ReneR

Just had to replace an injector on my Roomster TDI 1.6. A hefty cost, but not complaining too much as I have elected to use the car till its last breath and see the extra maintenance costs as part of the price of my motoring rather than forking out on a new car. Furthermore, it has more than 120,000 miles on the clock, so has provided good service so far. The injector problem was intermittent, so engine vibration, glow plug light flashing, but after a restart it was OK and could be driven again, with vibration gone. The garage said it had not yet failed but probably would and on removal they found some sparking between the solenoid windings due to the insulation perishing. I had an injector fail outright three years ago and the car would not move and was expecting that the injector playing up would be one of the old original fits to the engine, but it turns out to be injector 3, which was the one I had changed at the official Skoda service three years ago, so I am a little puzzled why that would be? One assumption is the replacement fitted was not of a good quality, but also wondering if there might be something relating to No 3 specifically in terms of it being more exposed to the elements, or to greater heat in that part of the engine than the others? Also, as it is such a drive ending repair, is there any way to be able to check the injector health before setting off on a long trip? Both times I have had them changed they have told me that there is nothing to check until the injector fails and that they could not check the other ones for me just to make sure they are also not about to fail. Anyone have any ideas on that?

Yes, I hope so too! It's getting on now in terms of mileage (120k) and years (nearly 10) , but I like the car and its is perfect in terms of size and space for two adults and two kids plus luggage doing long trips. Struggling to find anything new that fits our needs in the same way, so have decided to hold on to it and take the hit with repairs as it gets older rather than fork out on a new car. Hope I don't regret the decision. The garage said that it should have a new lease of life now with the carbon cleaning and new air intake and sensor. Generally use the car for long trips and hardly ever in town, so hoping that will keep the exhaust control system in reasonable condition. The only previous serious issues I had were a cracked EGR cooler (fixed under guarantee) and an injector failure due to the dodgy electrical insulation issue, which I had to pay to repair. Also had to replace the alternator. Think these two areas of faults are the ones that worry me most in terms of possible recurrence with TDI engines. Its a very well thought through car with a unique design and look and I like using it, so fingers crossed that it makes it till the kids leave the nest without too many big ticket items to repair.

Pleased to report that the fault was cleared and the engine is running well. While removing the engine air intake pipe from the turbo, the pipe - which is plastic - actually broke into many pieces, so it appears it was in a bad condition despite the apparent lack of a visible hole upon initial inspection. The actual fault itself was reported as incorrect reading from the turbo air intake sensor. Engine definitely feels smoother now and car was driving well during a 70km drive in the motorway and up and down some pretty steep country lanes over the weekend, but cant say I feel a very noticeable improvement from the carbon clearing process and fuel use as per the car computer is pretty much as it was.

A delayed update on this post in case it is of use to other users, plus a possible sequel to it to run past people. The original intermittent flashing glow plug indicator and limp mode problem eventually cleared up, as suggested in the replies to my post, by one bottle of Wynn's Turbo Cleaner additive into a full tank of fuel and running of that fuel till as close to the end of the tank load as possible. Engine performance much smoother and fuel efficiency slightly better for some time after the fault alerts stopped, but the improvements gradually wore off. The problem, however did not recur. Fast forward a year to last weekend and on the way through the start-stop traffic on the A23 in South London, flashing glow plug indicator comes on again during?/after? a regen, but due to in-town driving, no perceived loss of power/limp mode. Drive home and when I restart the car to drive it to the garage, the yellow/orange Exhaust System Control light (with the shape of an engine) comes on too. My local independent VAG garage, who are generally trustworthy, found a (turbo?) boost pressure fault (can't remember the code) but then spent ages trying to find what was causing it because all seemed OK. I asked whether it might be the turbo and they said the had tested it and it was OK. Through a process of elimination they have concluded to replace the air intake pipe from the turbo and also the turbo pressure sensor, if I remember/understood well. The thinking was that the air inlet pipe might have a difficult to spot leak and the sensor was dirty so may not be working as needed. They also suggested, as on inspection the air inlet had substantial carbon deposits, to run a carbon clearing process on the engine that will remove residues all the way from the fuel intake to the tailpipe and everything in between. It seems that the fault reports have now stopped with the fix suggested. I am relieved to not have to fork out for a new turbo or EGR valve or cooler (which was what I was worrying the problem might relate to), but just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this and if the course of action suggested sounds plausible.

A friend with a VW with a TDI 1.6 engine also suggested to check the MAF sensor and sent me some instructions how to do so. Worth checking? Difference was that his glow plug light would come on after a restart, but he thought it may just be a partial failure and hence the indicator light not flashing all the time.

Thanks guys this is very helpful. Only problem is that the photos of the Mr Muscle technique I found on the forum are all fuzzy. I'll look around further. Sounds pretty straight forward from the text.

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. I'll take a look. Funnily, I was thinking it might be something to do with the turbo. I don't feel it kicking in like it used to when accelerating.

Got a flashing glow plug light on the display and the car went into 'safety' mode while driving up the M1 yesterday, after the long speed-limited section to Northampton. Took it to the dealership where I was going while I did the various meetings etc, and then went back to collect. They could not find anything on the diagnostics and the light was no longer going on, so said I should be OK to get back. About 20min into the drive back, the light goes on again. I stop at the service station and have a coffee, get back to the car, and lo and behold, the light is off again. Get to Luton, and then it goes on again. Stop, turn off the engine, start again and its fine! Anyway, after a while a saw a pattern. It seems to go on when I accelerate strongly in 5th gear and there is a degree of incline in the road. If I accelerate gently, it's OK. Also accelerating in lower gears also seems to be OK. I do not want to waste hours and £s talking it to the dealership to be told they cannot find anything but having the problem recurring. Any suggestions very welcome. The car has had the emission upgrade. Have seen some posters with similar problems suggesting lose connectors, lose or cracked air pipes, sensor errors etc.

I know this topic has been covered to death on a number of the forums here, but having spent most of yesterday scrapping the skin off my knuckles trying to get to the dipped headlight bulb in the halogen projector headlight assembly on the side of the fuel filter (right looking from inside the car) on my Roomster 1.6 TDI, I was wondering if anyone had successfully used bent nose pliers to do this change? It looks like it might work, but don't have such pliers so wondering if it is worth investing in getting some to make life easier with bulb changes on that side. I really struggled this time to get the bulb fitting out and then locked-in again and to top off everything the rubber covering cap fell down into the engine bay when I was trying to put it back on.

Agree completely with eccleshill, particularly on the 'likes'. My SE TDI 1.6 was bought as an ex-test drive demo from the Skoda dealership on September 2012 and has completed 100k miles since then. Just had the timing belts etc service before Xmas. All trouble-free driving, including some long 2000 mile road trips fully laden with family and lugage, apart from a cracked EGR radiator that was replaced under guarantee and a small banjo bolt relating to the oil exhaust valve that had broken resulting in a small oil leak that was replaced for £15 at the last service. Have changed front tyres 3 times (OEM Dunlops, then Fulda Ecocontact, then Nexen N Blue Ecos) the Dunlops were great but wore out quickly, the Fuldas had been great when I used them in my previous VW, but not so good on the Roomster and wore out quickly (although still on the back) and the Nexens were surprisingly good, particularly when new, with great grip and handling. Love the unorthodox looks and space, overall clever design, reliability, economy, good build, and loads of advanced features that even more high-spec cars at the time and even now do not have. It is excellent for long motorway trips. My main bugbears: changing any light bulbs on the front headlight assembly on the side of the fuel filter, the strange internal pressure buffeting/booming in the cab when driving with the back windows open, and (compared with my old rear drive VW), the dread of navigating any substantial upward inclines that have occasionally resulted in loss of front-wheel traction particularly when fully-laden. Also, CDs don't eject sometime, and the back passenger window is sometimes temperamental and can block temporarily. I have managed to keep fuel consumption to about 53-4 mpg most of the time with good tyre pressure monitoring. (e.g. done fully-laden on one tank (just under 60 litres) the distance from Luxemburg to Vienna). Like the other posters, I am at a loss as to what I would eventually replace it with. My 10 year old wants me to keep it and give it to him when he gets a licence! It might have to be the Caddy by the looks of it. Shame there is no bold new version of the Roomster. I think the Roomster was ahead of its time (and the market?) and hence its mixed market appeal, but, in time, will be seen as a ground-breaking car. I would buy one again without hesitation.

Thanks Rustynuts. Much appreciated.

I am currently in Italy visiting my wife's family and was looking into doing a service and also replacing the front disc brake pads at the local Skoda dealer as it cheaper than doing in London. They told me they can replace the break pads with Skoda OEM 'economy' parts, which are slightly cheaper than the factory ones is had but 'just as good'. Has anyone come across this before and if so are these 'economy' parts really 'just as good'? RR

:-) I also used to think it was the chicken! But also, it is the little circle that made me sceptical about the other theories. Why make a round hole in the wings of a flying arrow? Maybe rotating the initial picture will help illustrate my point better... (see attached) The calibration pins of the sight are the 'feathers' The little round circle is the target The arrow is the vertical (to parallel to the bow) cross hair. (On the latter I was also wondering if when there is an arrow in the bow, it can be seen going straight ahead through the aiming sights, hence my wondering if anyone who knows about archery being able to shed more light on this) Was sure it would generate a lot of mirth in the process of discussing ;-) RR

Been fascinated by the Skoda logo and its meaning since I was a kid; long before becoming the owner of a Skoda car. Buying the car has intensified this curiosity, but the answers I have come across online - even from official Skoda sources - have not really convinced me. Even the whole 'flying arrow' description did not really fit, but the lack of any other explanation meant I reluctantly accepted prevailing wisdom. One fact that comes out of the official history and from some online famous logo histories is that there was a copyright? application for the logo in the early 1920 made in Plzen one for a logo with five 'feathers' and one with three, and also that the company's own files on this were destroyed during WW2 due to fire destroying much of the company's archive. During the summer holidays with the car this summer, I met a fellow vacationer who had been a student in Prague in the 70s and who inevitably commented on me having a Skoda. I mentioned my fascination with the logo and got a completely new take on it that after a little research upon return home to the UK seems plausible, so wanted to 'test' it here and see if it stands up to scrutiny. It turns out that in addition to studying in Prague he was also a keen archer and part of the university archery team. He said that the Skoda logo is derived from archery aiming sights and refers to Skoda's production of armaments and high accuracy/precision engineering. So I looked online and as soon as I saw this picture (below), was convinced by this new theory/take on its origins. Any comments from anyone with archery experience or with any other evidence for or against this theory would be very welcome. If you check on the web page from which this picture is taken, you can also understand how the sights are calibrated and how they work for aiming the arrow from the bow.

For the sake of completeness I thought it would be good to provide a follow-up regarding the resolution of this problem as it may be of use for others on the forum in the future. The car was repaired by the local official VAG dealer. Everything was OK, apart from taking a long-ish time as it was the holiday period and in addition to New Year, there is another national holiday on the 6th of Jan in Italy and the garage was closed for a number of days. The fault was diagnosed as a broken EGR cooler/radiator, with the repair coming in at around EU940. The local dealer did it as if it was a local guarantee job in terms of documentation and entering all the details into the Skoda intranet, but I had to pay myself. Then, upon return to the UK I had to submit all the documentation/invoicing I had to my local Skoda dealer who in turn submitted this to Skoda UK for a refund. It was very helpful that while in Italy I had contacted Skoda UK via their customer support form on their website and someone got back to me straight away and explained how to proceed and gave me a case reference number. This was very useful when I got to my local UK Skoda dealer to submit my refund. I am glad to say I have now received the cheque with the refund and all seems to be resolved. All in all, apart from the inconvinience of the breakdown and the inevitable delay in the repair due to the festive calendar in Italy, my experience was very positive. The Skoda assistence included in the 3 year guarantee was excellent in resolving all the practicalties regarding the arranging of onward transport to and from our ultimate destination and flights back to the UK for the rest of the family as I stayed on to collect the car once the repair was completed. Also, Skoda UK and their customer support were very helpful and efficient and quick to get in touch and advise regarding the way forward. After some initial head scratching regarding the guarantee, the local Italian dealership, Autocommerciale in Bologna were also very helpful and curteous and did a good job with all the reporting and repair. The same applies for the UK dealer, Malborough West London, who also had not dealt with an issue like this before, but once discussed were quick and efficient in processing the refund. Overall, very pleased that everything worked well (or was resolved with good-will) and without any hitches or foot-dragging.

I was doing the same a few days back. I might be wrong but think one of the numbers is driving hours till the service and the other miles, but didn't dwell enough on it to figure out properly.

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing, but about 2 months ago and on the way back from the 40,000 mile service for my 2012 Roomster TDI 1.6 stopped over to run into a shop to buy something. As I pressed the button to lock on the central locking remote control, saw a traffic warden approaching so pressed open straight after, got in and drove away. Then noticed that the whole dot matrix display was partly frozen and partly blank. A little like when your PC freezes or something like that. I thought I would stop and call back to the garage to take it back in. Pulled over, stopped called and the line was busy, so decided to start driving back. Re-started and the display was woking again. Think that the quick lock-unlock was a little like re-starting a PC before it has had time to shut-down properly and hence the blank/frozen display. Never happened again since then.

As you can see from a previous post I made on one of the other forums, had a similar issue with a 2012 Roomster TDI 1.6 and the EGR radiator going while in Italy from the UK. After some initial uncertainty resulting from the fact that rest of Europe Skoda warranty is only 2 not 3 years, all was sorted after a few emails and calls between me, the Italian dealer, my UK dealer and Skoda UK customer services. In the end all agreed and confirmed that as the Warranty booklet states, repairs in the 3 year are carried out by the Italian dealer 'as if for an Italian warranety' in terms of the documentation and entries into the Skoda intranet and reporting of the fault and work, I then pay, and get re-imbursed once back in the UK by Skoda UK via my UK dealer who does the paperwork for the claim from my side once home. It is key you get a case reference number from Skoda UK when you get in touch with them. They were able to confirm that the car was still under warranty in their system and that this was the way to proceed. It is also vital that the non-UK dealer logs everything 'as if it was a local warranty job'. It is also crucial you have a full Skoda dealer service history and the non-UK dealer is a Skoda approved dealer locally. Now in your case, as it is not in the 'extra' 3rd year of the Warranty, but in the 1st, if I understood correctly from my case, the repair should be carried out as if the car us under the local waranty (i.e. the German dealer should do it as if it is one of their own cars that needs a warranty repair, and you don't need to to the whole re-imbursment thing), but maybe I misunderstood. I can't see if this was resolvable for a car in the last months of the 3rd warranty year, why it should be such a big deal for one just a few months in.

For Europe, the number given in the Skoda Assistence booklet and which took me through to the RAC (see above) was 0033 472 43 52 55. The new number they gave me for the AA-run service was 0033 472 171 258

Had the RAC number in my Skoda Warranty booklet but when I had to call from abroad after a breakdown, the RAC person explained that some VAG business goes through them and some through AA. He took my details, found the car and confirmed it was covered but also that I would have to go through AA. He transfered me and all the details he had taken and then as soon as the AA person came on the phone all the details were already available to them. No big deal. The service was excellent and they were incredibly helpful, so no problem there either, even though it was Christmas and new year and nothing much was open or working where I was.

Just reporting on the outcome of the post I made previously on this breakdown in case it is of use to other Roomster TDI owners. Had the car go into 'limp mode' after glowplug light started flashing while driving in Italy between Christmas and new year while visiting family there from the UK. Car is an ex-demonstrator bought from the UK dealer, April 2012 reg, 44000 miles on the clock. The fault was diagnosed as a broken EGR radiator. Repair costs just over EU900, large part of which appears to be the labour costs and carried out by the local official Skoda dealer. Car still under guarantee luckilly, so have been advised by Skoda UK that after paying I will be re-imbursed via my UK dealer. The Italian mechanic said there is not much one can do about this when I asked if there is anything I should avoid or do to prevent it happening again. I got the impression it was pretty common, although they also said it was more often the valve being clogged rather than the radiator breaking. All seems OK now after trip back to UK although engine sounds slightly more 'metalic' and fuel consumptions seems to be slightly higher (49mpg av. on way back compared to 53 on way there taking the same route and driving in similar style/weight). I think in addition to the repair they cleaned the entire exhaust particulate filter also, if I understand the invoice). Seen on other forums here that this has been reported in relation to other TDI engine Skodas at around the same mileage. Is this a common problem with Roomsters also? Is there anything that can be done to avoid it? Should I be getting ready to fork out again around 88,000 miles? Have to give a mention to the Skoda road assistance which was included in the 3 year guarantee. They were very helpful in providing hire cars localy and arranging the return of the rest of the family to the UK while I waited for the repair to be completed.

Thank you very much. That's very good and helpful advice; much appreciated. Have to say that the three-year Skoda/VW free road assistance has proved very helpful under the circumstances and I didn't even remember it was included till I started going through the documents at the garage.

Thank you very much fordfan. The documentation is in the car at the dealers' over the holidays, so very useful to have the link. I am a little concerned though about the different advice given by the UK dealer I bought the car from and through which I would have to then process the refund..

(also posted in general dealers and service forum) Driving to the in-laws in Italy from the UK with April 2012 bought Roomster TDI 1.6, had to get the car repaired at the local Skoda/VW registered dealer for what appears to be an exhaust gas recycling valve problem (got flashing glow-plug light while driving and car going into 'limp' mode). UK delear confirmed car still under guarantee and suggested local Italian dealer proceed with repairs as if the car was under local (Italian) guarantee, but guarantee in Italy only 2 years and local dealer umming and arring about whether they can do it like that. Has anyone had such an issue before or have some advice about dealing with it? Reading on the forum it seems this is 1) a common problem, and, 2) expensive to fix, hence anxious to get done under guarantee. Any advice much appreciated.

Driving to the in-laws in Italy from the UK with April 2012 bought Roomster TDI 1.6, had to get the car repaired at the local Skoda/VW registered dealer for what appears to be an exhaust gas recycling valve problem (got flashing glow-plug light while driving and car going into 'limp' mode). UK delear confirmed car still under guarantee and suggested local Italian dealer proceed with repairs as if the car was under local (Italian) guarantee, but guarantee in Italy only 2 years and local dealer umming and arring about whether they can do it like that. Has anyone had such an issue before or have some advice about dealing with it? Reading on the forum it seems this is 1) a common problem, and, 2) expensive to fix, hence anxious to get done under guarantee. Any advice much appreciated.