Stewart7

I came out of the house this morning and again the light was not flashing. However, when I started, I had a warning that the 12v battery was low and I should charge it by driving. Which I did for about one hour of motoring. I'm wondering if the light not flashing was connected to the battery being low? The car is now back home and connected to a trickle charger, so we'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

When you jump start, all you're doing is adding another battery in parallel with the existing one. As soon as you connect the two batteries, current will start to flow from the good battery to the flat one. That is why the last connection you make should be the negative lead onto the chassis connection point. This avoids any sparks being close to the battery which could be venting hydrogen! However, in these days of cars full of electronics, I would check the handbooks for warnings first.

Keep a can of de-icer spray indoors during the winter and use it to spray all the way round the door seal, before you start on the windows. By the time you've done the windows, you'll be able to open the door. I've been doing this since I ripped the rubber off the door on my first ever car during the winter of 1966 and It's always worked. Others have mentioned silicon oil. You can buy a small plastic bottle of silicon oil in builders merchants. There is one with a flip up top with a hole which is just the right size to take a piece of the small, red, WD40 tubing. Silicon oil is also good for applying to the guides of electric windows. It keeps them running sweet. You'll also find it good for the wife's shopping trolley wheels, (plastic on steel).

A couple of times recently, I've come home, set the alarm, seen the warning light wink 7 times, come out to the car the next morning and the light was off. All doors and windows were still locked. I pressed the lock button on the key fob but the light didn't come on. I pressed unlock, opened and closed the driver's door, pressed lock, the indicator flashed 7 times and all seemed well. Until the next time.... Should I be worrying about this? Is the alarm still set even though the light isn't flashing? I phoned the dealer and spoke to a technician who said it might be to do with the deadlock? and asked me if I had accidentally pressed the lock button twice? Thank you for any suggestions

Nice video, but I think I would have cleaned out the housing before fitting the new filter, and bounced it up and down a few times until I was sure it had expanded all the way to the top of the housing.

My Octavia was serviced by a well known Skoda dealer and it was one of their mechanics who told me the whine is normal, so I took his word for it. I couldn't say I didn't believe him and then ask to drive another of their cars, that's why I thought I'd ask if any other Briskodars had the whine.

I've just had the dealer carry out the first service and asked them to check out a gearbox whine. It only happens in 4th, in drive or sport, is very unobtrusive, but always there, and only in 4th. They told me "They all do that. Its normal" I thought only dry gears whine? Anyone else experienced this? Thanks

Thanks guys I reckon I use the air conditioning just average for the UK, but I only drive about 3000 miles per year, so I think I'll just wait for a smell and then zap it with one of the suggestions made above. Halfords probably have something. A thought has just popped into my head, isn't there an air freshener aerosol with an anti bacterial ingredient that could be sprayed into the air intake? Might be something to try, although I don't know what the pollen filter is made of and I wouldn't want to dissolve it. Maybe not something to try during the guarantee period.

My 1.4 DSG Octavia is due for its first service, and as an optional extra, the dealer offered to disinfect the air conditioning for £29. I turned it down because the car is only a year old, and smells sweet inside. Has anyone else been offered this? Is it really necessary? Thanks Stewart

I just asked the AA their view on thie jerky start (for Gromle's info, that's the British Automobile Association), and I happened to get one of their agents who also had the same problem with his own car with a DSG gearbox. He took it to his dealer who "reprogrammed the car computer". It cured the late clutch engagement, and throttle delay when starting off. That aside, I do like the drivers display of time, date, speed, gear selected, oil and water temp etc. Regards Stewart7

I have a new (2 months) 1.4 DSG and have just had the second jerky start. As you probably know, when stopped in traffic, in gear, and with the auto stop-start disabled, when you take your foot off of the brake, the clutch starts engage and engages fully as you accelerate. I've had two occasions when I've let go of the brake but the clutch has not engaged until the revs have increased, giving a jerky start as the clutch then engages quite quickly. I am not a boy racer but an oldie who likes to drive smoothly. Do you think this is something I should ask the dealer about? The car is barely run-in with only 640 miles on the clock. Thank you Stewart

Yes, an old battery charger, about 10 years I think. And no, there have been no other issues. Thank you Andyvee for your compassion and encouragement. I feel I owe you a little more info. At age 68, this is my first ever new car and I am still getting to grips with all the new technology. My previous car was a 1992 Nissan Primera which I had driven for the last 21 years, before that was a Honda Accord, owned for 11 years. So you can see, I don't like to change my car very often. Although I had read all the advertising about the Octavia, the only driving experience I had to compare it with was made in 1992, 23 years ago. I will try to take your advice to heart, and to enjoy the wonderful ride the Octavia is giving me and my Wife. Thanks again Stewart

I'm worrying because as I said at the beginning. After a 12 mile run home from the dealer, the battery was only 25% charged, and I didn't want to leave it in that state even just overnight. Also, because I am a worrier, I kept an eye on it, hoping to see that charging it that once would be all that was required. I'm now worrying that I'm taking up too much time and space on this forum, so I'll just say again that since I turned off bluetooth, the battery has held up. Thank you all again for the help and information. Regards Stewart

Dear all While waiting to pick up my Wife in a car-park yesterday, I decided to go through all the options on the Bolero display and look to see what was on. When I looked at the 'phone' settings menu, I found that bluetooth was on. I turned it off and remembered that, one thing the salesman showed me when I collected the car, was how to 'pair' a phone. He didn't manage to pair it because my phone isn't a smart phone, and it doesn't have bluetooth. Could the bolero have been trying to 'pair' all this time and draining the battery? I measured the voltage one hour after I got home and it was 12.66, which I believe means 100% charged. 12 hours later it was 12.52 7 hours later it was 12.51 These figures are the best I have had. Could this bluetooth setting have been my problem? Shouldn't it have 'timed-out' and stopped after a while? As always I am grateful for any comments Stewart

Sincere thanks to all these replies, I'll try to answer all the points made. Apart from one auto stop/start when leaving the dealer on day one, I've always disabled the function because I wanted as few distractions as possible and I would rather reduce the wear on the starter motor. I've also turned off the daytime running lights to reduce electrical drain. I checked for courtesy lights staying on when the car is empty, although I didn't think to check the lights in the boot. I'll lower the rear seats tomorrow and check them. I can't think of anything else that could lower the battery by between 25% and 50% in just 24 hours. I don't have bluetooth, nor a sat-nav, nor heated seats. (I didn't ask for heated seats, but there are two wires coming out of the floor, looping round in a braided covering and disappearing into the underside of both front seat bases!) I did check the handbook before connecting a charger, and I did use the earth point away from the battery as instructed by the handbook. I did another 120 mile daylight run yesterday but didn't check battery voltage when I got back. I've just been out to check it again now, 24hrs later and it is 12.34 volts. The lights on my charger says this means about 25% charged. The handbook doesn't say anything about it being an AGM battery, it has an elelectrolyte checker, and it is just marked 69AH, so I think I will check Halfords maintenance chargers. (I do sometimes have periods where I don't use my car for a whole week or maybe two and I know that lead-acid batteries last longer the closer they are kept to fully charged. And winter is approaching). Thanks again guys All your comments are appreciated.

I collected my new Octavia from the dealer two weeks ago and had a 12 mile 1 1/2 hour journey home in rain and heavy traffic with lights, wipers, demister all running. I thought the battery may need a boost so I connected a charger. The lights on the charger said the battery was only 25% charged. I charged it at 8 amps until it reached 75%. The next day it was back down to 50%. Then I did a 150 mile round trip in the dry and in daylight with auto stop/start disabled. When I got back, I put a voltmeter on the battery and had a reading of 12.64volts. Overnight it dropped to 12.52volts. I didn't use the car for 24 hours and by then it had dropped to 12.46volts. I checked with the dealer and was told, the only drain could be the inside courtesy lights, which I checked, everything else (apart from the alarm) is off when the ignition is off. My Wife has suggested that the battery on a new car takes quite a pounding due to all the short runs between the production line and the UK. In and out of car parks, on and off of ship, on and off of transporters, and it only gets a decent charge when the customer drives the car away from the dealer. Do you think this could be the case, and that it will settle when its had a few decent charges. The battery is a normal 69amphour lead acid and the car handbook says to charge it at a tenth of its capacity, so 6.9 amps. I charged it at 8amps. That extra 1amp wouldn't have damaged it would it? I'm wondering about getting one of Halfords' little trickle/maintenance chargers and plugging it into the 12volt socket in the back of the car! Sorry to go on so, This is my first ever new car and its got me worried. I'll be grateful for any advice Regards S