dauphin

Yay, it’s working! Strange that when the Bluetooth connection is set up, it seems to default to not sharing contacts without even prompting to ask if you wish to share - my Oneplus phone was exactly the same. Anyway, thanks again mygyl, that was very helpful

Thanks very much. We’d already checked 2 and 3 above, but 1 sounds very promising! Hope to try it later and will report back

I’ve been trying to help my brother set up his phone to work in his Scala SEL (Amundsen system). Whilst a Bluetooth connection can be established, it adamantly refuses to recognise his phone contacts. (And even if we resort to entering a phone number manually, there seems no way to save it as a named contact within the Amundsen system.) I know Skoda have a list of compatible phones, and his (xiaomi redmi 5) perhaps unsurprisingly doesn’t feature on their apparently haphazard and outdated list - also tried my Oneplus 7 pro which isn’t on the list and doesn’t transfer contacts either. Are we really restricted to using one of the limited models of phone on Skoda’s list? I’m very surprised that despite quite a bit of online research I haven’t been able to find any recent discussion of this issue and I’m wondering if anyone here has encountered and preferably solved a similar problem.

Twice done trips from north of Glasgow to Deal, Kent (530 miles each way). Just today drove back down to Ross-on-Wye (375 miles) before continuing to Deal tomorrow via Nailsea, Bristol (275 miles). Not bad for a standard 1.3 Felicia bought for £46 in 2007! I actually find it reasonably comfortable (and I'm 6ft 3) and I'm always surprised at how, even in the Felly, I manage to pass about 80% of the other traffic on the motorway. I got a few jobs done on the car while it was at home in Scotland but, annoyingly, an exhaust blow developed today which I will need to get sorted out once I reach Kent. I think it's the central silencer; hopefully not the cat!

Thanks, I got the other one - been looking for ages!

An update.... I eventually realised the other thrustwasher is the thing on the timing case side of the shaft, but with both thrustwashers apparently correctly located, the engine still wouldn't turn. Put everything back together with a view to getting the garage to take the car in. Then decided to investigate once again. I tried removing the crankshaft pulley and putting the bolt on without the pulley - and hey presto the engine turned!! Tried it on the starter and it fired up first time (no timing chain rattle I was pleased to note). So obviously there is something amiss in the crankshaft pulley area, whether it's the thrustwashers or what, I 'm not yet sure. Bottom line is, I've now got to do the entire job again as I will have to get the crankshaft sprocket off to find out exactly what's wrong. So near and yet so far, but hearing that engine run, albeit without the crankshaft pulley, has given me hope again!

Yes, the original chain had a good deal of slack. The new one is tight, but not excessively so I think. It's an MPi. This dummy distributor drive, is that the oil pump drive? I haven't replaced that yet anyway. I've only got the timing cover back on and the crankshaft pulley. Before reattaching the oil pump or the sump I decided to see if the engine would turn freely and that's when I found it would not move! There is that bit in the Haynes manual that says: "Check that the inner and outer thrustwasher locating tabs are aligned with the cut-outs on the right hand main bearing cap, and that the thrustwashers are correctly seated in their recesses........Note that if the thrustwashers are not properly seated, the crankshaft will lock up as the bolt is tightened, and the thrustwashers will be damaged. Check that the crankshaft rotates freely before proceeding further." When I checked this before tightening the crankshaft pulley bolt, I could only see one of these tabs, and the photo in the Haynes manual only appears to show one, but as far as I could see mine was exactly per the photo, so I went ahead and tightened up. I got a premonition that all was not well when the crankshaft didn't try to turn as I tightened the pulley bolt. I didn't think anything was amiss as regards the thrustwasher tabs, but the reference to the possibility of the crankshaft locking up has got me wondering...

Thanks for the suggestion Ahmet. It was an interesting idea but I narrowed down the cause of the problem to the fact that the Woodruff key on the camshaft was not aligned with its keyway when I fitted the chain according to the 12 links rule. As I explained it my last posting, I felt that the camshaft must have moved and that maybe if I rotated it so that the Woodruff key was in alignment that might resolve the problem. After a lot of trial and error, I finally got the alignment right this morning after turning the camshaft maybe 20 degrees anti-clockwise. That enabled me to fit the new sprockets and chain. But my relief was shortlived! After replacing the timing chain cover and the crankshaft pulley, I found that the crankshaft will not turn at all. I assume that this is the result of having turned the camshaft on its own while the chain was off. I haven't used the starter motor, so as to avoid damage, but I have released the brakes, put the gearlever in neutral, and removed the spark plugs. The engine just will not turn via the crankshaft pulley. There is only one more thing I can think of, which is that maybe for some reason my engine does not conform with the "12 link rule" (perhaps someone has had it apart before and reassembled it in an unconventional way). If that is the case, instead of moving the camshaft, I should have gone to 14 or 16 links in order that the chain would go on. So my options are 1) to take the timing chain off again, put the camshaft back as closely as possible to where it was originally, and refit the chain using as a gap of as many links as necessary; 2) get hold of a secondhand engine; or 3) go and see my local garage in the morning and see if they will take the car in and sort it all out for me. I have never had such a problem in over 35 years that I've been tinkering with my cars and I can't recall ever being defeated before, but I'm very much leaning towards option 3!

Here's the latest. The sprockets will go on reasonably comfortably without the chain. They won't go on with the chain, whether I use the new chain or the old one. I think what must be happening is that after I locate the crankshaft sprocket onto the start of the shaft, the tension of the chain is pulling the camshaft sprocket round so that it is no longer properly aligned with its Woodruff key, although it's difficult to actually see this, particularly when I'm working alone. Seems to me that if the chain is over-tensioned, the only explanation is that the crankshaft and camshaft must have moved in relation to one another - although I'm not aware of this having happened and I obviously tried to prevent it. If one or other shaft has rotated slightly, the two Woodruff keyways will no longer be correctly aligned. Does this seem a logical explanation? If so, how can I check the relative alignment of the crankshaft and the camshaft and, more importantly, how do I correct it?? One way, I suppose, would be to rotate the camshaft anti-clockwise slightly until it results in the chain tension being reduced just enough to enable it to be refitted. However, this seems rather a crude adjustment and it also depends on my misalignment theory being correct, otherwise it could make things a lot worse.

I guessed so, but thanks for the thought anyway!

Helensburgh, near Glasgow.

Thanks for your comments. I have checked with Jorily that I definitely have the correct parts, so I will just have to have another go tomorrow. I can see myself having to put everything back as it was, including the old timing chain!

Maybe that's a possibility. I bought the parts from Jorily over a year ago and have been putting the job off until now (wish I had put it off for ever!!) I have checked their website again and it does say in relation to post-98 timing chains "Some MPi model may have the earlier type Timing Chain fitted..." I have contacted them for clarification in case this is the cause of my problems.

Hopeless. I've filed down both the Woodruff keys to the point where I can just about get the sprockets back on without the chain, but it's impossible once the tension of the chain is on them. I have resorted to trying to refit the old sprockets with the new chain, because they are not quite as tight to fit as the new sprockets, but still can't get them on. I am still worried anyway that chain seems so tight, just how tight should a new chain be??

Not making much progress here. I don't think the tightness of the chain is the problem after all as I have tried the sprockets without the chain and they still don't want to go on. I've even tried the old camshaft sprocket and that is no better! The camshaft sprocket is worse than the crankshaft sprocket; I could probably force the latter on with a bit of tapping, but with the camshaft sprocket a) there is very little room to tap it because the chassis is in the way and I am conscious that it may not be very good for the camshaft to have the sprocket thwacked back on! I never removed the Woodruff key from the camshaft end as it is a pretty tight fit but it appears to be in good condition. I am really at a loss - both the sprockets were fairly tight to remove and required levering off, but I never imagined it would prove so hard to get the new ones (or even the old ones) back on.

Thanks, this got me excited for a moment but I've just been out to the garage and it looks as if the markings on mine are OK.:( I will have to resume battle in the morning!

I'm in the middle of replacing the timing chain and I'm stuck at the stage of refitting the new chain and sprockets. As per the Haynes manual, I have carefully counted 12 roller links in the chain between the timing dots on the sprockets and I can just about get the sprockets on as far as the point where they start to engage with the Woodruff keys. But I can't shift them any further along the shafts. Haynes talks about "sliding" them back on, but so far a good deal of brute force has failed to move them very far. The chain seems very tight and I'm wondering if it is excessive tension in the chain that is preventing the sprockets from going all the way back on. Obviously a new chain is going to be tighter than the old one, but I'm worried it's too tight. Is it usually this hard to get the sprockets back on or am I doing something wrong?

I really thought this was going to be the answer, but I've been under the car this morning and cannot see any load-sensitive valve at the rear. I think my car must have the alternative "pressure-sensitive" valves described in the Haynes manual, which are attached to the master cylinder, in which case they either work or (unlikely I'd have thought) they don't! I am assuming that these are the valves you can see in the attached picture?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I may have to try the weight in the boot idea, although I can't help feeling it should not be necessary, otherwise everyone here would be saying "me too"! The foot pedal feels fine and the brakes give me no concerns in normal driving. Can't now say what brand the shoes were as it was a year ago but unless they were some outrageous counterfeit rubbish I can't believe they would struggle to meet test standards - and anyway the problem was already there with the old shoes. I wondered about the load limiting valve;didn't know it could be stripped/serviced, so may well have a look at that. I don't think the wheel cylinders could be seized completely as there would be no braking at all on the affected wheel, but perhaps it is possible that they have got a bit sticky so that's another possibility.

My Felicia (a 1998 1.3LXi) will be due for an MOT within the next month. Last year I had a fair bit of trouble getting the rear brakes to meet the requirements of the test, so I thought I would see if anyone here has had a similar problem or has any solutions to suggest. Initially the car failed on service brake efficiency (33%), which the tester said was down to the rear brakes - although the handbrake passed. I took advantage of Kwik-Fit's free brake inspection offer but, somewhat to my surprise, they found nothing wrong and all they could suggest was fitting new brake shoes. I declined that offer, but then stripped the rear brakes myself. There was plenty of meat left on the shoes, but to be on the safe side I fitted a new set of shoes. There was no sign of any fluid leakage and as far as I could tell the wheel cylinders worked normally and the drums looked in good condition. When I took the car for retest, they said the brakes were better, but still just failed to meet the test standard. I explained to the tester that neither Kwik-Fit or I had been able to find anything wrong, and he offered to try adjusting them. After doing so, he said that the brakes had again improved slightly and had fortunately gone from a marginal fail to a marginal pass. I asked the tester if he had any ideas why the rear brakes did not appear to be as powerful as they ought to be and he said it is a fairly common problem with light cars like the Felicia; there is not enough weight on the back wheels for the tyres to grip the brake rollers and I could try sticking a bag of cement in the boot before the next test! That doesn't sound to me like an ideal solution. I also found when I drove the car away from the test that he had adjusted the rear brakes up so tight that there was no free travel in the handbrake and I am fairly sure that if I had presented the car in that condition it would have failed on that ground! So what do I do this year? Have others had this problem? I would have thought that the brakes ought to breeze through the test if they are operating as they should. I wonder whether, if the problem is really down to inadequate grip on the rollers, it could have been the fault of the tyres - one of the rear tyres earned an advisory last year and I replaced them both immediately after the test. The only other thing that occurred to me was that the tester entered the car on the garage records as a Favorit. I pointed this out to him and asked if the computer could be calculating the wrong brake efficiency as a result, but he said no, if anything it would work in my favour that the car was tested as a Favorit. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Mine failed on exhaust condition and emissions last year. The tester assured me that once I got the exhaust replaced the emissions would come back within limits - and he was right. I would be inclined to wait and see if the same works for you before you think about replacing the catalyst (unless of course the cat itself is actually holed) although the service items which others have suggested above may well help.

Been studying this thread with interest and now have my gearbox out for clutch replacement. I'm also mystified by this roll pin on the selector shaft. Mine is pictured below and appears to be as it left the factory, but again the roll pin seems to do nothing. The shaft coming out of the gearbox does not extend into the end of the u/j as far as the roll pin hole, so the pin seems redundant. On my car, the shaft seems to have been invisibly brazed onto the u/j at the factory. http://briskoda.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=22151&stc=1&d=1213264873 DSC00059.JPG My car is also lacking the rubber boot where the selector shaft enters the gearbox, and since I can see no way of separating the shaft, it would appear impossible to fit a boot or to replace the selector shaft oil seal. The Haynes manual does not mention such an arrangement but I am wondering if it is in fact usual on later cars (mine is a late '98 1.3)

Thanks for the responses. Pending inspiration, I have done a temporary repair with a piece of string and a keyring on the end to pull on. It works anyway, and may well end up as the permanent solution!

On re-reading the Haynes manual, it DOES cover this, and evidently the bonnet release handle inside the car does have to be removed. The manual blithely says "extract the lever pivot pin" - unfortunately this doesn't take me much further as both ends of the pin are burred over in manufacture and I cannot see how it could be extracted. It's barely accessible anyway, as the fuse box is right in front of it and you have to lie on your back in the passenger footwell. I managed to get the point of a thin screwdriver on one end of the pin and thwacked it with a hammer but there's no way it's coming out. I take it from the absence of response that no-one else has encountered this problem - count yourselves lucky!

Has anyone got any advice about how to replace the bonnet cable? I cannot for the life of me see how to get the new cable back over the top of the release lever inside the car. There just doesn't seem to be enough room between the top of the plastic lever and its supporting bracket for the nipple on the end of the cable to pass through. Naturally, the Haynes manual doesn't mention this, the most awkward part of the entire operation....! It doesn't appear that the plastic handle can be removed from its bracket and the bracket is welded to the bulkhead, so I'm out of ideas as to how to get this blasted cable through!