StEdmund

I've just been out to the garage to check, and this is the exact model (CT5 start/stop) that I've got. Whilst Ctek chargers are expensive, their service is pretty good. I hadn't had the charger for long, and was charging up my wife's B-max when one of the crocodile clip covers flicked off and disappeared deep into the engine bay; I feared that I would have to take the engine out in order to find it. I wrote to Ctek, and they very kindly supplied me (FoC) with a replacement. I don't know about the CTX indicator plug, I don't have one.

At the beginning of the first lockdown, I wasn't able to use the Karoq, so bought a CTEK charger; it proved very effective. Fortunately, I was able to park in front of my garage and bring the power lead out under the door, I recall that a member had written on these pages about a Karoq being left for a period on an airport car park and, on return, had found the battery as flat as a pancake. The AA (?) chap arrived and gained access to the battery by tugging the release lever until it was sufficiently distorted to flip the bonnet. As a fore-warned is fore-armed sort of bloke, I tested this for myself on the drive and, indeed, it worked; not ideal, though! Best wishes for a successful cataract procedure.

"I do not have any modern Skoda or VW" Thank you, Ootohere, you have spoken with a great deal of authority on the 1.5 tsi, so I naturally assumed that you had personal experience.

You don't mention which model of 1.5tsi (year/manual or DSG) you have, Ootohere, could you add it to the side panel? Cheers.

"http://skoda-auto.com/services/recall-campaigns" Nothing on there for my car's VIN number, yet the dealer says that there is an update due.

Question for the O/P, Andrew ......... what engine is in your Karoq, please? I've just booked my 2019 1.5tsi in for its annual service, and I was advised that 'there's a update that needs to be carried out'. I've no idea what that might relate to but, of course, I will ask when I get there. I was contemplating taking the car to an independent when the 'All-in' plan expires. Would such updates be available to an independent garage? Or ........ is the update business a cunning scheme to keep you hooked to Skoda dealers?

"There are two distinct issues ........" I suspected that might be the case as, before taking the car into the dealer, I tried spraying with silicone lubricant as suggested by other contributors - but that didn't work.

I bought my 1.5tsi Karoq in September 2018 and, after about 4 years, my fuel flap started to play up - very frustrating and quite embarrassing on the forecourt. It gradually got worse over the next year so I booked the car in with my dealer under the warranty bit of the 'All-in-one' agreement. No problem, they fixed it; apparently it is caused by a dodgy solenoid.

After years of supplying new cars with rubbish quality windscreen wipers, you would have thought that Skoda might have done something about it ☹️

As again it's only affecting manuals it surely can be rectified in software. If it was an inherent engine design issue it would affect DSG's That early thread was 117 pages long - there's a lot of stuff in there including car rejection and so on. It was noted that manuals were far more badly affected than DSGs and the conclusion was that DSG could, in some way, compensate for the issue. Different drivers perceived and described the issue differently - kangarooing and cutting out were the main two problems described.

Mumpsim, you will worry yourself into an early grave. It is a Skoda - not a Lamborghari - when did you ever hear of a Skoda being nicked?

The 2018/19 issue was then this is now. The early stuff does not really have relevance. 6 years later, and the symptoms sound the same. Good luck!

This is, as far as I can find, the earliest thread on the topic ........... There's more on here ......

From my experience, I would advise anyone with a misbehaving 1.5tsi to reject the car while you are still able. I forget the rules now, but there are time limits. I will see if I can find the original thread.

If you are going to use a tin to keep your key(s) in, check that it does actually work. I discovered that a 'tin' didn't work (wrong metal?) whereas a bit of kitchen foil worked perfectly well.

"Never heard about it being acknowledged as a safety issue before. " Quite - this is because VAG/Skoda have a very good PR department and, as I said a couple of posts ago, the press and journalists don't want to rattle their bars. There was a brief early reference to trouble in this 2018 review from the Daily Telegraph ....... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/features/skoda-karoq-smallest-czech-suv-long-term-test/ "........ And there's also an unpleasant emissions 'hole' in the engine fuel/ignition timing map just when you start off. Failure to rev it enough and the turbo gives up on you and the Karoq stumbles and staggers out of a junction in front of the oncoming Scania." Very little else was written about the issue, though there was a piece on Honest John's website in about 2020 ......... https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/advice/owning-advice/15-tsi-engine-issues/ I am just so surprised to learn that the problems are ongoing - that's 6 years now! It was said, a few years ago, that insufficient attention was being paid to the deficiencies of the 1.5tsi engine because VAG's engineering priority had shifted to EVs. The fact that so many punters are still buying the 1.5tsi is a great tribute to their PR folks' ability to keep a lid on the truth.

The problem at the heart of all this discussion is that the 1.5tsi is a flawed engine design. Threads about all this started to appear in about 2018, and new threads keep appearing with new titles and new contributors; the observations, excuses and potential solutions have all cropped up before. Reading these posts is like Groundhog Day. After a year or so, the issue was occasionally mentioned in dark corners of the motoring press, but the truth is that no publication wants to go hard on the subject because VAG will no longer use them for advertising, and no journo wants to upset the manufacturer or there will be no more freebie cars to use for 'long-term' tests and no more 'jollies'. The unpredictable nature of the 'stalling' will eventually result in a death ......... if this hasn't already happened, with the accident being wrongly attributed to driver error. What is really needed is a t.v. drama documentary to finally expose the lies and obfuscation of VAG.

I'd never heard of 'the clock spring' - every day's an education on here. Thank you!

My Karoq is now in its 6th year and I've just booked it in to get the fuel-flap sorted out; I'm told that it's probably a faulty solenoid. It's most frustrating to be about to fill up and finding that the flap won't release - and the problem has been getting worse over the past year or so. I have an all-in service plan and, whilst booking the car in, I was informed that the all-in plan will cover the cost.

I am very disappointed to read all this. My Karoq is from MY19, one of the earlier 1.5tsi models, and it suffered from the kangarooing and cutting out. For a period of about 6 weeks, Skoda took it off the road and loaned me a diesel Karoq Scout while awaiting the software fix; I suspect this was under pressure from DVSA after a number of complaints from drivers. My dealer would have been willing to accept things if I had rejected the car but, in every other respect the car suited me perfectly, so I was willing to wait for the fix. The fix arrived and more or less cured the cutting-out problem; in the last 4 years or so, it has cut out a few times - the most unnerving being a couple of months ago when it died as I pulled out of a junction. I sat there in the middle of the road looking like a lemon as an Audi driver passed round me hooting and shaking his fist - that's it mate, yeah, I did that manoeuvre deliberately just to annoy you! I think, if I were living my life again, I would have rejected the car when I had the opportunity.

"The Goodyear Vector 4Seasons is still a good tyre and I used them on a Yeti a few years ago. However, when buying all-season tyres for our Karoq Sportline 1.5 last month, I decided against them for 3 reasons: 1. They are said by some people in the tyre trade to have thinner sidewalls than the competitors, making them more susceptible to pothole and kerb damage.............." Sorry, only just caught up with this thread..... my wife's B-max has been fitted with Goodyear Vector 4seasons gen 2 all round and, 2 years ago when her front tyre was flattened by a pot-hole, I remember thinking at the time how thin the side-wall looked. This is not a scientifically measured observation, just my impression at the time. Maybe when I come to replace the tyres on my Karoq, I'll go for the Bridgestone Turanza all-season 6s

I should have added that my thinking was that, at 15 years old, the cost of a cam-belt change would be more than the car was worth.

If my Karoq lives as long as 15 years, I can't see me ever changing the belt; I'll just make sure that I've got good breakdown/recovery insurance, and run the car until it drops.

A tip whilst we're on the subject of windscreen washer fluid ....... when making up washer fluid, I always use water from my dehumidifier thus avoiding limescale blockages from hard water.

I'd be grateful if you could let us know how you get on with the Turanza 6s. I would like to move to all-seasons tyres but, at the moment, the 2 front tyres are quite new, and the rears will need replacing first. There is a current mantra that says 'put the best rubber on the rears' - would that mean that I could start by putting all-seasons on the rears - or would that be a no no too?