Stevieboy

Hi, I need to book my much loved vRS PD TDI in for it's four year service at 24'000 miles. Two different main dealers have had the pleasure of quoting me £520 extra over and above servicing cost to have the cambelt done. (I've seen the various forum posts on to do or not to do the cambelt at 4 years and the jury is still out on that one). Up to now, the car has been main dealer serviced. However, independent servicing might soften the blow....so I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good independent in the Surrey area? Particularly, has anyone used Peter Cooper Car Repairs in Byfleet and if so, were you pleased with their efforts? Thanks Steve

Hi, I had the same symptoms.....exhaust gas warning light on with no loss of power but maybe a fractional loss in economy. The diagnostics always gave the same warning which was replace glowplug in number 3 cylinder. Car was more in than out of the garage.....glowplugs replaced, new ECU, exhaust sensors replaced etc.... Turned out to be an earthing fault, which was one of the things that was checked first. Although the bolt was tight, the plastic harness wasn't located properly so the plastic rim was breaking contact. Had the car from new, but the problem did not manifest itself until about 10'000 miles. I hope that helps. Tried to explain as well as I could but am not a technical person.

Ezlif, I had a problem with similar symptoms, i.e. control system for exhaust gasses warning light intermitently lit with no noticable effect on the perfomrance of the car. To cut a long story short, after several visits to dealer to repalce glowplugs, glowplug module and ecu, this fault was traced to a poor earth connection on the alternator. I'm not that technically minded, but I'd make sure that the dealer has tested all of the earth connections. Hope that might help. Steve

Update: So far, after three visits to the garage, I've had new glow plugs, new relays, a new ecu and now they are talking about a new alternator assembly, the thinking being that a dodgy alternator is sending some sort of spike to the ecu? I haven't even seen the car for 4 weeks! Scumspawn - did you ever get your problems resolved? It sounds like we have the same issue.

Hi Folks, I have been experiencing similar problems with the Control system for exhaust gases warning light on my vrstdi 170. The diagnostics according to the dealer give a warning on glow plug circuits 1 & 3. So far, the dealer has had the car three times, once for a day and a half where they fitted a fuse that was missing. This seemed to cure the problem for about a week. Then they had the car for two days to replace the glowplug control circuit which fixed the problem for about a day. This time round, they have now had the car for two weeks! They've replaced glow plugs on cylinders 1 & 3, checked out wiring but the car is still reporting a fault on circuit 1. They are now inclined to think thatthe ecu needs replacing. The problem is the repsonse from Skoda Uk seems to be so slow. The garage reports what they have tried, and it takes a day for Skoda to get back to them. I do predominently short journeys but have never had any dpf issues. Also, the car seems to drive fine, it's just the damn light is on all the time. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever see my car again!

Thanks for your replies and to VRStu for your offer of assistance. At the risk of coming across as a bit thick, what is a TSB? OZbolt and Scumspawn, sorry to hear of your problems. The car actually went to the dealer today so I'll keep you all posted as to the outcome. Fingers crossed it will be a quick fix and not some epic saga that will run and run for months. Thanks Steve

Hi Folks, A fault has developed on my cherished yr and a bit old Octavia vRS tdi (9000 miles) which I felt compelled to announce to the forum incase anyone has experienced anything similar. The engine management light (referred to in the manual as the control system for exhaust) displays intermitently. On each occurance, it lights when the ignition is switched on, goes out as normal when the engine is running but then comes on again a few seconds later. It then stays on permanently until it goes out a few days later of it's own accord. Then maybe a week or so later, it happens again. The car has been to the dealer twice. Each time diagnostics has reported 4 faults, one on the glowplug relay, a fault on glowplug 1, a fault on glowplug 3 and a fault on glowplug 4 with the recomendation that the glowplug in cylinder 1 is replaced. The dealer is sceptical that it is the glowplug and not some other electrical fault and want the car for up to 3 days to run further tests. Apparently if it does turn out to be the glowplug, they can't estimate how much time it will take to do as they have never changed one before on a 2 litre tdi engine. What are peoples thoughts? Thanks

Well, I thought I would take the oppotunity to say "Hi" I've finally seen the light and am now the pround owner of an Octavia vRS in silver. Bought from Withams in Hersham and was very pleased with their service. This looks like a great site....... I've a few questions to ask but thought it probably best if I read through the manual a bit first. Happy skodering!!