TrinityJay

Small update... According to the manual it's supposed to! 😞 Pg54 under Malfunctions- Key 2 started giving the warning yesterday, behold the photographic evidence! Turned off ignition, replaced battery, ignition on again and the warning was gone

Oh really? That's interesting, because I've read that to get it OFF off requires VCDS. I'll have to test this tomorrow

Seeking some clarification here, all the acronyms and modes are confusing me. For simplicity's sake, let's say TC = traction control and SC = stability control (independent braking of corners). As is my understanding, stock setup is- Default- TC & SC on 1 press- TC reduced, SC on Hold- TC & SC reduced Long code 06 as per video is- Default- no change 1 press- TC & SC reduced Hold- TC & SC 100% disabled Am I close?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if 4th has a linkage issue wouldn't that also affect 3rd in the opposite way? ie- coming out of 3rd you think it's in neutral but 3rd is still partially engaged. I'm inclined to agree with the mechanic in that the first synchros to go are 1st (if driver is poorly educated) and 2nd (most frequently shifted gear). Regardless, 3rd -> 4th is such an effortless shift that even with buggered synchros it would slot in just fine. It has to be something else. @LiamDub does the gearlever feel like it's gone all the way in to 4th on the gate, or is it blocked? What about 3rd? I reckon give the linkages a fiddle.

I believe it does, but I assumed that was a standard feature as my manual doesn't say anything like "where fitted" as it does for optional things like KESSY. Apologies if that is not the case!

First make sure the option is enabled in the car settings. I forget exactly what it says but the option will be obvious. You also have to have set up a profile for the driver's seat adjustment, which I'm sure you've already done. (If not, adjust seat & mirrors how you want them then press the SET button on side of your seat followed by 1, 2 or 3. You'll hear a chime to indicate it's worked) With that done, select reverse and then adjust the passenger mirror to wherever you want it to be for reversing. That's it! Next time you engage reverse it will automatically go to that position, then return to normal later. Note that you have to leave the mirror adjustment selector set to the passenger mirror for this feature to operate.

Oops! Have you set up the dipping passenger mirror in reverse function? It's a life saver 👍

Questions are: - What MK3 6spd manual model do you have? Pre-FL RS230. 58,000km, 2k of that mine - Do you have any loose movement in the stick in neutral or engaged (i.e. does it wiggle a bit)? No, virtually zero play - Do you have a stiff/overly notchy gear change from 1st into 2nd when cold? How about 2nd to 3rd? 2nd is a little notchy when cold, but I've had worse. All gears have a pleasant positive engagement once warmed up. - Do you have any mechanical feeling through the stick into 2nd? Yes, as above - IF you do have a mechanical feeling, is it crunching gears OR something between the 'box and the stick on you opinion. Just the feeling of the dogs engaging, nothing bad - Has it got better or worse over time/miles? N/A - How about going into 1st or reverse? The times I've had to engage 1st at low speed (because 2nd is too tall) it has engaged very smoothly. Reverse has pulled the partial engagement trick on me once or twice, but that's expected behaviour - Have you had an oil change? IF so VAG oil or other? Any difference? N/A - Have you had an alignment? Nope - Have you had synchros replaced? Not necessary. The 1st & 2nd synchros on my GTi6 are quite worn and I've managed that ok for 7yrs, so I think I'll survive with what little wear the Octavia has.

I bought this one on a whim a week or so back- https://www.jaycar.com.au/obd-ii-engine-code-reader-with-bluetooth-technology/p/PP2145 Sadly it seems it too is a clone, as it identifies as the non-genuine v1.5....however it does pass the core functionality tests and has a proper MAC address. Early on there were a bunch of tweaked clone chips (hence the v1.5 vs the genuine v1.4 at the time) that weren't necessarily complete garbage. It was the later clones claiming to be v2.1 that were total junk, to the point that Chinese ebayers started selling them as v1.5 again once word got out. This dongle is working fine for me, so it's likely based on one of those earlier clone chips. If I were to buy again I would probably go with an OBDlink dongle. They use a different chipset entirely with their own firmware, and feature a much higher transfer rate than the ELM327 chip.

I'm in Melbourne and would rather not be right now!

Short answer- Avoid buying cheap ebay dongles. Long answer- An awful lot (all?) of OBD2 Bluetooth dongles use the ELM327 chipset. This is the brain of the dongle. Cheap Chinese dongles, often with "ELM327" + <fake version number> in the name, are using non-genuine ELM327 chipsets and/or completely different hardware to (poorly) emulate the proper functionality. Some now go so far as to report false-positives to testing apps so that they look legitimate, but the actual functionality isn't there. You are better off buying from a reputable store.

The foolproof way is to grab a multimeter and test fuses to see when they're being powered. If you only want it on when driving then find a fuse that is live when the car is running but is otherwise dead (traditional keyed ignition cars generally have OFF, ACC & ON states, not sure about push button ignitions). If you're not running off an external battery ie- Cellink then use a 5A fuse, that will be plenty.

No, for that you need to get into the ECU via an aftermarket software suite called VCDS, or you can physically unplug it from under the bonnet.

It's dead simple, will take you all of 30 seconds. Push the vRS button, select "Individual" on the display and then hit the "Change" button on the top right. I have steering set to sport, but drive set to normal as I find the throttle mapping a little twitchy otherwise (in manuals that's all it changes), and the sound generator on eco. Some people disable the sound generator entirely but I think it's mild enough on eco.

Damn you people and your wagons! The only missing piece of my RS puzzle! Haha never heard it used as an adjective before, but the meaning is obvious. Wonderful! Mine is in the quite similar steel grey, and FWIW in the space of a month I've had probably 6 or 7 different people comment on how nice it looks You can claw a little bit of steering feel back by setting it to "sport" in the drive settings. I don't think it does much aside from reducing the assistance (outside of parking), but it's better than nothing.

Thanks all for your comments 👍 To provide an update, video was sent to Skoda guy for review. He is hesitant to commit to it being the clutch, says it could be the unknown mystery tune doing something, or valve timing (???). Quite the stretch if you ask me, the disconnect between RPM and speed is clear as day. He wants to have the car come in for more testing. Thanks for that! I had a lightbulb moment last night and looked up figures for the Mk7 GTi, where the prevailing wisdom mirrors what you just said. I had an inkling that the ECU must place an artificial ceiling on torque in order to hit a single figure over such a broad range A bit like the Japanese 276HP gentleman's agreement you reckon? I think it might be heat-related as well. From my readings it looks like some tunes limit boost until the oil is at temp, and it's been frightfully cold here the past month. I'm going to test this over the weekend.

I will answer my own question and provide some info for reference (hello Googlers from the future!) Getting the headliner down ended up not being necessary, I was able to carefully tuck the rear cable up there just by lifting the edge up from under the rubber seals. Made very sure it was tucked back up behind the curtain airbags, where I feel like it will stay but may review after a week or two of ****ty Victorian roads. The A pillar cover wasn't too bad once I worked out it has to be pulled parallel to the windscreen rather than towards the seat. The B pillar cover I didn't remove, headliner edge came out from behind it with ease after some minor jimmying and was later popped back under it just as easily. The C pillar cover (note: car is a hatch) was a very tight fit against the headliner so I ended up removing it. I think I could've threaded the cable through with enough patience and jimmying, but I wanted to be sure I wasn't fouling on the airbag there. It ended up being a good idea because I discovered that the pocket of space behind the cover serves as an excellent place to hide the loop of excess cable Getting the cover back on was a minor headache but I got there in the end. I mounted the rear cam on the bottom of the center taillight shroud to achieve about the best view possible, as evidenced by this absolute muppet who has no idea what a safe following distance is- Remember that you need to leave a bit of slack in the cable at the hatch so that it can be opened without ripping everything out. Easiest way to get the right length is to mount the rear camera first, then run the cable to it with the hatch up.

I have no idea sadly! I've looked but can't find any solid figures.

Update on this issue- where I live, dealers can't just sell dodgy cars and pretend it's all fine. Because it's a clutch they have put up a fight of course, but I've persisted. I've had a VAG independent look at the car, and the selling dealer had Skoda have a look. VAG garage agree clutch is on the way out, Skoda reckon they couldn't get it to slip. Admittedly the day I dropped it off to them I couldn't get it to slip myself, but the day I got it back it was slipping as before. Called Skoda guy and he is suitably bemused. I've since tried to record a video of it for him, and for whatever reason it appears to be a sporadic problem.... Regardless, I did manage to capture it happening over the weekend. To mix things up a bit more, today Skoda guy said his tech told him there is "an active tune" on the car, which would certainly be news to me. If that's true then it would go some way to explaining why the car feels quicker than I think it should for 230 horsies, and perhaps why the dogbone mount insert I had fitted 2wks ago feels like it's no longer doing anything. I asked for specifics on this alleged tune but being 2nd hand information he didn't have any. After hearing this I went and bought an OBD2 dongle to log the boost pressure- Idle | -10.5psi O'run | -11.6psi 1st | 19.5psi 2nd | 19.5psi 3rd | 21.5psi 4th | 22.4psi That's WOT obviously, and seemed to peak at ~3,800RPM. Results repeated over multiple pulls. Didn't have high enough speed limits on hand to test 5th or 6th. I'm this [] close to just pulling the trigger on a Sachs kit at this point, but at the same time I want to understand what the hell is going on with the car first!

It only takes a very small rotation before mine clicks, agreed it's an odd mechanism.

Yep, I was considering debadging the back somewhat as I find it a bit busy, but I think the blacked out badges is a much better alternative! Wouldn't mind knowing how he achieved the smoked tail lights either, because I've looked for such a part and can't find them anywhere!

I replaced the battery in Key 1 today (new one tested at 3.188V under the same load for those playing at home), all good again 👍 According to the manual it's supposed to! 😞 Pg54 under Malfunctions- Seems there's more to it than this! When testing today I noticed that the indicator light flashes a few times when locking/unlocking via KESSY. If both keys are there, they both flash. It's a different flashing sequence than occurs when using the buttons as well. I wonder if it's intentional, or a side effect of whatever authentication programming is in place.

Having driven manual for many years I never bothered with leaving it in gear unless on a really steep hill. Then again, I knew the handbrake in my GTi6 worked... I park on an incline in front of a brick fence, so looks like I'm leaving it in gear from now on!

I have two keys, the one I was using as the main (Key 1 henceforth) has mysteriously died overnight as it wouldn't open the car this morning. The indicator light is not illuminating when buttons are pushed. No warnings at all about a low battery, so I thought maybe it had become un-synced but performing the resync process as per the manual has not changed anything. I popped the battery out of Key 1, Sony CR2025, no signs of damage and it reads 2.975V loaded which still seems healthy enough to me. I reinserted it, went out to car with both keys and placed Key 2 on top of the spoiler and Key 1 inside the car. As expected, pressing Start/Stop gave an error about key not being detected. My question is this- does the indicator light simply indicate that a button is being pressed? That the car is acknowledging a communication? Something else? Seems odd that Key 1 would just die without any warning from the car. And yes the battery is inserted correctly, no it hasn't been through the wash!

My RS230 is a similar colour... ...and it too has scuffed rims from previous owner (not sure how with all the beeping that goes on!), thankfully fairly mild though. I find the silver-on-black Xtremes a little loud, but not sure if blacking them out completely would look good or not with such light paint work. The Cyclones on my GTi6 had scuffs too, which I hid with a healthy coating of black plastidip that came out looking quite good...but the car is also black. That said, RS230 has the black pack as standard and I plan on following @SkodaNZ with the fitting of blacked out badging, so once that's done some black rims might look quite fitting. Hmmm.