newskodadriver

Sorry I don't understand, what do you mean I have to load maps? I don't ever use the maps on columnus as I have a mobile phone with Google maps. You think the issues are software based? But why has it taken 13.5 years for it to break down like this. Also, what do I do with the Iso file ? Burn it to CD and just put it in and the system will automatically recognise it?

Does this help? From the SETUP button menu pressed 15 seconds. From my description, what do you think is the issue with my unit and is the only fix a replacement unit? Thanks

Why don't you think that's the correct part number? That's what the garage said. I could also try and take out the unit just enough without unplugging to see the side according to this video https://youtube.com/shorts/7R1JN-fh4Bo I've just spent half an hour trying to find a print out of every single component of my car that was given to me 10 years ago by a skoda master tech at the dealership, that would also settle it, but I haven't found it yet. I'm sure I'll find the correct box eventually

I don't know what my columbus model is, however, my garage tells me that the part number for my registration is 3T0035680BWHS (elegance trim). Basically, it is constantly resetting itself. For the first 60 seconds after it resets, everything is fine, but as time goes on, it gets steadily more laggy and unresponsive until it resets itself again. And sometimes it randomly turns on by itself. Music from my phone on bluetooth will play for a while, until it stops, at which point I can soft reset, or wait for the system to do it itself in a couple of minutes. Or when I first start the car, it is so slow the parking sensors throw a fault because the columbus is unresponsive. Or weirdly after taking a phone call, whatever music was playing before suddenly goes to max volume, but only on the driver side speakers. It's just bizzare, and unwelcome. I can also soft reset it myself by pressing 3 buttons, which I do repeatedly. It has been playing up 13 out of the past 14 days. On one day only, it was completely fine for the day. There is no fault code that is consistently showing for the radio / telephone on a scanner (carista), and some fault codes for the telephone precedes this issue, so I don't think that's it. Yes, the car is from 2012 and has done 369000 miles, so it has been used extensively. Still, any chance of a fix on the original unit? Or should I try and source a part from a breakers yard or something. Obviously, I'm unsure what's wrong.

Thank you for the reply. Apologies but here is my late update on what happened. The AA came out on fleet breakdown insurance. They did not tow me. They swapped out my battery for a fully charged one. And just just told me to drive 16 miles (13 miles motorway) 22 mins with them following behind me. They told me it was standard protocol to not tow vehicles with bad alternators. But to do what they did. Apparently, the longest trip he did like that was 50 miles. Swapped out another battery half way through. Also told me a fully charged battery should do 25-30 miles with aircon / lights / music off etc. So I guess, I could have just charged the battery up myself.

Yesterday I noticed an red battery light while driving. I immediately drove back to the house. En route, I discovered the system voltage reading for battery from OBD port / Carista was 11.8V when I thought to connect. I assume the light might have triggered at 11.9v, as soon as it dropped below 12. 1V too late imo, especially as engine had been running 30mins+ since last start up, bad design, should have triggered at 13V. Normal volt is 13.7-14.1v. By time I got back, voltage was slowly dropping, some flickers, but dropped to 11.5V when I parked up and locked up. Car is parked in a location and orientation suitable for towing, if needs be. Garage is obviously closed. But it is 15 miles away and need a motorway trip to get there. The vehicle has commercial breakdown insurance. However, it is DSG. Front wheel drive. Should I leave everything to breakdown next week? Or should I proactively take the battery out to charge it inside the house and drive it to the garage in a 1 way trip for the battery? Assuming full charge is 13.9V. I don't know how much starting the engine will take off that. But I know the battery won't die at 11.5V. And from yesterday, it dropped 0.3V in 10? Mins? So should survive a 22 min trip to the garage with no air con / stereo if starting engine doesn't use too much power? Also, how would I know if it's alternator / battery now? Taking battery out would not be helpful if that's is what's the problem.

Is the only way to know the siren battery is dying is if it goes off by itself just before it dies completely? Mine is 12 years old too, and I'd rather not it does silently then not go off if a yobbo smashes a window etc.

BTW that issue was solved where if I thought the engine shouldn't be warm enough to start at 750rpm, I simply press the accelerator manually in Neutral to raise the rpm to 1k and hold it there for 30 seconds to 1 min. After that, if the engine was as cold as I thought, it would hold itself at 950rpm thereafter until it was properly warmed up. I think there is a mismatch in sensor readings somewhere and revving the engines manually for a little while gives the system time to reach the correct conclusion

DQ250 6 speed wet Also, it would have been 750 rpm. I misread the analogue needle, sorry. I looked more closely today at the normal resting rate. The higher rpm at idle would have been 950

Car had been left for 3 hours outside at 2C, so 2nd start of the day. Initial rpm was 650. I reverse from cul-de-sac. I stop, put car in D, drive only for 2 metres, then bring car to stop because of traffic. Car seemed slow to stop. Like it was surging. And once stopped, juddgered violently at 650rpm. I didn't put it into neutral because I needed to move off, I was looking at cars. The juddering disappeared as I moved off after a few more seconds. However, once I left the estate, and I came to a stop at the first traffic light in D. The revs were now holding at 1k. So my working hypothesis is that the low revs when cold has caused the juddering. It only happened in D when 650rpm. Not when in P/N when car was started. There seems to be a pattern (from yesterday) when I also left the car for 3 hours, then started again. 650rpm initial idle rev. Upping to 1k after having driven half a mile out. In the morning when car is left out overnight, rev at idle is immediately 1k. --- 1) why is there juddering when in D at low revs but not in N at cold weather? Why did it seem to surge? 2) why didn't the car start for the 2nd time of the day at 1k immediately? It started both yesterday and today at 650, and only then seeming to realise it's colder then it thought. Why was it the ECU fooled and how did it correct itself after half a mile? 3) did the juddering episode today damage anything? (no lights or codes with Carista reader) --- Sorry if I read like I'm paranoid, which I kind of am. I really need the car to not break down this winter, its final winter really. Going to extreme lengths to protect the health of the car.

They're a pretty reputable VAG specialist, but even if they weren't, garages generally don't try and rip off taxi drivers, who tend to be good customers if treat well. Although I've found garages that do a lot of expensive Audis tend to be more "carefree" with their pricing..

Fixed yesterday, dsg thermostat + new filter pipe + labor = 90 pounds. All temps back to normal. 84 coolant, 85 dsg oil, 90 engine in town and 95 on motorway. The dsg takes a bit longer now to reach 55C, as previously the engine would warm the coolant instantly which would warm the dsg instantly, but now can maintain higher normal temperatures. Engine now warms much faster. I think fuel economy is also up a bit, not like massively, but every bit helps.

Yes, that's normal behavior. So what I do is never parallel park up an incline, and ideally never reverse up an incline unless I can either get to 7mph 2k revs in a straight line without hitting anything or, I only need one burst of acceleration before putting it into neutral and letting it roll up as far as it can, this is used only when turning the car around using a drive or side street and not 3 point turn. If you don't use the accelerator hard enough on a hill, you're probably putting more wear on the clutch pack.

So, I have some questions about how the thermostat and the coolant system actually works. So according to what I've read, a thermostat is sort of blocking device that unblocks when a block of wax reaches 75C in the case of the DSG thermostat and triggers a spring to open. So I'm assuming whenever the DSG thermostat reaches 75C, regardless of whatever the actual DSG transmission oil temperature reading is, as the thermostat is a mechanical device, not an electrical one. And upon reaching 75C, it forces the entire coolant system to move to the radiator, cooling the coolant, which is then circulated through both the engine oil cooler and the dsg oil cooler. So my questions are. If the coolant temperature is 75C, then it would be as if there was no DSG thermostat. So how does the coolant actually reach 90C and stay 90C if nothing was broken? Also, is the main thermostat also set to 75C? And, since I had to replace the engine oil cooler recently because the plastic casing cracked. Is the DSG oil cooler also plastic and should I replace it out of caution at the next DSG oil change (due in several thousand miles anyway for me) Also, now in my 3rd day of intensively looking at temperature readings on Carista, my oil temperature this morning in a 90 minute drive reached 82 in urban conditions and stayed at 79 mostly. So I dunno why the same 90 minute block on Saturday night only resulted in an engine oil of 65C. It does seem like once engine oil reaches 80, it will stay around 79-82C. So the overcooling might not have been as catastrophically lower as I'd imagined. The garage said they don't have time to do it this week, and I'm making a 150 mile trip twice on Saturday for a personal event, so I'll be interested to see if will reach high 90s on sustained motorway driving at 2.2k revs.

Ah that's a little disappointing to hear about how inaccurate needles are on VAG cars. Through extensive Googling over the weekend, I found that on newer Audis, you can display the coolant, engine oil, and dsg oil temperature side by side in numerical C on the dash display. Would have made it far more obvious. On my car, it took digging through carista reader options to find them all. This is only the second car I've owned. I've driven approximately 280k miles since I got my drivers license. 258k of those have been in this car. Frankly, I don't ever want to part with it even if it will no longer be used a taxi next year. About the heater thing. The thing is, there was always heat in the winter, car was warmer than the house as I live alone and heating the rented 3 bed semi with single glazing and heating system that's 60 years old far too expensive. I might have been insensitive to how quickly it blew hot from one winter to the next, but I was always eventually warm. Again through Googling, apparently a thermostat problem would be more obvious if the driver was cold in winter, which I wasn't. I don't always work a "full shift", but the mileage is there. I never use it to just "pop to the shops". My commute from town to city includes 3 miles of dual carriageway near the start and end of every trip. Where I go for my shopping, I have the options of 6 miles through urban / semi urban roads, or 12 miles on dual carriageway and motorways, I choose the motorway option 90% of the times because I like driving in a straight line without start / stopping or changing gears. Hopefully as you say any damage in my case will have been more limited. When I drive at gear changing boundaries, since 150k miles ago, I always manually lock the dsg in the lower gear at 1.5k revs rather than let the dsg go to the next gear at 1.2k. And it was you who told me about the nifty gadget to help with EGR, that should have also made my engine combust at higher temperatures.