cliveb

OK, so I got a Yuasa 65Ah 027 from Tanya. (Excellent service from them, BTW). Fitted it without any problems and assumed the problem would be sorted. But no! The alarm went off on its own again yesterday. Now wondering whether to even attempt to get the problem diagnosed. My guess is that it could take a long time and cost quite a lot of money to have it traced by a pro. Or might it be that the car's data system keeps info about what caused the alarm to trigger that can be easily read by a dealer? Given that most people ignore car alarms, perhaps it's simpler to just unset it when locking the car. But would that invalidate the insurance?

Thanks for the chart. The only battery that has the same dimensions as the existing original is 027, so weird that everyone says the car needs 012. Agreed that 11.9V is very low. Amazing that the starter motor even turns over! But the car does still start fairly easily. Go figure.

I think my wife's 2012 Fabia Elegance estate 1.2TSI petrol (105PS) needs a new battery. The alarm has been going off randomly, and it doesn't start quite as easily as it used to. I checked the voltage and it was 11.9V, so I reckon it's on the way out. I suppose having lasted 8 years is pretty good going. Everywhere online that I try seems to think it needs an 012 battery, but they are 210mm long, whereas the original one in the car is 240mm - I think that might be an 027. I can't see any obvious model number on the existing battery. Anyone know what the correct battery is for this car? Thanks.

Interesting. My car is a January 2017 Fabia, so the timeline doesn't seem to fit. My wife bought a brand new Skoda in 2012, so suppose it might be from that. Or even from my daughter's 2009 Skoda, which she bought second hand. (Just to buck the family trend, my other daughter bought a Hyundai 👎) I think I need to check the end of the VIN on the black strip against all three cars.

Many thanks. So nothing to do with the key itself, then. At least now I know not to chuck it away!

I was rummaging around in a drawer of random keys and found the item in the attached photo. I have a feeling it came with the keys to my 2017 Fabia, but am not sure. Can anyone tell me if it is some sort of code that would be used to get a replacement key? If it's nothing to do with my Skoda, apologies for wasting your time! Thanks.

OK thanks. I can live with it, just wanted to check if there was a simple fix I was missing.

I have a 2017 Fabia TSi with a Bolero radio, and I'm wondering if there's anything that can be done about an inconsistent behaviour that it exhibits... I have a fairly large music collection (73GB of Ogg Vorbis files) on a 128GB SD card plugged in to the socket in the glove box. Most of the time, when the radio is switched on it continues playing whatever track was playing when it was switched off, at the point where it left off. But sometimes, it restarts that track from the beginning for no apparent reason. I can live with that, but... On rare occasions (perhaps one time in about 20 or 30 starts), it begins playing the very first track on the very first album, which is kind of irritating. There seems to be no pattern to these different behaviours, they just happen at random. Does anyone have any knowledge and/or theories about what might be going on?

I bought the car from Citygate because it happened to be at that dealer. But I wouldn't go near them with a bargepole for service. Sorry, but I can't remember the name of the chap I dealt with when getting the CC retrofitted. Good luck.

Yes, I bought the car then had CC retrofitted. The car is a Jan 2017 Fabia SE, and when I got it (in Feb 2018), it had SL but no CC. The dealer fitted a new stalk and did the necessary software update to provide SL + CC. Here are the part numbers: - 6V0054690A (described as "CRUISE CONTR"). This was £110, and my guess is that's the replacement stalk. - 5E0054800 (described as "SWAP - CRUIS"). This was £20, so I guess that's the software update. They also charged me £180 labour - I suppose that's probably 2 hours, given we're talking main dealer prices. One last thing: after they fitted the stalk and updated the software, they subsequently discovered that they also needed a special code to activate the software. Skoda wouldn't give it to them over the phone or email it to them - it had to be sent as a piece of paper inside a DVD style box. You couldn't make this **** up! If it's of interest, the dealer was Willis Skoda in South Ruislip.

Ah, right, now I understand. I've never experienced the Front Assist braking - just had a couple of occasions when the warning alarm sounded (pretty much simultaneous to my own braking). And I'm certainly not going to deliberately try not braking myself to see what happens - in case it doesn't work!

I'm having difficulty trying to think of what other hardware would be required for ACC... - monitoring of vehicles speed: check - ability to adjust fuel and braking: check - front facing radar to detect traffic ahead: check - some other "magic" hardware required: b*ggered if I can think what that might be So it ought to be achievable via a software update. You can't trust anything car manufacturers tell you (such as what their diesel emissions might be *cough*)

Yes, I did manage to get CC added by a main dealer. Total cost was £345 (gulp!) Like you, I thought that because the stalk with SL on it had all the necessary hardware, it should have been possible to simply replace SL with CC via a software update. But alas no - CC on its own is not an option on the Fabia mk3. You can have SL, or SL+CC, but not just CC. So as far as Skoda are concerned, if you want CC you have to have SL as well, and that involves a replacement stalk which has an extra switch that toggles between SL and CC. It is clear to me that it should theoretically be possible to have CC only, but Skoda simply won't do it. One other thing. My Fabia has the forward facing radar (that it uses to warn you if you're too close to the car in front), so it clearly has the necessary hardware to support Adaptive CC. But I was told this is not a retro-fit option. Shame really, I think ACC sounds like a great idea.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I think I will skip this aircon service.

I bought a Jan 2017 Fabia SE about a year ago (from a main dealer). Recently received an email from them advising me that the car is due for an air conditioning service. I've never had a car before that needed a separate aircon service. My wife's 2012 Fabia Mk2 (which she bought from new) has never been recommended for one. So the question is this: is this really necessary and/or advisable, or is it just another way for dealers to squeeze a few more quid from us?

I can assure you that the SE model I have (first registered in Jan 2017) has speed limiter and no cruise control. The stalk has the switch on top and the side rocker switch, but no button underneath. My wife's 2012 Elegance model has exactly the same switchgear and has cruise control only - just like your old Leon.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Dithane has it spot on - I want to REPLACE the speed limiter with CC, and for that you don't need the extra button on the indicator stalk. Basically my SE has all the hardware needed, so in my mind it should just be a software update. I'll contact Skoda UK to ask if it's possible. (I asked here first because I thought maybe someone here would already know).

Does your car already have the speed limiter and front assist? (My SE model does). If it does, then it already has all the necessary hardware, so that's £430+VAT just to update some software. Daylight robbery!

I think you misundersand my question. I am perfectly aware of the difference between the two. My car has a speed limiter; my wife's has cruise control. I know that some models have both, and the extra button toggles between the two. But if you want ONLY cruise control, you don't need that extra button, and as far as I can see, my SE model has all the hardware necessary to enable it to have ONLY cruise control. I am hypothesising that maybe there could be a software update that REPLACES the speed limiter with cruise control, as in my view the latter is far more useful.

I recently bought a 2017 Fabia 1.2 TSi SE. It has a speed limiter, which I experimented with on a recent motorway trip. Although somewhat useful, I have to say that the cruise control on my wife's 2012 Elegance model is far more useful. And it got me thinking: the speed limiter needs hardware that can (a) monitor the speed, and (b) control fuel supply. Which is exactly what cruise control needs. And the speed limiter controls on the steering wheel stalk are identical to cruise control. So my guess is that the only difference between the two will be software. In which case, is there a software update possible that will convert the speed limiter to cruise control?

As promised, I have an update. Got a call yesterday morning from the dealer to say that the part had arrived and the car was ready for collection. We were in Devon at the time, but collected it today. The dealer was as helpful as could be expected. They said that they actually had two of these actuators on order, and when only one arrived they put it on my wife's car rather than the internal pool car that has been waiting for it even longer. It was Skoda UK (or perhaps VAG) that irritated me by failing to keep enough parts in stock. We had ended up waiting over 2 weeks for the part to arrive. But all is now well - my wife's car is back on the road.

Thanks for the replies. I finally discovered that a brief press on the right hand scroll wheel steps through the memories. (Previously I had only discovered that pressing it cleared the currently selected value - guess I never released it quickly enough before now). There still appears to be a shedload of options to try out, but think I'll take a break for now - this old dog can only learn a few tricks at a time.

Recently bought a 2017 Fabia 1.2 TSi SE with MAXIDOT display and multifunction steering wheel. Am slowly trying to learn the plethora of options, but right now one has me stumped... According to the manual, there are three memories for average consumption: Since Start, Long Term, and Since Refuel. The MAXIDOT display always shows the Since Start figure, and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to switch to showing a different memory. (My previous Fabia had two memories and switced between them with a short press of a button on the underside of the wiper stalk, but this new car has the multifunction steering wheel). I've tried briefly pressing (and pressing and holding) various buttons, but none seem to offer different memories. The manual doesn't help. As far as i can make out, it just tells you to select the desired memory without saying how. Can anyone tell me how to select the desired memory? Thanks.

I apologise if I have broken the etiquette around here. My feeling was that if there was nothing new to report, there seemed no point in reporting anything. As soon as I have any news I will let you know.

Ah right - so your "Sorted?????" question was asking me if things are now OK? It wasn't clear to me what you were asking. Update on my situation is that the part is still on back order and neither the dealer nor Skoda UK can even begin to guess when the part will become available. If and when I get any more news I'll post it here. But for the time being my wife's car is off the road sitting at the dealer waiting to be fixed. We are not happy bunnies.