WillRB

Just update for anyone curious. I've had no issues with my battery since, everything works. and a quick top up every week or two does the job. I past my 6A charger to a friend and got myself the 4A, charging takes about 4-6 hours regardless of the duration between charges if it was a week or 2. Even in more colder weather now it's been faultless. I had to revive a car last week which was dead of a friend, as the charger is not super powerful it did take about 10 min of charging to be able to have enough power to disarm and unlock the car and turn the alarm off which was quite embarrassing. after this I left the car to charge over night at all was good in the morning. links for anyone interested 4A: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RSC806-Battery-Charger/dp/B082VBV2Z9/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ring%2Bcar%2Bcharger&qid=1678061464&sprefix=ring%2Bcar%2Bch%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-3&th=1 6A: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RSC806-Battery-Charger/dp/B082VB9H19/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ring%2Bcar%2Bcharger&qid=1678061464&sprefix=ring%2Bcar%2Bch%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-3&th=1 8A:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RSC806-Battery-Charger/dp/B087ZGVK6L/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ring%2Bcar%2Bcharger&qid=1678061464&sprefix=ring%2Bcar%2Bch%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-3&th=1 As other people have said the 4A is good enough and will be best for the long term health of your battery.

So I have payed attention to this and that's it! only happens when at 100% battery. so frustrating.

Hello all, I've had and issue with my android auto since i go the car about 5 months ago now, after about 20 - 40 min of driving with android auto it become useless, best way to describe it is as if someone is unplugging my phone every 20 seconds and plugging it back in. it is supposedly being "disconnected" and reconnected and it makes it extremely frustrating as it makes it completely unusable. I have tried different cables etc but no luck, I wanted to be quite patient as maybe a software update would fix but no luck even with the new cool walk update for android auto. I had the headhunt updated as well a few months ago to the latest update nut no luck. On a very small number of occasions a phone restart has helped but most of the time not. I don't really have the chance to try another phone as I don't have a spare one and often don't travel long distances with other people. I have a OnePlus Nord 2 incase this matters. Car is a facelift octavia from 2017 with "5Q0 035 874" - MIB2 Skoda Amundsen Any help is appreciated

I guess there is no harm in doing so. only takes about 2 minuets to set up anyway. yes the vid was good which is nice. This is so funny hahaha, but yeah, I know there are loads of very very very cheap OBD readers that work of an advert filled app. I guess they can be useful to get some basic stats from your car to show and maybe to give you fault codes but that's about it. That's what I am trying to aim for, charged it this pervious Saturday and it took about 4/5 hours to top up so plenty of time. Anyway thanks @nta16 @varooom @ords for all the help, really appreciated!

I guess that's the most likely outcome but as I said it is free to do regardless of the outcome. so I know I tried at least. I mean my fingers are still crossed.

Hard to find that balance sometimes but compromises have to be made I guess. On another note, Kwik Fit took the tyre and just asked for a photo of the bulge which I had printed and stuck to the inside of the tyre. Fingers crossed I hear some good news but doubt it. The lady said she has only done this once about 5 years ago so do people not try this? I would have guessed it would be more common as there is no downside for the consumer in trying at least. Anyway will probably be a long while until an update comes my way. See you in the future everyone.

Yes that is so true, Feel like my P-Zero's are great in the dry but shockingly bad in the wet and cold. Also where I got the replacement tyre from said they will take the bulging tyre and send it to Pirelli, they were unsure how to as nobody has done it before, interested to see how it goes.

Just got of the phone from Pirelli and had a really helpful woman explain that the new tyre fitter replacing the bulging tyre or the original fitter of the bulging tyre can 'legally' decline my request to send the tyre to Pirelli, guess that's good news and hoping we get somewhere. Will update if anything progresses.

Thanks for the reply, I know that's what it could possibly be but if it's all free to get it sent out and checked I fell its worth it. I mean if the bulge blew or got worse half way through the life then I'd have one new tyre and one half used and there is no playing catchup with tyre wear. I suppose I could drive around a nascar track though! This gives me at lease a little hope. I will have a look around and try to contact someone It could possibly be the stone you mentioned as you don't hear them but fingers crossed luck is on my side. This might be something I have to look into doing if they become a pain. Just currently wishing for summer and repaired roads as it's such a pain to drive so carefully at the moment.

Hi sorry for the late reply, had quite a busy weekend. The car is perfect. I have had no warnings pop up or any errors so can't complain. I think I should be able to charge the car every Saturday at work for about 8 hours which should be enough to counter a week of draining it especially if if the weather warms up and I do lots of longer drives. This is really good to know, thanks! Going back to @nta16and @varooommentioned about a battery change, I found this video and left me with no questions: How To Replace and ADAPT a VW or Audi Battery As I said i'm not ready to upgrade or change the battery yet but unless you think otherwise this video is quite good? Would you say the OBDeleven device he used was good and a good investment?

Yes!!! just finished so pretty much spot on 24 hours with the 6A one. very happy now!!! Very interesting read, but yeah it does make sense, didn't know about the gasses being released.

it may have been but was fluctuating and settled at this figure. yes threw it on the negative terminal of the battery. Only joking. looked at the owners manual and attached at the described location just above the battery at the back. I do try to be, was just being cautious with people coming up to the car and fiddling around with it. so tried to hide everything. exactly what is the issue apart from the obvious electrical short or fire

It was sitting at around 12.5/12.4 so clearly not great. Just checked and its at 14.6v now so I think not long until we are at full. I had a look around and taking into consideration the delivery speed I think £35 is reasonable. I did use an outside socket and the bad was in a way that air could get in easily but no water. I will keep it out the bonnet from now on, had not really thought about any danger like that. Will update tonight after the drive home.

Hello all, I recently had to replace a relatively new tyre (3months on the car and about 1.5k on it) and it developed a small bulge in the sidewall. this bulge never changed for the 2-3 weeks I drove on it like this after I noticed it. the bulge is tiny but I didn't want to risk it blowing up halfway down the tyres life so then I would have an uneven set of tyres or have to replace both. It's a Pirelli P-Zero 225/35 R19 so the replacement was not cheap. Now I was in contact with Pirelli and they said that I can get the tyre sent in for free for them to have a look for manufacturing faults as I do strongly believe it was not I who was at fault especially if you see my driving style. I do understand there is a low chance that I will be reimbursed for the tyre but as it's free to send it to them so why not. The issue I have is that it needs to be done though a dealer or tyre fitter as then are the ones who need to fill out the paperwork. I have called so many garages and all say they don't know how to do it or don't want to. Im looking at this in the way of entering a prize draw of £170 for free. What is the best plan of action for this situation and would love to hear if anyone has had any luck with the tyre warranty. If no luck i'll just clean it up and hang it on the wall somewhere, better than throwing it away. even better... make a coffee table out of it.😂 The tyre is in perfect condition otherwise, no cracks, cuts or uneven wear. manufacture date is from week 18 year 22 and was fitted start of October 22.

Yes hopefully work will let me use their power so that will be great if I can do it regularly. I put it on winter mode as it was about 5C and was staying around there so I guess that should be ok. can't lie the charger is great for the £35 I payed for it, can't complain. I have plugged the car in today at 7pm, charger was showing 1 bar out of 5 so clearly was not great, at 11pm I check the charger again at it was at 3 bars so we are making progress. Worked so great and I managed to attach it to the battery and hide controller box in the engine bay and run the cable through a gap so I could fully close the bonnet. ran an extension cable to the car and put that in a plastic bag and under the car. modern problems require modern solutions 😅. at least now I know any rain will not be an issue and I know the car is safe so no engine thieves are nicking my engine... phewww Will leave it on until late tonight so should charge for a total of about 28 hours. I honestly can't wait to be able to use my heating again and listen to some music, I have literally turned everything off in the car for the last week just to use minimal power. So so cold hahahah. will be back tonight to update how it went. 6A version on amazon: 6A Ring Automotive RSC806 Smart Battery Charger 4A version on amazon: Ring Automotive RSC804 smart car battery charger 6v 12v 4A

I was wondering when the cutoff point is for this, good to know, i'm guessing there is no harm in activating winter mode on a hot summers day right? thinking it's just a more 'gentle' mode but does take longer but... you never know 😂 I mean I don't see why this would be so bad, I mean just something on any of the displays would have been great, doubt it would have been much to program. come on Skoda!!! 😅

UPDATE: The issue went away by itself and has not come back for the last 2 months.

Very interesting, I defiantly would not do it myself, luck with these things is not on my side. I have ordered the 6A version and should arrive tomorrow, will let you know how it goes. That's also interesting, I will have a look around if I get the chance to see if this is the case on the actual battery and not just the cover. very true, I think 5 years is not that old yet anyway but who know how it was used.

Bellow is a post I wrote back on the 16th April 21 when we were selling our Mercedes C220 S204 from 2011 Original post: MBClub Forum "Hello all I just wanted to share my experience with owning my Mercedes C220 estate from 2011 (Facelift) as this is something I would like to have seen when considering buying one of these. As the final day's approach, I have decided to upgrade to the W205 for the simple reason of the large number of maintenance costs slowly accumulating. My car has just under 220,000 miles and has generally been flawless, there were a few simple/bigger problems as listed below but generally over the long period I had the car for it has been super reliable. I bought the car from a Mercedes dealer with 43000 miles back in 2014 and the second I test drove it for the first time I was so easily convinced to buy it. When buying used you always sign up for a big risk of not really knowing how much the previous owner cared for the car and how it was driven, so it's always a good idea to check or ask something about the previous owner and make your own assumptions from that. Buying from a Mercedes dealer seemed out of the question at first due to the price but I did not realise the condition they normally are in, In my case, there were absolutely no scratches and clearly, the car had been run-in and cared for properly by the previous owner as it went on to do many more miles. So I do recommend buying from a Mercedes dealer but just take your time and don't let them push you into anything that you are uncomfortable with like an unreasonably high price. The reliability has been really good with only the common faults really being an issue for me: 1 Fuel injector gave in and stopped partially working putting the car in limp mode. 1 water pump 1 radiator 1 master brake cylinder 4/ALL front suspension arms 1 Suspension coil Rear brake lines rusted through starting a leak and a slow loss of brake pressure 2 O2 sensors Rear Diff Boot started to leak but nothing major Oil pan snapped when an oil change was occurring as they are made out of plastic Some sort of power steering valve partially failed to cause occasional loss of power steering The spinning function of the rotary controller for the Sat-Nav (more info below) Things to watch out for: Timing chains on the OM651 engine can be an expensive issue if not treated early, Luckily on my car that was never a problem. It can be easily self-diagnosed by listening to a cold start best with the bonnet open for a rattling sound for around 2-3 seconds after start. On early facelift cars (2011/2012), the fuel injectors can cause an issue but this was later rectified by Mercedes. (unsure how pre-facelift cars were affected) The water pump can easily start a leak so check for any coolant splattered in the front of the engine bay. Personal experience: Make sure that if you have a tow bar fitted that the electrical connector is properly sealed and tucked away as water gets in and causes the indicator and some electrical equipment to go haywire (only temporary until water is cleared out and dried). The boot struts were rusted through so have a look at that, they can be easily and cheaply replaced by yourself. The rotary controller for the Sat-Nav/radio stopped working due to a plastic shaft on the inside braking. This makes the Garmin map pilot useless as it relies on the rotary controller and not the up/down left/right input of the rotary controller. The up/down left/right input still works and if you have the upgraded Mercedes Sat-Nav (Command I think) then this should work regardless if the rotary function works. All other functions still work regardless of Map Pilot or Comand as they can use the up/down left/right input. The front door kickplates Will fall off as they are really lightly wedged on unless you know magic to keep them in place. The original 7 spoke rims are so bad if you do lots of miles in adverse weather conditions, all 4 of mine the protective layer started to peel everywhere and caused many water pockets underneath the foil and this makes them look really bad and corroded, Structurally fine but not cosmetically. The passenger seat mat was faulty and caused the Airbag symbol to light up (Which would cause an MOT to fail). I always did my services on time and as Mercedes said, this I feel is very important in the durability department as good care for the engine pays off in the end, Some real positives were: The battery was still fully functional at nearly 10 years old. Economy on A roads (which I mainly did) was around 55mpg and when on the motorway could easily get above 60. on long journeys we did we could get around 750 miles (1200 km) on 1 tank so the economy was amazing. The intelligent light system I think is really something to go for as not only does it illuminate the road really well but it also makes the car look so much better, also they last longer as they have a mix of Bi-Xenon lights and LED's. There are still a few old halogen (I think) lights scattered around the car but none of these ever broke. The car technically never let me stranded anywhere in terms of a breakdown and the things that broke always left the car still drivable. Sorry about the long post but I wanted to share my experience with the car for new buyers, also please correct me with anything that I have said that is wrong. Please feel free to ask anything if you have any questions. Thank you also for all the help I have received over the last year on here👍" Hope this helps anyone looking into getting one of these.

I don't think i'm ready just yet, I will definitely have a look at all the options you and @nta16 have suggested. I didn't even know there were so many types. Also regarding a new battery and the coding, how hard is that? could I take it to my local garage and see if they could help and what happens when you don't code the battery? Thank you for the suggestions, I may be able to leave the car at work for a good few days if I plan an alternative where I should be able to charge it for about 3 days. I will have a look on eBay for these models. In my case it was under the positive terminal cover as shown in the pic (Sep/17) Just a huge thanks to everyone helping out, honestly incredible.

Ahhh ok that's good to hear, was thinking the previous owner may have gone down the cheap road to replace potentially.

Thanks for the reply, I think that's what ill need to do to keep the battery toped up. Some users have suggested some brands of chargers but is there anything I need to watch out for in terms of features? or do you have any specific model suggestions, also how many amps would you say is suggested to have it slow enough to help with the longevity of the battery but not too slow that it takes a good few days. Attached is a picture of the battery incase this helps, personally never heard of the brand and don't think this is what Skoda supplies with their cars? so must not be original.

I mean fingers crossed haha, you'll know it's fixed if there's no video

I should think so. Back in December when we had that week of bellow 0 temps the car was flawless so once I get back to enjoying the car properly it should lift the issue. Yes that's a good idea, I will have a look around for a charger and whenever I get the chance i'll throw that on, I guess every little helps. I normally always have an emergency solution so I should not be stranded (I've definitely just jinxed that)

Normally it will release when I hit the accelerator in my case but don't really ever do this as it can be quite abrupt with taking off, I will record the next time I'm taking off cold so I can show you what It looks like (demonstration effect will most likely case the car to not do it now)