NikTheGeek

You're surely going to have a big bill anyway aren't you when your MOT tester fails it for the missing DPF?

There are cons too, as I used to have a set on a previous car: 1. The introduce a bit of a blind spot, extending the width of the A pillar a bit unless they are completely clear, but even then can be a bit of a distraction 2. Technically (I say technically, coz I bet no one does) they are a mod you are meant to declare to your insurance company!!

Hi, I need new brake pads and this isn't about which make of pads, but which fitment type. ECP or CP4L show 2 fitment types and I have no idea which type I'd want. One is for a Teves brake system and the other is for a TRW brake system. Any ideas? thanks Nick

You might need Android Auto activating. I had the Smartlink Menu option, but it didn't work until I had Android Auto activated at a dealer. That was on a 2015 car.

If they were supplied from the factory with halogens, then, again, it would be illegal to fit LED bulbs in them. Whether or not that would also be an MOT fail, I don't know, but LED sidelights are, so I would imagine fogs would be. But either way, illegal.

Any LED in a housing not designed specifically for LED is illegal in the UK (and would therefore invalidate your insurance) and for headlight, also now an MOT fail.

Depends if you have auto-dipping in the mirror. Disconnecting the feed might disable that?

Ah, sorry. Just like taking a phone or laptop apart: use a plastic pry tool around the edge and it releases the clips. It's quite stiff, but comes apart ok... Nick

This is my option. Light Assist, now unticked. Excuse the dusty head unit. So you don't have this but yet do have HBA? What if you wanted to turn it off? I don't understand why you wouldn't have the option. As for removing the mirror, it's easy when you watch this HTH, Nick

I have the same problem. I have take mine apart and the resistor is fine (I tried bridging it anyway). £700 for a replacement - I don't think so - and it was crap anyway. But, you can disable the functionality in the the Infotainment system under Lights. I've done that and it no longer pings or gives any error. It still shows an error on a VCDS/OBDeleven scan, but no error on the dash. HTH, Nick

It could have been disabled by a previous owner maybe?

I had them. Ended up binning them eventually. When fitted they really are quite dark. In summer when the kids wanted the windows down, they got fed up of the blinds being there and at night, it did make rear visibility a little harder. But the worst thing was that they faded in the sun and after a year or so, they were light grey, not black!

Worth checking the connections. The ones in the rear bumper are easily accessible from under the car. The rear side ones (if you have them) mean taking the wheel liner out. A scan with OBD Eleven or VCDS will tell you which one is faulty but apparently, if you have good hearing, you can hear the working ones clicking away. If you need to replace, they are cheap enough on ebay and you could always buy one and keep swapping until the fault goes away if. But the diagnostics is worth buying for any future issues... Nick

Hi, there is a tick box in the infotainment under lighting as I have deselected it and the dashboard error message has gone away, leaving me with just the OBD Eleven message when I scan it.

Yeah, good call. I could try that. Thanks...

I've disabled it. But it gives me an error everytime I scan with OBD Eleven and I want to remove that. Only because its an annoyance. But also if I sold the car, it would show a fault, whereas if I disabled it, it wouldn't. Nick

Hi My HBA has suddenly packed up. I get a fault on the dash saying it is not working, but a scan says its a controller fault and won't clear. I've turned it off in the settings which clears the dashboard message, but doesn't clear the OBD Eleven fault. Is it actually the controller as it says, or is it the sensor in the mirror or are they one and the same? To be honest, I hated it and never used it. I will get it fixed if I can get it done under warranty, but if I can't, can it be coded out so that the controller doesn't show up on a scan and therefore the error doesn't? Otherwise, every time I (or a garage) does a scan, it'll show the error. Thanks in advance Nick

Don't forget to tell your insurance. Not only is it a mod, but your premium will come down! Mine dropped by £20 and I pay less than £200 to start with!!

I ran my P38 on biodiesel whilst you still could which made the 19mpg around town a bit more bearable, I think the government removed all the biodiesel incentives as you don't see it any more. I wish I'd got a LPG one in hindsight as I later got a Kia Sportage and converted that to LPG and it ran brilliantly for many years. But boring as anything compared to the Range Rover.

A P38 You're brave! I had one for a few years and loved it, but just in one year it cost me £2k in parts alone - that was with me doing the work. But I reckon I can still refurb an air suspension compressor and valve unit with my eyes shut!! And what company makes a radiator with a metal body coupled to a plastic top that cracks over time! Oh yeah, Landrover do. Great fun to work on and lovely to drive. I still miss it...

I have the Ford Protect Gold on my Octavia (it came from a Ford garage). The warranty covers everything. All electronics, all mechanicals. Even the DPF is covered up to 80,000 miles which I thought was excellent. I've claimed twice, one of which was for the gear selector fault which whilst we all now know is a microswitch, at the time it was a whole expensive gear selector mechanism. I'm about to claim a third time for a failed parking sensor - which even though it should only be about £30 (plus labour) and I could do it myself, the skoda garage will collect my car, fix it, return it and problem solved. The only issue is around servicing. I've always had it serviced by Skoda since I got the car since it was so new, but this year I did it myself. Legally, manufacturers can't void your warranty if a service is carried out to the same standards and using the same parts as the manufacturer would - but I don't know if this applies to warranty companies - my warranty states that it must be serviced by the garage that sold the vehicle or other "approved" outlet and it's the "approved" bit that worries me as I won't be "approved". So they might turn down a future claim and therefore I might ditch the warranty at renewal. It's around £330 a year, but I pay it monthly. Over the 3 years I've had it, I'd say that I have profited. I've claimed about £1100 worth - but it made it easier to stomach by having the warranty and gave me piece of mind - especially covering the DPF on a s/h car! I'm in my 4th year and they should break even now! That help? Nick

Hi, I have a fault that states "Side left rear park assist sensor faulty". If I clear the fault, it comes right back. If I monitor the live data, as soon as I go in to reverse, this sensor give an error. But which on is it? Is it the (silver one in my case) near the rear wheel arch? Or it is the left-most black one in the rear black bumper trim? I'd have guessed the one near the wheel except I have parking aid and I gather the side ones are for that which now has me thinking its the left-most black one. It's apparently easier if its one of the black ones as they are easier to replace and don't need colour coding. Any ideas? thanks Nick

A company like Superskoda would have to manufacture Mk3 headlamp assemblies with LED's in them and go through the approval process (which is costly) and then sell them too us as replacement headlamp assemblies. I would imagine that after factoring in their profit they would be so expensive that none of us would buy them! In the interim, some of the bright white halogens like the Osram Night Breaker are the best we can hope for. I fitted them to mine and they were noticeably brighter and whiter Amazon link to the H7 bulbs here: https://amzn.to/30sXpI7 not a bad price for £19 a pair! Nick

The UK lighting regulations. You can't fit an LED bulb in a housing unless the housing is specifically designed for LED and appropriately "E" marked. So LED spot lights and light bars contain LED's in housings designed for them and if they have been "E" marked as approved for road use then they are perfectly legal. However, the halogen housings used for halogen bulbs are neither designed nor approved for LED use. Fitting an LED in one is therefore illegal. If you are involved in a serious accident at night, you can be pretty sure that your insurance company will find that light might have played a part in the accident and refuse a claim. But regardless, because it's illegal, you are technically uninsured anyway. The penalties if caught (eg a police car thinks your beam pattern is wrong or lights are too bright) is a fine, points and the impounding of the car - similar to the offence of driving with no insurance. As for the MOT test, since Jan 2021 it says: “Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.” Does that help? Nick

That's exactly what I would suggest. LED spots for when they are required.