Former

ETA: I'd just about finished typing when I saw SaltySkoda's post but as the generally points are still relevant I've posted, and will reply to the previous post next. Yes, but my point was about accuracy generally, carb to injection and as you have put accuracy of the engine generally from new and at age and wear. I didn't mean that they wont have the curves that are suitable just that they don't have any listed for Skoda. The curves may well be similar to other engines that Felicia owners have used from 123 and other suppliers of dissys. The original dissy curves may no longer be the best for the car now, or indeed at the time, there are many variables on and off the car from when it was factory new and when it was new there might have be many compromises to the dissy and curve used for many reasons. You would have to enquire with Vrbra to see how much they stuck to original or updated for modern road use. 123 do custom units but as I put another of their stock dissys may be suitable, or may not, enquiries would have to be made, tune/programable versions would be suitable but more expensive than the 'standard' versions whether more expensive than Vrbra I obviously don't know as they don't give prices. If the Vrba units or kits work well and are reliable over a very long time of use with parts, if required easily available and not too expensive then they may well be the best choice. Race car generally get very little use and do very few miles but get lots of regular attention, servicing, maintenance and repairs the dead opposite of what I'd want with a road car.

Sorry I always get Lidl and Aldi mixed up. 😁 I can tell you never owned a (real?) Skoda in the 1980s. 😆 I do actually always get the two m, we've got one (eventually) being built about 100 yards away as the crow flies and I've still no idea which it is despite everyone reminding me and whether it's the one my wife likes. It'll be chaos on the road with all the elderly shoppers and the big Mercs that go to these shops, they've already reduced the number of parking spaces on their plans. I'm in one of those moods this morning, we had the model name before, the smart Passion Coupe (sit up and beg type, Leaksters were later, under Merc, well Daimler) and LHD. Whatever the gearbox type was and whatever it was called I don't know and can't remember, something like an automated manual, whatever it didn't have a clutch pedal, I do remember that. You could have it with flappy paddles on the steering wheel just like those red Fezzas. Thanks to that A-Class falling over the £5k smart got all the safety electronics as on a £80K+ Merc (but as you know you'd not want a turn of the century Merc, that's what buggered the smarts) so the box of electronics was as big as the engine. To give Merc their due the smart engine was great and all the electronics worked too. There was a lag in gear changes in auto but you got used to it. BMW copied the idea of boutique selling from smart for their MINI (Maxi) brand and interior design, Fiat too for the interior for their rereleased 500s. I like using a clutch for gear changes even if I fluff them sometimes but with back and joint issues I can see (and feel) the benefits of autos for A to B driving .

Please don't you've got a VW diesel, think of the folk behind you. 😁 Thanks for the vid, enjoy your holiday.

I do not know the system at all so it could well be superior, but we also have a carb in the equation here so not exactly the fuel precision we are generally re more used to now but again it could be superior. I get nothing from 123, I am merely a satisfied customer giving my experience of it which may have variable relevance here, or it may not. I accept that but from what I remember of my mid-80s Estelle engines and the British 60s and 70s British engines (designed in the 1950s) not much is too precise, the 123-ignition fully electronic (top and bottom) dissy was so much better than the mechanical dissy and better than ignitor heads under the dissy cap that the precision was greater than much else. My 123 was set and only moved on the first rolling road session in 2011, in the following four rolling road (sessions up to 2020) it remained at that setting despite experimenting with moving it and changes in other parts and changes in the petrol available over that period. My car was modestly above the manufacturer's claimed outputs so I suggested perhaps the 123 should be adjusted up a curve because of this the tuner (who used to previously sell 123) was too polite to laugh but just said it was not needed other fuelling adjustments were enough. The 123 does produce a fatter spark (hence scarring the dissy posts in my case) so the plug gap could be increased to get the performance benefit, fuel economy and power, but not by as much as some claimed, IIRC just 0.003" (0.0762mm) and you want your coil and HT leads in good condition to take best advantage.

You've got 6 gears(!). I put what Ootohere has recently in another thread (but about wrong box 😄) when my wife had a hire VW (SEAT) 1.0 (3pot) TSI (110PS) it had 6 gears and you'd be in 3rd at 15mph and 5th at 35 mph which was fine pootling around an empty town , I think it was that low to save the engine with a pot missing. Ootohere disagrees but I think VW 4-pots have always been a bit badgers arse, certainly to me have sounded rough for decades at least, hence all the insulation on VW, might as well have a diesel for all the noise. So take one away pot and things can't improve, unlike other manufacturers they never really made small three cylinder engines before recently (and 1 litre isn't that small). I have proven to my neighbour, in his Ren-No! Nissan that ignoring the suggested gear change points increase fuel economy and does no harm to the engine as the revs are still not high and well within the power band. For block changes they are often suggested by the car anyway, which you can often ignore for best effect by I go from 6th to 4th or even 2nd where appropriate and 2nd to 4th when the car suggest 3rd because the computers are not yet programmed with the road gradients or se the road surface condition, the vehicles in front of the vehicle in front. Perhaps when they buy the information learnt by these shop delivery robots (though that might go to the military). What you want to bear in mind with the gearing, you might have only so far driven the car with just the driver or one passenger, three passengers I've found makes a big difference, and I don't mean with three big passengers, so imagine four passengers and then with luggage, perhaps a roof rack too, then going up and long slope or hill and back down with tight bends. 1st gear is always a bit annoying on a family car, until you need it. You are giving the reasons why I suggest not spending on cosmetics until you've driven the car all year round in all conditions as you don't really know the car until then and what you might want to change on it, also things you might have originally thought you wanted to change no you have got used to or see the point of - and you've saved your money for the bit(s) you never expected to fall apart so soon. 😆

I am not criticising the system Papez has put up as I know nothing about it just a generalisation, what is good for motorsport is not necessarily so good for non-motorsport road use and there are lots of "classics" about with vacuum removed dissys but motorsport isn't about lower revs and idle, or fuel consumption so much. Same with D.FYLAKTOS's "4 throttles", also about how the Felicia is to be driven or used, I understand it already has a Weber but those can be jetted for more usual non-sport road use. IF there is a 123-ignition dissy I know from personal experience that they are very good (CSI is a now better design for Austin/BMC/BL A-series engines though) they give great engine starts, better idle, steady throughout the rev range, other than cleaning nothing to do on them, many, many years of trouble-free use (15 and counting with the one I bought), fit and forget, it comes with (or without) vacuum advance. I have highlighted the provisos already, the cost is not high when you consider the many, many years of trouble-free service, the cheaper ones as SaltySkoda has already found are very hit and miss in reliability and longevity, some buy two and keep the second in the boot or carry a fully made up original dissy which personally I find ridiculous as I prefer fit and forget reliability I only like driving the car not tinkering with it or having "fun" with roadside repairs. But as always each to their own preferred solution.

Hi, welcome Abigal. Sorry I've only just seen your post. Looking at the Owner's Manual (as I always do and suggest all owners do no matter how long they have owned their vehicle) I take it by the 6 physical push buttons you have the Swing Infotainment system. In the Owners Manual it has - "Sound settings The Infotainment system sound is set in the menu. The following settings are available in the menu: . Equaliser . Volume ratio . Individual Infotainment functions volume - The volume can be adjusted in e.g. one of the following menu items: - Volume adjustment of voice commands - Maximum volume when the Infotainment system is switched on - Speed-dependent volume - Muting the Infotainment system with the Parking Aid switched on. Depending on vehicle equipment, the following advanced sound settings are available: . Space optimisation . Audio profiles according to genre . Subwoofer volume" So I take it having never seen the system, that if you have it ,in the Swing it's a virtual subwoofer. to set the tone settings is via the equaliser. (As a former home hi-fi nut, formerly with the tinnitus from it, I've never found a preprogramed tone/profile that wasn't tiring after a short time, but each to their own.) What is it you want to achieve with your off-board external amp and real subwoofer, very loud booming and boomy bass or musical bass? In the 1970s there where "wardrobe" speakers for the big bass sound of reggae, sometimes moved from house to house for parties, they were called "wardrobe" because of their size and output but you'd have to be high to listen to them as they sounded dreadful being totally inappropriate for their locations.

On a quick search (Google Chrome doesn't recognise "EFB+") this is about it and I got this by an on-site search of Tayna Batteries. - "STRONGPRO EFB+ Exide’s Strong battery is now “EFB+”. Exide’s StrongPRO battery range is now stronger than ever. A new carbon-based formula of negative active mass enhances the rechargeability and charge acceptance of StrongPRO EFB+ battery. Additionally, the HVR® (highvibration-resistant) technology enables StrongPRO EFB+ to pass the extreme vibration tests under the new European V4 standard (EN 50342-1:2015). A more robust and more lasting battery means reduced total service cost for fleet owners and truck drivers, allowing less replacements over vehicle’s service life and minimized risk of unexpected and premature battery failure." - https://cdn.tayna.com/datasheets/Exide Commercial Batteries 2023 Brochure (1).pdf

You can get them for a bit less at other reputable places. I found I'd copied & pasted this from rum4mo ready for when I was going to do it until I added up the costs (had it done as part of a Dealership service instead £99 IRC). - "NGK spark plug for the 1,2TSI 16V engine:- at the age of your car the factory fit would have been VW AG part number 04E 905 601 with no NGK reference number on them, just VW AG NGK on the insulator. the replacements I bought from a UK based sparkplug supplier as NGK were in fact NGK plugs packed in VW Group boxes with VW Group part number 04E 905 601 B on the box and on the plug body, the box also had the corresponding NGK part number/model printed below the VW Group part number and that is NGK PZKER7B8EGS. 22NM torque 16mm spark plug socket. Laser Tools sell a conveniently sized one, 245mm long 3/8" sqr drive with a magnet in it to hold the plug secure Laser Tools 3682. Edit:- one thing about that Laser Tools spark plug long socket is, many places list it as being 14mm, but the Laser Tools item with the part number 3682 is 16mm, I can't explain why still after many years, some places including Halfords which seem to be the cheapest, are describing it as being a 14mm socket! Get them to open the packaging up and check it with their dial callipers before paying for it!"

I thought you could bang it into manual and at least have the pretence of being in charge of something, after all CVTs show gear numbers. 😆 A chap in our club had a Lidl TT when they first came out, just after(?) the time Mercs were failing to negotiate around elks, and it confirmed the Audis were no longer the brand of the 70s and 80s. His was away for most of 18 months while the manufacturer tried to sort all the issues, after the first time he insisted on a T as a replacement and that seemed to work but it put me off the marque. I think DSG was after this but the Lidls used them first I heard of it IIRC. I couldn't even cope with the manual push lever on the (Merc spoilt smarts) let alone the flappy paddle things on the steering wheel. Then we went to a local show with smart owners meet (we were about 10-15 years older than any others) and a young chap explained I could just turn the switch round at the lever - but it was my wife's car so none of my business. She insisted on having a grey import LHD only a number of months before smart UK established itself at Milton Keynes (20 miles away) but she preferred the LHD to RHD (battery, seatbelt position(s) IIRC) and smart UK were an absolute shambles and the Merc dealerships as bad as you remember at the turn of the centuries.

EFB+ is an enhancement of the enhanced EFB (enhanced flooded battery). AGM is Absorbed Glass Mat and not flooded as such, VW call AGM "Fleece". EFB+ never, or hasn't, caught on for cars. MY wife's car came with the factory EFB battery (EFB are cheap for VW to buy, I decided to swap it for AGM to give the type a try as the car does at least two very short drives each workday and possibly no more sometimes (depending on social calendar) and despite what some think the alternator would not keep the battery well enough for this use medium and long term. There's lots of info on the www about EFB and AGM batteries but not much on EFB+ but it is on there if you want to confirm things for yourself (as much as you can on the internet).

Don't drive at too lower revs or that lugging the engine, ignore what the computer says about when to change gear, from my experience it's often far too low revs for the good of mpg or saving the engine. You know your car and when it feels right to change gear (don't always trust the computers they're no always right, they've been programmed and there are errors and mistakes in programs otherwise why all these updates (of course "user errors"). 😁 Yes of course, why would you want to be sitting in a tin box when it's hot, unless it's a sauna - and why are you spending so much time on your phone when you're supposed to be on your holidays, put it under one of your rear tyres and leave it there as a secondary handbrake. 😁 I hate and loathe the things (I like to drive a car and not just be a passenger behind the steering wheel) but cruise-control (in manual gear shift mode preferably, is that allowed by the car) is best way to keep throttle steady and get better mpg, saves micromovements of your right foot on the accelerator, and perhaps that automatic cruise control but I've never driven with that, I've only ever used the old cruise control once, in the 90s IIRC, car might have been older, I didn't like it at all. seemed to be a way to loose concentrating on your driving to me and imagine if you had distractions like turning the AM station in, turning the cassette tape over, looking at the page on the road atlas, talking on the phone. 😁 IF I'm correct diesels run cooler, particularly in winter but I've no idea about oil temperatures for them. In the same way the coolant temperature gauge is biased to rock steady 90, on a petrol anyway, I suppose giving exact figures could cause too much worry. And seeing the figures changing on readouts or gauges going up and down would cause more worry. That's why they removed the numbers off the old mechanical gauges and just had zones and 'C', perhaps 'N', and 'H' on the "water temp" gauge but you could still see the needles move between open road and restricted, and oil pressure go up and down with gear changes, oil temperature was too frightening to see particularly in very cold slow conditions or fast hot conditions, best not to know, only gave more to worry about. 😆 As I used to tell my wife , with the old cars it's just a gauge not an accurate, which she'd remind me of when we went below half a tank, which was unfair because that gauge was good but with a tank of less than 6 gallons and still a long way to go and petrol stations few and far between it was best I took notice. On the split dual gages you could have the 'water temp' needle of its scale and into the oil pressure scale, depending on the car it was no panic just meant the engine was hot but not overheating. 😁 Computers would probably not allow such reporting now. 😆 Enjoy your holiday, unless something happens just let us know when the garage has sorted all and what they tell you the cause was.

Fair enough, perhaps it's just best to change the "serial" number just to show the battery had been changed and wasn't the original one from the factory. Below was from when a Briskoda member changed the 'coding' on my wife's car using OBDeleven, we didn't bother with a three character code for the battery manufacturer, I was told the Bosch battery is a Varta anyway (VA0). So your car is less than 5 years old and had the battery replaced, another instance of how common this is. When required use an appropriate battery charger maintainer, best in a proactive preventative way and certainly better than a a late reactive way and then you should see a much longer life to your EFB+ battery.

Just curious. Did you not also change the battery serial number from presumably factory setting (or scan tool data) of 1111111111 to 1111111112? Also the JCB (Johnson Controls batteries(?)) labelled as Moll batteries confuses me as I thought sometime before 2020 VW went over to Banner batteries - or does this relate to a different car than the 2020 1.6 Scala your name badge thingy shows?

Just as a follow up to oil temperature, normal range as in the 2015 Fabia Owner's Manual (and a increasingly rare event of remembering correctly). (If the oil isn't up to 50c three separate lines ( - - - ) are displayed not one long line.)

At the very start I was going to suggest a 123 dissy but I could not see any for Skodas on their site, perhaps you just use a generic one or one same as another car manufacturer on their list. I fitted a 123 to my 1973 MG Midget in June 2009 and it's still on the car now, and the car was, and still is, used regularly. It has remained at the same setting at base and turn in engine) despite a few session on the rolling road (for road use tuning) and external engine bits being slightly changed and the change in petrol since then. Despite the cap points getting immediately scarred they only need cleaning up at annual service with rotor tip. Forget the tune or programable 123 if you get the correct curve one on the correct (curve setting and turn on engine) settings you can fit and forget. If they still use the Bosch rotor arms with the 5 kohms resistor then the resistor can break down over time and you don't notice until later so once out of guarantee or warranty just remove the resistor and wire passed it. As you've learnt there is lots of crap, abysmal or not so good parts about so if you ever need to replace the rotor arm or dissy cap buy good know brands, some of the copies can be reasonable for cost but nowhere near as good and others poor, abysmal crap. Same for spark plugs and HT leads. NGK have counterfeits about apparently but the genuine ones are very good and already reasonably priced. Many keep things like spark plugs (and HT leads) on their cars for far too long because they look OK, seem to work OK and pass a multimeter test. If you have a Weber you probably appreciate better performance (mpg and mph) so prefer better than mediocre "it works".

Uhm, America and oil, they do things differently over there, 3k-miles and 5k-miles oil changes. Never really checked this but I'd have to be doing illegal speeds (lone driver, unloaded car on flat roads) to get to 102c and much over in my wife's 1.2 TSI let alone 110-127c. ETA: IIRC the Owner's Manual has 80-110c for normal range) I've never really driven the car a long distance on a motorway to see what oil temperature it might show and anyway I tend to do mainly 60mph on motorways now. Of course you have to be aware that things that work at extremes can be less beneficial in other uses and possibly not be as good or appropriate overall but just for figures, one non-US example - Millers Oil, competition fully synthetic 0w-30 (NT+) triple ester oil, suitable for 125c with peaks up to 150c (257f to 302f). - https://www.millersoils.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/MOTORSPORT-CFS-0w30-NT-7962.pdf

Hopefully you won't need three bottles and if Sod's Law applies if you have three you'll only open one. When I went on the autobahn there was a lot of traffic down to at one point crawling. My wife's 1.2 TSI petrol Fabia shows around 96c normally (0w-30 oil IIRC) if heavy loads for car or engine IIRC 110c is fine but that's without a coolant leak. Have a look in your Owner's Manual for normal operating temperature and try and keep off the higher figures. - Free VWSkoda pdf version of Owner's Manual here. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models Obviously make sure your oil level is higher enough on the dipstick Just be sensible don't have the car working too much with the engine poorly reduce the harder work the engine has to do, your car is loaded up so make sure the tyres are all inflated correctly for this, don't run with every electrical extra on, make any roof rack stuff aerodynamic, don't drive above say 40 mph with the windows open, make sure the radiator(s) are unobstructed, if you can avoid heavy congested and stop-start traffic, steep up hill climbs, a clear Péage over country roads. You could look up stuff for high mpg, sensible hypermiling, not the stupid stuff. It's usually cooler driving in the rain. Keep plenty of fresh air in front of your car and radiator. If you wanted when you stop the car you could lift the bonnet to get rid of the residual heat quicker from turning off the engine. It's been a little while now since I've had a car where I've had a head gasket fail, or overheat or leak so the thoughts don't come as naturally to me as they would then, but then no thoughts do now anyway. 😄

Hopefully you don't need that much but If you can get it proportionately a 5 litre bottle will be a lot less expensive if you need to top up that much or want the reassurance of having plenty on board just in case. Normally I'd not worry about the engine getting warm or hot but in your case I'd use the oil temperature setting to keep an eye on things as the coolant gauge is biased to be rock steady on 90c so if you see the oil temperature has steeply risen and then the coolant needle has or is moving up off 90 you'll know you need to cool things down and possible check and top up. Reducing the load on the engine and even if required turning off things like air-con and putting the heater on full heat (great fun in hot weather). Depending on loads of factors, 50 mph in 5th gear (unless going up a good slope) should be effective at keeping things cool and still getting progress, might save a bit of mpg too to help pay for the coolant. 😄

I can assure you that you can get air locks and issues from not using pressure filling (but you can get round it). That won't be the cause of your leak. I'd ask them to sort the leak and completely drain and refill with the correct coolant fresh coolant. G12++, G13 or G12evo whichever is easiest to get, yes it's a ratio thing, more of one means less of the other. Same when the coolant (or engine, gear, axle oils) are drained and changed the more residue of existing fluid left in the less fresh fluid can get in so the fresh fluid effect is diluted by the residue. some people and methods get more residue out that others. So ask them to fully (as much as that is possible) the existing coolant (mix). I hope that all makes sense. 😄 Good luck.

ETA: I'm beat to it, but as reassurance see below, also if the coolant can be seen in the expansion bottle (or it's not too far below that) then just normal top ups will be fine. Personally I'd get a load of either VW G12++ or G13 or G12evo and not use the G11 unless I really had to to keep the existing coolant less mixed. G12++ is for vehicles 2005-2008 on the chart I have and G13 2008 on, but the latest stuff is G12evo (don't ya just luv the number systems VW have). I'm assuming the coolant you have is premixed ready to use rathe than concentrated (water needs adding). Best not to mix different brands and types of coolant just in case but see chart below, the number you would have used when the car is new could be printed on your plastic expansion bottle.

Yes that's what I'd imagine. I used the direct clean supply and/or earth off the battery terminals for testing items in my very old car but that had never heard of computers (thank gawd!). I've never taken any trim off my wife's Fabia, in theory it should be easy especially with a (or set) of plastic trim removal tools but I also didn't bother on a neighbour's 15 years old (newish to me) car as I didn't know the fixing points of the plastic panels and then reinstalling 15 year old plastic fixed lugs can have some jeopardy. You seem very capable I'm sure you could work it out but I'd imagine at £45 the auto-electrician has has quick method of repair and provided he's good at his job and not using some "wally fittings" at £45 I'd leave it to him.

A battery in a better state of charge and health will need less charging. As I put before best to get the new battery 'coded' at installation or soon after but fitting the new battery and immediately fully charging it as you have and then driving the car has the computer knowing the battery in the car is now better and it can respond to this. I'd not lose any sleep over it, some have reported that they've never bother with 'coding' and been driving the car that way for a number of years. Yes if you get the opportunity now or in the future to have the battery 'coded' get it done, and have a scan report and error codes deleted, but it can wait no panic or rush. Just remember to charge the new battery before it gets low if you want it to last longer than the previous battery.

Did you try turn the ignition on and off a few times or driving the car around the block, I'm not sure if this works but costs nothing to try, some things are a little sticky on the computers - but I'd have thought brake light warning would go off once sorted. Note the high level is on a separate fuse to side brake lights. £45 sounds very good. If he has a VW appropriate scan tool get him to give you a full error codes report and after that delete any error codes showing to keep things as clean as possible with the computers. Good luck, do report back, cheers.

The self sprung metal ones I used waterpump pliers on, it was the plastic tangs to part the air box that got me, because of the awkward shape of the box and because I'd given the top cover a wipe over previously on the outside, it slipped and I managed to get a couple of small scratches on the plastic, good job it's black. I bought a pistol grip long reach hose clamp pliers, same as in that vid, for another job on the car (but it wouldn't fit in the space but that's another PITA story) and the pliers did make removing the self-sprung clips easy to remove and replace on the air filter, still the job took me more than 7 mins despite those pliers and swearing. I too think the high octane fuels which also have a higher cleaning additive package are a good idea now and again, I think a tankful before, then another tankful during and after a service and/or MoT, so two in total is a good idea along with occasional use. Even my wife might put some in now and then and she watch the price at the pumps carefully. If you do the plugs make sure to get genuine NGK, apparently there are counterfeit ones about. I've never replaced the cabin pollen filter on the Fabia but I imagine it's like in other cars, an easy job make just a bit awkward somehow, I've done them on neighbours' cars and they sometimes go very easily and quickly and the next time on the same car, Sod's Law, something just doesn't got back easily first, and second time for. Incandescent DLR bulbs, my hands and wrists just don't suit replacing those and the silly plastic cover seem welded on despite being cleaned and sprayed the previous time (get three times life bulbs).