JamieWakeham

Hopeful bump?

Right - an update. Before I managed to take the car to the Skoda dealer, I had an instance of the oil pressure light coming on. Took advice and had the car recovered to Skoda dealer. They found that an o-ring in the oil filter had been incorrectly fitted, and there was a leak in there, causing low pressure. Despite the fact that I told them that the chain rattle had started before I'd had the car serviced, they insisted that the chain was fine and all the problems had been caused by the oil leak. Predictably enough, I still have the chain rattle. Worse, the dealer told me that this evidence of poor servicing means I now have zero chance of getting any goodwill payment from Skoda UK. So, I've just had a very long chat with the independent. They are horrified, and utterly apologetic. They are paying my bill from the Skoda dealer, and have also offered to do the chain replacement for me at a price that matches what Skoda would have charged. I don't think I can ask them for any more than that. And I do still trust them to do this job - this is the first mistake they've made with my cars in 15 years. So. Two questions. Firstly, if I tell them that Skoda would have charged me ~£250 for this job, that'd be about fair, wouldn't it? Secondly, I need to make sure that they get the correct, newest issue chain. Can anyone advise what exact part number they need to get? I've skimmed several from searching the forum but don't know if they're out of date or not.

Do let me know, if you can, Paul. It'd be good to have an idea of what to expect when I take mine back in (booked on the 14th).

Eddie, I could be tempted by this. My 2010 Yeti came with only one key fob. Is coding this to my car a simple job that I can do myself, or will I need someone with VCDS to do it for me? Cheers Jamie

By 'big' I just meant 'expensive'; I don't know how much this might cost if you were covering it entirely yourself, but the fact that people seem to be grateful that they're only paying two or three hundred pounds for it makes me assume it's not cheap...

Update: survived Snowdonia (bloody cold it was, though)! Also, have just got back from local Skoda dealer. The mechanic there took three seconds to agree that it sounded extremely likely to be timing chain, and said that he knew there was a TPI out on this problem. I'm now booked in to have the work done in a couple of weeks. They can't state categorically that SUK will pick up the bill, apparently, but they've told me that they are reasonably confident that they will be able to claim the cost back from them. Have to admit I am slightly nervous about handing the car over for such a big job, not knowing if I will be paying for it or not, but I don't get the impression they're out to play silly buggers with me. They did raise an eyebrow at the non-main dealer service history, and sepcifically questioned what oil had been used. I might go get a statement from my indy that they've used exactly the correct oil. Will report back.

Hee hee. It's a 10 plate. Apparently the mechanics, not having heard my conversation with the receptionist (so only told 'funny noise on start up') simultaneously said 'timing chain' as soon as they heard it. And we're going climbing, probably in the Ogwen Valley or (if the weather looks any better) the Meirionnydd. Staying in the scout hut in Bethesda.

OK, just spoke to my mechanic. They agree it is undoubtedly noise from the chain, but they agree not likely to destroy my engine any time very soon. So off to Wales this weekend, and will get her booked into the Skoda dealer next week. Thanks for advice, all.

Cheers, all. Wasn't quite sure if this was something that needed to be done immediately, or if I had a little time to play with it. So I'll see what my indie says (I have no idea if one can diagnose a stretched timing chain by observation alone?), and also see if the new oil filter deals with the noise. If not, I'll get it into the Skoda dealer and ask for diagnosis and then a goodwill fix, and if they utterly baulk then back to my indie. Question - I have absolutely no idea what gets done in each service, as I just hand the schedule over and let them deal with it. Is a new oil filter done every time? If not I should ring them now and make sure it gets one.

Morning all 1.2 petrol Yeti with 40k on the clock. I've just dropped her off with my independant mechanic for service. When I did so I mentioned that I'd been hearing a funny rattle on start-up recently. A little googling has convinced me that this is probably the beginning of the timing chain problem. My mechanic is going to have a look and report back. Assuming they say that it is indeed the chain, what would you do from here? I could have them replace it, which would presumably be cheaper than having a Skoda main dealer do it. But is it worth taking it to a Skoda dealer and asking that they do it - is there still a good chance that I will be able to argue that it's a known problem and Skoda UK should be replacing the chain FoC (or thereabouts)? And a side issue - I'm supposed to be driving to North Wales, a round trip of ~500 miles, this weekend. Is that insanity with a timing chain on its way out, or do these things generally take a few thousand miles or more to finally give in? The noise only started up a few days and maybe 100 miles ago. Cheers Jamie

Hmm. My 1.2TSi is about to go in for service, and I'm wondeering what precautions I ought to take against this. All four of my HT leads have a thin layer of extra protection (looks identical to the photo Weaver posted on page 1), and I can see that this extra layer is very slightly singed on #3 where it passes by the manifold. I'm tempted to ask my garage to get a spare HT lead for me to carry as a backup. Is swapping them at the roadside as simple as it looks? When this failure occurs, does the display give the same 'Engine fault - workshop' message I'm used to from the turbo-related failure? I guess the backfire that people have reported is a bit of a giveaway for the diagnosis. And can anyone confirm that swapping the knackered lead out immediately takes the car out of limp-home mode?

I'm unsure if I ought or not. At the moment, all I have is the second dealer's word that the work hadn't been carried out, against the first dealer's claim that it had, which opens me up to accusations of libel. I have no reason to think that dealer #2 would lie, but then I cannot see why dealer #1 would have lied in the first place. If it turns out that the work the second dealer did yesterday has indeed fixed the problem (the fault was intermittent enough that only time will tell, although coming home yesterday I encountered exactly the conditions that usually set it off and had no problem, so I already suspect they have fixed it) then I suppose I become increasingly confident in dealer #2's word. Dealer #2 (who I am perfectly happy to name as Ridgeway) did infer that it might get a little interesting when they claimed for the warranty work from Skoda UK, as the work will show up as already having been done - they suggested that Skoda UK will probably try to claim back the charges they made in 2012. No idea if I will ever hear the outcome of this, though I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Skoda UK discuss the matter with dealer #1.

So, the eventual resolution: I went to Skoda UK and asked if they would look up if the shim and software updates had taken place. They told me that their records showed two updates had been done in 2012, one on the turbo and one on the rear badge, but that they had no details of exactly what was carried out. They gave me the name of the Skoda dealer who had handled it and suggested I asked them. I duly did, and got told that the car had indeed had both the software and shim. They did suggest that there might be newer software out and that I ought to take it into a local dealer (the recall eaaler is several hundred miles away) and have them check. I'm very glad I followed this advice. It turns out that the shim and software had NOT been updated. Skoda's records had been falsely updated - presumably by Skoda dealer #1 in 2012. Kudos to Ridgeway Skoda, who - as soon as they realised what the situation was - carried out the updates there and then, and didn't even mention the possibility of my paying for the job. They were as incredulous as I was that another dealer should have claimed to have done the work. So, if another early 1.2TSi owner finds this thread in the future, and you're getting fault codes P334B 11825 (mechanical failure of wastegate actuator), then it might not be a replacement turbo after all. Get a dealer you trust to make sure the shim and software recalls have *actually* been carried out. Cheers, all. Jamie

That's really useful to know - thanks, both. Should I expect to pay for these updates, if they need doing? Or is this one of those 'creeping' recalls?

Thanks, both. My next step is definitely to go to a main dealer and see what they say. I just like to have an idea of what they're going to tell me before I start! I'll ask about the turbo shim. Is that something they can check by interrogating the computer, or will it involve them actually looking at the turbo in some way? Cheers Jamie