Si66

Dealer wanted £5000 for a new engine going up to £5700 if it needed a turbo, various breakers wanted £1200 to £1300 for an engine, but if it didn't drop straight in then fitting costs could have escalated to who knows where. Could have tried to negotiate a fixed priced with a garage for sourcing and fitting an engine, but didn't bother trying in the end. Skoda UK did not want to know about it. I have a chance to escalate the claim but to be honest I think the chance of them replying any different is pretty slim anyway. It's taken some time thinking and throwing numbers around but decided to sell the car as it is, and it went today. My mum passed away unexpectedly a few days after the engine broke so lets just say I have had a massive reality check on what really matters in life, and it was not the Skoda. Carl and Lucy at Farmers Skoda in Leicester have been absolute stars so thanks go to them for helping as much as they could under the circumstances. Skoda UK could learn a great deal from these 2 people in terms of customer service. Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice and comments on here, for this post and others over the past few years, and wish everyone all the best. Maybe catch you all again if I make it back to Skoda, but that won't be for some time.

Cheers for all your replies and suggestions so far, I do appreciate it. Still waiting for some answers from a few different sources before I make the final call, though for various reasons I don't think I will ever drive that car again :( We will see when the answers are in. Would have been tempted to go down the second hand and local garage fitted if there was a bit more certainty with the origin of second hand engines, but as B33fy rightly points out the second hand one "could be as shagged as the one you have".

What would that look like? The fragmants I was shown were of what looked like small spring fragments (about 10mm long and maybe 5mm diameter) and a thin strip of metal (probably 1 x 5 x 60mm). Wondered if it could be oil pump internals as one of the error messages flashed up was low oil pressure?

Thanks for the replies so far - food for thought at least. dainott - the car has 58344 miles on the clock, and will be 6 years old in March. I have owned it from approx. 2 years old and it has been meticulously serviced it that time (the car has been serviced 7 times in total, the first 3 at Skoda garages, the next 3 at an independant VAG group specialist and the last time at a large garage chain in the East Midlands).

My 2006 petrol vRS developed a slightly odd (but not loud) noise under load the other day. After speaking to Skoda servicing at my local dealer they told me there was a recall on the ignition coils that might cause the problem I described so I duly booked it in. Job done I thought. However, I took it out for a little while today and a red oil warning light came on with a message saying "turn engine off immediately" which I did. After getting it towed to the garage I was informed that metal parts had been found in the sump which were assumed to be from the timing valves (looked like very small spring fragments and a thin strip of metal) and have been told the engine is most likely a write off. The car has been serviced on time all the time with the correct parts and fluids so I am at a loss as to what has happened. There appear to be a few options to pursue: 1. have the dealer remove the cylinder head, see what the damage is and repair it, then put it all back together and flush the whole engine to remove any other particulates (likely cost no less than £1000 at dealer rates) 2. have a "new" engine fitted by the dealer at approximately £4000 3. sell it as a non-runner I have my own opinion on the best way to go, but wondered if anyone else had a similar experience. Given it is a 2006 car with 58k on the clock spending £4000 seems a non-starter given that the value is probably somewhere in the region of £6000 on a good day anyway. There is always the option of taking it to an independant garage (i.e. with lower hourly rates) to get it fixed. It did seem that no-one had seen this problem before (which is good for everyone else) but at the moment I am pretty devastated. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Looks good but I still can't get on with the new vRS badge on the grille. And I think it would look better with a colour coded grille surround (black or white though?? ) but it's each to their own! A bit strange to see the options that are on your car but without maxidot though..... .......anyway, hope you enjoy it!!!!!

This cropped up a little while ago http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/rear-wiper-clip/143605/ I got a new blade and clip from my local Skoda dealer (part no. 7E0955425) for £5.90.

Absolutely right, the only way you will know is to ask for yourself. That said, recently one insurer (think it was Adrian Flux, but not totally sure) said they worked on approximately how much (as a percent) your power had gone up over standard. i.e. if you had 200bhp standard and went up to 240bhp (a 20% increase) then your policy would go up by roughly 20% also, but I stress the roughly.

Unfortunately my car is out of warranty and following previous experience I am in no rush to take the car back to the main dealer!

Anyone know of a decent garage in Leicestershire (or thereabouts) to sort out my airbag warning light? I suspect it is the wiring harness problem that others have mentioned on here (eg http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/airbag-problem/142626/). I am assuming that if I manage to sort the wiring myself I will still need someone with VAG-COM to clear the fault? Thanks in advance. Si.

Check out this link to see mine.... http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/another-colour-coded-grille/143642/ I wasn't sure about it at first but I am now. Looks way better than the chrome one, in my opinion

Apparently you can also press and hold the AUTO and ECON buttons to swap between °C and °F. http://briskoda.net/octavia-ii/new-octavia-tips-tricks/55750/ That said if God had wanted us to use imperial he would have given us 12 fingers and toes

I recently had some work done by Skoda on a fault, but had to pay for it myself because my car was out of warranty. Skoda UK agreed to pay me back roughly 50% of the cost of the part I needed (£106) as a good will gesture, however they did ask to see proof of servicing before they granted the payment. My car has always been serviced by Skoda so no problem, but I'm not so sure where I would have stood if it had not been. My point is if you are in or out of warranty there may still be other potential advantages to getting your car serviced by Skoda. You can obviously argue the toss about how much extra it cost to get s Skoda service versus what you may potentially get back or save, but at £119 for the sevice you need I would personally just pay them to do it. Plus I live in a flat (er sorry luxury apartment) so it would be a pain in the **** to do the work myself in my allocated parking space! Bottom line is it depends on what's right for you - you pay your money and take the choice. As with most things, what's right for one person may not be for another.

There is a light that comes on? Never noticed that before :confused:

I am totally with you on the daylight running lights etc The facelift is growing on me, and I like the new alloys, but nowhere near enough to shell out for a new Octy. Might as well hang on for the mark III, whenever that will be....hopefully the government won't have us all driving electric shopping carts by then...... ......and was it just me or was anyone else waiting for the 2 cars to have a little prang on the hairpin bend?? A bit spiteful I know, but never mind

Does going through Rainworth or Hortons help out with insurance quotes? Was told a while ago (admittedly by a Ford dealer, so a large pinch of salt may be needed) that as long as it was a dealer modification then your insurance company would be ok with it. To my mind it depends what the modification is, but wondered what peoples experiences were.........

I have had many a strange glance from car sales people when I have sat on the back seat of any car I tested, although I have only done it to make sure that I am not going to have any passengers knees in my back when I am driving - not a problem in the Octavia. I have thought the back seats were a bit too upright though..........then again, I am always the one driving so stuff 'em, there is always the bus

Cheers Mike, the pictures are a great help I will know for next time!!

Wish my hourly rate was £69.60 and hour, that would be £130k a year! Will see how I get on with Skoda directly, knowing what I do now if Skoda don't help then I will play hell with the dealership. Thanks again for your help. Simon

Thnaks for the reply Mike! I had tried the waving the hand inside the car with the windows down and doors locked and nothing happened, so it did seem there was a real problem. Ended up taking it back to Skoda and £190.58 later it is working properly again - you are right it was the ultrasonic sensor - replacement part £96.22 + VAT and 1 hour labour at £69.50 :eek: + VAT. My car was only recently out of warranty but the dealership gave me a number to call at Skoda UK to plead my case, and see if they are willing to refund any of the cost. The car has been back to Skoda dealerships several times for different reasons (whilst still under warranty) and they had never noticed there was a fault until I told them. Apparently the problem is they only check for a fault if it is a recall or you have told them there is a specific problem, although your comment about your dealer keeping stock of the sensors as they are known to fail is interesting - the dealer I went to seemed to have no problem finding one either. If it happens again I will try the connector cleaning trick - it could have saved me £190!! You live and learn Not had chance to phone Skoda yet but fingers crossed they will be feeling generous..........

Sound advice I had gone to Halfrauds previously just because it is more convenient - I won't be doing that again . The dealer just supplied me with the blade and clip (part no. 7E0955425) for £5.90. The clip on this one seems a little more sturdy than previous ones I have had.

Reading my manual I realise that I may have a problem with my alarm/interior monitor system - locking the car (one blip on the remote) causes the little light to flash fast for about 2 seconds, stays on for 30 seconds then flashes every 2 seconds. The manual seems to say that this means there is an error on the interior monitor (the "stays on for 30 seconds" bit) - I hadn't thought anything about it, until now, as it has always done that for the time I have owned the car. Anyone seen this before, and more importantly know what the likely cause may be? Ironically my car is just out of warranty and I get the feeling my wallet is going to get a right old spanking if I take it to the dealer...... ......any advice gratefully received.......... Oh and another (probably stupid) question - should the alarm trigger if movement of the car is detected (eg if someone runs into it)?

If it is under warranty then take it back - my local Skoda dealer told me a couple of weeks ago this was one of the common faults of the Octavia.

Now there's a thought.........