Miikey63

Hi Nigel, Yes, I discovered that there's no progress to be had from removing the skoda viking sticker symbol. As I've worked with this transponder before, and the Hella 434MHz matches, I think there are two possible locations. One is under the text label into which the key-stem folds, and the other is top right of the battery positive contacts. I think this second one is more likely. I don't see it falling out past the metal contacts when the battery is swapped as they block this hole well (see second pic). The plastic clip to the top would be a convenient cover to protect the transponder chip.

Thanks NTA16. All suggestions gratefully receieved. I can see two <~1mm roll-pins, one holding the mechanical keyway stem, and the other as the pivot point of the spring-loaded mechanical key. It wouldn't be the first thing I've disassembled with the outcome of the neccessary spring escaping somewhere into my office.

I didn't need any violence to get to the point in the picture. Popping the right plastic clip did the job. The spring terminals for the battery don't leave space at that level for the coded chip, but it could be to the left of the positive plate contacts, or under the text where the folded key parks. I don't find any easy clips to pop to get the remaining two halves apart, and I want to keep it in a state where I can re-assemble it into a working key when I'm done as it's a mechanical match to the car. Any help here? the main body looks like two plastic shells clipped together, but unlike e.g., laptops, it's not a case of working around the outside with a plastic lever tool.

Well, I'm sorry I'm boring you, but I think some readers will find it a fun fact that the security chip in their key was developed by Australian farmers so they could quickly count and register flocks of many hundreds of animals by placing an inductive loop over the gate / sheep dip and then driving the flock through them, with an immediate read-out of any missing animals. I worked with these first in 1992. It charges using inductive loop power like power share or loop charging on a smartphone, or the inductive loop on a Braun electric toothbrush stand. You can't re-program the chip code, but you can re-program the ECU that it's a valid code to operate the car. We distributed validation amongst several ECUs so changing just one wouldn't let the car accept a new key.

I can tell you exactly what that is. It is the coded chip, and the inductor allows it to receive power from probably a coil around the key barrel under the cowling. When it gets enough power, it transmits its code. We use them at my OEM employer. What amuses me is that it is an Australian design used to count sheep as they are driven through a large inductive loop gateway. Each sheep can be individually logged.

Hi all. Anyone got the instructions for replacing the drivers door handle on a Mk3? I bought a pdf download off Estsy but the pictures are all blank. One source had the picture but I can't find it now. I think it was something like, '1-insert at 90 degrees', '2-close then push towards hinge point'. The handle fits back with no real force at all, but then does not unlock the door, so the above makes sense to me but that's not to say it's correct. All help appreciated, Thanks, Mike

Thanks Mark. I have an EE degree and enough kit to check a new battery. Where it fails for me is the User manual claim that a fully discharged fob will be sync'd with the car if a button is pressed for 10s without battery, then with a new battery, within 8s press any key on the remote.

Fallen out? Surely it's soldered to, or due to the high frequency, is part of the PCB. I find that on my 2019 Fabia, it was intended for the EU and only the passenger side has the cutout to pop the cover off the key barrel. Unfortunately, press a button then unlock didn't cause the ECU to learn my second key.

Well, I can tell you where that crashed n burned twice on my 2017 Fabia: Just changing the battery did not allow the fob to operate the doors the front doors do not sport mechanical key-locks I'm sure Skoda saved $10/Fabia by deleting the locks, but it's a bit short-sighted. What happens when the battery fails, or e.g., the interior light is left on, and you can't get into the car to open the bonnet?

Thank you pab: it's somewhat my expectation. There are so many options on modern cars that there are really never the two the same made. The cost of custom looms is large (surprisingly, still hand-made) and the shelf space on the production line drives the factory into complaint mode. It wasn't registered in the UK till 2019 so a march build was also expected. As much as I like adaptive cruise control, and it is a nice feature, along with lane departure warning, which my Wife hates, the powertrain ECU isn't going to recognise same without a dealer reflash. But the knowledge that it can be done is appreciated. I'm sure the upgrade is a £4-figure number, but I will enquire and report.

@pab567 , can you check mine? first registration was 31st May 2019. VIN is TMBFR6NJ3KZ126968. The reason I ask is that Skoda is at the cheaper end of VAG and, apart from the adaptive cruise ECU and the column switch, has the hardware to run adaptive cruise. I'd not be surprised if the wiring looms are carry-over from the higher spec. cars.

That 145 weighed 1300kg. The reason cars are so heavy today is for NCAP crash ratings. Your 'A' pillar (holds the windscreen) is probably a steel box inside a steel box inside a final steel box. My classic 1971 mini weighed 700kg and our 2001 MGF weighs 950kg. Which is why an original Golf GTI is probably faster than the current one. Probably not true of a Focus RS as that gets the same 2.3L 4-pot GDI Turbo with 350hp that goes into the Mustang. Plus a really trick front diff that runs traction control using two half-shaft electric clutches. Without doubt, if I'm going to have a wreck, I'd rather be in a modern car.

When we (family) moved back to the UK in 1968, my Dad ordered a Volvo 145 Estate from the Ipswich concessionaires, the only Volvo one in the UK at the time. The car arrived from Ghent, Belgium, on time into Ipswich. We flew in from Lusaka (Zambia) and the car was supposed to be in long term parking so we could pick it up and drive to my Grandparents in Cornwall. But no car. Dad got on the phone, and, as he had done the importing personally from Lusaka, the Volvo dealership had never seen one before. So, rather than deliver it as promised, they held onto it so they could get all their regional sales folks back from wherever to look at and review the car. Dad had ordered the 145S (twin carb 120hp 2.0L) because we had an Amazon in Africa and it was bullit proof. The running gear is essentially the same. We, self, brother and Mum, got on a train to Truro. Dad got on a train to Ipswich to extract his (paid for) car from the Concessionaires. I just can't imagine anyone would expect such a plan to work today! If anyone remembers 'The car's the star' with Quentin Wilson from the 1999, that was Dad, with pipe & dark green Volvo and 120,000 miles on the clock: filmed behind a garden gate of a home counties pretty cottage that wasn't ours, but the Producer had knocked on the door just to check if anyone was in.

My 1968 Morris Traveller is on 145 width tyres with truck leaf-springs, rotary friction dampers and drum brakes all round. I commuted from Essex to Glasgow every month for a decade in that car. Unfortunately, I modernised and tuned it a bit too much using my mini parts to the point where the engine expired spectacularly at about 80mph on the A12. With the plugs out, oil came out of cyl #2 & coolant out of cyl #3. Fortunately, I have a spare midget 1275 to recon and swap for the 1098 it came with. I modernised it enough to be a working commute car. I think standard was 45hp new, and it's about ~65hp now, enough to keep up with modern traffic. Then I put in a new mini heater, because the door seals leak past the locks: which is why, when you pass one in Winter, the occupants are in coats and scarves. Then swapped the dynamo for an alternator, and added one of my ignition modules so it starts. Plus the remote Lucas (now Delphi) remote servo from the original mini Cooper. Plus some reclining seats with headrests from a montego or allegro, I forget which but the grey leather was a reasonable blend with the interior pale blue trim, because the OEM ones were like those in an original mini with a 90 deg bend that's excrutiating after a few hours. And yes, it has a hand-crank, which is a cool way to start a car but needs a warm-ish engine and a complete guess at where the choke needs to be.

The 3-pot 1.0 matched with the DS7 Audi twin-clutch manual is the car's best feature. It's well calibrated but it will make some bad choices if you force it into manual changes to get onto a busy junction. That engine, BTW (biased) is a copy of the Ford 3-pot that won Engine of the Year 5 years in a row from Engine International magazine. It's in the Fiesta, Focus, Puma at 165hp. And yes, my Wife inherited the car from my Mum. Her favorite feature is that it pairs with the music on her phone. Mum was scammed by the garage in Cornwall to the extent that they added £1000 to the price between the test drive and her buying it. Helston Renault dealer IIRC. Then they failed it on the first MoT, under false pretenses! It's accurate that there are few small autos in Cornwall due to the terrain, but there were 10 of the same within 10 miles of me, and I'd offered to inspect, select and buy one to take down as a test drive shake down (250 miles). I'll get off this soapbox now. It drives well, has decent handling, and is light enough to annoy the odd German saloon driver who is confused about how fast (or more specifically, heavy) their large saloon is. I would never have picked it as a car, but I like it. Most cars today have a built-in modem with mobile comms. Fixing some issue with an Over-the-air update is so much more convenient for you than having Y'all bring your car into a dealer. Hopefully, at some early point, the car asked you if it could gather data on your usage. Teslas are filming everything that goes on, all the time, and I know that because we taped up its cameras when we pulled one apart to benchmark. Which amuses me because Ford Blue-Cruise consistently beats Tesla's 'Full Self Driving' in comparitive tests. If you're fine with your car being as reliable as your phone, then enjoy your Tesla. @Nigel, is that a Saab 99?

I wish I could Nigel. Brake Assist has been an EU requirement for a while now, and my Fabia has it. It's kicked in a couple of times. I note that, if stop-start is active and the engine stops, then Brake Assist also refuses to operate, as does the speed limiter. I just get an exclamation mark. The front-facing 77GHz radar is the key sensor to Brake Assist, so if it's raining, not clear of leaves, collecting snow or salt from the road, or otherwise not clean and clear, then I can understand why the system would refuse to operate. Picking a technical explanation, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who discovered the Cosmic Microwave background radiation, originally went through many sources looking for the error: including pigeon droppings in their horn antenna. I don't think that's likely for us unless there's a sharp-shooting pigeon somewhere. But the place to start would be to check that the antenna embedded in the front grill is clean and clear of obstructions. I'll bin it with the mandatory tyre pressure monitoring system TPMS: the car knows which tyre is low. Why can't it just say which??? Would I believe it anyway? Probably not, as those sensors are maybe 2% accurate, so what it thinks is low is 30psi not 32psi. My personal experience is, if a tyre is flat, you hear it, and you feel it when cornering.

If you've wondered why stop-start sometimes does and sometimes does not work on your Skoda, then I can add to the information because I work for an OEM. If your car hasn't been driven for so long that the battery is low and it isn't sure it can re-start, it won't stop If the engine is not warmed up, it probably won't stop. Starting a cold engine needs a charged battery and warm engine. If you have the A/C on, which loads the engine, then it probably won't stop If you have a light touch on the brake pedal, it probably won't stop If you gently brake to join a queue, you did the right thing but it doesn't know. So it probably wont stop unless you increase pressure on the brake pedal. That last 'change of mind' case is about the most difficult to deal with. You as driver have so much more information than the car. Something to celebrate: you're much more intelligent than your car.

The adaptive Cruise Control is a separate ECU, but I would gamble that the connector is there. The column control stalk is different as mentioned. The irony here is that the 77GHz front facing radar behind the grill is the expensive item in the system. On older Skodas, this was a dealer upgrade, which I would happily pay for, but my Fabia is 2017 so I expect the dealer will say not possible as per pad567's comment above. On a related topic, I'll mention I work for an OEM and have two degrees on the topic of Embedded controllers (ECUs). Why is the speed limiter so unreliable? I'd be publicly flailed if I released anything as unreliable. If the car stops under engine stop-start, the limiter quits. If the horn antenna is full of water, mud, snow, yes, it can't work properly. But on a freshly washed car, a warm day like today, sunny, dry, it still gets the hump and wont work. 200 mile round trip, M25 special with 50mph for "System test", and it works at best 10% of the time. Is there some technique to have the limiter work all the time?

Is there some source from which I can buy a full pdf manual? I must VPN into the USA not to be blocked. Haynes seems to have quit with printed manuals. I don't want my roadside repair on the side of the M82 in the rain to be based upon my VPN working and my mobile connection and data limit. Thx, M.

@SuperbTWM There's so many posts about VCDS that it's difficult to get a clear answer on any specific question. Is there a Wiki? If there is, point me to that and I won't bug people on here. Please correct as required. So far I have: * VCDS is a 3rd party tool from Ross-Tech with a full version that needs uses the cable / dongle for permission to run. o I see some say you need German, so maybe that's 'VCDS from VW?' o So maybe VCDS is an edited version of VAG-COM? * Cheapest option is Hex-V2 wired at 'only' $199. So I'll just bin full VCDS as $199. It says one CAN and two k-line. o I got that wrong. Ross-Tech want a further $96 to ship to UK. Now buying Hex-V2 from Cornwall looks good value * Does a 2018MY SE really have only one CAN bus? I'll assume it goes to a gateway module that routes to the other CAN buses, hence VCDS can both change setting for the powertrain control module and revise the central locking operation. * Am I right that, before it connects to a car, there's no ability to see what VCDS can do? Or does it have a 'demo' mode? Thanks in advance, Mike

Wow! You experts are really delivering VCDS isn't a full ECU flash tool but a modifier of EEPROM calibration settings: interesting approach for the ECU. From @JoePeddos, the target switch stalk is on a 2015 fabia. Backtrack from @nta16. I will investigate and report; many thanks!

Jim, that looks just the job! Please can you check that they haven't removed the print function? I've tried firefox, edge and chrome and even the temporary html files don't have a copy of the manual itself. Thanks in advance Mike

Thanks Nigel. No-one ever accused me of babying a car 🤣. Many passengers have expressed a desire that I move in that direction. I'm more of the school that 'a happy tyre is a squeeling tyre', or, as I express it, if it never slides then you don't know where the limit is. I commuted in my Traveller to Glasgow from Essex monthly for about a decade, and then we drove it to Cornwall as my Wedding car. Before that, I'd pepped the 1098 up to about 70hp so it would top at about true 85mph and I didn't have to fight with lorrys, oil dampers instead of friction dampers, alternator, electronic ignition, comfortable, adjustable leather seats in matching colour from a montego turbo (sounds bad but it worked), that remote Lucas brake servo from mini Cooper, alarm, proper 3.5kW heater core from a modern mini, 5-speed gearbox from a sierra... My goal was Classic looks and reliable modern traffic capability. Handbook downloaded. That's going to be useful when I get calls from the other drivers who may not have paid the requisite attention to my wise words. I expected the Handbook to apply to all models so I must experiment to discover whether my lowly SE can do as it claims. I was pleased to discover a full-sized spare in the boot That's one 'space saver' hunt task off the list. Cheers, Mike

Thanks @HeavyMetalRich I'm not worried about reflashing as I work in Powertrain Controls for Ford. I'm more concerned about finding exactly the right image for the engine at the same EU-6 emissions calibration level, plus cruise control. Ideally, I'd have both the existing image so I can revert the car to factory standard: and the target image with cruise. Car build was in 2018, so it's potentially at Euro 6b 1-sept-2015 as a facelift only with carry over powertrain; or a Euro 6c 1-sept-2018 if qualified for that; or Euro 6d TEMP, same date, effectively Euro 6b + lower particulates and RDE Real world Driving Emissions introduced due to Dieselgate. Where do the images come from? Can VCDS suck an image out? Cheers, Mike