nta16

ETA: Then that would mean the quality of the cars dropped and it was noted here after VW took over allowing for shipping from factory which wasn't long IIRC so VW allowed the quality to be less in a profitable market like the UK, that wouldn't make sense to deliberately do that, it would be a sign of incompetent management, that I can believe. 😆

I don't think that much was done, certainly not a rebuild AFAIK. I was never saying the cars were great, they had issues but so did the other major brand like Ford at literally twice the price and that's not to mention the local manufacturer, BL. When a regime marches in and takes over and wants everything done their way before they have fully understood what is actually required or works best things tend to go downward initially. It was same with the BMW takeover of Rover, things like fitting BMW engines that didn't fit and so on. VW at least improved things at medium term. For the Estelle 2 the importers (Škoda UK?) changed the wheels and tyres and not much else IIRC.

@rum4mo thanks, yes I was aware of "Scandy"(?) setting possibility but I'd not want to interfere with any setting on my wife's car as I don't want to potentially upset the VW computers and much more importantly my wife as it's her car. I dislike "auto" most things on modern cars as often they're unreliable going on to not really functioning at all plus it makes some drivers totally disengage their brains, such as following Tw*tNavs, some seem to think there's a button or setting in the car to do everything for them and also have an over reliance on driver "aids" and "assists", The rare times it really snows here apart from the gridlock of drivers often unable to drive you can also see cars covered in layer of snow all over other than where the wipers has moved the snow and on an open road travelling at the same speed and way as if it was a fine dry day. Don't mention auto, I'm out in a car with auto wipers that really aren't soon and electronic handbrake with manual gears and start stop, lane assist , and, and . . . what fun at roundabouts.

Initially after the VW takeover the cars seen at my local Škoda Dealership the quality went down, plus VW wanted shot of the likes of the small, friendly, local, customer-focused Dealership I went to which was stupid because at the time in the UK the only people who bought Škoda were basically previous owners of the cars. Škoda was literally a joke in the UK there was no way VW could shift that perception quickly, same way a good reputation / perception takes a long time to lose (as with VW quality) a bad reputation / perception rakes even longer. We owned Škoda cars from mid-1980s to early 1990s in the UK so I have some experience of them and the situation in the UK with them, how it was elsewhere I can't say.

We had Škodas before VW took over (and well remember the quality drop when they did) so realised the Felicia was VW with some legacy Škoda. The green Škoda centre badges lift appearance a bit but the steering wheels aren't easy on the eyes, the magnesium alloy wheel from Lupo 3L also wouldn't be my choice, even with a green Škoda centre badge. I can't remember if the 4-spoke was in my wife's Favorit and certainly can't remember it being in my Estelle 2s - but then they were a long time ago and I have trouble recognising and remembering the old bloke in the mirror when I shave, miserable old-fart he looks.

Lloyd I'm amused at what's mentioned a VW sourced, including consumables and what's not mentioned as VW sourced, an expensive way of going on for oils, fluids and consumables but a pretty fair service of the engine and some other bits done. Relatively unimportant engine is looked after but a big hole for the important things on the car like brakes, steering suspension (all three include tyres of course), good to see lights were checked. Keep on doing your driver checks and maintenance and when required preventative battery charging, often best done by fully recharging the battery with an appropriate battery charger and maintainer after reading the car's Owner's Manual and charger's instructions, using something like a 4-amp (or less) charger (low and slow). If you're getting the oil (not "water", coolant) temperature up to 90+C and with the engine service work you've had done you should be getting very reason MPG, of course this will be subject to your type of driving and the driving situations and environments - unless you leave a roof rack/box, cycle rack, something on tow, car full of heavy stuff. Until a couple of years ago for the previous 16 years my one and only 'everyday' car was a 1973 MG Midget (lift the bonnet, like a Minor, to turn the heater on, one column stalk, 5 fuses, no standard electronics, all simple stuff so I know what you mean. But you are ahead of me with your mod, I had lots of LED bulbs on my Midget (see and be seen) but didn't realise the Fabia incandescent DRL bulbs aren't on the CanBus, so you could help me, just to confirm with you, I could get a couple of 382 LEDs (from Classic Car LEDs Ltd.) and fit them to my wife's 2015 Fabia (despite the PITA/wrist job it is) and by themselves they would work and not upset the computers and throw up an amber-triangle-of-doom dash light? Twice the RHS incandescent DRL has blown on my wife's 2015 Fabia and when you see the state of the bulb holder it's not surprising so I did wonder as the LEDs replacement bulbs can get hot at their base whether this would cause more hassle and expensive than letting an incandescent bulb silver/black out or blow, how long have you used your LED DRLs? Personally I would prefer my wife to use sidelights rather than DRL as they only (as standard) illuminate the front of the car and not also the rear, hence so many running about with some light to front and none to rear when it's dark.

Sorry I can't help with recommending a good make. By the sounds of that I'd order from elsewhere other than Autodoc, perhaps you got returned items (twice). I ordered some febi bilstein sump plugs and the quality was the fabled German engineering quality of the past (last century) but neither are the cars from new, but it was a very reasonable quality and they all came in individual febi marked up bags. If the faulty thermostat you got wasn't in a febi plastic bag I might be suspicious but I don't know if febi might call on MotoRad to make that stat for febi, MotRad don't show a stat for a Felicia so perhaps Motorad only make them under contract for febi but I'd be surprised as febi also has the SWAg and Blue Print brands. Have a look here to see if the febi you got looks like the one in there catalogue. - https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/index All this assume you got your stats from a genuine Autodoc and Autodoc were sending you genuine parts or perhaps(?) incorrectly boxed returns as I put before, the internet is a strange place and there's lot of fake stuff around.

First steering wheel would be an obsolete NO from me, and for style to match car dash and interior, let alone the horrible large Father-brand badge and centre large surrounding that looks like loudspeaker grille effect in that photo. The major Germany marques interior styling is never generally to my taste. Second steering wheel , yeah may be, I could perhaps get used to it but the first I would dislike every tine I saw it. But as always each to their own, what would happen if we all like the same things.

Perhaps something like this, arrow to fixing and hole for sensor. -

ETA: - Now that is the type of information that is very useful very often.

Have you got a lot of other keys and/or other objects on your keyring? Go back to whoever worked on the barrel before, have they left the barrel (and switch?) loose otherwise you might need a replacement of one or both.

Or it could be a fault with the phone or connecting cable or a computer program in the infotainment or phone. Not for me (I dislike "smart" (they are not) phones) but for others to know and possibly be able to help you what phone, what music service, what cable are you using?

Thanks for reporting back and I'm glad you got it sorted, shame it was so much hassle but that's the past now. Unfortunately that's the state of the industry. The Skoda Dealership should have the information (if VW releases it to them) as they will deal with the most 2019 Fabia and from new. You are now learning that Germany "quality" is different this century to last. A good quality auto-electrician / auto diagnostics would have been able to find that - but finding them is the difficulty! Yet VW chose to fit this part, the relay/fusebox would be a very tiny cost to VW during car build. I might be wrong or it might just be the way it seems to me based on coincidence of seeing posts but 2019-ish Fabias (other models?) seem to have issues, I'm surprised we do not see more 2020 Covid time issues when quality of items and perhaps build might have dropped. Good luck, do keep your battery in good state of charge and health to help reduce or save having to look or post here much in the future.

Sorry it was for a 1.3, so deleted.

Lloyd what is a full "service" to you of a 5-6 year old car at 61k-miles, what exactly did that fully include? I assume you were joking, as a retired person you must be old enough to realise that with modern cars, of this century particularly, you can't get an instant and particularly based on so little information. By up to normal temperature quickly you probably mean the coolant temperature gauge but this is biased to show and stay at 90c what you want to look at is the oil temperature and you want that at 90+c for a while before you end your journey. If you've got an Mot then best is to have two tankfuls of higher octane petrol running before, during and after the MoT and as many blow-out (Italian tune-up) long high revs runs, after getting the engine warmed to oil temperature of 90+c, as you can get in before the MoT to give the car a good blow out and clear as much as possible through the engine and exhaust. The large battery isn't that large (only compared to more efficient electric system of Japanese and Korean cars) and the use, when required, of preventative charges with an appropriate battery charger maintainer after reading the car's Owner's Manual and charger maintainer instructions, you may get a long(er) life out of the battery, even if it has already been replace from the one it left the factory with. If you want to see what the sensors report (doesn't mean they're at fault and replacing them will help) then you need to plug in a VW appropriate scan tool of the appropriate level. Some Briskoda members have such machines and may be able to help you with at least a scan report if not more for beer tokens, others offer professional services so different rates, have a look here. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/#comment-3091029 HTH but more info from you is needed to give more help.

On a car with a 15.5" (395 mm) thin-rimmed steering wheel your hand comes off the steering wheel to push the factory horn position in the centre of the steering wheel, actually easier and faster to move the hand to the side dash. I'm glad you are doing the evasion then horn rather than the other way round, often there is the time to sound the horn there is the time to get out of the way without the need to sound the horn. I have seen neighbours from Eastern-Europe walk down the middle of the road even if there are clear pedestrian pavements either side of the road with dropped-kerbs for ease of wheelchairs, pushchairs and those with walking difficulties, one a young family with pushchair and very young children regularly walk down the middle of our home road despite the two pedestrian pavements, luckily our road is quiet and locals are patient but we also sometimes get delivery drivers in a rush and on their phones. I've tried to explain to the lady but she doesn't speak English Just for info over here sounding the horn (or flashing the headlights) to overtake would be often considered as harassment and aggressive and intimidating driving and might encourage road-rage. I am not saying that does not happen here, but it is not allowed as such, an emergency service vehicle is accepted. We have plenty of roads without centre lines and those not paying attention drifting down the middle, you just have to put your indicator on and edge out a bit and hope they look in one of their rear view mirrors. The older cars were narrower than the wide heavy modern cars so I could often move fully out which would make my car more noticeable and fit the space without the other car needing to get closer to the nearside verge which the driver often has trouble judging hence being so far from it.

Hi, welcome. More information is needed and you might be better looking and or asking in the Octavia Mk2 forum. I would have thought when the music stops should be consistent. What is plugged into both ends of the aux cable (Blues, Bolero, Amundsen and other end). Have you looked at the instruction book for the car's player, if you do not have the paper printed copy you can get a free VWŠkoda pdf version to download, and the very useful car's Owner's Manual from the following VWŠkoda site. - Owner's Manual - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models Skoda Octavia Mk II (2004 - 2013) Also referred to as the Octavia, Octavia II, A5 Octavia and includes the Octavia Scout, forum. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/28-skoda-octavia-mk-ii-2004-2013/ I hope that helps.

The difference in sound of the horn at the steering wheel would surely be that of it's connection which could easily be improved. You chaps seem to treat the horn like it's a new toy at Xmas, over here you should rarely hear a horn sounded, it's meant to be used to let others know the car is there or approaching, say coming up to a very narrow humpback bridge where forward sight of the road ahead is lost and you don't want to literally bump into something coming the other way. It's not supposed to be used just to show your emotions of the moment to others or join in with others sounding their horns out of frustration. The horn in my old 'daily' car was used so infrequently that I used to occasional sound it just to stop it seizing up and test it was working in case I needed to use it and before annual MoTs, for the reason of parts availability at one time it was a heavy-duty momentary toggle switch on the side dash panel and as I was so used to it being there I left it there when the missing parts for the steering wheel connection became available. Th car had twin horns, high note and low note from factory one without the other didn't sound right if the connection got crude'd up from the position of the horns at the front and when one of them failed when the connector spade broke off.

Yeap I got the OBD11 voltages but that's through two different lots of computers/programs, the plug bit uses battery power anyway, I was thinking of more direct meter figures to see how they compare and as conformation. Of course different meters can/will give different figures depending on how accurate they are but a direct whisper in the ear is often better than a second-hand "Chinese whisper". You should always check, double and treble-check where required, and cross-reference any information you get from any source (especially the internet and computers), and test testing equipment before different tests to make sure of correct function. At the very least you have a new battery fitted, 'coded' correctly, so you can afford to relax for a while at least, give things a while to settle then check as and when you feel necessary. If you didn't check the new battery voltage or fully charge it before fitting you don't have a datum point for it to compare against with your present figures so, but with your present figures you have a datum point for a future comparison. With the old battery, unless it is fully stuck shut so you can't, check the 'water' (electrolyte) levels in each of the 6 cells and add as required to get to correct level((s) (usually end cell if any), at the same time have look at the plates inside each cell to see the condition. Then fully charge with an appropriate charger maintainer, the lower amperage the better 2-amps or lower would be great, might take many hours or a couple of days (or bit more) to get it to full on the charger or you might see no increase after a certain time and it never gets to full so you might as well stop there. Obvious take all the precautions mentioned when dealing with the battery. A battery that is not much good for a 2021 car could last a very long time on a 2014 car (less so if a diesel in a cold place like perhaps Poland) but if you do occasional FULL recharges with an appropriate battery charger when required it will last even longer (same for new battery on 2021 car). You may be well aware of battery drain in winter but there is more self-drain of the battery in warm weather, battery likes say ambient of 20c and doubles its self-discharge at 30c (and doubles again at 40c). Plenty of battery and battery charging information about from battery manufacturers, and of course some misinformation on the internet. Forget your car for a while and lets us know how you get on a bit later, good luck.

I've no idea how good, or not, your local Dealership is generally or specific jobs like this but other members are also in parts of Scotland, whether same as you of course is a different matter, but may be able to advise you of places that are good or usually best to avoid. If you are anywhere near the following chap I like the way he does his diagnosis and then checks it, not just relying on scan tool error codes, and checks and cross references things including his repairs. Plenty of his videos will give the general idea and perhaps a similar or same case as yours (though perhaps not on VW). - https://www.youtube.com/@mrautoservices7354/videos I can't remember if I put this before but if not also have a look at this, Briskoda member that may be able to help to some extent at least (confirming error code if not more) most for beer tokens, some offering professional service so different rates. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/#comment-3091029

As always it is each to their own, to me that steering wheel isn't pretty, it would look marginally better with the black screws rather than the stainless steel, but also, it looks too close to driver and too far from column stalk, the wheel rim is far too thick, matt black spokes would look better and I don't like the ribbed column extender, but it's not my car and I don't drive it.

James, I've copied & pasted my post from other thread in case you missed it and to get the ball rolling here. - A cleaning of the fusebox and it's connections may (or may not) save replacing with new but a Dealership/garage/mechanic/auto-electrician may decide and/or charge otherwise. Any electrical or engine starting issues I start at the battery (and fully recharge it even if the charge isn't too low as battery state of charge can help or hinder fault diagnosis and find resolve) and go from battery forward with checks at least. A scan tool can help but it never fully rules out the basic checks that existed before them. @roxby_fabia James, P0562 could possibly suggest that the basic checks haven't been completed or it might be an additional issue, if you also had/have a battery in a low state of charge then checking the car's alternate might be a good idea but of course with electrics you also have to check, wire, connections, parts/components, all need to be fully functioning and clean, secure and protected. Also with error codes you need a scan tool appropriate to your VW model and year, at an appropriate level for fuller diagnosis, and the program for your model and year fully up to date otherwise you can be given incomplete or even incorrect information.

ETA: I don't think you can remove the seat without disconnecting the airbag connectors so you might as well find one or both and check they are fully connected and if not that could be the resolve, if firmly connected then check (inside and out) connections and wires, all need to be clean, secure and protected. Up to you but anything airbag related I'd disconnect the battery, just in case, the car and systems are 14 years old. Before disconnecting the battery read the info and instructions in the car's Owner's Manual and see what might be required at battery reconnection, Usually if you have the electric windows and sun roof fully closed and anything electric you can turn off turned off then it's just time of day clock (I can't remember about things like electric memory chairs). If you don't have the very useful paper printed copy of the car's Owner's Manual then you can get free VWŠkoda pdf download of it from their website (it's full of info that could save you time, hassle and money). - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models Good luck let us know how you get on.

ETA: "Area Master Tech" can sometimes have more freedom or elasticity of time and policy constraints (not always) I've no idea with KwikFit but if off-site the offer of things like a mug of tea/coffee, warmth and ease of working or rest environments, availability of toilet and washing facilities and a friendly customer can often help and sometimes with extras, if only information. On-site you can only be friendly and perhaps offer to get/buy a tea/coffee when convenient to them. If such a thing is allowed to exist with KwikFit, I'd be even happier if the "Area Master Tech" was a woman.

If it was me I'd take the advice and go back and ask for the "Area Master Tech" as the fitting branch didn't complete the diagnosis or job - unless they only undertook to fit the part(s) and not sort the source or related issue and that was the contract with you. This of course supposes that TopDon's Artidiag 900 lite has it's program up to date and it's not with glitches, errors and omissions which given everything else I'd give it the benefit of accepting it's findings on this, it could be used to look further but obviously the second branch would prefer the "Area Master Tech" takes this on. Often there's a god chance, if you wanted, given the information you might do just as good job of tracking the issue down as you don't have the time and policy restraints put on some employees and self-employed professionals plus you care more about getting a final resolve to the issue. It might, or might not, turn out to involve something a bit more complicated than basics checks and bit of work but at least you'd have covered the basics some pros can't be bothered with. Good luck, let us know how you get on.