Called in a very efficient car electrics mobile engineer who traced the fault to a dead rechargeable battery in the alarm system. Apparently, because the battery is dead, the computer is constantly trying to recharge it and thus draining the car battery. I didn't even know I had an alarm fitted as it had never gone off in the 4 years I have had the car!! As the alarm is a sealed unit and expensive to replace, he just pulled out the relevant fuse to stop it being charged and the battery drain went right down.

Thanks Mike. I thought it might be something like that. I've already wired up a dashcam so I think I'll just wire the reverseing camera the same way and put in a switch to turn it on when I need it. Thanks again.

Sorry, I don't understand. I want it to come on when I am reversing. That's why I connected the power to the reverse light bulb wiring. Also can't see how linking it to the feed from the wiper motor would achieve this but maybe I'm missing something. Just in case there is some confusion, the reversing camera has it's own screen. The one built in to the dashboard which shows the reversing sensors is working properly. Thanks for your replies.

Hi all, decided to fit a cheap reversing camera to help me hitch the caravan up. All had gone well so far.fitted the camera just above the towball and wired up the power onto the rear offside light cluster taking the live from the track going to the reversing bulb and negative to the negative rail. All works fine so far. Switch on ignition and select reverse gear and the screen gives a brilliant picture of the towbar area. Reversing lights all work and no error displays. Now comes the problem. I start the engine and after about 5 seconds, the camera screen goes blank, but the reversing lights are still working normally. I've tried earthing direct to the car body but same result. Can't find another place to connect the live feed to so I'm a bit stumped now. Just wondering if anyone else has fitted one successfully. Would be grateful for any help/comments. Thanks.

Is you're towbar the detacheable type?. I have a Witter detacheable towbar on my Mk11 Octavia estate which was fitted before I bought it and it has always grounded when carrying passengers in the back or when towing a trailer. I first tried the rubber spring assistors which made no difference at all, then replaced the shocks and springs with heavy duty ones, which also made no difference to the grounding only made the ride a bit firmer, so it was an expensive waste of time and money. I now only put the towbar on when I'm towing the trailer and hold my breath when I drive on or off the Channel Ferry :sweat:

Thought this may be of interest. This morning I found that my radio had no sound. Tried cd player - same. Tried everything I could think of, including factory reset, but no change. All controls worked ok but volume knob had no effect. Noticed, in the top left hand corner of the screen there was a symbol showing muted loudspeakers,although there is no mention of this in the handbook. The car is fitted with a Parrot handsfree mobile phone device which I have never used, but comes on with the ignition. Checked the handbook for the Parrot and it mentions a Mute cable, so I took off the side fuse cover and disconnected the live feed to the Parrot. Radio sound now working normally. Re-connected the live feed and Bolero still working normally. Seems that, somehow the Parrot had muted the sound on the radio and switching off had cured it. I had trawled through all the posts on Bolero problems and this one wasn't mentioned, so maybe it will be worth trying for someone else with this problem.

Let us know how it goes. I have the same car and would be interested in the results

Sound very interesting. I'm looking to replace the rear springs on my Octavia estate. Can you tell us where you got your springs from please.

Hi all, got myself my first Skoda a few months ago ( a 2010 1.6 diesel estate) and will probably need a service and possibly a cambelt change in the near future . I wonder if anyone can recommend an independent garage they have used in the Romford, Essex area please. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the info. silver 1011. I was beginning to think I had a problem with the rear suspension so at least that's one less worry. I would be interested to know if anyone has tried the rubber inserts on the rear coil springs or any other aid. Thanks again.

Hi all,I wonder if anyone else has this problem. I bought a 2010 1.6td octavia combi a few months back and it had a Witter removeable towbar fitted. A couple of times I've noticed that, when I've had passengers in the back it has grounded slightly when going over speedbumps, even at low (20mph) speeds. On Sunday I returned from France towing a small trailer (500kgs) and a bootfull of luggage. When leaving the ferry at Dover, even though I was only doing about 10mph there was an almighty bang as the towbar grounded on the ramp. Frightened the life out of me. Yesterday, after I had unloaded everything and removed the towbar there were signs of previous grounding on the underside of the towbar and also the electric socket. I measured the gap between the towbar and the road and it was about 7 inches and the socket was about 6 inches. I'm just wondering if anyone else has this problem and if there is anything I can do to solve it. I was thinking about these rubber inserts you can get to fit on the rear springs. Any help or advice will be most welcome.

My 2011 Octavia estate came with a luggage net in the boot but there are no fixings on the roof only at the sides and by the rear seats. I've never found a need to use it, so, can't help any further.

Hi all, just lost my beloved Renault Espace which I used to travel down every spring to spend the summer in my holiday home in France. However , a couple of weeks ago it broke the timing belt and completely wrecked the engine, so I had to fly back to the UK to get another car. I chose a 2010 Octavia Elegance estate 1.6 tdi in white. I think it's a beautiful looking car . Enormous boot, so it should suit me fine. Bought the car last Thursday and drove it 600 miles on Saturday and it behaved faultlessly so it seems to be living up to the Skoda reputation. Hope to keep it for many years, but will have the timing belt changed as soon as I return to the Uk to save any repeat of the last episode.