hussein

What is the ride quality like on 'bags, Richard?

This is awesome!

Yus, this is definitely the Cam Chain tensioner failing, so that is the sound of the chain being loose. This wears the chain out fast, and if it does fail it will lunch the engine. You should get this sorted out asap. If you get any warning lights at all turn it off and get it towed. Exactly the same thing with my 60 plate 1.2 TSI 105 that had 37k on it. I notice that you have a bunch of gunk around the seal on the left hand side of the engine, where the black plastic part meets the engine (this is the cam chain cover). Has this been replaced before? It can be easy to mess this up, the chain and the tensioner should be changed at the same time, the problem can recur if you do one and not the other. Also, it is essential to use the latest revised parts because the ones fitted between 2010 and 2011 are obviously s***. Also, the seal holds oil and can fail if not installed correctly. I think I am going to start a new thread to keep track of these cam chain issues. Yus, take a look at my post here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/344005-12tsi-cam-chain-problem/page-2#entry4234376 and go to your dealer. Do not accept anything less than 35% Skoda contribution towards the bill. It should be possible to get more and I think you should aim to get them to pay for it. I want to start to raise this as a wider issue to Skoda UK when I get some time. When I had my car at my local dealer there was another poor guy there with the same problem. Looking forward to hearing about what goes down, let us know here.

I told them that to have a bill like that for a terminal failure after just four and a half years and low mileage is simply not acceptable. Especially for a car that is well looked after with FSSH. This is my second Skoda and the only way I would consider another is if he did something about it. Then I pestered him in a reasonable measured way. He first kindly did a bit of a discount on the labour charge on the dealer side of things, but then I asked him to put it to Skoda and he came back with this deal. I think there is probably more to be had (50% could be achievable, logically they should have paid for all of it), but it was bank holiday and I just needed the car back asap at this point. Combine this with the cost of the £259 major service and it was an expensive day. On one hand, I'm lucky it didn't break on me and the engine did not have to go in the bin. On the other hand this whole issue is due to the chain tensioner not being manufactured to the correct tolerance between 2010 and 2011. So it is Skoda's fault. Why am I paying for this?

December 2010 '60' Plate Fabia 1.2 TSI DSG, 36,800 miles, FSSH. Cam Chain and Tensioner Replacement, Skoda Dealer (London), May 2015 Cost me £490 after 35% Goodwill from Skoda. Bank Holiday very much limited my complaining to Skoda UK. It's my second Fabia and as much as I would like to chip it in for a Yeti soon, I'm definitely thinking twice about it.

Did you take the Yeti back to Sheffield to get your £80 back?

Actually useful information: To avoid sparks, leave the positive terminal of the battery connected the longest. This means, disconnect the Negative first when taking your battery off and reconnect the Positive first when putting your battery back on. Your Radio Code is stored in your Car ECU. When you turn on your car normally, the radio tells the car your Radio Code over the CAN Bus and the ECU saves this. Once you have disconnected the battery, the radio will ask the ECU for the code and so long as this matches you're good to go (radio will come on after a few seconds, and you won't notice anything). Only if this doesn't match will the radio ask you for the code. If you have a 'factory' radio such as a Swing, Amundsen, Columbus whatever you don't need to worry about codes on power outage unless you are actually swapping radios.

The Pistonheads News and Thread is here: http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=28458 I guess that is the Friday 13th Doom News for people wanting a new petrol vRS in the future. Just think for a second how epic the Mk2 vRS could have been with the 2.0 TDI CR 143PS that you can get in the Ibiza. Oh well.

Samsung Series 3 Chromebook £229. Don't forget your 1.5% TopCashBack or Quidco. http://www.pcworld.c...273050-pdt.html Someone is going to say "It doesn't have storage for Music". Well, it has Google Music: see http://music.google.com/ - store 20,000 tracks online in the cloud for free (and pay a small amount for more). Then you can log in and stream your music from any internet browser in the world, or the Music app in Chrome OS. Get the Music app for Android and have *all* your music on your phone. Get in the car, Bluetooth A2DP and have all your music there too. Who needs iTunes. Its a little bit more versatile than an iPad in some ways. It has HDMI out if you want to watch video on your TV, it has USB as well for USB storage, and an SD Card reader for getting photos off your camera. All things you can't do straight to an iPad without a real computer. It also has tons of Google Drive storage for photos and whatnot. Works well if you are a Google / GMail person and actually want to write emails and documents and actually want to do stuff. If you want to give it to kids to play games and touch the screen, you probably still want an iPad. The best thing about the Chromebook is the keyboard in my opinion, it is really great. Proper long battery life too since it has the same ARM processor as a Nexus 10. The screen is alright. It is very slim, lightweight and silent. Chrome OS is good right now, and getting better all the time with auto updates. Also, it looks like a Macbook Air.

Snap, 1.2 TSI 105 DSG, 11500 miles. 33mpg in town and 45mpg on a run according to the Maxidot. 390 ish miles to a tank (mainly short runs, in and around North London). To be honest a little disappointed, I did expect it to be a bit better - really thought that petrol technology would have improved. Been used to my diesels when I did drive more, my original 6Y Fabia PD100 TDI was a honey. My 2006 Honda 2.2 iCTDI would give me 10+ MPG more than the TSI and that was a much heavier and faster car.

Got Columbus and Bluetooth working fine on my 2010 Facelift Elegance. No issues and the whole lot took about 45 minutes to install after doing the research. You do need a VCDS cable to get directions on the MFD if you have one, but if you don't have an MFD I imagine it would just work fine without any coding at all (bar a fault code along the lines of 'module not coded', but probably not a biggie).

Just amazing, best car project I have ever seen without a doubt.

I have exactly the same 4300K H7 Canbus Pro kit from HIDs Direct. Work very well on my 2011 FL Fabia Elegance, decent straight beam pattern, not blinding at all, and never been flashed with them on. Makes so much difference too, the standard headlights are pretty terrible! Don't forget you will need VW style adapter plates (like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190406021805 ) if you do not want to cut your original ones.

November man! Still a couple weeks to go, but I have "Briskoda CityGo-Go" in my diary for then lol. Can't wait.

Probably lighter!

I thought I'd do a little update on here. The more I drive it, the more I like it! Settled into the rhythm of the car now, so much more relaxed when driving it around, the shock of having less torque compared to my monster diesels in the past has gone and I understand it way more. After a few more miles it feels a little more gutsy too which is nice, and when sitting back and chilling out it really is zero effort to drive and I appreciate that hugely. I guess it was a matter of time before I just got used to having DSG as well. The changes are just buttery smooth and for normal driving it really is perfection - I've stopped hooning about like an idiot and the gearbox now makes perfect sense. I appreciate the refinement a lot. I think it was a trip from North London to Manchester, around a bit and back with three mates which made me appreciate the little car a little more. Cruise Control On, Climate Control On, iPod Bluetooth Streaming On... it got us all the way there and back on one tank with a weekends worth of stuff in the boot, no hassles at all. It turns out the seats are better than the ones in the Fabia 6Y and even after many hours behind the wheel I was still feeling fresh. Not bad for a little car. So, as much as I am now much more in tune with the driving, I still am not a big fan of the steering. Its not vague, which is a good start. But there is no feel, it is a bit over assisted for my liking but it could be possible that that could be fixed with some VCDS tweakery. It also naturally wants to turn tighter rather than centering after 3/4 of a turn which feels strange when on a tight roundabout, parking or making a u-turn. Can live with it. All the gadgets I am used to now as well. Fiddling with the Columbus for anything other than a jab of a button is still a job for pulling over or stopping in traffic only. But I can answer the phone with the stalk, twiddle knobs by feel to keep my eyes on the road so that is progress. The car has done nearly 10k now. The front tyres are quite scrubbed so time to switch with the rears I think. Brakes holding up pretty well still. Nothing really needs any attention as such, it is still all thumbs up. Mods so far are a set of 4000K Xenons which improve the headlights hugely and some Cree Q5 LED DRLs which look neat. The car does look good when it is clean, I get compliments on it often. The cat next door likes it a lot as well leaving a trail of muddy footprints as it walks all over it.

Nice one. Just thought I'd note on here that now my HTC One X is not running the standard software (Cyanogenmod Nightly ICS), the Bluetooth connection to the car is now 100% reliable on it.

I have one! Got the key here, 3T0.837.202.C from a 2011 car, one piece key. As new, unmarked, comes without blade. 20 quid Paypal Gift to my email address and I'll stick it in an envelope and post it off to you today. Let me know! EDIT: Please reply here or PM, I've left my phone at home today so no push emails sorry. I'll check back every so often.

I currently have the 4 spoke wheel which doesn't have blanks so I'd need to change the wheel to get controls. Yes, if you do not have a steering wheel controller you will need one as that is what the wheel buttons connect to. I also presume none of the loom and wiring would exist if the controller doesn't exist (it doesn't show up on VCDS on my car). I'm abandoning this idea here!

What steering controller comes on a Fabia II vRS? Anyone got a VCDS Log on one?

I'm also interested. My 60 Plate 2011MY FL Fabia has no buttons and it would be nice to have some. Didn't get any replies last time I asked here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/241162-fabia-ii-facelift-mfsw/, so it is a bit of an unknown. I was considering this wheel: http://www.skodateile.cz/index.php?pg=product∏=140&menu=%C5%A0koda%7CSuperb%20II which has both MFD buttons and Telephone Buttons, and can take my original airbag. Tempted by getting one with DSG paddles too though. Skodateile list a few steering wheel controllers: 1K0 953 549 BG (Octy II FL) http://www.skodateile.cz/index.php?pg=product∏=75&menu=%C5%A0koda%7COctavia%20II%28A5%29%7CVolanty 1K0 953 549 AQ (Octy II 06-08) http://www.skodateile.cz/index.php?pg=product∏=276&menu=%C5%A0koda%7COctavia%20II%28A5%29%7CVolanty 1K0 953 549 CD (Superb) http://www.skodateile.cz/index.php?pg=product∏=233&menu=%C5%A0koda%7CSuperb%20II No idea what (if any of those) would be correct for the Fabia, or even if it uses one of those style controllers or one of the new ring type ones which are actually on the steering column rather than under it. What about wiring? Basically, still have no idea though it does seem more of a faff than I initially expected.

zipcar / streetcar is perfect for this. May be a while until you can get that anywhere outside London though.

Fast_Glass++

This looks pretty sweet! Actual Google Maps navigation and Voice Search, drive around listening to Spotify, sounds great. Android is a great base for these things.