nicknorman

It seems you have decided against mains voltage, which is good! But just to answer your point about the type of inverter, I doubt the electric blanket would work properly with MSW inverter because it has electronic controls. Of course the actual blanket element would be fine, but not the electronics. And anyway, these days PSW inverters are barely any more expensive, As an alternative, why not get a 12v heated blanket? You can find them on Amazon etc. Probably only about 50watts but it will help, and plug into a 12v outlet without problems.

I had this on our (BMW) mini, it was the suspension bottom ball joint. I don’t know whether it might be the same on a Skoda (VW) but on the mini the bottom ball joint socket is some kind of hard nylon. The boot had perished and split letting in water and grime and the ball joint was partially seized, hence the creaking noise. New ball joint fixed it. Anyway, worth having a close look at the suspension ball joint boots.

I have DSG so it is a bit different, but one thing to note is that if any of the doors /boot etc are not properly closed, the parking brake won’t automatically release when you try to move off. In any case, you should be able to release the parking brake by pushing down on the operating lever, with the brake pedal pressed.

Pretty similar to mine after about 30k miles. And the oil was full of black gloop too! Definitely something I’ll be doing again soon!

Developed a fault with xenon headlights, orange exclamation with something about steerable headlights. Headlights not doing their usual dance but pointing at the ground a few feet in front of the car. Just as well it's nearly summer! Hmmm, out with the VCDS. Headlight module reporting "databus error", not helpful! So one thinks-bubble later, I had a look at the suspension module and sure enough "front nearside suspension level sensor" broken. This sensor is of course used to vertically adjust the headlights according to load in the car etc. I had a good fiddle with the connector but to no avail, as soon as I cleared the fault code it popped up again. So on to ebay, sourced a new sensor for £55 and it arrived today. Off with the wheel, popped the connector off, removed one nut and one bolt holding the old sensor on. Despite these being located in the wheel bay area and the car now being 5 years old, both came off amazingly easily! New sensor installed, connector popped back on, fault codes cleared and good to go. I wonder how much all that would have cost at a dealer?

I had to replace my rear discs at 20k miles - pretty poor! I now have another 40k miles on the replacement Delphi discs and pads, they still look pretty good. I seem to recall it was about £120 for pads and discs (fitted by me). So problems with early demise of rear brake discs is nothing to do with braking etc, it is simply because the original equipment is utterly crap. I had to remove the calliper carriers on mine, but it is the 280tsi with ventilated rear discs.

The ride on 19" and DCC is OK, although I think I would have preferred 18" - except that the only car to come up with the rest of the spec I wanted, had 19". C'est la vie! As previously mentioned, worth bearing in mind that tyres for the 19" wheels are a lot more expensive than for the 18" wheels, which is a bit annoying.

Probably you just need to clear the fault code. I say “just”, but of course you need a code reader to do that. When I had a puncture, I fitted the space saver spare and within a few miles I got “TPMS fault” warning, ACC stopped working etc. Even after putting the normal repaired tyre on and trying to reset the pressures, the fault persisted, ACC wouldn’t work etc. Fortunately I have VCDS and as soon as I cleared the fault, everything was back to normal.

Spark plugs are long life type and nominally 40k miles. However I just replaced mine for the first time at 60k miles and there was no noticable electrode wear, and no noticeable improvement with the new ones, so I wouldn't rush it! Pollen filter is 2 years or 40k miles, (not sure why it would have a calendar life, but that is what it says). It cost me £8 for the pollen filter (non-OEM) and took about 10 minutes to change, so I dont think that can be a big deal even if you get the dealer to do it. Brake fluid is after first 3 years, then every 2 years (although I am unconvinced that this is necessary with such frequency unless you are racing the car etc). Engine air filter is 56k miles (90k km). Which seems quite infrequent, but I guess it depends on the environment you drive in DSG oil change is 40k miles Haldex (4x4) oil change is every 3 years. Seems odd that it is based on calendar time, not milage. I suggest this is one thing you definitely don't want to scrimp on, and I would have it done at least every 30k miles, and get the pump gauze cleaned. When I changed mine it was full of gunge, horrible and disgusting! (clutch fibres) They try and flog you an aircon service every 2 years but I think that is a bit of a ripoff. If you plan to keep the car, I would stick with fixed oil changes at 10k miles (well actually it's 9400 I think). Long life / flexible oil changes are for people who will get a new car before this one has time to pack in.

Beaten to it! But as you can see, it’s pretty straightforward. I can’t remember which way up my filter was, but it was the original and I was careful to put the new one back in the same orientation. I’m pretty sure Bap is correct and the chap in the video had his upside down. It is. Well, the glove box is on the other side, obviously! But the filter is still behind the glove box.

It only locks if the car is already locked. Well that is the case with Kessy anyway. You don’t say what sort of locking you have. I think it has sensors that detect whether the keys are inside or outside the car and I suspect it won’t lock if the keys are inside. This is how the door locking works anyway. If you have a spare key to hand, you can try it!

The wearing friction material in the Haldex clutch does tend to clog things up. Regular Haldex oil changes are needed. There is no proper filter just a gauze at the pump inlet. Skoda’s servicing scheme doesn’t seem to include removing the pump to clean the gunge off the gauze, even though this isn’t hard to do. Eventually the gauze can clog and the system can stop working, possibly due to pump failure. I’m not sure if the clutch linings can wear out within 100k miles, depends on usage I’d guess. One thing to be aware of when buying 2nd hand is that there is nothing to indicate that the system isn’t working - in terms of warning lights etc. You just notice that the front wheels become spin-happy.

Yes this is true. But the state of the outgoing filter was filthy, not just a carbon one. It hadn’t been changed in 60k miles so not surprising really.

I would have a look at the discs through the wheels. Skoda discs can be pretty cheap and nasty and prone to corroding so perhaps the car has been left a while at a dock (ie by the sea) and picked up corrosion. It is normal for discs to get a bit of surface rust after the car has been left with wet discs, and it can make the brakes sound grindy, but this should clear after a few applications of the brakes. I recall looking at a brand new Superb in the dealers and being pretty shocked at the corrosion on the discs, they were badly grooved already with the car only having delivery mileage on it.

Bit of a maintenance day today. The car has now done nearly 60k miles, mostly non-motorway so not too surprisingly the (original) front discs and pads needed replacing. Pleased to find nice large and easily accessible bolts that hold the calliper carrier on. This car always seems very easy to work on. Not like our other car, a BMW Mini. Getting the calliper carriers off that was a bit of a pain. Anyway, shiny new discs and plump new pads now installed. Then on to the cabin pollen filter, which was black and horrible. Note to self - replace more often as they are cheap. Easy to replace, took just a few minutes. New engine air filter installed although the old one didn’t look very dirty. I think I must have replaced it not that long ago and then forgotten! And finally new spark plugs. The NGK platinum ones were pushing £15 each but I suppose if this sets does another 60k that will probably do for the life of the car. In fact the ones I took out (the original ones) looked pretty indistinguishable from the new ones - apart from the shiny ness! No noticeable electrode wear. Needles to say, the car still runs exactly the same as it did before, don’t know why I bothered! Well, it gave me a virtuous feeling I suppose!

Not sure ive noticed a difference in braking behaviour but it definitely makes it accelerate faster when you increase the set speed or an obstacle in front clears. I suppose if it accelerating more, it will have to brake more too.

It depends on whether you want to keep the car, or not. The variable service interval means less hassle with servicing, but it can’t be as good for the car long term as annual ~10,000 mile oil changes.

No, the gearbox is aware that the EPB is on and doesn’t try to fight it, same with the foot brake or autohold. The clutch is not fully backed off as it would be in neutral though, it is close to biting point so it can quickly be engaged to make the car creep. With a wet clutch gearbox I think it is just the oil viscosity that is transferring a small amount of torque, it is probably not creating clutch wear. I had a test drive in a Fabia DSG with manual parking brake. For some reason with that one, the DSG wasn’t aware that the handbrake was on and would strain to overcome it - causing the car to pitch up as the front wheel tried to creep away whilst the back wheels were braked. Id have to check about the revs but I think with any of the brakes on, the revs drops to 800 unless in sport mode.

The trick is to first lightly dab the throttle, which releases the brake, then 1/2 second later press the pedal again to accelerate. There is thus no slight lurch when you move off, as you would get if you just press and hold the throttle. This has long since become second nature to me and allows the otherwise useful autohold to be left on without compromising smooth driving.

I fitted Delphi to mine, bought at local independent motor factor, not expensive but much better than original!

Just for reference I recently changed all 4 tyres in my 280tsi (4x4). They had done just over 20k miles and were very evenly worn down to about 2mm, so there is not a fundamental issue with the suspension geometry.