paulfjr

No the Haldex oil was correctly changed, with the correct oil as the Skoda dealer fixing the car checked. So reason for failure is unknown.

Update. My Yeti has finally been fixed. During removal of the back axle they found a second hole in the differential, proving it was an internal failure. Initially Skoda Customer Services said they would not pay any goodwill, as the garage was not sure of the cause of the failure. After lots of discussions, and the second hole, the very good news is they agreed to pay 60% of the cost of repair. The long delay in getting my Yeti back has been the very poor service I received from the Skoda dealer. As they were very very busy, they kept delaying working on my car, and hence it took a month to fix - if they had prioritised my car is would have taken just over a week. So final cost to me about £1600. So happy Skoda UK contributed goodwill; unhappy with the dealer service; unhappy that I had such a major failure in a car 3 years 11 moths old; and now a little worried about the future reliability of my Yeti. Thank you everyone for your comments. Of interest, someone mentioned that my insurance company may pick up the cost of repair if it was an external object that caused the failure. Before the discovery of the second hole, I did contact my insurance company and they said IF it the failure was caused by hitting something on the road, they would probably pick up the cost of repair. In fact, if it had been an external failure, it would have been much cheaper for me. Anyway hired a rental car to drive from Dorset to Derby; dropped off rental car at Derby; collected Yeti; collected my caravan out of storage near Derby, and now happily on holiday in the Peak district for 7 days.

Thank you for all your replies. My Yeti had only done 39,000 miles and was regularly serviced at my local Skoda. I phoned them to ask about the Haldex oil change before I left on holiday, and they said it could be done at the next service. Ironically, as I like the Yeti, I decided to go to a local VAG specialist garage to have the 40,000 mile service done early; and Haldex oil changed; as I thought they would do a good job. I did this two weeks before the problem occurred. The local specialist garage did a good job I believe, it just does not help me now with goodwill. I am just very surprised and disappointed to have such a fault in such a young vehicle.

I was driving on the M1 motorway near Derby towing my caravan at about 50 MPH a week ago when suddenly there was a loud “whirring grinding” noise, which then stopped. I thought it was a puncture and the alloy wheel grinding on the road. We stopped as soon as we could, but could see nothing wrong. As the trucks were thundering past, and it was not safe to stay there, we drove on. After a minute there was a louder grinding noise, followed by a jerk of the car (as if the back wheels had stopped) and a thud, and then quiet again. We exited the motorway ASAP and found oil pouring out from the rear differential area. We had the car transported to nearest Skoda dealer in Derby, and they found the differential has a large hole in it, with an estimated repair cost of £4500. The car is just under 4 years old, so out of warrantee. Hopefully the video showing the failed differential will work. https://video.citnow.com/vtw8Zjz6W24 So my questions are : (1) Has this happened to anyone else? (2) The garage says it cannot tell if the differential was damaged by an internal or external problem (i.e., that I hit something – which I did not). Should it be easy to tell the difference? (3) Do you think I would be entitled to a goodwill contribution from Skoda UK for such a problem for a car of this age? Thank you.

There is an app called VAG DPF that goes onto your android smart phone that is very useful - shows you what is happening with the DPF and how it is filling up; AND when a regeneration is about to start and when the regeneration is completed. A like you I do lots of short journeys, but require the diesel engine for easy towing of a caravan, with the app I know when to keep driving to complete a regeneration. A number of folk on this website have the app. It only works for a few engines; but the app is free and you can buy an inexpensive OB2 connector to plug into your car to test it all works. Hope this helps

Hi, thanks for telling me about Torque Pro. Just put it on my phone, and will see how it goes tomorrow. Yeh I think it is fun. I have had my Yeti remapped from 170 BHP to 205 BHP by Shark Performance. Very happy with it. Will be interesting to see what results I get.

Mine came off as well. The dealer tried to put it back on, but would not stay. I believe one of the tabs breaks off, and it is very difficult to see where it was. They then put on a new one, and it has stayed on since.

My Yeti is coming up for 3 years old so I took it to my local garage for the MOT. It passed fine, but I was surprised when they did the emissions testing as the diesel engine would not rev more than about 2500 RPM while the car was stationary, and hence could not get an emissions reading. The MOT tester said this seems to be normal with a number of modern diesel cars, and he just has to state this on the MOT computer and the car passes its MOT. This is my first diesel vehicle - so my question is is this normal for all diesel Yeti's or just some that have the "cheat" software (mine has the EA189 diesel engine)?

As MuddyBoots says, I likewise have the Shark Performance remap on my 170 4x4 and it is excellent. It changes the character of the engine in a subtle way to be more responsive; seems to rev smoother and to a higher point before power dip; sounds a little different; and is really good fun. My insurance with standard insurer only went up £10. Petrol consumption about the same (tank to tank), although the on-board readout seems to read a little high. This assumes you ignore the temptation to use the extra power up all the hills. No problems so far. Just puts a smile on my face every time I go for a drive.

My 2.0 2014 Yeti has the engine with the cheat device. As we know, owners of these cars have been compensated in the USA. There is a new UK class action suite being undertaken by Harcus Sinclair against VW, Skoda, etc., to try to gain compensation for owners who were deceived by the hidden cheat device (i.e, they thought they were getting greener engines) on a no win no fee basis, which you are free to join if you wish. The website is http://www.vwemissionsaction.com/ . Lets see if we can also get some compensation from Skoda.

Shark Performance would be good for a remap

I would be interested to hear from the many knowledgeable folk on this forum about the pros and cons of chipping the Yeti. As I understand it, chipping my diesel 170 BHP 4x4 Yeti could take the HP to about 210 HP; more torque (about 420 Nm) and apparently better fuel consumption. The chip apparently works by increasing the fuel to air ratio; changing the timing and increasing the maximum RPM. If this is the case, what are the downsides – presumably shorter engine; turbo; GRV; DPF; etc. life and reduced reliability? But if these downsides are minimal, why does Skoda not make a more powerful Yeti? Is it mainly because the big manufacturers are driven by legislation to make vehicles with lower fuel consumption and cleaner exhaust gases; or because the downsides are severe? I also cannot understand how increasing the fuel to air ration results in lower consumption? I would be especially interested to hear from those who have chipped their Yetis (not sure of spelling?) about their experiences of reliability; shorter engine life; fuel consumption; etc. Thanks.

A reasonably review of the Yeti in the Telegraph recently http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/skoda/skoda-yeti-review/

It might be related to the wipers on auto - in this mode, the rear wiper is activated about every 10 wipes of the front (or some such combination). I believe when the car is turned off and started again, it probably resets the count and gives a wipe. I think in no longer happens on my Yeti now with the wipers auto turned off.

Well I had the Maxidot reset to Variable Service - it now says next service in about 9000 miles or 365 days. What do people think about the variable service with respect to how good are the oil sensors and other monitoring information that is used to judge the next variable service? And how good is the long life oil? Do other people go to about 18000 miles before a service or do people prefer the more usual 10,000 miles? Not sure what is best for the car now?

I have had my 2014 second-hand Yeti for a year now, and the Maxi-dot told me I have a service due in 10 days time. That is exactly one year since I bought it, when as part of the deal they gave it it's second service, and hence I assumed it was on an annual service interval. I phoned the my local dealer, Westover Skoda in Bournemouth, and they said from the computer data the car is on the variable service, and that honestly it would not need a service for a while, and if I brought it in they would reset the car so the Maxi-dot output would match a variable service. Also that as it had had better oil put in at the last variable service, after they had reset it I could wait for the car to say when it's next service is. So as the car has only done 8,500 miles since the last service, I will probably wait until 10,000 miles and then have the next variable service. I thought that was pretty good of them.

I enjoy my Yeti and think other Yeti drivers do likewise. Because of this, I like to wave to drivers of other Yeti's. So I generally flash my lights and then wave - and about 30% of the people wave back. You usually get a response if the road is clear and there is more time to say hello. I rode motobikes (a Yamaha FJR1300 and Suzuki 650 Vstom twin) for about 10 years, and here almost everyone nods to each other. Interestingly in France, they waggle a foot; in the USA they wave. I hope all Yeti drivers wave back to me - I usually see about 3 to 5 Yeti's on each drive, and seems to me more people are waving back - maybe the locals are getting used to waving. Long may it continue.

I have had my Yet for 6 months now, and enjoy driving it every time. However, around where I live, numerous farmers come onto the roads out of the fields making the roads very muddy, especially with all the rain we have had recently. After cleaning the car, one drive on these roads and the sides and back of the car are really coated. So I decided to have mudflaps fitted all around (at a dealer for £100), and despite some negative comments about the ineffectiveness on this forum, I am pleased with them to date. Very little dirt has been pulled onto the doors, and the back screen has remained almost clean. So for me they seem to work.

Yes I have experienced the slight hesitation a few times. It initially worried me, but only happens for a very very short time. I have not found a place it repeatedly occurs, but it is usually on corners. I thought it was something to do with the slight turbo lag, as you are usually slowing down around the corner and then push the accelerator just before the corner end, when the turbo is presumably spinning slowest??

Hi Martin, thanks for your reply. Yes I do run adblocker, but got the same number without it. BUT I did see it was for some reason in USA units - changed to UK and get the 49 MPG. Apologies for that Addict. BUT I should also say I get about 41 MPG, same as you Martin, in my 2.0 170 BHP Yeti, that is why I was surprised that someone managed as much as 49 MPG. He must obviously drive a lot slower than myself, who enjoys the power especially on long up-hills where I used to struggle a bit in my Roomster 1.6 petrol.

KBPhoto - I do not understand your quoted 48 MPG figure above as you Fuelly average is only 41.1 MPG??

I believe the road tax figure was based on the CO2 emission figures which are correct for the test, but the "cheat" software system was designed to lower the NOx figures during the tests and hence is not taken into account in the road tax figures. I have had a reply to a letter I wrote to Skoda about this issue, and they state ".. the technical solution which is being developed is being designed to have no adverse effect on the performance of the vehicle....". It will be interesting to see what solution they come up with that does not effect the performance of the vehicle.

Velocemitch your MPG figure is amazing. What gears were you at 33 mph? And I have a MR2 as well - I assume the MR2 MPG figure was higher than that above or your 70 MPG figure is incorrect, if the MR2 had a lower consumption??

One easy way round the problem would be to create a few large music type folders using your PC on the SD card, with a number of subfolders, so you only see less than 15 subfolders at any one time, and move your music around the appropriate folders. So for example major folders Classics; Folk; Opera; etc; and move anything like classics albums into that folder. Hope this helps

Apologies Llanigraham, I was suggesting you try both vehicles yourself and see what you think?