nta16

If you're keeping the car then a better oil will offer better protection and operation and for longer (same for engines and axles). Though I've never used it I know that the Redline leaflet shows viscosity loss of oils at just 5,000 miles so just changing with standard oil may help a bit with the cold and a better suitable oil may help a little more but neither will overcome gearbox design and manufacture and wear and tear use and abuse. If you've got those cable adjusters they will help too, and of course any clutch or hydraulic issues. I've been driving various "classic" (over-priced and overvalued) cars as dallies for 30+ years and know the benefits of good thorough oil changes but convincing others (particulars the other old-farts that own "classic" cars) that there's a benefit is a waste of time, most only believe in topping up or that any change or improvement in oil is a placebo, and that might be partially correct but doesn't fully explain the (small, don't expect miracles) improvement. First thing before you empty might be to check the level (careful if you've got it hot) se how much it's down, remembering to allow that the oil hasn't fully dropped if it's still hot. That way any improvement can be put down to low oil level, if the oil is low. If you find an improvement and become a convert, or even disciple, you may prefer to do it sooner than 13 years or 130k-miles next time. I changed the oil on my wife's Fabia Mk3 at 38k-miles, at 4.5 years old (bought s/h at 10k-miles, 18 months old) and she said she noticed an improvement in gearshift and after 44 years together she wouldn't just say so. I got a good oil half price so not at all expensive. To rip Dave Allen off, may your oil belief go with you. 😄

@BerisfordI've not bought a new car for a number of years so you'd have to check if this still applies, you could get more than 52 weeks VED on a new vehicle to save losing part of the first month, most "salesmen" wouldn't know this and need informing, especially as to how you'd pay the extra without the "salesman" and dealership's computers getting a migraine but it was possible. I am lost as to how if the car is there early February you can stretch it to 1st of March, it used to be that the dealerships and "salesmen" wanted the sales by the end of the month and quarter for commission and purchasing deals but that might have changed now. I don't know the details of how you have financed this, but all the details should have been made clear to you, possibly at very laborious length. My wife had to go through no end when she bought her s/h Fabia Mk3, even though I made sure it was certain to the "salesman" we were paying 'cash', and she had to sign I don't know how many things to say she'd been told this, that and the other and other other. Anyway, generally unless you have personal finance the vehicle doesn't belong to you until it's paid up. Good thing if you have finance through them they can not tell you anything wrong (provided it's recorded of course) so if the VED is within the finance you can go from that angle, it's no good them guessing they have to do it right and a Dealership will want to get anything to do with finance right, they should have an expert in this if you need to consult them. You should have a copy of your agreement so have a good look at it, anything you're no sure about get them to explain. It used to be that the "salesman" made good money selling the finance and so did the dealership.

Sealed for life - depends what you interpret that to mean, 13 years, 130K-miles, more, less? Much is a matter of belief. Ask Skoda or VW how long they would warranty the gearbox for. I'm thinking of the manual gearbox with the following. You'll never fully empty the gearbox of oil, I don't know this gearbox but I'd very, very carefully fully research before undoing any external bolts. Note all the advice above and about car being level and always checking you can remove the filler plug before you remove the drain plug. I clean around the two plugs and personally use a penetrating releasing fluid like GT-85. I like to get the oil as hot as possible so that it drains out easier and quicker but I still leave it to drain as long as possible, both are to get out as much old oil and whatever else, this also mean more fresh new oil goes in and the effects less diluted by old oil and whatever else. I like to fill slowly so that as little fresh oil is wasted and still available if topping up is required after the gears have been turned, at the end and later I top off I use a giveaway plastic simple syringe type filler I got decades ago to reduce waste. Always have the old oil draining into a clean container that way you can inspect it, as it was in the box, for colour, consistency and whatever else against the new fresh oil.

Vintage, probably I'd call them classic, and Yetianimal current. 😁 Our local area beer-bus is a 1961 Bristol Single Decker, (Gardner engine, and that's the full extent of my knowledge) they'll no doubt be be looking for remanufactured 🙃 - but this is unallowed thread drift, back to topic. - One of the reason such rules regulations come in are illustrated below, Mr. R. G. Evritt's 27 year-old "new" tyres after being fitted, he originally put the photos up as a safety warning a few years back.

I have just remembered something I meant to put - I think as you do not have any reset count number codes, and your fuel economy is good and no noticeable performance changes, then on a 15 year old car and computer system and programming I personally would just keep driving the car and see if the throttle sorts itself and if the error code disappears. Even if the code remained but the car was running well I would just carry on.

@ruimvpsee above post and posts. A good place to start is at anything you moved or disconnected before, but also looking for as described above. You have confirmed the error code but don't just go on raw error codes, interpret them. On your machine have a look at other values and their accepted ranges at other points that might pin it down more for you. But you can also use your eyes, ears and hands in the engine bay (and even nose and taste sometimes with other issues). Or you could spray around sometimes for leaks.

Or just a change of material or supply problems for materials. Because of availability and my time constraint I had to get my third (or fourth) choice of tyre last summer. Covid, containers (and dare I put Brexit issues) for the last couple of years have caused issues, before that even things like the Japanese power station getting flooded, we live in a small world, a global village. AFAIK their isn't an age limit for tyres though various manufacturers would have their own limits for what they'd recommend for use, and there would be other concerns as well as age, normally storage (and perhaps transport).

Which OP? Other than me who are you posting to in this thread? I do try to help with the original question and later questions, I was replying to HeavyMetalRich's post about longevity. Who are you replying to, read the posts again as what you've put is now bloat that is not what has been asked about, I was, at one time, going to put the same info on how to remove the glovebox. Normally I'd give you a clue but as you've been so rude as to try to tell me what I can do here, without you owning the site or being a moderator, I'll leave you to flounder, you're a naughty boy.

I had two different sets of Michelin Energy (EB1 IIRC) and the second set got sidewall cracking from about 3 years old (of fitting and manufacture IIRC) not bad but it was there, by about 6 years (I was wrong with 4, last two years, well!) they needed replacing, I would have replaced them the year before normally. The lack of use even before Covid probably didn't help them and my car is out side 365/6, they didn't do much more than 20k-miles in just under 6 years. There have been changes with tyres, the construction and/or compound in the last few years as those that have bought the same make and model of tyre recommended by those using that make and model of tyre have found a difference in performance to those that were purchased in earlier years. I was joking when I put you might be surprised if you checked the country of manufacturer, it can sometimes change or even has been different to a set.

Might be common on those vehicles but not all vehicles, possibly it's the German made vehicles or parts. Might be that it's our different life experiences, I've had a various makes of cars spanning many decades of manufacture, none German personally, and neighbours and friends with various makes, models and ages of manufactures (a couple of old Mercs too, and some new Mercs and BMWs) and I can't ever remember anyone telling me of the fan switch packing up or not being able to be used on lower settings, whether they've had the cars for only a one or a couple of years or 20+ years (Japanese cars obviously for that age).

Yeap, you're the same as them! 🤣 I didn't say you were an old codger (although I'm beginning to think you might be). 😁 For the last 40 years I've lived near people in their 70s, 80, 90s and even 104, so I'm used to people a lot older than you, but both you and I are old that's just the passing of time. And I didn't say my mates were stupid, they're not, I didn't put that you didn't know about changing tyres before the legal limit of tread (wasn't it 1mm before?). The dealers have not sold old tyres, they're not that fresh obviously, but your normally sharp mind has been blunted on this subject because of your upset, your post and thread was about Avon tyres not the dealer you bought the tyres from. Because of your upset you have been unreasonable (and inaccurate) with what you have put about your dealings with Avon the tyre manufacturer. I'm with you, I think it's terrible how the tyres now deteriorate but it's not just with one manufacturer. My 87 year-old neighbours car had at least two tyres like your photo, cracking between thread (sidewalls were fine) yet last November they were only advisories on the MoT (surprised me too). Same as 61year-olds, 74 year-olds aren't always right (they just think they are more often). 😁 You've got it off your chest so don't let any of what I've put keep you on the boil, the information about manufacture dates is good. I won't upset you more by telling you about the Michelins I replaced last summer but they were more than 4 years old from use, and manufacture.

With your age and experience I'm a bit surprised you didn't know about manufacture dates on tyres, but you're generation can generally are more concerned only about tread depth being above 1.6mm rather than tyre age and condition as you were more used to the lax laws and way things were done in the 1960s. I'm 61 and have mates in their 70s so I know how they think.

Depending on where you buy from that may not be that unusual. The sidewall of the tyre will also tell you the country of manufacture, if you look at that you might get further surprises.

@Yetianimal I had two Avon ZT7 put on my wife's Fabia Mk3 about 18 months ago. You are understandably upset and you make some good points with a thread that would be good in another general section. In your upset I think you might have misunderstood some of the manufacturer's requirements. - Given your last post I will add that you have got some things wrong in that respect. There have been lots of problems with lots of tyres over the last few years for various reasons some with manufacturers but they must also consider if the tyre was made a number of years back how it has ben stored (or even transported) - and your warranty is with the seller not the manufacturer, the same as you have been able to contact the manufacturer you can contact the seller. Generally, but especially in this section, many but certainly not the majority of drivers will know about the four digit date code (and perhaps the three with triangle and without and no code) and the tyre fitting places and tyre manufacturers websites often give this information. For the tyre tread depth although 1.6mm is the legal limit many consider 3mm to be a good minimum for tread depth, you would also normally check the depth across three points of the width and at various areas of the circumference to check for uneven wear around the tyre. So what is your date of manufacture?

That will only make the engine have to work harder, you want the correct grade (or weight) and type of oil suitable to your engine and its use and the environment (temperature) the vehicle is used in. Not all oils of the same grade are the same and the grades are a range anyway - a good oil is a good oil and a better oil is a better oil. Regular timely oil and filter changes and other service and maintenance (air filter, plugs, cleaning/replacement of sensors) on the whole car as well as the engine and it's type of use (and abuse and neglect) will help determine how how long the engine will continue to run and how well. A 2009 engine with 168, 750 miles, it may be too late to be able to get many more tens of, or, thousands of miles on it but that does depends on its history. A full service history means very little because it depends on the extent and quality of the servicing and rarely includes full maintenance and repairs, let alone even full servicing. To many people a full service is just an engine oil and filter change. If the car has been well maintained all its life then continuing to do so with good quality engine oil and filter and all other servicing, maintenance and repairs may be worthwhile and will extended its life further but if not then a different approach might be better.

Check all wires and connectors to as much as you can they need to clean, secure and protected. Check all air, vacuum, pipes, trunking and connectors for connection and tightness, carefully check and feel for any small cracks or splits which may be out of sight or difficult to see. It seems to me that some of the less expensive scan tools seem to be more read-only and do not clear all codes but obviously I have no idea if this applies to the scanner you have but a battery disconnect as detailed in the video below, as far as I know, should delete the code from a reader at least so if the code returns there is a fault. If you can do a live running reading off you scan tool with measurements showing do that whilst either you or someone else carefully wiggles electric connections and wires and carefully pushes and pulls on all air and vacuum pipes, hoses, trunking and connectors. Personally where possibly I would like to remove a throttle body to clean it or at least disconnect the electric connector and better still disconnect the battery - so at that time I would do the battery disconnect and discharge below to clear all and reset. I do not know of a special Skoda code, as far as I know all the over-complicated computer programs are VW - I might be wrong - so as long as you have the correct VW kit those are the codes. Computers and computer programs play up, also they have errors in them so I am only surprised that they do not kill us all when installed into a car.

Check all electrical and air connections, then if OK if your machine resets the throttle body just do that, or you could try carrying on driving and let the code disappear by itself. Personally I would check all electrical and air connections and delete the code with your machine, or disconnect car battery and discharge any electric left, and then carry on driving.

For £15 with a warranty if it works want's to worry about.

Second hand might be alright being Bosch might not be, just check your figures with your machine after fitting it.

Xman beat me to it, I'd guess it's a cost saving exercise, most people would be surprised at the manufacturing, components, parts and assembly costs of an individual vehicle. Any saving is multiplied by the volume of vehicles it affects. There was a thread quite recently with exactly this problem with the alarm going off as there wasn't enough time to clamber passed the driver's seat and get to open the passenger's door. It must be remembered that despite what many might be told we in Britain/UK are a much smaller market and we drive on the other side of the road to the majority of the world. Also seems to be complaints about the quality of the infotainment systems and "radios".

Yes, my wife's 2015 Mk3 RHD has a hidden barrel with a concealing cover on the driver's side (RHS, offside) and not on passenger's side (LHS, nearside).

That confuses me (not difficult I know). Not necessarily but it was covered by -

Sorry it was the German to Chinese to English typo and me getting lost and not seeing the next typo.

Yes but in the book, unless it's a typo or I've misread it (always likely) there something about a tell-tale bulb being lit or not lit depending on the fog lights lit, or wind direction. There used to be a Plain English Society and places where large and small companies could have there documents checked to make sure they were in plain English, particularly important for contracts (like warranties) and the many exclusions some contain. Perhaps some one gave them one of my posts to try to put in plain English and they all just gave up all together.

@Jordan171I might be suggesting what you already know but in case you're not familiar with it, have a look at the Owner's Manual for turning front and rear fog lights and when the tell-tale bulb is lit. Seems like a two stage pull on the light switch but I don't quite follow it because as usual it seems to have been written by a student German engineering, then translated to Chinese and then from Chinese to English. My wife's previous car I couldn't find how to turn the interior lights on, read the book and it was pull the headlight switch, I'd have never thought of that.