3rdoctavia

So you think I could clean it with antifreeze itself ? 🤔

Hi all, I had a split silica bag 6 years ago on my 2.0tdi and it was all sorted and flushed under warranty. Over time though my expansion tank has become rusty coloured so I was wanting to remove and clean it inside. What is the best way to do this to get rid of the rusty stain inside ? Cheers

Thanks Warrior, I'll get one from my local dealer so will br a VAG genuine part to make sure the pressure relief valve has the right working pressure 👍

Hi All, My 2.0tdi 150 manual (80k miles) has began to loose coolant at a rate if 500ml every one or two weeks. I had the coolant system flushed under skoda warranty about 6 years ago and the expansion tank swapped for one without the silica bag (as the original had split leading to no warm air). I thought at first it may be a water pump but no other signs such as water under the car etc with the only symptoms being the low coolant light coming on, coolant temp staying in the middle..... but .... I've also noticed white staining around the filler cap which is getting worse and the cap seems supringly easy to unscrew. In the past it was always very stiff but even when warm it it easy to unscrew with no hiss anymore. I'm beginning to think the issue is a dodgy filler cap not sealing anymore casing the coolant to boil off leaving the white residue . Does that make sense ???? Thanks

I had a blown fuse the other week after dropping something into the 12v socket which shorted it. The fuses are behind the glove box and it took about 10mins to replace the fuse with most of that time being to refit the glovebox flap. It's an easy job.

Hi all, After a weekend away last week covering approx 500miles , I noticed a lot of drivetrain noise from the front once I got off the motorway and back into town. The noise is a bit of a high toned howl, not loud, but can be heard In the cabin over the radio, and happens at 40mph onwards irrespective of the gear. It sort of sounds as if the engine needs to go up a gear due to its higher pitch than the engine noise and is not affected by engine revs etc hence my reasoning for thinking it's drivetrain related. Another way to describe it would be tyre noise howl when on a concrete road ( but it's not the tyres as it's there whatever the road surface). Strangely I can also seem to "feel" it in the pedal when the clutch is depressed although the noise doesn't change at all when I do this. The car is a 2016 octavia scout 2.0tdi 150bhp manual with 80k on the clock and has good brakes and tyres. Any thoughts on what this could be, or which bearing I could home in on ? Thanks in advance . Cheers

Hi all, I've read a lot of threads about difficulties in attaching the detachable towbar and getting it to click into place. I had a similar issue 2 years ago and after drilling out the lock, faffing on loads , and lots of wd40 into the mechanism I finally got it to click in place. Having not used the towball since then , and with it stored in the boot, I had a similar issue today. Once again I gave it a spray with wd40 and worked the mechanism by pressing in the tiny ball bearing on the shaft of the connector. Despite that I was sure the mechanism was working but it wouldn't click fully when inserted to the fitting on the car. Eventually I worked out there must be something wrong with the fitting on the car so having a look with a torch I could see some loose flakes of rusty paint inside the hole. A good scrape with a flat screwdriver and a small wire brush I cleaned it up and got quite a bit of loose flakes of surface rust out and after a blast of wd40 and a wipe with a rag the towball fitted straight in with positive clunk. So if you are having issues connecting a detachable towbar check the fitting on the car and not just the towball. The tolerances must be surprisingly tight with regard to the aperture which any loose surface rust will affect. Cheers

This could be a good test. Do a review after a week of using it so we know what you think. 👍 You might find it useful . Cheers

I found it just takes up so much space for a phone holder and doesn't even fit a phone ! Mine is kicking about somewhere but was totally pointless.

Good outcome 👍

Hi, It sounds like a misfire of some sort. What's the fuel consumption like on the trip computer ? Thanks

As far as I remember the vrs and scout ones are slightly deeper. I got a milltec one for my Scout as the bumper lip was badly scratched and it's been on therefor the past 5 years with no issues using the self adhesive strip it came with. So I'd recommend their version. Cheers

I recently had to repair a broken grill and was told it would need a whole new bumper as it was all integrated. They only came in a base colour so would need a respray too so a broken grill could run into more that a grand to repair ! Simply Clever ... I'm sure there could be an entire topic on these things 🤣

I remember getting a ford car serviced years ago when it needed to be done every year / 12000 miles. I think the car had about 45k on it when it was serviced at 4 years, and the clown told me it needed servicing again at 48k. 😐 Sometimes these service schedules don't make sense. I didn't go back.

There's an irony that the "Simply clever" ice scraper, that the marketing people banged on about, can end up being locked behind the "simply stupid" design of the fuel cap! 🤣 Cheers

I had a similar issue to the OP and ended up drilling out the lock only to find all that was needed was a good blast of wd40 to loosen the internal mechanism. The hitch still works but doesn't lock anymore (obviously). The lock itself was pretty basic so I'm suprised a hightstreet locksmith couldn't cut one for you. It reminded me of a filing cabinet lock or similar. Cheers

I have an old charger which just puts out low amps until you disconnect it so I've used that before when I've had a battery that seems to be dead. Like you say the smart chargers seem to want some life in the battery before they will begin a charge cycle so using the old charger before switching to the smart charger seems to do th trick . Or am I kidding myself here ? I've tended to use this for batteries in my old landrover if it's been sat.for a while.

Well today was the day I removed the headlight unit but what.an absolute faff to get the bumper off , even just on one side. Why oh why did skoda think those two bolts on the inner wing where a good idea. Them alone took 45mins ! Simply clever ... not. When I got the headlight unit out all three brackets had snapped with the bottom one tearing a hole in the bottom of the light unit. So after a lot of plastic welding and a bit of epoxy I'm now able to fit the repair brackets. I'll post some photos tomorrow when I'm putting it all back together. What a faff .

I had a similar thing on my mk2, I think the cable broke or disconnected and it was a dealer job 😕

I'm not sure if this is any help but I kept the tray from my mk2 ( the one that fits behind the rear headrests) in the hope that I would have been able to fit it in my mk 3. Sadly the mk2 part wasn't wide enough so I have a feeling the mk2 load cover would be shorter too. Cheers

Thanks Greenmachine , It's good to hear.you haven't had any problems. The front and side marker lights where the I was going to swap them first as they are pretty dim. Like you I have a skoda fitted towbar too so hopefully new LED lights won't be an issue. Thanks

Hi All, I have an old caravan and I'm looking to replace the bulbs with LED ones that cover running lights, indicators, braking etc. Would doing this on the caravan play havoc with the bulb warning in the car or do they need coding etc as I'm presuming it's just a simple swap. I have a 2016 scout with halogen lights as a towbar. Thanks 3rd

I had a similar problem with an old fiesta about a month ago. I took the stalk.apart and cleaned the switch contacts with Emery paper and it worked again. Cheer

After a search of various websites I thought I'd see if my local Skoda Dealer parts desk could get them. It was all pretty easy with next day delivery to the parts desk and cost me £26.86 for all three brackets and 6 screws. So I was pleased with the ease of getting hold of them, and the price wasn't much more than ebay which was a suprise. Now all I need is a warm dry day to get the job done . I'll keep you posted 🙂. Cheers

OK, I'm going to have to get this sorted before my MOT in spring. Thanks for your help but I might be back with more questions !👍