Awkward_Josh

Thanks for that! I have tried a few things, including putting a finger over the small side hole, but I couldn't notice any noticeable difference truth be told... I will try a few of the other diagnosis tricks. Including taking it off and checking the valve on the base and the diaphragm inside. The advice to unplug the MAF seems like it might have worked, but I will be double checking tomorrow to see. Just to be clear, This may have solved the issue of erratic air intake on startup, however when the car settles to it idle rpm there is definitely some stuttering/unevenness in the idle. There are no codes showing in a read, so I think I might have the plugs out tomorrow to check the gapping on them and likely replace the rest of the coil packs whilst I'm at it. In terms of oil consumption, I can't see any leaks anywhere. Nothing on the ground, nothing in the engine bay, apart from around the oil filler cap as mentioned before. I have been topping up with the quantum platinum 5w40, but it was serviced at a local garage and I believe they have used 5w30. The car is serviced every 12 months with fresh oil and has been since new according to the log book. I've been contemplating having the oil done on a more regular basis now that it's getting on a bit! I'm hoping I don't have to resort to buying a BMW! Although the N57 325D has been on my radar for a few months now... Thanks again for the input, much appreciated!

Hi Mac, Thanks for that. I have just tried unplugging the MAF just after starting the car cold and it seemed to fix the issue of the car not knowing how much air to take in. I will try starting it tomorrow without the MAF plugged in at all to get a more conclusive answer. If it isn't having this issue with the MAF unplugged is that more likely that the MAF needs cleaning/replacing or something else? Thanks In advance

Hi all, With everything going on and currently being furloughed, I thought I would get round to a few issues that have been bothering me for a while now. Car details: 12 plate 1Z3 CDAB engine: 1.8tsi 152. One of the main issues I'm experiencing i an extremely rough initial idle (bounces between 300 and 1100rpm erratically). This seems to be at its worst after the car has been left for a few hours. After the initial start up if I leave it for 20 mins or so, when I start it up again it is still rough but no where near as bad. During the idle it also seems like the engine has no idea how much air it should be taking in. I currently have a Ramair intake in place of the standard airbox, which definitely seems to make the issue worse. However the issue definitely persists even with the standard airbox in place. It is less noisey, but similar changes to rpm regardless. There is also: - oil around the oil filler cap - no smoke from anywhere - excessive oil consumption (around 2. 5 liters in top ups in 12 months and 10k miles) - a slight, but noticeable stutter throughout the rpm range (particularly around 3500 and more noticeable when decelerating) The car recently had a misfire on cylinder 1 which was remedied with a coil pack change, this cleared the code and the issue resolved. However when fault finding I found that the plug on cylinder 1 seemed blackened compared to cylinder 2, almost as if it was running rich. There was no oil or fuel in the cylinder that I could see and the plug was not wet, just blackened. Also when it had this fault it was scanned at the garage and they said there was a mild intermittent MAF issue, but not really something they could or would look at fixing. Power seems fine, although I have had this issue for a while so if power is down I might not necessarily know. However no flat spots. I thought this might be a PCV Valve issue, however removing the oil cap when the engine running, there was no resistance at all (what I've been told is if there is a lot of pressure behind it then that could point to the pcv). Whilst it's only around £55 to replace, I don't want to do that if not necessary. I have checked (looked at) vacuum pipes as best I can but honestly I don't know where I should be looking. I've tried to include as much information as possible, but any questions just ask. And thanks in advance! Cheers, Josh

I would say: if you can afford the extra insurance premium incurred by having the mod, declare it. And if you cant/don't want to pay then don't get the mod. In all honesty I've no idea what it would cost to declare any of that... The few times I have ran comparisons with some slight mods (just stage 1, just coil overs, just springs) the premium has more than doubled. Hell, when I looked at declaring the towbar my car came with (2nd hand so not sure if this was from factory or not) the insurance shot up from £1200 to £4000... On a different note: I was late in updating my address to my last insurer (had been moved 4 months) and was hit by a driver at a roundabout, the insurance company told me that the wrong address wasn't an issue as the car hadn't been stolen! Seems they pick and choose what is important and what isn't

Really pleased with them currently, lets see how many miles i get out of them haha. Yep, replaced all four at the same time, the GT Radials still had about 6mm on them, but I wanted to start how i mean to go on so got those replaced too. Had the tracking checked at the garage who did my tyres and miraculously they said that it didn't need doing!

If anyone is interested, I ended up going for the Hankook Venus Prime 3's fitted and balanced for £60 a corner... Absolute leaps and bounds above the old set (2 GT Radials on the right hand side and 2 different ditch finders on the left) so can't tell if they are actually a really good value tyre or whether my old tyres were just truly terrible but I'm pleased nonetheless, Cheers for all the help, Josh

Thanks for all the replies guys, I think I'm just going to keep an eye out for a deal on a set of decent tyres and see how I get on with them. as I said before, anything is going to be better than whats currently on there! Cheers again, Josh

Hi All, Looking to pick up a cheap Felicia as I want to get my first Classic and actually really like the look of the Felicias! Just wondering if there was anything to be wary of/look out for when buying? Have seen a 98 1.3 with 60k for £400 and a 99 1.3 with 45k for £750 Are these prices what should be expected? Note: if there is an existing thread for this, please let me know, I did have a quick look but couldn't find anything! Cheers in advance, Josh

Unfortunately my first car had horrible (IMO) Pirelli Cinturato P7s on... but they had so much tread on them that I couldn't justify replacing them And my latest car has 3 different budget tyres on... with the only matching pair being both on the same side Think I'm going to try my luck with the Goodyears and see how far they take me. I'm pretty sure anything would be better than what I currently have!

Thought that might be the case! But honestly, that has been quite helpful, thanks for that. Will Mainly be doing motorway/dual carriage way driving.... Probably worth me sticking the cheaper premiums on and seeing how long they take me cheers again, Josh

Yea I've seen a few posts from yourselves on the Skoda Owners UK page on Facebook actually, I'll have a look at the pricing actually as I seem to be running out of everything all at once haha

No worries Even if they have no stands left/they are too expensive, it might be worth running some kind of stand out of the boot of the two cars! park the 2 cars next to each other and you should have a decent amount of space to sell from... from what they put on Facebook in regards to auto jumbling ('Auto Jumbling: Everyone is welcome to bring any car parts to sell / trade.') I'm sure there will be a few people doing that anyway. Good luck with it and hope to see you there, Josh

Hi All, I'm needing 2 new tyres (and one of the other 2 juggling about) and have never had to replace tyres before (only been driving 2 years and just as my first car needing them doing, I was rear ended and the car was written off). So what I want to know: is there any merit in buying the Michelins that claim 5000 extra miles (for £15 extra a tyre) or is it simply better value to get some equally decent (Goodyear EGPs) tyres and just end up replacing them a bit sooner? I have no idea how long a tyre is even meant to last in all honesty! Any thoughts/comments appreciated, Cheers in advance, Josh

Hi, I remember seeing the following on the facebook event page; 'Stands: We do not have the facilities to have organised stands within the show. However, we have no problem with attending groups parking together and creating your own stand. The best way to achieve this is to all arrive together and then find a suitable patch of grass. Banners and flags welcomed. ' see also; 'Trade Stands: A selection of trade stands will be present on the day. Auto Jumbling: Everyone is welcome to bring any car parts to sell / trade.' Not sure if all the trade stands will be allocated now, but it might be worth contacting Skoda owners club GB (the organisers), can find contact details on their website: http://skodaowners.org/contact-us/ Hope this helps

No offer to rectify outstanding issues? No assurance that this type of thing won't happen again? Not considering the valid experiences of their customer base? What a disappointing reply

I'll be going along to this meeting up with the skoda gang group as travelling from Redditch. Not sure how many yet, but meeting at Corley services.

As an update, I decided on the (slightly more expensive) Mann filter. Very happy with it, but to be honest anything would have been an improvement on the filter I had in there... Not entirely convinced it was done (as the dealer said it had been) when I bought it. Just out of interest, does anyone know what the differences between the filters are? Only things I can think of are: thickness of the filter medium, the fold pattern and the adhesive that holds it together! Can any of this really make that much difference?

Big thanks to @bradh for helping me sort out the Airbag error light on my car. I owe you a pint mate! Seriously, nice one

I will actually be using the car laden regularly (for work)... should this be more of a priority to get changed then?

Cheers for that stu, have seen them quite cheap out and about. Seems like a pretty simple replacement so when I've got a few hours this weekend I'll give it a go. Hopefully the sun stays out for it haha, Cheers again for the help

Anyone ever had experience with this? Looks like a really nice trip, £225 per person, doesn't include ferry (I've just found a ticket for £50 returning) or food (or fuel obviously). Half tempted but might be a bit too expensive for me and the Mrs this year altogether http://www.theoddballrally.co.uk/copy-of-the-alpine-run-2018

Cheers for that, I did try briefly but saw the rubber starting to perish under the force of the lever so stopped. Will try and wrap the lever (or try my trim removal tools but I have little hope of that working). Will give an update once I've had it apart.

Thanks for the advice guys, I want to try and fix it (rather than replace it) if possible, both because I'm tight fisted and don't see the point in scrapping a perfectly servicable part I wanted to have the actual electric motor part open last night but could not for the life of me figure out a way of doing it without damaging anything... Am I right in thinking the rubber end cap comes away from the metal casing to reveal the inner workings? And if so do you have any advice on how to get it off without damaging it? Had a go at levering it off but just ending up putting dents in the rubber, Cheers again for the help in this, it's much appreciated

No such luck im afraid, most local one is a good 20 minutes away and I've had to stop tinkering to put my daughter to bed haha... Got a good mind to leave it as is, order a curry, have a pint and let future me deal with it

Assume these? Have just put it back on the car so not the easiest to take a picture of haha, Seem to have also got the clips in my boot buy not on the trim... Whoops And no, no access to DMM or anything remotely useful unfortunately