Ronnie_Hotdogs

Hey all, Wondering if anyone has experience with boot mounted bike racks on a Mk3 RS hatch? Mostly whether they fit without potentially damaging the spoiler. I’m trying to avoid the expense of installing roof racks or a towbar, as I’m likely going to end up moving this car on in the medium term, so just looking for a viable option in the meantime. Cheers!

Yeah, I've since had a couple of places look at it and unfortunately it is a full intake manifold replacement. Got a couple of prices for genuine and OEM parts, with a decent price difference between them, so I at least have options.

Finally got to the bottom of it - a cracked oil cooler gasket. Now fixed up and running fine, with just a stained coolant reservoir leftover. Feeling veeeery relieved it was 'just' that and not the head.

Ahh, ok that makes sense. I don't have any oil leaking elsewhere yet - at least not that I've been able to find. Looks like the seals themselves are fairly cheap, but the labour is getting on 5-6 hours apparently. I've heard of a few people replacing only the intake sensor themselves, so might look into that. I'm kind of torn as I'm planning to sell it soon, so while I want to get it fixed properly it's a lot of money to not get back through resale if there is an equally as effective solution elsewhere. Cheers - really appreciate the knowledge here.

Hi all It's been a while - honestly, this car has been amazing. 170,000 km on the clock and not much outside general maintenance, until now. I've recently found a small film of oil sitting in my coolant reservoir. Not enough to cause 'major' alarms yet, and not accompanied by any overheating, or performance issues. I'm not aware of many issues with head gaskets going in these engines, but someone suggested the seals around the oil coolers can have a tendency to go, so I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with that, or if there is something else more common I should be looking for as the cause? And then the big one - I've had the engine check light on for a while. In orange and solid, so no limp mode or change in performance whatsoever (the guy that looked into it even asked if I'd had the ECU tuned as it "goes really good compared to other mk3s he's looked at") 🤣 Anyway, they reckon it's the intake manifold sensor and have quoted me a replacement for the entire manifold, which is going to cost a bomb. What I'm a little confused about is whether it's the manifold, or just the sensor. I'd assume a faulty manifold would result in reduced, or inconsistent performance, but this drives absolutely fine. So are these parts one and the same? i.e. do you have to replace the entire assembly, or can the sensor be replace on it's own?

Hi all. Firstly, apologies if this has been covered elsewhere - I had a quick search and found some similar posts, but nothing quite the same so thought I'd try my luck. My Mk.3 vRS has a strange intermittent noise coming from somewhere in the dash, around the steering wheel and cluster. I'd describe it as sounding almost exactly like a computer hard drive working away processing something. Sometimes it can disappear for days, even weeks, so it has been quite hard to track down. All I can tell so far is: It doesn't seem to be a vibration - in that it isn't related to revs, road surface, speed etc. It will do it when driving or idling and even when the auto stop-start cuts the engine. One possible clue - I managed to catch it this morning when the auto stop-start cut the engine in my driveway, so I played around with a few things, switching them on and off to see if it made a difference and when I switched the air-con/fan off the noise suddenly stopped. I can't be totally sure this is the cause though as it didn't resume again when I switched it all back on. I've seen posts about air-con noises making a sound like a cricket, but this sounds completely different. Cheers!

Likewise if you see a black Mk3 sedan with JAU plates. Actually I reckon I drove past you on Oriental Dr earlier today 😂👍

Thanks man. Yeah, I'm in Wellington too, though only just moved here last month. I was thinking of trying Gazley so I might give them a miss if they're charging plenty. Someone put me on to Auto Stance in Auckland - they import and install Maxton Design kits from the UK - but I moved before being able to sort anything.

Hi all - I’m all the way down in New Zealand. I picked up my first Skoda a few days ago. A Mk.III Octavia vRS. It’s been kept standard by the previous owner so it’s a bit of a blank canvas. I’ve got a few small plans like rear diffuser and maybe a change of front grill etc. and a few longer terms plans like lowering. This is the first car I’ve actually owned for about 15 years having had the luxury of company cars all that time. The last car I owned was a GSR Lancer turbo which was a heap of fun - 4 days into owning this vRS and so far it’s promising to be even better. Anyway, love seeing what y’all have done with your own cars, so any advice on the best places for aftermarket parts would be great.

Hi all First time Skoda owner from NZ here (a 2015 RS Octavia) - just picked it up on Saturday. It appears to be pretty much as it was when it left the dealership in terms of mods etc. so I’m slowly creating a list of things I’d like to do over time - chip, lowering and the like. First of all though I’d like to do a few minor things like change the Skoda and vRS badges and maybe add a rear bumper diffuser and new grille up front. My question is mostly for any other NZ owners, or even Aus - and that is can these bits and pieces be sourced locally, and if so from where? I know it’s probably a long shot, but any advice here would be appreciated. Cheers!

Thanks!

Hi! New Skoda owner here, way down in New Zealand 👋 I picked up my first Skoda today - a Mk.III Octavia vRS hatch. I reckon I was sold on this car within the first 2 minutes test driving it. Absolutely love it already. Certainly more interesting than the sensible company owned family sedans I’ve been driving for the last 15 years. Anyway, looking forward to chatting with other Skoda owners, particularly getting ideas for various mods given this one is still factory standard. Bye for now 😎