Alasdair1

Have a look at https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/ Pur your reg in and check what their prices are for clutch kit and flywheel. I find Sachs/Luk/Valeo are the best brands. It will give you an idea how much labour they are charging you plus dealers are £100 -£150 perhour plus vat where as my local independant is around £65 plus vat. Alasdair

Thats a fair amount of money . As they arent covering it with warranty I would get it done in a decent independant garage. Got quoted £500 for my sons Fabia clutch which I ended up doing myself as he was going to have to wait three weeks till the garage I sometimes use is always busy. Depending on what Gbox and engine you have I would reckon £500-£600 for parts max and labour on top so £2500 seems high. Alasdair

Both my 1.9tdi are in an octavia and a Seat altea. Both look like theres not enough space to work on them from engine compartment plus as they are both fairly old I reckon snaping bolts may be very possible. Alasdair

I have a couple of cars with the BXE 1.9tdi pd and the egr cooler is right at back of engine. You can see it but looks like a nightmare to get to. Think on mine its exhaust/turbo etc off first and access from underneath. Have heard of large garage bills to replace them. So far mine are ok apart from a plastic valve thats sticking. Hope its one of them thats causing problems. Alasdair

After market radios can interfere with canbus system somehow. Cairus is right in that it has nothing to do with imobilser but it can stop readers connecting to ECU in some cases. I would just disconnect radio completely and try to access ecu again. Might need VCDS to read it. Alasdair

If your not getting white smoke I dont think its the EGR cooler. If your engine oil is fine then its not much coolant at all. It could be a very slight leak in the oil cooler or even just condensation. Reckon change oil cooler and monitor it.

Check the fuses related to the windows plus also check fuses in engine bay. It may be a probem with the comfort control module or Body control module but I think if the imobilser is on it can affect window operation. I remember reading about it when my imobilser got stuck on as my windows wouldnt work either including keys. According to Ai which I reckon is not that reliable and cant guarantee its correct is as follows ... Recoding or replacing a comfort control module (CCM/BCM) during an instrument cluster change in Volkswagen/Audi group vehicles requires specialized diagnostic software, typically VCDS (VAG-COM Diagnostic System), to transfer coding, synchronize keys, and adapt the immobilizer. Because the immobilizer data is shared between the cluster and the CCM, failing to match them can prevent the car from starting. Its now out of my depth so maybe a VAG specialist or autosparky or someone on here who nows what they are talking about. Hopefully removing radio will allow you to get further Alasdair

Not sure on the windows. Do you have an aftermarket radio in car. They can stop scanners reading ECU for some reason. If you do unplug it completey and try again. When my Seat imobilser stuck on the guy from the AA could read some parts but couldnt access ECU or imobiliser. Probably a security thing. Alasdair

Reckon the oil cooler first as fairly easy to get to. Think to check you can pressurise it with air and put in a bucket of water and look for bubbles. It would be the first choice if your getting coolant into oil apart from the HG. The EGR cooler I think would leak coolant into intake/egr so would probably cause some white smoke and cant see how it would mix with oil unless it was a reasonable amount of coolant. May be wrong. Hope its the oil cooler

I remember reading that one and if I remember the clutch/flywheel had no heat marks on it and clutch had completley disintegrated. With the lack of heat marks it looked like a faulty clutch plate. If yours is the same I would point that out and see what they say. If it had been slipped badly before you got the car there should be heat marks on plate. Good luck Alasdair

If its the clutch depending on how its failed the chances are they will say they wont cover it. At 19k if its failed you could argue its a manufacture deffect but unless the clutch manufacturer or skoda have had previous problems I doubt you will have any luck. Best case scenario I reckon would be that they offer to pay for parts and you pay the labour. Try going down the line of its only done 19k so shouldnt have failed first. Alasdair

EGR cooler or oil cooler perhaps. If your not losing much coolant it may be a very small leak in the oil cooler.

Deffo battery. Mine was the same. Just on 12v but not enough power to start car. Loads of clicking and christmas tree dash. Chec its charging ok when you replace battery. 12V is only about 25% charge and probably has no reserve. I suspect a bad cell. Alasdair

There fairly easy to swap over so recon with new shocks and springs its got to be better. Alasdair

Yep its very confusing. Might be a PR code in boot that relates to springs fitted. Hopefully there is still enough coloured paint left for you to check. Mine had no paint on whatsoever. If the car is bottoming out over speedbumps it may be that they have become weak or as said shocks have had it leading to weakend springs. Alasdair Alasdair

Check the condition of rear shocks as well. Normally they wont affect ride height but if they are completely gone then over time can weaken springs and I found when I replaced gas filled ones on one of my very bouncy cars the ride height was slightly higher. There was no sign of leaking but when I removed them they werent doing much in the way of shock absorbing.

Have a look at https://www.partsinmotion.co.uk/ They are pretty good on prices. They list two NAPA springs. (as well as loads of others) The H duty NCS1855 are thicker and shorter at £24.59 each and Standard ones NCS1140 are only £18.75 each so might be worth a go. Been using them for years and delivery is pretty fast as well. Alasdair

Is it under any waranty if you didnt buy it from skoda dealer? Alasdair

Yes mines an estate and was used to carry heavy loads so needed heavy duty springs. With the old springs it didnt hit speed bumps but sat pretty low in back fully loaded. Car was a bit hard suspension wise when empty so maybe as you said go for middle ground for a bit more comfort. It could be that the springs on yours have weakened over time. Alasdair

Before skimming head check its possible. If it is warped some modern engines cant be skimmed by much due to fine tolerances (sons landrover td5 being one) and may also need a thicker head gasket. As for the oil cooler I think the simplest way is to remove and pressurise with air and submerge in water and look for leaks/bubbles. You could also check EGR cooler if the engine is removed the same way. Alasdair

If the engine is running well apart from the coolant/oil problem and if its just the head gasket then I would replace and not go any further unless I had to. If you are removing head then get it checked for flatness before refitting in case its warped. I would check the oil cooler again first. Its 1.5 years old and I find even OEM parts dont last as long so could be failing. Hope you get it sorted Alasdair

If the head is removed and there are no signs of head gasket failure then it could be a cracked block but very unusual unless its been totally cooked or perhaps frozen. You say the oil filter housing was replaced. Did that include oil cooler? Alasdair

There are torx style screws which have to be removed as long as there not rusted solid. The plastic liner then comes out with a bit of bending/wiggling. Think there are some that connect to undertray (cant quite remember). When I did my timing belt on my old octavia there was about a bucket worth of silt. Probably explains why they rust badly between wheel arch and sill. I did the other side while I was at it plus power washed/dried and coated in waxoil.

Was looking for a friend with similar problems and came accross a few folks on other forums with same EPC and 12v low message. There skoda garage scanned it and found a few minor faults unrelated to warning but also noticed that there was a software update outstanding on their car. They were pointed in the direction of Skoda assist who did an update and so far so good. Alasdair

Hope its just the radio/fuse and nothing major once you get the scanner to work. Alasdair