BarneyMcgrew

Hello I need a replacement OEM O/S dash air vent for my 2004 Octavia Combi vRS. No huge hurry but not having much luck finding one at the moment. If anyone has one to sell or knows of one available, let me know please. I imagine that this item is probably unique to the model but if anyone knows of another vehicle in the VAG range that has the same fitment, I'd appreciate knowing that too. I know that modified versions that take a gauge are available but I really just want the standard fitting. If anyone can help that'd be much appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks - appreciated!

Hello Background: My 2004 vRS gets little use these days and then only short journeys. First really cold morning last week, flat battery. Charged battery - back in business. Went to drive off and realised my rear passenger side window was fully down. Odd as I hadn't opened it (in fact, I rarely open either back windows). Now can't close the window. (All other windows / switches working normally) Symptoms: Pressing driver's door switch to open or close LH rear window does nothing. No clicks. Pressing rear door switch to close window. Nothing. No clicks. Pressing rear door switch to open window (already fully open), hear the relay click (actually it double clicks). What I know so far: The most relevant fault code suggests it's a short circuit in the driver's door switch. Another mentions "Implausible signal". I've removed the switch and taken it apart. It appears to be a basic mechanical unit that connects the various pathways on a simple printed circuit board depending upon the switch press. Off hand, I can't see anything wrong with it. Maybe it's not the switch itself but a wiring problem or something in one of the other plugs that things pass through in the driver's door? If I could just get the window to close, I'd be happy with that for the time being. Any tricks to do that? Anyway, any help, pointers or techniques to trace the fault would be greatly appreciated. I hope some of you clever people out there can give me some clues. Thanks.

Hello Do you still have the N/S/F wheel hub (carrier type)? My vRS Estate is 2004 vintage. Presumably the same hub as yours? Also, is your roof aerial in good nick and still available? Thanks.

Hello Do you have driver's door window winder motor / ccu. Maybe the door loom too? Thanks.

Hello Special Offer! Start with 1 problem, Get 4 more FREE! Background: 9 year old vRS Estate. A year ago, I had to replace the OSF window lifter mechanism (hence I know how to strip door etc). After fitting, all OK. Everything working normally i.e. central locking, red LED, interior lights went off after delay on closing, puddle light OK, electric mirror adjusted, warning buzzers worked, central locking reactivated if door not opened after unlocking etc. etc. Just recently, started to get the much discussed intermittent OSF door (only) not unlocking from the key fob. For me it was just first time in the morning. Two or three tries on the key fob usually got it going. Worst case, used the key. Usually it was then OK the rest of the day. This was the ONLY issue. Everything else was working normally. So, having a couple of hours free this morning, I thought I'd take a look and try to fix the problem. Oh dear ........ I now have non operational OSF central locking (from the key fob), the red LED is permanently off, the OS driver's door mirror will not adjust and the interior lights will not turn off on delay. However, on the good side, the puddle light still works, all the windows operate normally, the warning buzzers work. The central locking works on all other locks if you use the key. This is what I did. Stripped the door down. (Worth mentioning here that there is very little evidence in the interior of the door panel of any water ingress. The drain holes are clear and in general everything looks pretty good in there). Removed the multi-pin connector from the window winder motor. Lo and behold, there was moisture and blue stuff, just like in the photos (but remember here that the new window mechanism has only been in the door for a year, so also a bit worrying). I released two nearby loom clips to get the plug "out in the open" and easier to work on. Anyway, a good clean up, test for corroded pins, moisture extraction, dry out etc. and then reassemble with added silicone sealants. I felt pretty good that I'd found exactly what I expected to find. Then, the test. Oh &*%"* ................ Anyway, I had to reassemble the door as I ran out of time today. So, good fellow Briskodians. I'm thinking this is a loom problem rather than the micro switch because I've created more problems than I started with and the only thing I've done really is to jiggle a section of the loom around. Mixed signals though. The warning alert buzzers still work (micro switch OK?) but the interior light (delayed auto off) does not (micro switch u/s?). The red LED is off and CL does not respond to key fob. But what's with the OS electric door mirror not adjusting? Well, it'll be at least a couple of weeks before I have time to get to grips with this again. It's tempting to say that I wish I'd left it alone but there's no doubt it would have gone from intermittent to permanent fairly soon anyway. Bloody annoying though Any thoughts, insights, inspired guesses or advice welcomed. Thanks.

(Don't know why all my formatting has disappeared ?? Sorry if it's made the post a bit difficult to read)

Hello Problem: Factory fitted rear parking sensors have stopped working. Current situation: Almost every time: get one long loud beep (then nothing else) when engaging reverse gear. Occasionally (now very infrequently): get "normal" quiet short beep followed by exactly 9 "bips" then the long loud beep (nothing else), when engaging reverse gear. Tried so far: Read various forum posts here and other VAG sites. Got a tip that the most likely thing was that just one of the 4 sensors had packed up rather than the control unit. Did the suggested tests and indeed it seemed that this was the case. So, bought a new sensor and replaced the "faulty" one. No difference! On the off chance that it was still just one sensor, I swapped the new sensor into each position in turn. No joy. Question: Anyone got experience of this? Is it likely that there could be more than one sensor faulty? Is it more likely to be the control unit? Is this something that would produce a definitive diagnostic fault code? Any help / advice appreciated. Thanks.

Hello again Finally got this fixed at a local garage. Turned out to be a mounting on the inter-cooler pipe. It had been taken off during the recent body repair and refitted incorrectly leaving metal to metal contact. Very annoying that the body-shop couldn't see or rectify this. Now got to have an argument with them about the bill I've got for somebody else to fix it! :( Still, no more squeak. Great.

Hello I posted about this recently. I have a 54 plate vRS with suffix A Eldor coil packs. They were all replaced today by my local Skoda dealer. No problems. However, they told me that my car had not come under the recall notice until November 2011 and this was why it wasn't dealt with at the last service date (I do very few miles per year). I note that there was no attempt to notify me of this recall and had it not been for the chance reading of this thread, I wonder if it would have been automatically picked up at the next service (which happens to be due any time now). How many other things have been fixed or updated but not necessarily automatically notified? Anyway, that's one more issue dealt with, which can only be good.

Hello Thanks for replies. The anti roll bar bushes were replaced about 5 years ago under warranty, with a modified type. Never been a problem since. Yes, they did paintwork. Had to remove/refit the front air dam bumper completely. When it came back after the first body shop visit, there was no squeak. However, they subsequently had to replace the 3 piece under tray because it had not been refitted correctly and came adrift at motorway speed It was after it came back from the second visit to the body shop that the squeaking was evident. However, I'm struggling to see what they could have done (or undone or altered) in fitting those 3 sections of plastic under tray. Have tried spraying various places with a rubber lube spray but may not have "hit" the right ones. I'll have to get a local garage to put it up on a ramp and have another look. Thanks again.

Hello 54 plate vRS Octavia Estate Short saga version - my car was clipped by white van man on the OSF corner. Nothing major, just a big scrape and a broken lamp. Went to body repair shop. Came back but lamp units not fitted back properly, other bits had been broken as they took the front air dam etc. Went back to body shop again. They fitted replacements for the broken bits. Car returned. So, all's well you'd think? No. I now have a really annoying squeak coming from the front end somewhere. I'd love to blame the body shop but I'm starting to think it's just a horrible co-incidence. The noise is being generated by relative movement between the engine and the chassis. It happens as you start the engine (torsion kick), as you let the clutch out and take up the drive, going along rough surfaces and of course over bumps like sleeping policemen (of which I am surrounded). Manually bumping the front suspension produces nothing but I can create the noise by heaving to & fro on the engine. It sounds like it's more on the driver's side and from down the back of the engine somewhere. So, likely candidates are an engine mount, a torsion stabiliser of some sort etc. Does anyone have experience of any particular parts that give trouble like this? Mountings that tend to fail? Anything like that? Thanks. Any help appreciated. Can't keep turning the radio up. :think:

Hello Just come across this thread .... hmmm, better late than never. I've checked one of my coil packs and it has the following numbers: 06A 905 115A ELDOR 78250002 17F2 03/04 These numbers don't seem to correspond to any mentioned in this thread but presumably suffix A came before the ones mentioned above. Are they likely to be ones that cause trouble or should have been replaced? My car is a 54 plate vRS Estate, is on variable interval servicing and has been serviced at a Skoda main dealer for the last 5 years. What do you think? Thanks.

Thanks for your views. I suppose I'm just confused that everywhere in Skoda's own documentation, it seems to suggest that the cam belt be changed at 60k miles. Certainly there is mention of inspecting the belt before then but there's no mention of it being necessary to change it on a time only basis. Just seems to me that if the manufacturer has fitted something with a mileage specified life (which probably they have stated on the conservative side anyway) then for it to need changing at half to two thirds of its supposed serviceable life is not very good. However, real world experience of owners is always very useful and obviously there is an issue here. Maybe it's a bit of a design weak spot? It sounds as though it's almost automatic to replace the (plastic?) water pump at the same time. There seems to be mention of an all metal replacement pump in some posts. Is that a pattern replacement unit or a modified Skoda original part? Anyone know, please? Added note: Thanks FordFan - so you're suggesting that the real problem is the water pump and not the cam belt it self, which should last the specified time. Good point. OK - since posting this, I've found another thread with all the gen, so I guess I have my answers. thanks anyway.

Just looked at mine and it is indeed just glued on. It stands proud of the vertical grille bars and spans three of them. Good glue, I guess!