Oct@via13

Hi all, I’m trying to figure out whether it’s worth keeping my 2013 Octavia 1.2TSI manual petrol or just selling it. The car needs a one-off suspension arm ball joint replacement, cam belt and the rear camera warning light is on (since it has been wired to the reverse lamp). I only have service history from the last twoof years (as the delaer I bought it from in 2024 never actually provided the rest). It’s bigger than we really need and mostly sits idle, though it’s familiar and reliable and I can't fault it. Would you keep it and deal with the repairs, or sell it now and move on? I know what they say - don't sell a car that gives you no troubles - but the size of it, and the fact that I will have to spend 1k on it vs - selling it and getting something smaller, more city-orientated (London) for only 2k extra keeps bugging me.

I needed to remove the old badge some time ago. I am still able to see the subtle shapes of some of the letters so I will be able to stick a painters tape to provide a frame and leveling. Not sure on the spacing between the letters. I only need the OCTAVIA badge. I was looking for a mould or a cut out on the net but can't find any. Would you be able to subbest me anything?

I vought a second camera, exacy the same. Neither of them worked so I sent them both back. The seller and model came recommended thout, by one of the users here.

Yes, I upgrated it to a unit with video chip. Also went for a bigger display unit. However : Since I tried installing Sinosmart cam, I have a fault light for vehicle lighting (but that was attempted under the no video chip unit) Recommended 3rd party other cam doesn't work, also fault light still on even without sinosmart cam So - assuming that unplugging all 3rd party gear will make the fault light go away - I am considering going for genuine kit. If the light won't go away regardless of gear connected, I may try sinosmart again but with the new headunit. Also, Skoda dealership was unable to get rid of the fault light for me today claiming it's due to 3rd party cam being connected - even though that started under previous installation of sinosmart. So yeah, it's all good fun/learning curve/adventure.

Ok, so long story short: After numerous trials, errors, posts etc - I went to local VW specialist last wek, today I am back from a local Skoda dealership. Bottomline - my infotainment system won't serve a 3rd party camera, only a genuine one - the dealership quoted me £875 for it. A sum I would rather not pay. And since making off without a payment is not an option, please advise: What is the genuine part number? What will I need apart from the camera? Will any coding be required if the head unit is already coded and reverse cam is unlocked? All suggestions (apart those re chineese models) will be greatly appreciated.

If you mean if the infotainment system is coded for the camera - yes 99.999999%.

I went to a VW specialist yestarday. Charged me £102 (becausit turned out the original price of £85 was without VAT) just to produce the same fault codes I gave him in the beginning. He then advised me to just get back to original parts or get a brand new one from skoda, because they only deal with original parts. Now I called Skoda in Maidstone, they said fine they can take a look. It will cost me £80 for initial diagnostics. What hurts my wallet is I already paid for OBD11, for the local VW specialist, I am about to pay £80 for dealerahip so that's £230 that I keep paying to hear the same codes over and over again and I'm getting nowhere near fixing the issue and no idea how much it is going to cost me in total :/

Also fun fact - just called my local dealership and they said they can't do it for me - for some undisclosed reason they were unwilling to explain in details

Appreciate it. As this is a dealership - any idea what is the hour's labour cost? As I have no experience in the matter - that cn be for me anything from £50 to £300 and I just need an idea :)

Ok so I swapped the video cables and in obd11 now I get a message that quadlock cables are improperly sloted. So I reversed it back and no issue anymore but still no picture. Should I try and rewire the ceam from rear wiper to reverse loght? Also, since swapping the infotainment system, I got some new errors on the scan with 'compotent protection active' in the gateway and multimedia section. Is there any chamce that I am doing everything ok but the lock is what stops the video feed to the display unit?

I will give it a go, thanks!

I have the video cables in the quadlock in 6 and 12. The T-clips are on the power wire now with 12v (checked with multimeter). The ground is on a screw of the boot The flimpsy wires in the pic are just extensions from the video cable ro thw quadloxk. All soldered now and sitting nicely. I even run OBDEleven yesterday and it detects the camera but also reports a fault: no camera signal

I had the yellow round plug on the other end. Had to cut it off and create a split and solder extensions

Yes, the whole unit got coded before it arrived.

Just a quick one, hopefully. I am on.last stages of installing a reverse parking cam in my Octavia MK3. I just can't get the power/signal. I T-plugged the 2nd (red and green) cable from the rear wiper to the red cable from the cam - micrometer indicates 10v I connected the black cable from the cam to a body screw I connected the audio signal wires to port 6 and 12 in the blue square at the back of the infotainment system And I am still not getting any picture when in reverse, only message ParkPilot is currently unavailable

That's exactly to whom I reached out in the PMs and we are on track to sort this one out 😀

Appreciate it. I have no experience in coding though and don't know anybody who does that. There is one garage though in my area that allegedly specialises in VW group cars. If I install this cam by myself - would it be ok just to pop over them and pay for coding or it would be like an equivalent of bringing your own shampoo to a hairdresser (frown upon)?

My head unit is Bolero 5E0035820A.

I want to retrofit a reverse parking cam on my Octavia 2013. The trouble is, I bought one of the Sinosmart's off aliexpress and there was no feed from the cam, the display of the head unit was changing in reverse but there was no vid from the cam (connections were all fine). On one of the FB groups I was told that this is due to my head unit model not supporting a reverse cam at all. Is this true? What should I do/check next to actually go ahead with the installation? Please advise.

I’m considering retrofitting front and rear parking sensors on my Octavia MK3. I’d appreciate any advice from those who’ve done it before. What parts should I be looking for, where can I source them, and should I tackle the installation myself or let a garage handle it? Any tips (also on ensuring compatibility with thevhead unit and whatnot), links, or experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks!

That's brilliant, thank you!

D you reckon I should just visit an official Skoda dealership & Service in my area? There is 1 but I always feard they would try to skin me alive for some reason (huge building, lots of expensive materials, very corpo-feel)

This is QUALITY source material. Thank you very much!

Sweet Jesus and Marry.... ok. I hereby solemny swear that it was just a figure of speach and I DID NOT manually measure the incline of the hill in question nor have I googled it up and provided only an estimatet measurement based on my fatigued perception. I am also happy to confirm and take your correction that this hill is indeed not a 40 degree one. I hope that helps purify the air a bit.

To be completely honest - I am not too sure. I assumed when a full service is done, all sort of regular things gets checked up. Should I take it to a garage and ask for an actual full health check? Sorry, I honestly have little knowledge in the maintenance field, never had a car of my own for very long. As to @J.R., I only dream that he was raised by his parent (whom I have only utmost respect for) to be a bit less ridiculing person and don't mock people just because of something he finds hard to believe.