julesandtash

Excellent - great guide, many thanks for that. I will order the parts and pick a day to sort it out. Access on the passenger side is nicer than that on the drivers side (which is right under the engine).

Thanks for that - I need to lay my hands on a 17mm hex then. I have a number of 3/8 drive hex and torx socket bits that will fit the centre bolt in the flange. Do you know the best place to get the seal and, if poss, a part number? Many thanks Jules

Hi all, The wife's Octavia is leaking gearbox oil from the seal behind the drive flange on the passenger side. I can see how to get to it (remove driveshaft at gearbox end, undo bolt in the centre of the drive flange and pull it out of the gearbox) but I am wondering about the seal. Has anybody changed one? Is it a simple push fit seal or anything complicated and where is the best place to get one (main dealer I guess). It's highly annoying as the whole of that side of the underneath of the car is slowly getting a film of stinky gearbox oil over it.. Also, I have tried to remove the gearbox drain/level plug but don't have anything that will fit the quite large internal hexagon in the plug. Does anybody know what size that is and what tool is required to undo the plug. Many thanks in advance Jules

You need to twist the needles anticlockwise and pull outwards at the same time - mine would not budge at all by just trying to prise them off but a slight twist and pull and off they came. Just make sure the stepper motor is at the start of its travel (you will feel the difference when turning the shaft before pushing the needles fully home when you rebuild it.

Good to see you on here Lew as well as on the biodiesel forum

Good luck, I hope you fix it. It would be good to know if it does.

I fixed the wifes Octavia 1 last weekend. Took me about 1hr to pull the panel out, strip it down, resolder the voltage regulator and resistor bridge connections then rebuild it and put it back in the car. She has done about 500 miles since and not one issue with the gauges now - previously they would drop on almost every trip unless fuse 15 was pulled.

It's just the three dial aircon one but I was sure that it has LEDs on it when I put it in - maybe my memory serves me wrong though. Just being a bulb would be great.

Hi all, Thanks to lots of help from the members here I have fixed all but one issue on the wife's car and scored a few brownie points along the way. I have even repaired the common soldering fault in the instrument pack. The one issue left is the lights on the heater control panel. Around a year ago I replaced the panel as one of the switches failed and also the lights were playing up. With a replacement (second hand) panel in place all was fine for a while but more and more the panel lights on it are not working. They sometimes work for a day or two then stop for a week or more. It is only the panel illumination, all the other instrument lights in the car work. I know that the lighting on the panel is LED not bulbs so unlikely to have blown. I am guessing that it's likely to be a faulty earth connection or loose wiring connector but, knowing how much of a pain it was to change the panel last time, does anybody have any ideas before I start? Cheers Jules

Thanks guys, found it - it had come out of it's bracket and was dangling down. I cleaned it and it's wiring connector up, put back in the bracket and it all works fine now.

I have done it before - not at all difficult just time consuming. I am due to do it again soon so have bought some of the tools to do it properly - pump and camshaft locking tools and cambelt tensioner tool in one kit like this one.. eBay link I would also recommend the tool to hold the camshaft sprocket. It is possible to do the job without taking the cam sprocket off but for the sake of completeness it is worth it. This is the kind of tool you need.... eBay link I didn't take the headlight out.

The wifes 1998 Octavia 1 wont show the outside temperature any more and a VCDS scan of the instruments shows a code along the lines of ambient temperature sensor, short to ground. Does anybody know where the sensor lives so I can investigate it and whether it's a chaffed cable or a faulty sensor. Also, does anybody happen to know the part number for a new sensor? Many thanks in advance Jules

Thanks guys - I kind of felt a bit stupid when I finally worked out what I had done. At least I didn't spend money on other parts before realising. A big thanks to this forum for actually identifying how to fix the problem in the first place and for providing the part number as the local Skoda dealer would not believe me there was a repair cable till I gave him the part number!

No need to worry now - I have sorted it. It was the cable after all. When I removed the green and black wire from the pins in the 32b wiring plug on the back of the instruments, they pulled quite easily off of their pins when I was trying to remove the pins from the body of the plug. That probably accounted for the poor signal from the coil. I could have sworn that they were connected to pin 1 and pin 17 so, that is how I put it back. After loads of head scratching, worrying about costs etc, I had a closer look at the wiring diagrams in the back of the Haynes book of lies - and saw that the reader coil actually connects to pins 32b/2 and 32b/17. As soon as I moved the green wire to the correct terminal position it started working perfectly - and has done now for 20 starts in a row. Bit of a stupid error really but now it's sorted, and all for the price of a £6.50 cable

Hi all, Please could somebody help. My wife's 110 Tdi Octavia 1 (1998 T plate) has started playing up with the immobiliser. When the key is put in, 99% of the time the immobiliser light (yellow with a key and car on it) starts flashing. Try to start the car and it will run for 1 second or so then shutdown (which is what the immobiliser does of course). Turning the key on and off a number of times (between 3 being the fewest so far and 30 being the longest) eventually ends up with the light going out and the car will then start and run fine till it's switched off again when the problem returns. I have searched the forums and followed the suggestion of buying a new cable to go from the ignition switch reader coil to the instrument pack and fitting that. Whilst fitting went well enough, the problem is not cured and in fact appears worse as now any number of attempts at putting the keys in and out will not get the immobiliser to go off. A scan of the instruments with VAG-COM shows codes for reader coil and key low signal and a scan of the engine controller shows Engine start blocked by immobiliser. Clearing the codes and trying to start it again just give the same codes logged. Do I assume that is now likely it is the reader coil unit on the ignition switch? I have found from the Haynes manual how to remove the lock and reader coil which I have done to check it comes out easily. If I need to get a new one (which I assume is a Skoda dealer part) then do I need to get a new barrel with new keys etc or can I just get the reader coil unit (anybody have a part number?) If I do have to get a new barrel and keys, how do I then get these coded to the immobiliser so the thing will work again? I am getting quite annoyed with her car. Mechanically it's really reliable and a great car but the electrics have been a pain with electric window and central locking issues (all now fixed). Many thanks in advance Jules

Have a look at my thread here..... http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/203964-central-locking-issues-on-octavia-tdi-now-fixed/page__gopid__2418257#entry2418257 I had exactly the same problem and its now fixed. I dont see the age of your car but I have the driver door controller (incorporated in the window motor) for a 1999 Octy 1 (mines a 1.9Tdi 110 but I guess they are all the same) if you would like it - £35 is what I paid for it plus p&p and I know it works. The part number on the motor is 1U6959802A and the white barcoded label on the black plastic housing below the big spring clip that holds it together is 101447-201 05 0763 60 Jules

Well I have now fixed it - my assumption was correct. A check of the pins in the multi-connector on the drivers door identified that the there was 12V (well closer to 14 but battery voltage anyway) on the big thick red/brown wire and the brown was grounded but there was nothing on the red/yellow wire. A bit of unpicking and pulling of the red/yellow and it slid out of the loom to expose its broken and corroded end. Removing the A pillar trim (the one that the bonnet release catch is attached to) exposed the wiring connector for the door feeds as suggested by another member in this thread. Some poking with the meter showed battery voltage at the red/brown and red/yellow wires so power was getting that far. A quick repair of the red/yellow wire and the door bits and bobs connected back up and hey presto - all working As an added bonus, my electric mirror switch was not working correctly, it would control the left mirror only, whether the switch was set to right or left. Now, with the wire fixed, the switch works perfectly too. It appears that the insulation on the wires is quite thing and fairly brittle. Repeated flexing (as in the flexy bit of loom between the car and the door) seems to crack the insulation which then allows mositure into the cracked area and starts corroding the copper till it breaks. I am very tempted to replace all the sections of wire between the car body and door innards with some good quality flexible stuff to prevent further problems. Of course, the down side is that I now have a drivers door lock mechanism and window motor for a 1999 Octavia 1 going spare as there was nothing wrong with them. So my advice, if you get a locking or window problem, check the small looms from the car to the door first (they run through the convoluted rubber gaiters). All four are easy to access - the rear two just plug into the B pillar (plug is behind the gaiter on the B pillar, just prise the rubber away and you will see it. The fronts are down behind the A pillar trims, the loom runs from the rubber gaiter downwards being some steel and then pops out to connect to the wiring plug.

Well I did some work on the rear left door today as a replacement window mechanism and motor turned up to replace the existing one with its shredded cable and broken plastic clip. I fitted it but there was just a click from the window motor (sounded like a relay) but no turning. A pit of poking around on the multiplug with a meter discovered the problem there. There should be two 12V feeds to the plug (one thick red/brown wire and a thinner red/yellow wire). The red/brown (thicker of the two feeds) was open circuit. A bit of poking around discovered that it was broken in the flexible bit of loom between the door and the B pillar. I repaired the broken wire (and another that was on its way out) and hey presto - window motor works. Unfortunately I am still having the same issues and same fault codes with the central locking. I will have a check of the power feeds to the front drivers side module tomorrow - I suspect that I will find there is no power on the the thinner 12V feed. Having done a lot of unpicking of the door looms and looking at wiring diagrams, it seems that the door modules (window motor and lock controller) is only fed by five wires - 2 * 12V feeds, one ground and a twisted pair for the CAN bus. All the other wires in the plug just go to the window switch, lock mechanism and, in the case of the drivers door, the window/locking control switches. Therefore I figure that if the CAN bus is working - and it must be on the drivers door since the window and control switches are working, then the only option can be a lacking power feed. Tomorrow will tell if I am right or not - if I am then I will have a lock mechanism and window motor for sale on eBay as the ones I bought as replacements will not be needed.

No, I haven't pulled that panel off - what connections are down there? I presume its the drivers side A pillar that I need to look at?

Hi all, Having fixed my clutch problem, I now have one to sort out with the central locking. If I use the key in the drivers door lock, all the doors lock and unlock although the red LED on the drivers door does not come on. If I use the key in the tailgate lock, only three doors (and the tail gate) unlock. The drivers door will not respond at all. Also, if I sit in the car and press the lock and unlock buttons on the drivers door handle, the three other doors and the tailgate lock and unlock but nothing happens to the drivers door. After reading about problems with the door lock motor or the control module incorporated into the window motor, I have changed both of these items in the drivers door but still the problem persists. I have scanned the car with VAGcom and have the following fault codes from the central convenience module. No other codes from any of the other modules on the car.... Control Module Part Number: 1J0 959 799 Q Component and/or Version: 5S Zentral-SG Komf. 0001 Software Coding: 04097 Work Shop Code: WSC 31480 Additional Info: 1U6959802B 5H Tõrsteuerger. FS0002r Additional Info: 1U6959801B 5S Tõrsteuerger. BF0001r Additional Info: 1U0959811B 5S Tõrsteuerger. HL0001r Additional Info: 1U0959812B 5S Tõrsteuerger. HR0001r 2 Faults Found: 00928 - Locking Module for Central Locking: Front Driver Side (F220) 27-00 - Implausible Signal 00930 - Locking Module for Central Locking: Rear Left (F222) 27-00 - Implausible Signal It looks like I have an issue with the rear left module although it seems to lock and unlock OK. Please could anybody give me any ideas on what is wrong and what to check next. Its been fairly pricey replacing the two modules so far (with good known working second hand units). The wiring connector to the window motor in the drivers door is perfectly clean and dry with no rusty or damaged pins so I dont believe any water has got into the wiring loom. Could it possibly be a fault with the central convenience module? Many thanks in advance Julian

Ok, now I think I need to speak to the samaritans or something before I really do have a breakdown. I changed the slave cylinder first on the principle that its cheapest and easiest to do. No real change, still couldn't get clutch disengaged enought to get into gear. Then changed the master cylinder - bit of a pain to do but got it done. Bled everything up and still can't get it to work properly. Even tried with the old slave and new master - still no joy. I even had my mate round for a couple of hours who has been a mechanic for 40 odd years and we still cant't get it right - it seems to be bled up OK and things are working but there just does not seem to be enough push to disengage the clutch even with the pedal on the floor. If I set up a couple of bits of steel to operate the clutch release arm through the slave cylinder hole then all the gears engage easily but I can't get it to operate hydraulically. Not sure what to do really - pull the gearbox out again or drive the thing off a cliff somewhere!!!! Any suggestions to save my sanity? Please ?

The brakes seem to be OK (thankfully) so I guess the slave cylinder is first port of call. If the brakes started playing up as well then I think I'd have a breakdown.

Its quite odd. I never disconnected the slave cylinder when changing the clutch, just hung it up on the ABS module pipes yet after putting it back in I had the problems. I hoped that by not disconnecting it I would not have to bleed the system. I guess that changing the slave cylinder will be a lot less trouble (and probably cheaper) than the master cylinder and will rule out that as a fault.

Hi all, I was wondering if anybody can help me and stop me tearing my hair out. I have just changed the clutch in my Octavia 1 (1999 1.9Tdi 110BHP). Now its all back together but I have a problem. When I push the pedal, it goes most of the way to the floor before any resistance is felt and then its not much resistance. The clutch does not disengage enough with the pedal pressed to get into any gear. I have bled the system through with a gunsons easi-bleed and had clean fluid coming out of the clutch slave cylinder. Also, if I rig up a few spanners as a lever and operate the clutch release arm through the hole where the slave cylinder fits then the clutch disengages properly so it must be fitted and operating properly. I have seen a few mentions of the web of master cylinders failing after a clutch change, presumably due to fluid moving around in the system. Or could it be the slave cylinder at fault. When I took it off the rod came out on its own to the full extent of the green rubber bellows surrounding it - when I fitted it back on the rod just squeezed back into the cylinder which all seemed quite normal. I did not touch the pedal while the cylinder was out of the bellhousing. Please could anyone help on this one, its driving me mad as the clutch is done but the car is undriveable Many thanks Jules

Well it sounds promising that it may be replaceable rather than the a/c pump. If anyone can find a web link to get replacement clucthes for it I would be very very happy. No way am I into paying many hundreds of pounds when I only paid £1200 for the car - if it comes to it can I just remove the clutch parts from the pulley which will render the aircon inoperative but also will not rattle? Thanks again Jules