Former

Mike, for info only as you asked, by still stay around for SuperbTWM's reply. Ross-Tech Wiki - http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page They also have a forum. I've no idea about VCDS but the scan tool I've used has demos across a wide range of manufacturers and vehicles but obviously preloaded and limited in scope. This is on the Ross Tech site, I've no idea how useful it'll be to you as I've never tried it, something to play with whilst you wait. - https://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/tour/main_screen.php

The OP has manged my previous long posts without confusion, the matter had been completed and if I want to post about recycling to someone from Sweden I will - without your permission. This is not Facebook or Twitter, nor is it your site or are you a Moderator, so I do not have to conform to your short form posts or mind or your insulting demands and condescending remarks. That is your problem - you don't care about others being right when you are wrong. You often give short sarcastic answers or belittling posts but never accept when they are wrong. If it's not in you to admit, just for once, that you were wrong and/or insulting then don't bother picking on me again. - until you own the site or a Moderator and can show how I've broken any site rules rather than the narrow rules in your narrow mind. I've no idea what's on Reddit (or even what it is) I 'll have a look at it and chew it over with a bowl of AAAs and PP9s.

I have just rang the recycler concerned and he confirmed they will still buy a single car battery, he said prices are good at the moment but of course it's value depended on it's weight. @sepulchrave if you (or anyone else) wants to phone them to see if I made it up or are a battery-eating madman I can give the phone number - but as I've yet to see you admit to ever being wrong or apologise for attempting to belittle posters I don't expect you to change now. If you don't follow up then stop trolling me, unfortunately I have leave others to defend themselves from you but I will defend myself, a bully like yourself ought to know this late in life who is not a good choice as a victim. Perhaps you will surprise me and ask me for the number, ring them and then apologise, even if not publicly, but I'm not sure you can breakout of your stereotype - but you might surprise me, and others.

So in your total arrogance you believe if you don't know of it then it can't exist. That is straight out insulting without your usual pretence or covering humour, if it's not a wide spread practice I can edit to here locally. I'm sure that's supposed to be an insult towards me but it doesn't make much sense, perhaps it's mixed with your final insult. The batteries were taken in and money received by an ex-engineer (fully qualified) friend of mine, would an-engineer (fully qualified) lie to me, I will have to ask. I'm sure you don't live in Brighton, the people there wouldn't put up with your attitude, so if you're nearer or ever around the Northamptonshire/Leicestershire border bring a car battery you want to dispose of and I can show you where and you can decide how mad either of us two are. Until then cut out the insults, you can disagree with anything I put and be as humorous as you like but put in a bit more effort by dropping the insults.

Sounds like you squeezed that battery as dry as you could. Your new battery and use of battery charger will have it outliving the car by a long way I expect. Over here you can get say £8 for the old battery as "scrap" (recycle) this recycles and also safely and responsibly disposes of them (concepts foreign to some). Those that wish to could donate this money (and more) to a chosen registered charity (against their nature for some) and the charity can claim a further 25% on top if the donor has that year paid sufficient income or capital gains tax (unfortunately an absolute anathema to some).

So your car is not a start/stop model then (I have no idea what is sold in Sweden)? I cannot remember how far you got with the car I think you changed the spark plugs but did you check or change the engine air filter (and perhaps cabin filter too). I hope you tossed the old battery to recycling, we can get a little money back here in UK used car batteries.

Yeah some of them Aldi drivers, previous generation of those were in BMWs, don't bother engaging with them as the have most to loose having the nicer car. I've found older Aldi diesels kick out the worst black **** clouds I've ever seen, one was from my neighbour's, much worse than some old bus in the 70s. But to be fair, the go-faster stripe possibly goaded the pea-brain. 😄

@mshere conesus of opinion (I can't remember seeing any strict evidence, or I might have forgot) that I have seen is as varoom has put. It could well be that everything works but will your new expensive AGM battery last as long and operate as well without the 'coding' until anyone shows proof by many years of efficient service from the new uncorded AGM battery we won't know for sure as VW likes to keep secrets and hide things. Halfords have their own battery numbering system and database and batteries marketed for them, nothing wrong with their batteries they're good but expensive often. One my neighbour bought had an extra level bar to the battery foot bar which he didn't want me to cut off so it took me an extra 20 minutes to adapt (file out) the clamping bar to be firm at its wrong angle and he could have got a better battery for less cost had he let me order one for him. Don't panic but I'd look (and did) for someone local who can 'code' the battery for a beer token perhaps from the map (found it). Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me) Doubt or treble check any input as we had a knowledgeable poster on here leave that to an auto-electrician even though he had a VCDS and the auto-electrician enter 7Ah instead of 70Ah and the battery not surprisingly and computer programs started playing up within a year. By the time the start/stop , er, stops working because the battery state of charge is too low the battery has already gone lower than is best. A battery in a low state of charge can cause all sorts of unexpected issues even if the car starts and the lights seem bright enough and there are no warning lights or messages. Despite what some seem to think it's not against the law when required to fully charge the battery with an appropriate battery charger and maintainer to get better out of the battery and longer life, AGM or not. What many don't know is that summer heat of 30c and 40c isn't good for the battery but the results might not show up until the colder weather in autumn and winter so are disassociated. If we get that extreme heat again this summer when it's over I'll check the AGM battery on my wife's car and use a charger if required (the heat isn't the best to to charge the battery either). Good luck.

toot's picture clearly shows the principle but the angle of the non-dangle is different as on the Fabia MK3 is more curved. I looked at a 2020 'Owner's Manual' and that still had the same illustration as the one I put up. Must admit I don't think I've always used the slots and I bet my wife who normally fills the tank (before the major panic of the needle reaching the tip of the red section and panic warnings) doesn't either.

I and all others would always exclude me from being any type of expert in anything, ever, and most certainly computers and VCDS, which to what little I've seen of it looks a horrible legacy system still presented nastily to be exclusive for the more nerdy. But like the other "quality" 😄 German marques VW have been into over complicated programs (if more lately like other car manufacturers keeping the chips as cheap as, er, chips) for a long time, but not as long as Ford IIRC. Technical types can sometimes overlook the basics having their minds on the more sexy end of the spectrum, me being at the thick end of the spectrum would first (check the car battery is in a good state of charge) plug in the VCDS, do a record/report of error codes if any, if so just delete any error codes then drive the car see if the speed limiter sorts out and at the end of a reasonable journey or next day or when convenient plug the VCDS back in and do another health check see if any error codes have returned or new ones presented and go from there. VW seem like most other car manufacturers very reluctant to admit to any errors but you could ask at a Dealership if there's been any updates to your model or Recalls that it's missed out on. You can look up (admitted) Recalls here. - https://www.skoda-auto.com/services/recall-campaigns 'Stereo', maps and toys updates from here. - https://updateportal.skoda-auto.com/ If you find anything on the VCDS that stops the annoying slight clunking sound from under the front of the car p l e a s e let me know.

Personally I'd take the instant consumption figures with a pinch of salt, fine if using as a rough guide or pointer. Same for tankfill mpg especially if different journeys with different drivers and in different weather. Once you've checked the accuracy you could take the car's computer tankfill mpg figure as a comparison for future use allowing for variables, if you normally get about 45mpg and for no apparent reason it drops to say 35 (or whatever) then there's probably something you need to check or do. I've found before comparing with Australia on things like tyre pressures and mpg just brings up anomalies which could be in (and I've not fully checked so could be wrong or partly wrong) in the petrol, road surfaces, tyre materials, weather, same as with comparisons with the same cars over here there are still too many variables to get many very close matches on mpg (and then what is close). Some of the mpg figures I've seen on the Fabia same as my wife's I wonder how they're achieved and how accurate they are or realistic for others to copy in their lives. I think you always get less mpg from a petrol than a diesel as you drive it more than just being a passenger behind the steering wheel whether you realise it or not so as has been put you need to adjust your driving technique to shorten the gap a bit.

The VW take over was later, early 90s, I was told by the Skoda garage I don't think we used the term "Dealership" then for such a garage then, that the quality had dropped because they were taking in new cars so knew. That used to be a good thing about Skoda then their "Dealerships" were small and friendly places, certainly the one I went to and the other local ones were privately owned and not part of some massive group selling Skoda one year and Citroen the next. In case you didn't know in the mid-80s the comic know as The Sun (newspaper) ran a constant campaign of taking the ****, who knows how much other manufacturers who products were twice the price influenced this. Some of the criticism was valid as it would have been for other manufacturer's products but it led to owners and customer being more loyal and/or locked into the brand for trade-in replacements. I knew every joke from the sheep that read The Sun, some were very funny but more than once I had someone whisper in my ear that they'd owned one and they weren't that bad. I can't think the VW takeover would have necessary went down too well with the Skoda factory workers given the German army invading and taking over Czech at the start of WW2. My older neighbour said they wanted the Czech to make tanks/parts (I forget which) because they were better made than the German tanks. I don't know if this was the same for Skodas back then as the cars were imported by Skoda UK(?) or whatever it was called to Norfolk IIRC they put on UK wheels and tyres. I think they went out to sellers reasonably quickly but at some time some new cars were stored on grass and they'd be there so long that the grass grew under the car and possible transported moisture, when, who I forget but aerial photo would sometimes be shown on national news. I had a new 1986 130 5-speed Rapid and I can't say I got along with it well, some minor niggles I forget what but the 1300 engine wasn't as nippy as the 1200 120LS saloon I traded-in. I mostly changed to get the 5th gear because the 120 LS was a bit noisy in 4th, later in life I'd have made a few minor changes inexpensive changes to take the edge of and not worry about the times 5th was useful. I had a few cars later without 5th gear. I had a 1987 130 saloon and IIRC the rear seat back covers wore on that so whether at some point in the 80s they tried saving on materials I don't know, didn't worry me as you could get loose covers to fit over. I put some Goodyear Eagle tyres on the 130 saloon and they made the handling even better, on some local back roads I had a BMW 3 series and he put his foot down no doubt expecting to get respectable distance from the lower car in his rear views, I too fancied a drive so put my foot down but keeping a reasonable distance as at the time many BMW drivers weren't as good at driving as they thought they were and their model wasn't as quick as they thought it was. No speeding but I kept with him until we reached 30 town limit where I dropped back so that he would get through the traffic lights on green and I wouldn't. Great tyres but obviously wore quickly and I used the cars for work so when I changed the Eagles I went for a set of four more standard type tyres. The fitter advised me to take easy on the new set of tyres even after the run-in as though they were new they'd not grip like the worn Eagles which I expected, but not so much difference, just had to adjust to the change. In the past if you had any Porsche 911or Golf GTi owning friends or acquaintances the following was good to show them. 😁

Did you see HeavyMetalRich answer? If you put what year your Fabia is on your name plate or in a post I could (or even you could) look it up in the appropriate 'Owner's Manual' and post it here for future reference. Even Audi 80s came with an Owner's Manual, probably a lot easier to read than the Fabia's.

Just an example Pagid CERA TEC - "Cera Tec is for lubrication on metal-metal applications such as Caliper sliders. Ideal for the lubrication disc and drum brakes, compressors, central lubricating systems, axle bearings, chains, seat tracks, sunroof guides and battery contacts, the perfect compliment for Pagid brake parts." It may or may not help with that brake squeal you mentioned. Not to be used with slide pins on rubber

Absolutely fantastic. And to see it being used nearly 35 years after build. 1988 was IIRC before VW went to the factory and actually reduced the build quality.

For many things, including those that you think you know about but because it's a modern complex car, you are best to refer to the 'Owner's Manual'. If you read the 'Owner's Manual' and refer to it before even simple jobs, you will know more about your car than many long term owners and those in garages and Dealership. If you are male you may have been told by some blokes with testicles bigger than their brains that it is against the law to read instructions, this is not the case. If for some reason you don't have a paper printed copy of the 'Owner's Manual' you can download a free VWSkoda pdf copy from this link. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models From my wife's Fabia 2015 book. -

For whatever reason or reasons these sound like an unsuitable tyre for your use or they had a manufacturing fault which would be hard to prove now. Have you actually seen this "cut to the core" or been sent photos or video? As a generalisation tyres can be hard wearing or other end of the scale very sporty, most are a compromise. On some vehicles you'd not expect 6,000 miles proper use and others drivers claim 40,000 miles, I'd never want tyres now that do 40,000 as they'd never suit me. Bridgestone tyres generally are pretty good AFAIK so write off the model of tyre (for now at least) rather than the brand. You've got a VRS do you drive it like a VRS, if so then that'd be more wearing and as cars now are so much fatter and heavier than they used to be and with silly big and wide wheels so the tyres are wider more 'rubber' contact to road. The great idea, for some, of chipping road surfaces must be more abrasive I'd have thought to tyres, that where you actually have just one level of road surface rather than various layers worn away or just a deep hole to do the tyres, wheels and suspension a power of good. In your 60 years have you know the roads to be as bad as they are now?

Sorry, but that literally made me laugh out loud. 😆 Well that suggest the person wasn't trained at all so shouldn't have been doing the job, that is the fault of any management on site. Your friend ought to complain about this to prevent it happening to other customers and perhaps get a gift voucher or something, they throw those around like confetti.

As I put Halfords seem to go their own way with batteries size numbers and different places have different databases with all databases having errors and omissions (including manufacturers) so perhaps the Halfords battery was different rather than wrong - but - wiring it backwards shows lack of basic checking or any checking, the negative and positive battery posts and clamps are different sizes.

I don't know about the print feature as I use downloadable PDF (might be the same thing?). I've just tried and at first got - I had to press the page reload 'button' (more than once second time) and then got to - Verifying I was human got me to - When I went to download it my antivirus didn't like it so I stopped but I do have some of the pdf on my computer which you are welcome to if yo message me, I don't know how they relate to a 2019 model and don't have engine or gearbox.

Great to see you used your "classic" properly. I've been accused of not having enough "mechanical sympathy" but that was from someone that has far too much respect for lumps of metal. A mate had a 1098 in his Spridget it seemed a very good choice until he swapped it for a Maestro (van) 1275 A+ engine that were some sort of surplus military stock order that were never used and had the engine worked on before fitting it. I really like the look of your Moggy, one time I thought about buying a convertible with a 1275, I drove a 1000 car for a few days and loved the feel of it, except the brakes on it, I was told it was "driven every Sunday" yeah every blue-moon Sunday. For the T9 box I can highly recommend the red heavy duty red saddle clips to take the slop out of the Ford or other black plastic ones. The guy that used to sell them went to prison for making firearms so they're not as easy to find now but I think still about. Also give a miss to the Comma SX75W-90 GL4 or Ford 75w90 Transmission Oil – 1790199 and change to something like Castrol TRANSMAX Manual Multivehicle 75W-90 for better changes and protection especially when it's cold. (I used a modern GL5 but that scared the **** out of many). The 'Owner's Manual' you need to consult even for very simple and what should be straight forward things such as changing the remote battery, using the emergency keylock and key (blade) and other stuff I forget made Simply not Clever by VW although the book I think was written by a German trainee engineer translated to Chinese before being printed in English, it's nothing like a Driver's Handbook of old and VW keeping somethings secret. Bear in mind what I put about the car battery state of charge too.

Blimey Jocko you sound like you're one for expensive (sounding at least, except Back to Black) beauty products, I used the AutoGlym Tre Dressing but it was so many years ago I can't remember what it was like. I used to like the AutoGlym Wheel Protector but like all their products it got too expensive. I forgot about that area of black, again I use AutoGlym BUMPER & TRIM GEL you could also use Back to Black Gel on the door rub strips. Many years ago I tried four different polishes on each door of a car I had to see which looked and felt the best finish and lasted the longest, AutoGlym, Raindance, something else and a tin of Turtle Wax. I can't say I noticed any real difference between them but if I had to pick one it'd have been the tin of Turtle Wax which was the least expensive. I must admit I totally forgot this is a specialist forum so I'll bow out as I've hardly heard of some of these products and have never used them, what I use I get when on special offer for £2 a litre and it's supposed to do four or five cars IIRC, I don't get that but I'm quite wasteful.

@toot might know. I've no idea what an image is but I've seen others put with VCDS you can back track on your path if you're fiddling about or altering thing and with computer programs don't you record or back up any original program before you start fiddling or altering it in case yo might ****-up (only technical term I know). If you have a scan tool of the correct level you can see if there are any error codes and delete them and that only *might* unstick the Speed Limiter mode with no set speed. Or VCDS and play around with settings.

Joko, some of my simple tips for you to make the car look even better, quite quickly and very easily. Anything that is black if you clean and 'polish' it with have those items looking clean and the rest of the car cleaner. The tyres, up to you you can mess around with whatever products you like and if you want have them in a (to me cheap garage) wet very shiny look or shake the can and spray on (more of a sheen look) AmourAll Tire Foam, spray and walk away that how all car cleaning ought to be. The plastic strips down the side, door mirror black bits, roof aerial, I apply AutoGlym BUMPER & TRIM GEL with a 1 1/4" cube of sponge, wipe off excess and buff with a clean microfibre cloth. If you don't have time to clean the car (or can't be arsed) then just cleaning/polishing the reflective number plates, front and rear lights will make the car look cleaner than it is, works better with some body colours than others. With this you're also doing your driver maintenance bit of being better seen and seeing. If you need to you could include as many windows as required (rear and sides sometimes for me). For these I use a product which KC terms as "like a shortcut to sandpapering", I've no idea how I've got away with it for so many years. Another tip, much easier done with a product that can do a panel at a time, use a second clean microfibre cloth to buff up straight the previous for that little extra shine. I'm not sure if your wheels are supposed to be shiny or not and I appreciate the sun isn't on them, shiny or not clean black exterior tyre walls will show the wheels better. Some say the tyres need to be left 'undressed' as the 'rubber' needs it but for decades I've used Tire and had no problems with the exterior sidewall - but I don't keep tyres until they're down to barely legal and wear them out before they're too old. Not really though it is rinseless, I mean waterless (except for cleaning the microfibre cloths which I use water so not truly waterless to me.

You are not talkiing about the same product as me and you wouldn't 500ml of it either, not on a medium-smallish car. Do you really think that' I'd use the a shortcut to sandpapering the paintwork of my cars, my wife's cars and my neighbours car - what am I thinking, of course you do. I seem to have picked up nothing from going to national custom car show nearly 50 years ago, decades of going to local and national "classic" car shows where they have high level concours completions (AutoGlym and Meguiars) where the owners literally clean the inside of the exhaust and tyre tread, decades of buying a variety of washes, polishes, waxes and other cleaning products.