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I normally used Hankook (Ventus Prime) but went for Kumhos ES31s (I think) this time. It seemed that 195s were cheaper than 185s when I bought recently. I haven't noticed much difference in performance so far, except that the Kumhos are quieter.

I like mucking about with Arduinos and fancied knocking up something I can use as a data logger for things like Water temp Battery voltage Oil temp Throttle pos Engine load Fuel consumption I know the car displays some of these already but the mk2 my Mrs has doesn't and I'm just interested in knowing a few things about what's going on. Has anyone tried to use obd2 to log before and which pids are in use? Also, on my old Focus, I had some information from a mate that worked for Ford so I could decode the canbus traffic directly (I have some tools for this). Is anyone aware of doing this? The decoding information usually comes in the form of "Vector .DBC" files if this helps to know what I'm really asking for 😉

Interesting topic. I'm on my original battery (2017 car) and have been expecting to have to replace it at any time now. I think the battery is an Exide. I was looking on Tanya for a replacement the other day and saw that they were a lot cheaper than when I last checked. A Varta EFB027 640A is £108 and I'm sure they were £200 last time I checked (maybe during COVID). I couldn't check the link but does the battery really need to be coded to the car or is it really to reset the BCM?

Hi, We had a bit of rain over the last few days around here (roads flooded etc) but when I closed the hatch on the combi, this morning, I heard an unusual sloshing sound. Tipping the hatch to a certain angle allowed water to, well, somewhere between pour and drip out of the lock latch, which I did until it emptied. There's a little rubber bung just next to the latch, which I guess should allow water out but, when I tried to see if it was clear, it disappeared inside the hatch. Is this a common problem? Anything I should be doing to prevent it? Thanks in advance.

I usually do overthink things, to be fair. Thanks for the explanation

That's interesting. I guess that could happen if someone rolls off ramps after an oil change and gets into this situation.

In reverse? Would this be with a spanner on the crank?

You were correct. All good

Hi, How long can the (2014) CBZA engine be left without any oil in it? Is there an issue with the cam chain tensioner draining and the chain skipping on start up if the engine is left without oil in it for too long? On one hand, this seems unlikely as the oil will drain out into the sump, over time, anyway but I'm just double-checking. If so, this seems to be a poor design if you were doing a job on the engine that meant it was without oil for a few days or more. What is the procedure for dealing with this? Do I crank the engine with the plug leads removed from the coil pack to allow oil to circulate before I start it proper? Thanks in advance.

I was looking to use a wireless adapter but wasn't going to be paying £50+ for one (e.g. Motorola offering), so the AliExpress item looks like a decent price. Does it come with a separate usb lead? I've had trouble recently with longer USB leads and Auto and I wondered if the wireless adaptor is maybe using a lead that is longer than 1m? Auto never used to be so sensitive to USB leads as recently but I updated the Bolero and my phone at a similar time so I'm not sure what the culprit is. I have a Poco (Xiaomi) X3 NFC phone

Which wireless adapter are you using?

So much for my previous post. My Bosch "Made in France" filter might have not been correct for the CBZA engine!

Edited.....dunno what happened when posting via my phone....! Hi all, I found this thread half way though changing oil and filter and am maybe glad that I did. I'd bought a Bosch filter the other day, with the correct part number for the CBZA. The part number on the box suggests it is correct. Part number on the filter matches the box and is "Made in France." (Who manufacturers filters in France at the moment?) I didn't look too closely at the filter until changing the oil earlier when I put it next to the Mahle it was replacing (below). The Bosch filter is a little smaller and doesn't have the "shoulder" seal like the Mahle. So, I guess these possibly incorrect filters are still in circulation (mine came from Amazon). I've ordered a Mann, like I should have in the first place, and I guess I'll get in to customer services to see what they have to say about it. I guess the filter may be perfectly correct and maybe it was just a coincidence that someone had an engine problem with this filter fitted but I'd rather not find out the expensive way that it isn't. Thanks for the heads up @xman

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Maybe you saw it already but I emailed Skoda recently and was told it (belt and tensioner) was now "lifetime" which I've taken to be 10 years/150k+. I was going to have it changed next year but will leave it. I've the same year/engine (1.2 4 cyl 90)

The Mahle filter I bought last time had Made In China on it so I went for a Bosch this time, which had Made in France on it I've also ordered oil and filter early for mine and the Mann filters were half price so I went for one of those. Hopefully, it'll be made somewhere sensible. I'm not averse to buying Chinese goods; I'm typing this on a Poco (Xiaomi) phone but I do try to support local-ish jobs where possible.

https://www.tyrereviews.com/ Lots of good info on here including results of German tyre tests. A contractor at work used to do tyre testing and always recommended Kumho for everyday tyres as they were a decent quality vs value proposition. I used to buy Hankook as they used to come in just behind the premium big boys (Conti, Michelin, Pirelli etc) but weren't premium prices. More recently, started to use Kumho on both Fabias and couldn't really tell much difference between them and Hankook.

I did this job yesterday. It was pretty easy to do. I removed the air flow pipe from between the turbo and the throttle body, following the guide. It needed a Torx screwdriver bit to remove from the turbo end and a bit of manhandling to get it off at the throttle body end. I poked a thin hooked wire into the grommet and dragged it backwards; this found that there didn't appear to be any remnants of the old, broken off plastic PCV still inside it. Then, I removed the old grommet with a flat blade screwdriver. I didn't bother softening the new grommet as it seemed to fit easily into the rocker cover, then pushed the PCV "snout" into this. Seems to all be ok. Parts were about £26 delivered from AutoDoc as no one else seemed to have both parts in stock.

I work in the automotive sector, often with Bosch, so I see that they generally offer a decent quality/value proposition. I used to go to the Ferodo factory at Chapel years ago so I used to buy their kit for a while. I've never tried Mintex stuff to be fair!

I just bought some Bosch pads (and discs) for front and rear and it all came in under £150. Those dealer prices are daylight robbery Front pads were about £26 for the set

Hi, Some questions 🙂 Is the high level light for the combi the same as for the hatch? Is there a part number for the combi high level brake light, if different? Is there a decent guide for swapping this high level light out? Is there a service manual for the MK2, like there is for the MK3 posted here: Thanks in advance

Skoda UK got back to me today. I posed the question: "Does your previous advice apply to the cam belt tensioner and any other related components, too?" To which they replied, "I can confirm that nothing needs to be changed regarding the parts of the cambelt." So, there we have it. Maybe the engineers have enough reliability data now to allow these statements to be made or maybe it'd be wise for me to get the cambelt checked at about 65k miles (like I did with my Focus) and make a decision from there. I guess there's less to go wrong on this engine as the water pump was cam belt driven on the Focus lump and I believe that the CJZC's water pump is driven from elsewhere.

Indeed. Since I appear to have access to the Skoda UK "Commissioner Gordon" hotline, I've asked if their statement also applies to cambelt related components, such as the tensioner.

Mine is the 90bhp version, too. I guess the 110bhp has a different code? I don't know if the only difference is a remap although I know you can remap the cjzc to a higher output This is hazy but I might have read that the turbo is different, too? I don't know if the 90BHP is a detuned(/less stressed) version of the 110 or the 110 is a tuned version of the 90, if that makes sense, but it'd be interesting to find out

Edit to the above post, the engine in my Fabia 3 is a CJZC. I believe these had pulley problems in earlier versions. Hopefully they were fixed by 2017. Someone else commented elsewhere that the CBZA is more refined than the later CJZC and I'd be inclined to agree.