gavindjharper

Dear All, I've got an electrical problem with the car, I I wondered if anyone had anything similar occur. It is a 56 plate L&K which has done 1.9 TDI 205k miles, so it doesn't owe me anything, but I'm quite fond of it and so keep trying to fix the niggles. A couple of weeks ago, I was on the Motorway, and the dashboard lit up with the red "Oil Pressure" symbol and STOP Oil Pressure Engine Off on the Maxidot, the Engine Check light, and told me to take it into a garage. I drove onto the hard shoulder, called the RAC, who said that they thought it was an oil pump... and then was Relay recovered back to Wales. My mechanic put a pressure gauge on the oil, and said that it checked out fine. He suspected it was the sensor. The sensor was changed, and the car appeared to run fine. About 60 miles down the road, the same thing happened again, but as he'd checked the oil pressure and the engine sounded fine, I kept driving - and it continued to drive fine. I suspected that something electrical might be wrong, but beside lighting the dash up once in a while, the car kept trundling along. I then lost the cabin fan, the Climatronic was working fine, but the fan wasn't - the temperatures would change on the screens, but the fan wouldn't come on. I later noticed that the reversing lights wouldn't work, so searched the forum, and found out that it was one of the 5A mini blade fuses in the drivers side - I think fuse 6. Changed that, and all worked fine. I've had a few faults with the Maxidot telling me that bulbs weren't working, but the filaments seemed fine, sometimes after a wiggle they have worked. Then, I've had the airbag fault light come on, and so I let my friend the mechanic know, and was going to drive back this weekend for him to have a look at this. Then, on the way home, the car again had a paddy on the M6, it started with the Oil Pressure light beeping as before in addition to the airbag light. Then the Glow Plug "coil" symbol started to flash. The Maxidot has displayed faults including "Oil Pressure" "Emissions something or other" and the car shuddered to a halt on the slip road on to the motorway. Also, I noticed that the rev counter had dropped to zero but engine was running. I tried to start it a couple of times, but it sounded "rough" and wouldn't start. Stuck the hazards on and tried to stay out of the way. Traffic officer turned up to move me off the slip, I said it wouldn't start.... he said.... just try... well, the b**ger turned over first time and sounded fine. Drove slowly to the refuge, and then relayed back by the RAC. My mechanic has stuck it on the computer, and said that there are a ton of "fault to earth" error codes coming up, so he suspects the problem is electrical rather than a mechanical fault as so many things have gone all at once. Thinking about areas where there might be an electrical problem: - We recently replaced the bootlid, and one of the wires, I think the earth, needed splicing as the lid from the breakers had a wire cut. - The B- pillar trim on the drivers side kept popping off, so was put back into place - is there anything in the B-pillar that could have been disturbed? - I'm quite heavy on the drivers seat and the plastic trims on the side with the electrics came away, so we cabled tied back into place. I understand there are electrics under the seat that sometimes fail - but could this explain all of the errors above? Things I have found so far: Water Ingress between Car & ECU I would welcome any ideas... Many thanks, Gavin

Right...MkII 130k L&K 56 Plate.... Can't really afford to replace or change... so trying to keep the car going. It's an L&K and got a few bits on it that I really like.. and I'm just "comfy" in my car, so I'd like to try and keep it going for as long as possible. I was rear-ended by a van about a year ago. Rear end damage, but also, after doing quite a few miles, realised that the engine mount had broken at the front (the air con bracket e.t.c.). Got this fixed. Drove around a bit... Noticed car was very noisy, lots of people said it was the DMF, but then all of a sudden... Bang clunk, same thing happened again, but this time it was a different mount, and a bit had broken from the engine. So... imported one of these Van Gogh brackets from Diesel Geek http://www.dieselgeek.com/VW_Engine_Block_Bracket_for_BRM_TDI_p/vg-brm.htm Fantastic fix, saved junking the engine... job done. Really great little solution. Anyways... job done... still noisy DMF... friend said drive around until it gets noticeably worse... which it has. So... he's done a whole list of things. Rear brake discs, rear wheel bearing, (this car is getting like Trigger's Broom)... Cam Belt change, water pump e.t.c. and converted the DMF to a SMF with a new clutch.... and he's been mega cheap and lovely as he knows I'm trying best to keep it on the road! Only problem is, now the gearbox seems really noisy... after having a good listen, it seems like there are bearing issues.... Now... questions... I read about noises and engine mounts e.t.c. and I'm wondering if gearbox problems might have been caused by / exacerbated by engine mount problems e.t.c. Is there anything I should bear in mind? Does anyone know of a good gearbox specialist.. we are in Mid Wales, but anywhere on the route from here to Milton Keynes would be helpful. Is it worth taking in gearbox? Am I likely to save over just buying a box from a breakers... any advice?

OK, so had a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the insurer. A friend who investigates accidents managed to give me some ideas, and as the car had been serviced not long before the accident I have a record of everything being there in place before the accident. The new complication, is that they may decide to write the vehicle off if the vehicle was re-assessed by the engineer, and there are complications with going down this route... so... I'm looking at cash-in-lieu and trying to repair the back damage and also the engine bracket for what they would have repaired the rear for... not an impossible challenge I am hoping.. So - what I'm wondering, the bracket is clearly broken, as is the cam belt cover - but as I drove for a bit without realising would I have knackered any other bits and should I look at these when they replace the bracket on the front? Where would I go to find out part numbers for bits e.t.c. Anyone done this job before, and any advice for my mechanic friend.

Well, didn't realise it was a serious problem, just sounded like a little rattle to me, which could have just been age of the car. I dismissed it at the time as one of those things. Inspector only looked at the outside of the vehicle to assess bodywork damage. Would have made more fuss had I thought something was damaged, but as the car went forwards backwards left and right - I assumed it was roadworthy as no obvious reason why it wasn't. We've had major building work going on and a death in the family, so I suppose my mind has been elsewhere - and just trusting the insurers e.t.c. to do their job. It happened 17th of April, and it's still not been done. It appears that there are a few people who have experienced catastrophic engine failure after this particular engine mount have broken. I am thinking myself lucky that that hasn't happened. A number have been involved in low-speed shunts, it seems some have been fairly new cars, and there has been to-and-fro between Skoda and the Insurers as to who is liable. The car has done over 110k miles without this mount breaking in service, and it's not a service part so I can't see how it's anything other than the sudden impact of the accident? I don't drive the car on anything other than the road, it only does long distance motorways e.t.c visiting family and into town for shopping e.t.c. it's not as if it's a rally car or used off road or anywhere it would experience any sort of force to split a cast alloy component in two?

Hello room, My car sustained a rear-end shunt on the M1 from a van. He hit me, pushing me forward about 6 foot, into a Passat - however, the car absorbed the impact, and by the time I reached the Passat, the force was only enough to crack my front numberplate. The rear bumper is broken, and the bootlid is dented to give you an idea of the force of impact. I had been driving the car for quite a number of miles, and noticed a low-speed rattle. I thought, from searching the forum that this might have been a loose heat shield or something age-related. When I took the car back to my Dad, who has a lot more experience with cars, he said that the noise was serious and warranted further investigation. We took it to our friendly mechanic - from a drive aorund the block, he thought it might be CV joints... however, he then removed the cover from the engine, and noted that the front engine mounting had broken (the one that also attaches the alternator), the engine had dropped, and the cam belt cover was broken and the cam belt exposed and starting to chafe. Obviously had I known all of this, I wouldn't have driven the vehicle because I thought it was just cosmetic damage. The independent engineer originally just looked at the outside of the vehicle, didn't take any look at the engine bay. I sent photos of the engine mounting, which is cast, and has broken in half - you can see the socket for the threaded component split in two and pieces of metal in the engine bay. The noise wasn't happening before the accident - and was afterwards... The independent engineer, is now trying to say that they don't think the damage to the engine mount is as a result of the accident. The mechanic, who we have known for some time, said that the engine mount is a cast part, and therefore is brittle. It could break with impact stress. Obviously it was the back of the car hit, not the front - however, I am guessing that as the vehicle was driven forward, with the engine stopped, abnormal forces would have been transmitted through the drivetrain which could cause the damage. As the vehicle was accellerated from a resting position, to whatever speed the vehicle behind was travelling at suddenly, and then again to a stop as it touched the Passat in front. Has anyone got any experience of this sort of thing, could anyone advise me on how to pursue this? Also, how to I tackle things with my insurer? They are using an external claims management company who seem really slow and pretty rubbish.

Is there a particular knack to parking with low profiles? - If so... pray tell.

Hope no offence / problem has been caused :( Can you please define what "level 3 trim" is, are there different levels and how does this correspond to L&K / Elegance e.t.c. Are there levels 4,5,6,7,??

Stunning Ta!

http://carsoftheworld.eu/foto/wydarzenia/2008%20BEIJING%20-%20Cars%3B%20photo%20RJ%20%28G-Z%29/640x480/Shanghai%20VW%20Skoda%20Octavia%20Mingrui_1.jpg http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/FFAB809B-88E4-41E4-A1D9-323CBE8D5842/42-18616732.jpg Any chance you can screenshot it? I've never used EKTA before so got no idea what you are looking at..... If you look at the pictures above of said Ming Rui's, there is a chrome line at the top and a body coloured line at the bottom. I can't believe the two would come as a single part as the masking up would be a horrible job Take the example of the Grille; its not sold as a one part, there is a chrome bit and a black bit, so surely it would be the same with the bumpers? I can't see how they could sell a part as "glossy" when they aren't offering a range of colours, do you get me? I'd love to know where to get the LED rear lamps from... is EKTA updated every so often? Were these lamps shown at a motor show prototype or are they in production? Was thinking about getting some FL rear lights, but ow I will definatley hold on until I can find a source for these. There are some posts on the german forums (which I have read using Google Language Tools) and there is a little community that have made homebrew rear LED bulbs using a lot of surface mount LED's custom etched PCB's and resistors to fool the CAN BUS... but it just looks like a bunch of LED's in a standard housing... at least these are proper OEM rear lights. I guess the chances of them being CE marked are slim to none - as my uncle always says when he buys something CE marked from China.... it stands for "Chinese Engineering" - especially when said mark is obviously an afterthought or stuck on with a sticker rather than being integral to the product . What is the betting that the UK FL Octavia gets these in a couple of years time?

have u got number for the primed? i think you need both pieces?

The Ming Rui is the posh version of the same... although many on here would contest it should have been called the Ming ing lmao The bumper and door strips are listed as different part numbers from "primed" and "glossy" I think that the primed must be the body coloured bit, and glossy is just a poor translation of chrome, unless they offer glossy in a range of colours? so if you have the part numbers for glossy too it would be welcome! I havent got prices yet, but apparently if i spend over 15 quid on parts, I get free delivery, and if I spend over £25, they give me free prawn crackers and a bottle of pepsi.

Mike, you are a very very kind man... Can you tell me - is it just a single part number, for what I presume is both a supporting body coloured strip "in primer", which then needs to be sprayed body colour, and the chrome overlay? There are a couple of different trim level chinese Octavias, some have jsut a body coloured bumper, some have the chrome insert.... do I need two part numbers for each? Also, will teh chrome surround be any different from the one I have? Can I just order the grille and insert it into my surround? Thanks for your encouragement! Door trims front left 1ZD853 515, front right 1ZD 853 516, rear left 1ZD 853 753, rear right 1ZD 853 535 Boot lid trim 1ZD 853 955 Chrome grille 1ZD 853 668 Chrome grille surround 1ZD 853 661 Front bumper trim left 1ZD 807 717A Front bumper trim right 1ZD 807 718A Rear bumper trim left 1ZD 807 459 Rear bumper trim right 1ZD 807 460 Rear bumper trim centre 1ZD 807 443 And if you want to go all the way: Chinese lettering badge for boot 3BD 853 687 (according to ETKA, it actually means Shanghai VW)

Confession time... I can't park for 5h1t. Having picked up my 56 Plate L&K about a month ago 69K miles, it has now done 71K and already there are a couple of little nicks and scrapes on the alloys. Partly because we have ridiculously high kerbs and hill-like camber, and partly because I can't park to save my life. I will make-do for the time being, but when I come to stick a set of tyres on the wheels, I'd like to have something done to try and get them sorted as I'm going to be moving to somewhere without kerbs that look like the white cliffs of dover. Can anyone recommend someone that refurbs alloys and how to do it yourself. Is it the sort of thing to jump on as soon as you scrape them, or will they wait until a few scratches have accrued? What is involved and what are the costs? Thanks Gavin the rotten parker.

So... if I wanted to "Chinkify" (I hope that's not an inappropriate verb that I have created - advance apologies if any offence is caused) my Octavia, what would I need to do it? I must say, I am quite taken by all the spangly shiny things and bolt on crap and I'm quite tempted to go down this road. Does anyone have ETKA and is it possible to order Chinese parts for the UK market? As a starting point, can anyone find the part numbers, or a supplier for: LED Rear Lamps (Facelift Octavia) All of the Bumper Strips in Body Colour With Chrome Inserts (Pre Facelift Chinese Octavia) Chrome Rear Boot Strip Chrome Grille (Pre Facelift Chinese Octavia). I am thinking with some Super Skoda LED Front Lights a la Audi, Could create something quite unique (or horrific if you prefer, I understand there are different interpretations). Thanks in advance! Gavin

Can't see any. Is there same cylinder etc as mk1? Seemed like there were some. Common faults on that.