Throw_Rope

Crikey… Hmm… Well, as I said: I reiterate my thanks to posters here who have tried to help. Sorry but I really can’t be going back over the old original matters. It’s never going to be repaired within the vadge network, and I’m resigned to that. Vadge Spain do not give a damn, and the original selling garage ditto. All I need at the moment is to get rid of the vehicle image that’s occupying the dash display, as I can’t glance at the digital speed display, and also can’t view the scroll items like fuel range. The image (as in the photo) will NOT go away whatever I do. I’m now stuck with the permanent display as shown in the photo of 18-Nov. No amount of tweaking with the menus and buttons will make it go away, so that dash display is now useless. I don’t ask much of this car, but it’s determined to give me less and less it seems. Currently I’m trying to find someone who knows what they’re doing with problems like this. I’ve lost all faith in the vadge network, so it’s down to independents now. I’m not even sure the VAG guys have carried out the work they’ve charged for. For example, with the replacement tailgate latch there was absolutely no sign of the work. Maybe they were just very good at cleaning up after their work, or maybe they’re just good at cleaning up financially. Skoda certainly seem to be very focused on pulling money out of wallets. (brake fluid change anyone?) The two items of diagnosis equipment are what I’m homing in on, looking for the VCDS and the OBD II, and in the hands of somebody who knows and cares. Unfortunately that set of circumstances seems to be very rare in Spain. Question: I hope VCDS and OBD II are the correct descriptions of the vadge diagnostic equipment? My post of 02 February 2023 covers virtually all of the queries that people have made here. Plus of course, SINCE THEN another new stop/start battery (definite), a new tailgate latch (possibly), three more computer update revisions (possibly). And sadly the best part of €500 thrown away on that. I certainly know how to throw good money after bad… Cheers all! PS: Do you lock the car when it is not being used? Yes.

Well here I am back again after continuing to suffer this horror for many more months since last posting. Nothing has changed and it has actually got worse. I reiterate my thanks to posters from Jan/Feb 2023 who have tried to help. To date, I’ve wasted many hours on the ideas suggested. I (of course) gave up on the original selling dealer. It has now been looked at by two additional VAG garages, and one expat general garage that specialises in tuning. Nothing achieved other than damage to my bank account. The car is a constant thorn in my side and I’ve given up hope of it ever being correct to VAG spec, whatever that may be. The generic garage was the most help in the sense that they clearly knew what they were talking about, and were prepared to talk to me in detail about its history. The VAG garages were only interested in me paying the bill, saying ‘bring it back if it’s still a problem’. (and we’ll take some more money from you) One of them did seem to care and regretted not being able to get rid of the alarm messages. Changes since last posting: ANOTHER new stop/start battery, a new tailgate latch, three more revisions (computer updates). Best part of €500 thrown away on that. To get to the point and stop rambling on (ha ha) it’s recently developed a new fault on the dash display. Pic attached. I rarely let it go low on fuel, it’s probably gone into the red maybe three times in as many years. It then (sensibly) warns me with a ping message at ignition to get fuel. The change this time is that because of the ‘boot open’ warning on the dash, it strangely decided to tell me that it had TWO faults to clear, boot open AND low fuel, marking it on the display as 1/2 and 2/2, and that display could NOT be cleared by pressing the RH barrel button. It’s never done that before. On refuelling (it only went to 70Km range left) I expected it to go back to normal, but it didn’t and I’m now stuck with the permanent display as shown in the photo. No amount of tweaking with the menus and buttons will make it go away, so that display is now useless. If anybody has any suggestions what to do to clear it, I’ll be very grateful. Regards to all from a very wet eastern Spain. 🐵

@nta16 and @AGFalco - Thank you both for taking significant time in responding on this. My apologies for the delay in coming back to you. Firstly, on: there’s a bit more about me for info. I’ve been driving since 1970, so I’ve got through many cars/vans/trucks and never had such a horror as this Skoda. I don’t think of it as a car, more like punishment for my sins. I will try and answer/deal with the points and questions you’ve made: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BATTERY Keep the battery in a good state of charge because if it gets too low even if the car starts and the lights seem bright enough you can still get lots of unexpected issues. This because the VW computers and their programs don't like low battery charge. Normally it's the driver that lets the battery get in a state of low charge with use, abuse, neglect and mistake. VERY low mileage car - This will probably be part of your "battery" problem. Charge the battery FULLY an appropriate battery charger, check the Tudor EFB TL600 has been 'coded' in as a new battery to the car's computer program correctly. I personally cannot check anything to do with coding. I have a charger that varies the charge down as it charges (meter shows this). Also I can select 2amp or 6amp charge rate. I have a voltage/temperature unit as per the attached pic. Stationary (no loads) = 12.2v, engine running = 14.9v, the voltage immediately on starting briefly shows 11.9v, but only fleetingly. Once the car has been started it is rare to have the battery fail. Nice to know, but it did fail a long way from home. No way was I going to head back home in the dark on the motorway with everything dimming. Was the alternator tested at the time? I don’t know. Breakdown workshop at night. The mechanic was caring and appeared knowledgeable. The dealership should surely be able to detect poor charging? (if they can be bothered) MANUAL Part of looking after the car is to read and refer to the Owner's Manual, if you do so you will know more about your car than many long term owners - and sorry to say prevented many of the issues you've had. I bought the English version manual (car is Spanish) and have read all the appropriate parts. Not the best manual I’ve seen to be fair. A lot of jargon. I had to give up on cruise control - it never worked. Strangely, it also doesn’t mention having to charge the battery regularly to keep the car happy. RECALLS Just in case you could check for any Recalls as it not all your fault (that 'P' position thing wouldn't be you). https://www.skoda-auto.com/services/recall-actions Checked a while ago, and yesterday. No recalls apply. START-STOP SYSTEM There are many things that can affect as to whether the stop start will work. Fascinating. Don’t care currently as I disable it immediately on starting to save any ‘hits’ on the battery. ) I already suspected battery charge might be an issue, however it’s normally driven with virtually no electrical load in the daytime. (unlike UK with blower, lights, heated screen, wipers etc in winter) 120 on the motorway = 2,600revs, which should be more than adequate to charge. Of course the DSG7 box forces low revs asap in normal use. I hold gears at times to force decent revs as appropriate. The manual states that it’ll only start-stop when the oil is up to temp. That’s definitely not true. It seems quite the opposite at times. ACC SENSOR …new ACC sensor needs calibrating. Yes. Requested of dealership. Possibly done, possibly not. Same for battery, as they fitted neither. Both fitted in roadside breakdown circumstances… FRONT ASSIST Can be turned off. I know. It’s a pity the whole Hal9000 can’t be turned off. It is currently not on the menu to turn on OR off though. I don’t care as long as it stops stabbing the brakes on intermittently. Dangerous to me and all around me. That was why the new ACC Sensor was fitted on a breakdown. TYRES The TPMS does NOT measure your tyre pressure. Well I dunno… When selected on the dash there’s a pretty picture showing a ghost car and all tyres, which will flag up a problem if one tyre is lacking. I suspect the tyres only lose pressure because of the poor quality wi-fi valves. I always reset the pressures as [OK] when all done, c. every six weeks. This car has the worst pressure loss for me since the 1980s. All four tyres are equally poor. There’s no wheel damage. Dealership shrugged… THE SUPPLYING SKODA DEALERSHIP Go to another one. Helpful. They are few and far between here, not like the UK. I suspect they might not be competent either. Who knows? One 130 Km north of here, one 120 Km south of here. So unknown competence and distance complicates matters for drop off/collect. CONTINUOUS TAILGATE OPEN WARNING Is the boot light on when this warning comes on? You need to look in the boot without opening any door or the boot. This fault is permanent now. (used to be intermittent) The boot light IS on, and all courtesy lights would be on all of the time driving. I have to turn off the interior ones, as night driving would be dangerous. I’ve checked on ‘locking and leaving’ that ALL lights go out after a couple of minutes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Overall, I thought the dealership was waiting for the warranty to expire, to then charge me a lot for a ‘proper’ repair. They’ve charged (more than once) for what shows as a ‘Revision’, which I assume is a computer update. No work has EVER been carried out to fix the increasingly long list of faults. That’s what makes me think they have no idea what they’re doing. You’d think they’d want money for work… As I’ve already said in my OP, I’m (begrudgingly) willing to pay for a repair, but to date they’ve had it three times for 3 to 4 hours and each time done around 1 hour’s work (?) on it. The Revision charge varies, last occasion €80. My guess is that that is extortionate for clicking on a screen with an [Update] button which ultimately achieves nothing anyway. To date they’ve never fixed ANY faults it’s been in for, and that’s since new. When I pick it up they say “come back if it does it again”. Bonkers… I think I will try and find an independent workshop with a VCDS and a knowledgeable user. I don’t know if they will know about the appropriate coding for a Skoda though. And possibly also calibrating/coding the ACC Sensor??? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I can’t recall ever having a car that has let me down and irritated me as much as this one. It’s also the most expensive car I’ve ever bought. Lesson learned I suppose… On one of the ‘leave vehicle in position P’ supplied links above, I notice that @Chiselwizard has commented that he thought he was buying a quality car ‘to last him’. I feel I’ve been duped like that as well. A €22,000 car that is needy and throws hissy fits? What the hell has happened to this world?

Thanks for your welcome @EnterName. Twelve years here now...

Firstly, my apologies for the long post. My car is a Skoda Fabia III 1.0 TSI 110 16V DSG7 110 cv. It was spawned from Skoda Hell around January 2018. I live in eastern Spain, and in Spain car dealerships are typically multi-marque which I think reduces their marque knowledge a great deal. My local dealership handles Skoda, SEAT, VW, Audi. Possibly others. The car is okay generally, but the computer is crazy and ‘apparently’ cannot be fixed. My feeling is that the supplying Skoda dealership is not competent in diagnosis and repair. I call the computer thing Hal 9000 as it has a life of its own and is clearly not interested in what I want. (I just want to go A to B, like in the old days. Come back Kangoo, all is forgiven!) If anybody here can assist with diagnosing what the problem is, I’ll be eternally grateful. Hal 9000 is ruining what should be a good car. Apart from the computer with its stupid warnings, the car is fine. Breakdowns have cost me a lot. Hal didn’t think to warn me at all about the breakdown issues. He just invents fake problems and pings me with them. START-STOP SYSTEM The Start-Stop system has always been a problem from new, and it currently functions intermittently. No clues as to when it will actually work. I’m not over interested in this feature anyway. FRONT ASSIST & CRUISE CONTROL Cruise Control has never worked from new. I’m not very interested in this feature anyway. Front Assist has gone missing from the computer menu. No idea when it went of course. I didn’t know this even existed until someone carved in front of me and the car braked suddenly for me. The possible cause of this going missing might be a new ACC Adaptive Cruise Control sensor, which was fitted at the roadside in emergency conditions, due to the brakes operating suddenly, intermittently, for no reason at all. (loadsamoney!) The incident was very dangerous for my nerves AND the following traffic. From Googling this problem, I think the new ACC sensor needs calibrating or setting up? I still have the old unit, which is the original sensor from new. 12v BATTERY The battery (12v Start-Stop type) had to be replaced, again, at the roadside in emergency conditions. It just died one dark winter night on the motorway. (again, loadsamoney!) The replacement battery (the current battery) is a Tudor EFB TL600 60 with no problems apparent. I have triple checked that it IS a Start-Stop battery, but my Skoda garage say it is NOT, and they want to replace it with a new one at my expense. (will of course be loadsamoney!) GENERAL WARNING & WARNINGS WHILE DRIVING: Continuous Tailgate Open warning. (Tailgate Not Open!) It is dangerous to use the courtesy lights because of this error. (the lights can come on randomly while travelling at night) The Low Tyre Pressure warning is useless, it allows pressure drops of 8psi with no alarm whatsoever. I don’t care about that as I’m used to looking after my car in all respects. While driving Hal 9000 pings me with these messages: “Activate start-stop system” - Covered above. “Vehicle power consumption is high” - No idea what this is. Don’t care. The most common PING pain, with a VERY quick message. (VERY distracting) ATTENTION: WORKSHOP WARNING. ALWAYS LEAVE VEHICLE IN POSITION ‘P’. Sometimes five times or more in a two-mile journey. THE SUPPLYING SKODA DEALERSHIP The service department have NEVER been interested in fixing any problems, in warranty OR out of warranty. For example they’ve charged me three times for ‘looking at’ the ACC Sensor. I suspect that ‘looking at it’ is exactly what they do, and they have no idea how to diagnose, set it up, or repair it. They’ve outright refused to refund on the breakdown items, which have cost me a lot of money, danger and inconvenience. They don’t agree that the car is dangerous. They just say bring it in and ‘we’ll look at it’. Chargeable of course… MY WORRIES & FEELINGS My needs are simple needs. I just want a car to get me from A to B reliably. Being retired, I don’t do a high mileage. I don’t want all this computer technology that is being forced on us by the garage trade. It appears that they can’t diagnose or maintain it anyway. So this is the saga of a four year old, VERY low mileage car. I of course would love to see this car gone. It is the worst car I’ve ever owned, and I can tell you that I’ve had some pretty rubbish cars in my 51 years of driving. I love the car itself, but Hal 9000 makes using it soul-destroying and dangerous. To get rid of it, trade-in value is going to be a problem with the blatant problems, and anyway I’m not loaded and I want to keep it if it can be fixed. Selling privately is out of the question as I would not inflict this horror on anyone. Another concern of mine is getting used to ignoring the ping messages. Half the time the message disappears in a split second so I can’t read it. Otherwise it’s irrelevant/fake. I worry about the ‘Cry Wolf’ aspect of driving it, ie: one day the message will actually be genuine, I’ll swear at it as usual, and then it blows up. Before you ask, I’ve emailed Skoda Spain many times with all the details, pleading for a fix. Complete waste of time. I’ve also emailed Skoda Czechia many times with all the details, also a complete waste of time. It seems they’ve got the money for the car and that’s that. They’ve invited me to take the car in again and they’ll charge me again to ‘look at it’. I’m only willing now to pay to have the problem fixed, but they seem completely incapable of that. As I’ve already said, if anybody here can assist with diagnosing what the real problem is, I’ll be eternally grateful.

Hola amigos/amigas. Soy nuevo aquí como probablemente puedas adivinar. Hello Friends. I’m new here as you can probably guess. I lurked for quite a while before joining. This looks like an excellent community to me. I go back to the days when life was simpler. Contact breakers, spark plugs, Stromberg and Zenith carburettors etc. I used to be an AA man in the 70s. Jolly good fun. I’m now retired, and I’m an economic migrant in eastern Spain.

Thank you so much for that information. I had no idea that an independent might be able to assist with Hal 9000. My dealership has no interest whatsoever in resolving my problems. They’re very interested in my wallet however. I’ll retire to the Fabia III area now, and annoy people there. Cheers!

Great. Thanks for your help. I guess that the VCDS is in the dealership, and that the OBD is in the car? Everything I explore on the car comes up with ‘consult dealer’ or something similar... I christened the computer/display unit on the dashboard Hal 9000, as it is so unhelpful and annoying. Does it have an acronym as well?

VCDS. OBDEleven.

Hi There. I’m new here and I’ll be posting soon about my lovely Fabia III. Looking around here, there are acronyms and names that have no meaning at all to me. Is there an area/article where this tech-speak is explained? Cheers.