crazyj

Regarding dehumidifier crystals... I took em out in the morning when I used the car and when they were in it I placed the container on a tea tray. I think that they can be corrosive...depending the type. J

Yes, my 2010 elegance is slow to demist, however the engine takes a while to get to temp...due to the 140tdi being so thermally efficient ...so I'm told by the cognoscenti on here..I was considering a grill cover to speed it up... However was worse for about a month after we bought it ...then got much better. Bought some dehumidifier crystals from b&q and left them in it overnight for a week and they helped a treat, been much better since. Think it's because it had stood at the dealers for a bit. If you are at altitude and its cooler than the cars previous home then dew point will be different and the moisture will condense out.....so the fabric and foam will have a lot of moisture tied up in it. Takes a while for it to dry out. Same if you use a car last use was in summer and it stood at a dealers till winter..like mine. Also have noted that the climate control is relatively prone to faults... Sensors etc.....thought mine was faulty but then it got better. Hope it sorts itself out. Cheers. J

Hullo. Sorry to hear you are having probs. I would do several things. All learned fro this site btw. I would firstly look at the vin decoder on this site and see if your vin on the vehicle tallies with the spec. A bit more faff and I would prob do later Is the build sticker....in the boot under the rear board/mat there is a tatty white paper sticker... Looks like a sales tag but it contains all of the build data for your yeti. I would then decode that using data from this forum (or on the web..it's the same for all vag vehicles)and see what that reveals. If it doesn't have one don't worry some folk peel them off as they don't look useful or even very permanent. If not I would take a look under as someone suggested and see if it's got a rear drive. The absence of an off road button is not an issue as it's an option on an SE. Likewise the presence of gear knobs and badges is not concrete as you can pick em up for a few quid. I would also take a look at the 'Haldex failure scare' thread on this site. If that sounds like it could be the issue I would get the kit to query the fault codes (if you have an android tablet already the dongle is 6-8 quid on Amazon) or get a dealer or friendly person who already has the kit to do it for you. It's an easy fix too if you have the kit so I hear. Hope you get it sorted. J

Funny you should mention that. Dodo juice itself is a carnauba wax product. (The lime prime is the pre wax cleanser I think) When I fiddled with old cars I saw a nice article explaining how, instead of polishing out the micro scratches you can fill them with a very hard wax like carnauba. Need periodically re doing but your not making the material or surface marginally thinner each time. It was used to rennovate the myriad of different coloured gear knobs of a certain ancient 4x4 built in Solihull. Just a thought. Mine need doing....used a car wash for the first time last week...noooooooo!.... I will try an find a nice high carnauba wax...maybe in a block or something. ..but after I've fixed the 12v supply in the boot. Cheers J

Ahhhh. I see.

Suspicious? Of what?

Still think fondly of my IIa. Can smile about the time the gear lever sheared off in my hand.... Smile *now* that is. J

Wise words, as a previous series IIa landrover driver I didn't have to wait for a device to sense anything...it was mechanically locked...can feel a bit odd waiting for the haldex to wake up. Thought I would also mention....could be wrong but I seem to remember reading on here that if the yeti is without battery power for a while (? How long) it can cause the Haldex to throw an error. However nothing shows on the dash. I think other members have said that if the errors are cleared by a dealer or some kind of odb2 system it all starts working again. Cheers J

There are at least some of the towing fuses in place. Didn't clock them all. Plan is to see if I can release the screws then pull the top of the panel loose and peer round it and not pull it all out....does that sound practical? J

Could I then get to the back of the socket by unscrewing the upper rear plastic panel then the luggage clip bars and peering round it to see if it's connected?

Hmm. Could be. I did note that she I bought it there was a loose lead near the battery with a horrid crimped connector on it. Think it might be supply to the tow connector unswitched pin. Didn't reconnect it but had a plan to check it out...dealer said they'd take a look but I didn't bother really as I kinda guessed what it was. They did some things right though... Some of the fuse box tow fuses are there. I did have a play with the meter... Open circuit from the body of the boot power socket an earth (tailgate bolt). Similarly no voltage between the center pin of the boot power socket and earth. It's almost like it isn't wired at all.... How odd. Puzzled. J

Hi, My boot 12v socket is dead. Never used it before but it's dead now. I bought a £5 map light to help me see when rummaging in my boot. Looks nice. Works well in front socket. But Plugged it into boot socket... Nowt. Plugged in cheapo lighter voltmeter to boot socket... Nil volts Got meter out... Nil volts. Tried above with ignition off, ignition on first click then with engine running...still dead. Fuse (position 26, fourth from bottom right hand column) fine. Admittedly didn't pull all of the others. Yeti had a Thule removable tow bar with 13pin socket fitted when I got it. Seems to be quite professionally done. Any thoughts guys? There isn't a daft switch I'm missing? I don't want to go pulling out the lining etc if I can help it...but I guess looking the socket is a good first step? does the socket pop out from the inside or do I have to release a clip from behind the boot lining? Cheers, J

I think the polish data sheet is the one for the vw product...or at least the concentrated product. If it is then it's not the same as the quantum product. I could be wrong but there is an obligation of the supplier/manufacturer to send an msds/hsds following written request. At least for business users. J

Hi... A little digging. From this: http://www.otv-international.de/fileadmin/oelkatalog/otv-oilcatalog-2014-eng.pdf I guessed that the last two digits of the part number were just pack size. A search for the 'stem' of the part number gave this msds. Sadly it is in polish but you kind of gather that it's 80% ish ethanol and 10% ish ethylene glycol. Rest will be surfactants and water. No methanol. Here: http://www.vw-group.pl/cms/att/ekologia/charakterystyka/srodki_myjace/G052164.pdf If it's right then it's pretty good value as the other stuffs mainly water. Unless this is the industrial ultra conc that gets packed down and diluted for us punters... Either way no methanol. Also did some reading about polycarbonate. Turns out it is slightly porous and guess what fits nicely into the pores... Methanol! Also I did find this data sheet that came up with a Google for the terms 'hsds' and the vw part number. Nowt to do with vw and the part number isn't on it but it's from a firm that supplies businesses in the UK..... And it's methanol free....mainly water and propanol. http://www.hex.co.uk/MSDS/trade/TM015-Screen%20Wash.pdf Bet they don't supply to the public. The plot thickens. Cheers John

Love the Amazon reviews..... J

Hi Guys, I'm with Fred and Paul. I wouldn't worry about it. The table refers to neat solvent. Since water and methanol mix really well and methanol evaporates faster than water the odd bottle full of diluted methanol containing wash isn't going to do much harm. This disclaimer is to stop a berk putting really concentrated industrial methanol in their washer bottle. Although I prob would avoid using high methanol washes in the long run as it's hard to second guess the effect of repeated, even fleeting exposure if there is enough in it for years and years. My guess it would eventually leach the light stabiliser and plasticiser additive from the polycarbonate and it would eeevveeennntttuuuaalllyyy go yellow and brittle. The quantum product's main ingredient is water (over 50%) with the main anti freeze being ethanol with methanol added to stop folk drinking it (plus a glycol and an ether). I think it has a legal basis; HM Customs and revenue demand that ethanol (and its solutions) is/are 'poisoned' or 'denatured' with something to make it undrinkable or you would pay duty on it. The oldest and cheapest 'denaturant' is methanol. (Hence methylated spirits is ethanol with methanol (plus dye and foul tasting amine) added. ) It is prob ok for vw to recommend the quantum stuff as the methanol is in such low levels. Funny I have noticed how much screenwash my yeti (inc headlight washers) uses compared to other cars I have had. Before this post I was contemplating making my own wash with the cheap ethanol biofuel you see on ebay.... Prob won't now as I guess it will be really rough mixture with stacks of methanol an all sorts in it... Ah perhaps I am the berk the disclaimer is aimed at? Lesson learned. Hmmm . J

Ahhhh nostalgia... Used to have a 1963 IIa swb diesel...or rather it had me. When I bought it it didn't have a thermostat..... brrr Cheers J

Oh ....ok makes sense. Ta! J

Hi, All very interesting stuff. Must confess to idling to warm up...mainly for de-icing. Why is a diesel more susceptible to oil contamination when idling? I may make myself a screen cover from a bit of tarp to avoid/reduce the de-icing time. Cheers J

Thanks, Reassured. Maybe I'm feeling the cold more.... Not getting any younger! Cheers, John

Hi, I have been noticing that on these chilly (appx -2) mornings that Yeti seems to take a good long while for the temp needle to climb off its pin and even longer to reach normal. Similar slowness on the oil temp on the maxi dot. Prob takes about 2min of defrost running plus 5min of 60mph to budge. Is this normal. Seems longer than my prev jalopy? Seem some grill covers on superskoda etc..... Worth getting? risky? A saw a few discussions from a couple of years ago.... Sort of mixed opinions. Wondered if there was any new data? Still remember tinfoil over grills of cars in the 70s. Any thoughts? Cheers J

My First car was a 1963 series IIa 2 1/4 landrover diesel. No synchro between first and second! Loved it. Such fun! Cheers J

Thanks guys... Had missed the post earlier. Something of a hot topic! I have found that things that feel good or are fun are seldom good for us... or our machines... Nice to find an exception. Cheers J

Hi, I was 'pressing on' a little the other day and on exiting my favourite deserted roundabout......I changed down for the exit and I found my self double declutching... Felt nice... Nostalgic... plus the yeti zipped along like a good un. But I thought... Are these kind of clutch shenanigans good or BAD for the modern and terribly brittle/consumable Dual mass flywheel things? Any ideas? J

Have you tried partsbase? http://www.partsbase.org/skoda/ It's prob not as precise as you need though. J