Clockworks

To close my "turbo saga": I got a call from the main dealer on Monday. Skoda UK had called them, and offered a goodwill payment. This brought the price down to the same level as the best quote I'd had for a new, aftermarket, unit. I agreed to have the work done, but reserved my right to take it up with head office afterwards, as I feel that their offer could have been a bit more generous. Skoda UK called me back that afternoon to check that the dealer had called me. She said that that was their best offer, but I was welcome to pursue it further via the Motor Ombudsman. I collected the car this morning, and took it out for a bit of a run. All seems to be working fine. They did a pretty good job of valeting the car too. I just need to give it a few weeks, see if I still have confidence in the car. Not sure what I'd replace it with though. If I do replace it, whatever I get will have to have a decent warranty....

With hindsight, I wish I had taken out an extended warranty too. Thing is, I've never had an extended warranty in 40+ years of driving and biking, and this is the first big bill I've had. Over the years I'm still quids in. It's just not a good time to faced with a big bill, as lockdown has had a big impact on my business. I got a call back from another garage that I'd spoken to the day before. They will send the turbo away to be looked at, as it might be possible to repair it. The turbo rebuild place said that the problem will be with the wastegate shaft where it enters the exhaust housing. The shaft seizes up in the bushing. If that's all it is, they can fix it. However, when the shaft seizes, it can damage the electronic actuator - stripped gears I think. If this happens, complete replacement is the only option. They quoted £1760 all in if it needs a complete turbo - OEM part, but not direct from Skoda.

I've contacted Skoda directly, waiting for a call back to see if they are willing to contribute. Thanks for the link to the turbo on eBay - saved in my watch list. That's a decent saving off the normal price from Skoda. The indy reckoned the problem is with the shaft in the housing, rather than the actuator. Turbo Technics said pretty much the same thing. They would fit an upgraded bronze bush as part of the refurb.

I had a call from the main dealer first thing this morning - a courtesy car had become available, could I take my car in straight away? I got a call this afternoon confirming the independent garage's diagnosis - faulty turbo actuator, needs a new turbo. Total cost just under £2400. Skoda have refused any goodwill contribution. Turbo Technics can rebuild my turbo for just under £800, but I can't find a decent local garage willing to deal with Turbo Technics, or fit any turbo that they don't supply themselves. The independent is happy to supply a genuine Skoda-boxed turbo for £1300+VAT+consumables+labour - a bit over £2000 in total, or an aftermarket unit for a couple of hundred less. I'm more than a little disappointed that Skoda UK aren't offering any kind of goodwill contribution - even supplying the parts "at cost" would have been nice, and wouldn't cost them anything at all. Unless I can find a local garage that deals directly with Turbo Technics, I'll be going for the aftermarket option with the indy garage, and I'll avoid VAG products and services in future. When the time comes to replace the 280, I'll be looking at Kia and their 7 year warranty.

EPC light has come back on a couple of times since I last posted. I finally got my code reader back, and it was showing "P00AF". I cleared all the codes, and tried the car. EPC light came on again as soon as I gave it full throttle. Fault cleared if I left the car switched off for a couple of minutes. I took it to an independent garage today, and it needs a new turbo. The actuator for the variable vanes is moving erratically, giving over and under boost errors. He says he can hear it making bad noises when he tested it. He suggested that I contact my local main dealer, as the car is only 4 years old, and has only done 27k miles. Apparently the only fix is a new turbo - only one part is available separately, and that isn't the part that's failed. I spoke to the service chap at the main dealer, explained I wasn't happy, and he said to bring it in for them to check. Once they have confirmed the diagnosis, they will chase Skoda for a goodwill contribution. Fortunately the car has a full main dealer history. Booked in for the end of next week.....

After a couple of journeys with no problems, the EPC light came on again today, as soon as I put my foot down to overtake someone. The car went into "limp" mode as before. I left the car for 20 minutes while I did my supermarket shop, and it was fine on the 10 mile drive home. No warning lights, performance was fine, but more traffic meant I didn't get a chance to push it hard, just hanging back from the car in front, and a bit of welly to catch up again. I plugged in my code reader. Unfortunately the Superb 3 isn't in the database (it's quite an old reader), so I only have the "generic" code - P00AF. A bit of googling suggests that this is a turbo wastegate issue. A bit more googling suggests that it has become a common issue with VAG cars that haven't been used much during the pandemic - often the wastegate linkage gets stuck, or sticky so it's slow to respond. Being "sticky" seems to fit with what's happening with my car. Boost is perfectly fine if I roll on the throttle progressively, but it goes wrong if I push the throttle hard enough to drop down a couple of gears. I found some pics showing where to spray some penetrating oil on a Golf with 2.0 tsi engine, but I can't find the offending part on my Superb. I guess it's hidden a bit further down, under the turbo somewhere. Looks like it's a trip to the indy.

Charging the battery and clearing all the fault codes has got rid of the EML warning, and everything seems to be working - except start/stop. I've just done a 20 mile round trip to the supermarket. As expected, when I set off from home start/stop status was showing a couple of reasons why it wouldn't work - engine temp and cabin temp. Battery must've been OK, because I didn't get the "power consumption high" message that I normally get with a very low battery. After a couple of miles, the engine temp message went off, then very soon afterwards it a displayed "Engine must be running". Cabin temp warning had gone off by the time I got the the shop, but the "Engine must be running" message was still showing by the time I got home. I thought this was a bit odd - why does it think the engine isn't running when I'm doing 50mph? A quick google at home told me I was reading it the wrong way - it was telling me the engine has to keep running, so start/stop is deactivated. Very poorly worded, and I wonder why it doesn't tell you WHY the engine has to keep running - there's loads of other messages that tell you why start stop can't be activated. My guess is because of a combination of being very cold and dark, and the battery not being 100% charged - the engine has to keep running to keep the cabin temp up and stop the lights etc, draining the battery. It very rarely gets this cold in Cornwall, and I don't drive at night much, which probably explains why I've not seen this exact message before?

The tracker was active when I first got the car - an annoying beep each time I turned on the ignition. Took me ages to find out what was causing that. I guess the original owner had taken a 3 year contract when he had it fitted, because the beep stopped happening shortly after it was 3 years old. I'm assuming that it's no longer actively transmitting, but still drawing power. Thanks for the link - I'll have a read, and see if I can fid the tracker.

Stop/start worked fine when I first got the car nearly 2 years ago, but by early last year it would only start working after driving at least 20 miles. Then KESSY stopped working if the car was left for a couple of days, and finally the car wouldn't start. I had to replace the battery just before the car went in for its 4 year service. Everything worked fine, but a few months later we had lockdown 2. I work from home, so the car gets very little use when we aren't being allowed out for much. It's probably made worse by the car being fitted with a tracker by the first owner. The contract has expired, but I think it'll still be drawing power? I contacted the supplier, but they wanted sully money to take it out, and by design these things are hidden away, so I doubt I'll be able to find it. I realised after my original post that the EML probably won't go off on its own, needs to be reset. I lent my code reader to a friend, and he's bringing it back later today. I'll plug it in, clear all the faults (probably best not to read them all first, as it'll just scare me!), and see what happens. Since the car is mostly working fine, even if the fault persists (EPC light coming on sometimes), then I doubt it's anything too serious (expensive)?

About 3 months ago the EPC warning came on after about 10 miles of driving. I was giving it a bit of welly on the dual carriageway, but not going silly. The car went into a kind of limp mode, so I pulled over into a layby, switched off for a few seconds, then restarted. The fault cleared, and it drove fine. It did it again yesterday, in pretty much the same place. This time the cruise control icon on the maxidot turned orange with an exclamation mark next to it (I wasn;t using cruise control at the time), and "start/stop error" showed up too. The Vehicle Status screen didn't show any errors, but the start/stop status screen did show "error". Car went into limp mode again, and didn't clear after switching off and on again. By the time I got home a few miles later, it cleared when I switched off and restarted. Today the EPC and EML lights came on pretty much as soon as I started driving. I kept driving for a few miles, then pulled over and restarted. The EPC light went off, but the EML light stayed on. Performance seemed to be fine once the EPC light went off, despite the EML light still being on. The car hasn't been driven much since the first lockdown, but it had a new battery fitted middle of last year. It was fitted by a VW specialist, so I'm fairly confident it was coded properly. Seems a bit odd to me that the symptoms aren't consistent - different warning light combinations each time? I've got the car on a battery charger now, hoping it's just a bit low because it hasn't been driven much.

I used to be a computer field engineer, doing 30 to 40k miles a year in company cars. They were replaced every 3 to 4 years, so always had at least 110k on the clock. They were mostly Cavaliers, Vectras and Mondeos, although my first one was a mk4 Escort 1.4. Every single one was pretty much as good as new when it went back, everything still worked fine. Only 2 of them needed anything outside of normal servicing - a Cavalier that needed a new fuel tank because the mountings had rusted on it's first MOT, and a Vectra that left the factory with a porous inlet manifold. Don't be scared of high mileage if the car has been properly maintained - most company cars are serviced by the book.

Could it possibly be because I filled up the last time (and the time before) with normal unleaded? I usually fill up with a quarter of a tank left, and alternate between normal and super, or fill half and half. Forgot to do that last time, and the tank was nearly empty. Might seem a bit tight of me, but I ran my Boxster that way for a couple of years with no problems. I went for a drive this morning, topped up the tank with 30 litres of super, drove a few more miles, then gave it some welly on the same dual carriageway. No problems at all this time.

EPC light came on today while giving it some welly a few seconds after the speed limit changed from 30 to 70 on the dual carriageway. The gearbox was in eco mode, and I'd only got up to about 60mph. The engine got a bit rough, and acceleration dropped right off. Sounded and felt fine once I backed off the throttle, but wouldn't really pull properly at anything over a very light throttle I pulled into the next layby, and the matrix display showed "start/stop fault" with the footbrake applied at a standstill. Start/stop wasn't working on this journey, as the battery was a bit low anyway. I checked the "vehicle status" screen, and no faults showing. I switched off the ignition, then restarted, and all was well on the 5 miles home. I understand that the car goes into limp mode if the EPC light comes on, but why did the light come on? I've had the car 18 months, regularly give it some stick on this road, on the same journey (supermarket run). I filled the tank 2 weeks ago, and have done over 200 miles with no problems, so I doubt it's dodgy fuel. I'm wondering if I should mention it to the dealer when it goes in for its 4-year service this week?

I don't see the high miles as a problem for the engine, as long as the car has been serviced properly. High mileage can take it's toll on other things, like suspension components (springs, dampers, rubber bushes, steering joints), but most of those are reasonably cheap to replace. The clutch would be one worry, if the car has done a lot of town driving. Before getting my Citigo (now replaced with a Kia Picanto GT-Line S turbo), I had a 2007 Fiat Panda 1.3 diesel, close to 120k miles on the clock, and had lead a very hard life looking at the condition of the interior and bodywork. The engine and gearbox worked fine though, as did the rest of the running gear. It did suffer from a few electrical glitches (normal for a Panda at half the mileage), and the clutch was a bit iffy. It all comes down to price. For £2k, I'd rather have a high mileage (but cared for) Citigo than an older, lower miles, Panda/Citroen/Peugeot/Fiesta/Corsa etc. I might consider an older, lower miles, Japanese car though, like a Micra, Jazz or Yaris, as an alternative to the Citigo.

I've owned my 280 for about 18 months, and I've never actually used the paddles (apart from when I first got it, to check that they worked). Eco mode is fast enough for most situations, and I just pull the lever back to switch to "sport" mode when I want to get up to speed faster - great for a bit of extra "punch" when joining a dual carriageway, for example.

My 2016 Citigo is suffering from a seized rear brake (RHS only) after heavy overnight rain. Release the handbrake and try to pull off my driveway, and the tyre drags for a metre or 2 before there's a loud "pop", and the brake frees off. It's only happened twice. The first time, the car hadn't been moved for a few days, and it had rained heavily. I tried to rock the car back and forth, slipping the clutch in first and reverse. This didn't work, so I just went for it in first gear, left a skid mark on the (by now dry) drive before the drum released. Second time, the car had been used the previous day, and it released with less dragging. Once freed off, everything works normally, although the brakes are a bit squeaky for the first few applications. I've had cars do this before, but normally after they have stood for a long time. Seems odd that it'll seize overnight. I don't drive the car hard (it's my local runabout), and the last couple of miles back to my house require very little braking, so the brakes are pretty cool when the handbrake is applied. The car has half of a 12 month Skoda approved warranty, not sure if this kind of thing is covered though? Is it just a case of pulling the drums off and cleaning them? Presumably this is a simple job - remove wheel, then one screw, pull off drum - or is it not as easy at it was on old cars with drums?