DoctorT
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not sure if this is any use but i installed one of the 8inch pumpkin head unit in my Octavia last summer. I made a video given i couldn't find much info myself before i took the plunge. Anyway, i forgot all about it so it's just been sat on my laptop, but I figured it might be useful having read this thread so i've just uploaded it to youtube. Sorry its so long but i'm a talker and kind of felt someone might want to see it done step by step with nothing left out :-/
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I ran through 10 tanks of Tesco's 99ron unleaded years ago in an 8v 4cyl bmw 318. I was doing a lot of miles covering the same journeys at the same times of day and getting very consistant mpg using regular fuel so figured it would be worth running the 99 stuff while keeping my driving style the same. Over ten tanks, without fail I got an increase in mileage that made it cheaper per mile to run than standard unleaded. I can't be bothered to do a test like that in every car but since then i've always put tesco's 99 in the car unless i can't get it, in which case i'll use v-power if i can or failing than any other super. one thing that i did find odd was that when I ran a few tanks of other brand super unleaded including v-power (which i think are all 97ron) in that same bmw and didnt see the same increase in mpg as i did with the 99ron tecos stuff and now, if i run my vrs on tesco's 99 i routinely get arond 400 to 410 miles to a tank whereas with v-power i'm more like 385 - 390 miles. Not a whole hill of beans, but noticeable.
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i think they just said that as their 'company line' is that most likely reason for the spanner symbol flashing and beeping on start up is that it wasn't correctly reset by the independent garage I used for the service, and they can't reset the service indicator without servicing it, so they have to service it and reset the indicator, then if it comes back on I can pay them more money to look into it like I said at the outset. No consideration has been given to the fact i don't get any mileage or days countdown with the symbol and beep, nor that i did a number of handbook resets which only lasted a few days. And when i asked how that service indicator decides on what to present to the driver in the shape of when it needs a service (i.e. what sensors if any that system uses, and so in turn what can it actually measure and so in turn again, what could be screwing it up vs what data is fixed programmed data) well, i might as well have asked my cat. Given the prices the dealers charge i find it very annoying that they won't discuss things logically but just repeat meaningless sales patter and seemingly follow a crib sheet without actually listening to what you're saying.
Unfortunately i suspect that despite the factory badged clothing, over 90% of the staff in any dealer, irrespective of brand, really have no idea about the product they're selling, or indeed cars at all. Every time i get off the phone i just feel no confidence in them, if i have an issue i look into it myself and try to learn what i can, i then ring the dealer to discuss and get prices and it just feels worryingly like i know more than they do (which given how little I know, really is worrying). By contrast i call up either of the well regarded independent garages in the area and feel like i'm in safe hands. With issues around programming and making sure i've got the latest revisions of parts, I just felt that having the dealer work on it would be more sensible and put my mind at ease.
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right, i thought i'd keep this up to date, i've just checked the oil level and it took the best part of a litre, the level was just at the boundary between the main 'top up' region and the lower 'oil level too low' region of the dip stick. So in total, since the last oil service just over 8000 miles ago its used just under 3 litres of oil. although its worth remembering i didnt check the level after the service, just assumed it would be correct.
Anyway, this got me thinking about the other issue i'm having with the car beeping and flashing a spanner symbol at me everytime i start it up. I've had a chat with the local dealer but they can't help unless they service it and reset the light themselves, i think this is what i'll end up doing as in a weeks time i'll be near on 8500 miles in and i'd have it serviced at 10000miles anyway.
I'm really at a loss with ideas as to why the spanner is flashing, from what i can gather its not a clever system, just a fixed time/distance thing possibly with a sensor to detect poor oil quality and maybe some way of knowing if its been driven hard. One thing that did cross my mind is, on start up, should i see an amber oil level low symbol, or is it the same symbol as the red 'oil pressure low' light but lit amber when required? I've attached the picture below, i get the red light on start up (in the amber ring) but is there an amber light that should be lit somewhere else, like the area marked with the blue ring? (this isnt my actual car, just a picture i found on t'web)
Cheers
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i'm using mobil 1 esp 5w-30, but i really think it its a coding issue as it should show me a countdown of miles or days as well as flashing a spanner symbol, which its not, plus if i reset it, it comes back a few days later but again, no hint of a countdown. the oil low orange light could be related or a completely different issue, but i figured getting the software updated would at least eliminate one thing. I'm right in thinking this is included in dealer major service work (the £250 service)?
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Sorry i should have been a bit more clear. The oil is fine, i tend to change the oil every 10k miles through habit, i'll be checking the level every 1000 miles too now i know these tfsi engine like to use a bit. I have two odd issues that im hoping are just software related, maybe someone has tried to code things in the past and made a mess of it, if thats possible. Anyway, the issues are, the orange low oil light doesnt come on when the level is low, just the red low pressure one and, no matter how many times i reset the service symbol it comes on again after a few days / hundred miles, it doesnt display a mileage or day countdown, just beeps on start up and flashes the spanner symbol in the maxidot display.
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Im thinking about having my next service carried out by a dealer and asking them to ensure my octavia is running the latest software in hope of undoing the weird spanner symbol issue i have. Question is, i've only done 6000miles since the last oil change so it'll be 4000miles until i'll have it serviced again, which will be around late january i expect. If i get a stage 1 remap, probably shark, will the software upgrade wipe the remap off? If so how do i put it back on and does anyone know whats the associated cost is?
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i don't know for sure but i'd assume it'd come on when the level gets to the middle or bottom of the part on the dipstick that the hand book refers to as the 'top up as required' area. Most cars seems to work that the dipstick min to max is a litre and judging by the marks on mine i'd guess that the top area the handbook says not to worry about topping up must accound for around 200-250 mls, then the main area referred to as 'top up as required' must be around 500-600 mls and the bottom 'level too low' part must be another 200-250mls worth, so the light would come on somewhere around the 500mls (middle or dipstick) or 750/800 mls (bottom of 'top up as required' area) mark.
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well i've covered one thousand miles since i topped up the oil and it just took approx 300mls to bring it back to the max line. So not as bad as it could be, but still that'd be around 5 litres of topping up over a year (assuming i carry on doing around 16,000 miles).
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Pretty sure the sensor on the sump
Is for the oil level.
Maybe the low oil level sensor is faulty? (not 100% sure if/where its fitted) i know there is a sensor on the sump on mine.
but isn't a faulty sensor meant to make the oil light flash yellow?
I thought it was, solid yellow for low level - top up required, flashing yellow for faulty sensor and solid red for low pressure.
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I think the 1L/1240miles issue will be part of this eventually, i've been tracking my mileage since i topped it up, done 450miles so far so early/middle of next week should see me at 620 and i'll see what the situation is then. I do around 16000 miles a year in the skoda so 0.5 litre / 620 miles is going to get a little expensive. It did make me think though, at that rate of consumption it's essentially a total loss system, which begs the question, what's the point in changing the oil at a service, might as well just change the filter. I'm being a little flippant but still, what's the oil capacity, less than 5 litres i'd guess, in which case the oil will be 'changed' every 6200 miles anyway.
Vala has hit on the other issue, why is it the yellow oil light never came on?
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when i was looking to upgrade my stream unit i looked at columbus units on ebay, but then i thought, how do you know they're not from stolen cars, or stolen from a car and if they've been 'tampered' with inside to avoid the need for a code they could present a fire risk as well. On top of that you'll never be able to update the maps if it reported stolen, or can you?
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i assume he means sent him the info on it rather than the actual unit.
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Two Octavia's with the same issue on the same day!?
http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/376840-octavia-vrs-mk2-pre-fl-oil-mobil-1-esp-5w-30/
I know you mentioned the oil level is fine but is it on the MAX mark?
And we're both from Milton Keynes! Unbelievable it's the same issue.
Yes oil is up to the max level on the dipstick. I rechecked the level once the engine was cold after the test drive and it's still reading 'max'.
Must be all the roundabouts :-)
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oops, just realised i used a word i shouldn't have in my first post, for the record, it was just another word for urinating not anything hard, would have use 'wee wee' instead had I realised.
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wow, so i've just checked the oil level on the dip stick and there's nothing there!!! Been out (in another car) and bought 5 litres of Mobil 1 ESP as linked above, it took about 1.5 litres to get it back to the max line on the dipstick. Which begs the question, why on earth didnt the yellow oil can symbol ever light up? All i've had is the red light flash up with a beep once last night and once this morning, both when cornering hard. The car was serviced about 5 to 6 thousand miles ago, admittedly I never checked the level after the service, or since, but still, i'd expect a light on the dash to tell me to top it up on an 06 car, my 1996 bmw tells me that much.
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During a late night spirited drive home last night the red low oil pressure light came on while heading around a roundabout. I didn't think anything of it as it's probably just oil surge, but then again on my drive to work this morning, it happened again, again on a roundabout but while i wasn't hanging around this time I wasn't completely taking the **** so I guess it's time to top up the oil a little. So far i've just had it serviced so not needed to top the oil up myself. I've always used Mobil 1 0W-40 new life in my old bmw, i've checked the online manuals linked on this site and i think i just need oil that conforms to VW 504 00 (i'm servicing it every 10,000 miles or so), have I understood the manual correctly? and does this spec tell me the weight of the oil I need? I've checked Mobil's website and they have Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 which conforms to VW 504 00.
http://www.mobil.co.uk/UK-English-LCW/carengineoils_products_mobil-1-esp-formula-5w30.aspx#
Is this okay for my car (2.0 TFSI VRS)? My old BMW's were/are pretty bullet proof so i've never really worried about oil choice before, just gone for something posha nd changed it every 10,000 miles, but it seems these newer engines can be a bit fussy.
Cheers
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right so yesterday the beep and symbol came back with the mileage now at 66200 and 7days after the last reset. I've taken a short video to show exactly what i'm seeing, there's just a beep and spanner symbol, no count down or days or mileage.
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I've just reset the service indicator as per the handbook instructions in Silver1011's post above. Mileage is at just over 65500 and this post is time/date stamped so we'll see how many miles/days pass until it starts beeping at me again. I've not started the engine but turning the ignition on since the reset doesn't result in a beep and the spanner doesnt show.
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okay so i read the handbook again last night and one thing that doesn't make sense to me is that i get the beep and flashing spanner but no written details in the shape of mileage or number of days, which the handbook says i should see. It just beeps, flashes the spanner then brings up the trip mileage as normal, or ocassionally (something like 1 in 4 start ups) it brings up the cars total mileage for the entire journey and doesnt show the trip mileage at all.
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yeah that's what i thought i did last time, but after a week it starting beeping again. I'll try it again.
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so it's not something i can do myself?
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I've been using 215/45 RS3's on an old bmw e36 328is. They're great road tyres considering the cost, as Joe said, they're a little on the soft side for fast road use, i notice the rears squirm under power and the e36 is a very well balanced car, i'd of thought the fronts would have a harder time driven hard on a skoda.
thinking about it, i think you can get Good Year eagle F1 (Asymmetric2) 94Y XL 225/45YR17 fitted for just under £79, i've not used them before but i'm sure they get great reviews, unless i'm confusing them with another Goodyear tyre.
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I've not long owned my octavia vrs, it's a 2006 per facelift 2.0 tfsi model. As soon as i bought it i had it serviced inc cambelt and water pump. Before the service the few times i drove the car it would beep once on start up and display the spanner symbol in the dash, also, rather than displaying the trip mileage it would sometime show the car's total mileage. One thing i can't remember is whether or not i had a count down mileage showing when the spanner symbol was there on start up. Anyway, i've only done a thousand miles since the service and now its beeping at me again and displaying the spanner symbol, no count down mileage though, just sometime showing the total cars mileage rather than the trip mileage.
I read the owners manual and did a reset of the service interval but now, after a week or so, the car is beeping and showing the spanner symbol again. Is that spanner only there to indicate the car needs a service based on a time/distance type calculation or can it warn of other issue such as low oil? Did i make a mistake when reseting the service interval? When i reset it shoudl i see it showing a mileage to go of 10,000 or anything obvious?
Cheers
Android head unit DS820
in Skoda Octavia Mk II (2004 - 2013)
Posted
The radio is okay but not perfect. I spend time driving around the home counties and occasionally even radio 1 is hard to find. Generally speaking it'll pick up all the main stations 95% of the time, it just might lose them as you move which i'd not really noticed in previous cars.
The only other thing i don't like is the volune control. The pop up is too small and doesn't stay on screen long enough. I did have a play around with some volume apps but havent found one i like yet.
Bluetooth to my phone works well, although callers say they can hear themselves too much. I've never had a system like this before so not sure if thats usual or not. Other than that i just use it for sat nav (i use nokia here) and music (i use rocket player) and that all works well enough.