Shadowphax

Not sure now if it should have 2 or 4 hooks. Will ring the dealers and give them a stick talking to and see what the outcome is. Could be cost cutting or could be they have been 'borrowed'...who knows. Other than that the Karoq Scout is a hell of a nice car. Just replaced the Octavia Scout, and we have had 2x Yetis and an Octavia Vrs and Fabia Vrs in the past.

Just taken delivery of our new Karoq Scout. We have had 2x Yetis in the past and I found the boot hooks very useful (the ones that are on the 2 bars on eithwr side of the boot that can be swung up and slid alongbthe rails) The Yetis had 2 hooks on each side, and photos online show 2 hooks eack side in the Karoq. Our new car has only a single hook on each side (2 in total) Should there be 4 hooks? I am thinking someone at the dealers has been a bit 'nimble fingered' and borrowed them for sale to another customer (its not the first time I have seen this happen).

All I can say Simon is WOW! Looks better than new. If I had kept the car the wheels would have been going back to standard. They were coated white at AP tyres and would recommend these guys to anyone. I will keep watching for your updates while I miss the car. I like the new Suzuki Swift Sport but my heart will always be in a Fabia Vrs.

Thanks, A real pleasure doing business with you Simon. I am glad the car is going to a person that will really appreciate the car. I look forward to seeing your posts as you work on this car to get it to your very high standards. Graham

I have finally decided to sell my cherished Fabia Vrs. 2005 (54 plate) in Yellow. Owned for 8 years with only 1 previous owner. Garaged all the time I have had it. Used daily for a 10 mile commute to work and fun runs on sunny Sundays. No frequent short journeys. Wife has company car, so used as a second car only. Back seats virtually unused as no kids or pets, and front seats almost immaculate as used with covers in place all the time I have had the car. No tears, wear or cigarette burns No modifications, and not thrashed as I am a sad , soon to be, 50 year old. Car has 68k miles and I am the second owner for the last 8 years and from 29k miles. Car looks a bit of a 'dogs dinner' on it's steel wheels with winter tyres, at the moment, but I have the alloys stored, and both sets of wheels will be included. I want £2995 and for it to go to someone who deserves a nice Fabia Vrs, otherwise it's Webuyanycar or part ex for the next car. Located in West Yorkshire close to both M62 and M1. Full service history with all receipts & MOT's and just MOT'd and serviced by main dealer with rear bump stops replaced. No warnings on service report and no work required for MOT. Both keys and second key pristine as never used. Console and anti-roll bar bushes replaced 2-3 years ago. Alloy wheels plastic coated white with 4 nearly new (2500 miles) Hankook tyres, but car is currently on 15 inch steel wheels with winter tyres and alloy wheel stored at home. On it's 3rd timing belt as I had them replaced every 4 years as suggested by main dealer. Waterpump replaced on first belt change as a precaution. Alternator belt, alternator clutch pulley and belt tensioner replaced last September. Front and rear door inner panels sealed to prevent water leaks common on these cars (lots of info about this on forum). Recent brand new rear calipers (fitted with return springs to helps prevent seizing) and recent pads and discs all round. Recent battery. Original VRS mats unused by me and in great condition. Genuine Skoda mudflaps front and rear, ABS fog lamp protectors and stick on film headlamp protectors. Original full sized spare tyre (Conti) never been on car, and even the jack is unused. Factory options include sunroof, cruise control, Xenon headlights with washers and multi CD changer under passenger seat (original CD radio).

I had a new tensioner fitted by the dealer (DM Keith in Bradford) as it's local to work. I fitted a new belt and alternator clutch pulley myself (broke a spanner it was that tight!) but the belt tensioner looked a sod to fit so just paid for it to be done (£115 and the tensioners are almost £50 so not too bad). All sorted now and running lovely and true and the car is much quieter and smoother idling now (unless it's just my imagination). It anyone wants to buy a single use alternator pulley removal tool (good german sourced one that is really short and easy to fit in without removing the alternator) it's available for £5.

My auxilliary belt (alternator) broke the other day. Fitted a new one but the alignment looks way out. The belt is fitted on the pulleys correctly but was always a bit off-centre. Now it's much worse. I tried to fit a new tensioner but it was impossible to get the new one in with it locked with the pin in the untensioned position so refitted the old one by locking it and taking the pulley off (couldn't get the bolt undone on the new one to remove the pulley). Is it possible to fit the belt tensioner with it locked with the pin? Has anyone else had belt alignment problems and it it likely to fail? I have already ordered a new alternator clutch pulley and tool to fit as I think that is seized too.

Changing the discs and pads isn't too hard a job if you know a bit about working on cars. It takes me longer to get the car jacked up and the tools in the garage than to do the job itself. You need to take the caliper carrier off on the fronts to fit the discs but the rears can be removed (just) without removing the carriers, although you will need the caliper rewind tool to screw back the rear pistons. I've had the front discs off on my car several times as I'm getting judder when braking after I fitted new Pagid discs. I'm thinking the judder is due to runout/variable friction on the front discs after checking the mating faces and refitting. Looking at another set of new discs as the judder is driving me crazy. Anyone else had judder issues on the fronts after checking everything is OK? I'm thinking that there may be some suspension bush wear causing it but I've had the console bushes replaced fairly recently and there doesn't appear to be any free play in anything on the suspension.

I know this has been covered many times, but there seems to be a lot of conflicting information on the genuine Skoda gearbox oil type/part number for the Mk1 vRS. There are 3 types of oil that have been discussed :- G060726A2 - £6 per litre (for 5 speed boxes?) G052171A2 - £16 per litre (for 5 and 6 speed boxes?) G052157A2 - £25 per litre (for 6 speed boxes?) There are a posts that state that the expensive new 'high performance' oil G052157A2 is not good and gives very poor 1st to 2nd change when cold in the Fabia vRS. Here and Here I went to my local DM Keith dealer here in West Yorkshire to see what oil they say should be used. They showed me the part number system screen as they searched for my car. It showed G060726A2 and G052157A2. My car is a 2005 (54 plate) car with the HDS code gearbox. They said that the car would have left the factory with the G060726A2 oil but that Skoda now recommends the much more expensive G052157A2. There are also posts that state that the new G052157A2 oil is OK when used in countries where the ambient temperature is higher than in the UK (so maybe OK during summer) I bought the original and cheaper oil G060726A2 and will be getting it changed in the next couple of weeks and will report back if it performs OK. Anybody else found similar confusion and have any experience on what oil has worked OK and what hasn't?

The torch may only be small extra, but it brings a smile to my face. The Yeti originally had a poor one-sided boot light, and lots of people on the forums have fitted another light at the other side. This torch now lights the other side and comes out to be a nice handy pocket torch for when camping or replacing flat tyres (as the torch has a magnet in it to stick it to the wheel arch). Typical Skoda also fit normal rechargeable AAA batteries so that they can be replaced when needed. Nice touch as other manufacturers would probably charge for the whole torch as a spare with non-replaceable batteries.

The original was my wif'e company car and they replace every 3 years, so the change was automatic. We liked the Yeti so much, we got another. The missus wanted the glass roof on the orignal one, but supply problems 3 years ago prevented us getting it fitted. The new L&K has satnav, sunroof and park assist as standard. It also has the great extra boot light that is also removable and functions as a rechargeable torch. We like Skodas as I have had 2 Fabia 1's, currently having a Fabia VRS. The missus has had an Octavia VRS tdi, the first Yeti Elegance and now the new Yeti L&K. Never had anything serious with any of them and my Fabia is now over 9 years old.

My wife has just changed her Yeti 170 Elegance for the new shape 170 Laurent & Klement. Photos of the 2 side-by-side when the old one was waiting to be collected. Sad to see the old one go as it has served us well over the 3 years we had it. I'm not fond of the wheels on the new L&K as they changed them this model year and I much preferred the older version. Missus likes them though.

There have been many posts about electric window issues with most being related to the loss of 'convenience' one-touch opening and closing. This can happen when the battery is disconnected or, as on my car, when the battery was getting a bit tired and the voltage dropping enough at startup to cause issues with the convenience system needing resetting. Doing this is via the usual key-in-door, hold in open position until windows are fully open, then hold key in locked position until the windows are fully up. This is described in the car owners manual (or can be downloaded from links on this forum). Sometimes you also have to hold the window switches in the fully up position for a few seconds even when the window is fully up. However, I have had other more weird problems similar to other posts. I have had the passenger window stop working completely and the window switches on the drivers door getting swapped (left works right and right works left). The fix for me to all these symptoms has been to pull the fuses for the electric windows (or alternatively disconnect the battery although some people don't like doing this for some reason). However, this doesn't work unless left for about 1 hour. If it's done for a few minutes, it doesn't reset the symptoms. There must be some residual current left that has to drain away to cause the system to reset. I think similar things happen with airbags as they can still be live when unplugged if not left for an hour or two. On my vRs, which only has 2 front electric windows, the fuses are number 46 and 58 and they are both 25amp (white/light grey). This has ALWAYS worked for my windows when they start doing weird things. By the way, the convenience system has to be reset after this to get one-touch operation back. Hope this helps with anyone having problems.

Mine started doing this about 18 months ago (about 40k miles). As you say, it goes away once warmed up. Mine only seems to do it when the weather is over about 8°C but when it's colder it doesn't do it. I had a dig around on the forums and sent a couple of PM's to other members, and they seemed to say it's not something to worry about too much. One guy said his started at about 40k miles and he has at about 120k miles and it was still going (plus he had it remapped at about 50K miles too). I've noticed quite a few VW TDI's doing this as they drive past so I wouldn't worry too much yet. I think it could be caused by carbon buildup in the turbo that just touches the impellor blades when the turbo is cold and the oil pressure not quite up to full. The bearing relies on oil pressure to help support the impellor shaft I think. It's just an idea, but mine only does it intermitently so I think it's the likely cause. I found that using the Skoda supplied oil (Quantum) seems to reduce the noise somewhat. Take it as just a sign of the turbo getting a bit older but just keep an eye (an ear actually!) on it in case it gets worse. Mine's 18 months on and not getting any worse. Hopefully the turbo will give some warning of a potential failure rather than just going bang. At least that way you get chance to replace the turbo before it explodes and puts metal bits into the pipework. I have a local turbo supplier that can get a standard Garret for £495 plus vat and uses a local garage to fit for £200. The Garrett's are meant to be stronger than the standard fit KKK's but need 'clocking' to fit the Fabia (part of the turbo body rotating so that the ports line up).

Just spotted your post on this. I can only say that the technician at the dealers said that the Yeti lights could be adjusted the old fashioned way. However, he did say that the old Fabia Xenon lights did have to use Vagcom to put the light levelling system into some sort of learn mode before adjusting. I've seen posts about Fabia Xenons where the owner had kept adjusting the lights without Vagcom and had managed to completely unscrew the adjustment mechanism. We haven't had any issues with the Yeti lights since the manual adjustment so they haven't 're-adjusted' themselves.

Mine's been doing the 'more-noise-than-normal-when-cold' thing for just over a year now. It sounds a bit like the police-siren noise of a shot turbo but just very quiet. It goes away once warmed up. It only seems to do it when the outside temperature is a bit warmer. Over the last couple of damp and wet weeks it hasn't done it at all. I wonder if it's just some carbon build-up in the turbo sometimes toushing the blades.

I've have months of noisey front suspension. To cut a long story short, a change of console bushes (1st to Cupra style then to the uprated Skoda ones), plus changing the drop arm links didn't solve the issue. In the end it was the anti-rollbar bushes that were causing the squeeking over speed bumps. It sounded like rubber being rubbed against metal if you know what I mean. I did the ARB bushes myself. Took over 2 hours but I wasn't rushing. Bushes plus the plates that hold them are less than £10 for both sides from the dealers. Takes your log-book for the chassis number to ensure you get the right sized bushes.

I've just been through a similar series of replacements to correct noisey suspension. There's instructions posted above for the drop-arm links. I used the Meyle HD ones as suggested. They are much stronger than the standard links. I decided to have a go at the anti-rollbar bushes myself. I bought the bushes and the clamps that hold them from a dealers. Only about £8 for the lot. Take your chassis number so that they can get the right size. They looked smaller than mine but were the right size. Jack the front of the car up and put on axle stands. Use axle stands either under the consoles or under the chassis members is OK if protected by bits of wood. Remove both wheels. Unbolt one end of the drop-arm links on each side. You can then move the ARB up and down. Any noises will show up. You can get to the top ARB bolts but it is tight. I used a spanner as socket won't fit. I found that a spanner with no crank on the neck is best to prevent it slipping off. It's 13mm in size. I'd soaked the bolts with WD40 a few days before and they undid OK. You then have to spend ages slowly undoing them a bit at a time. Once loosened a few turns mine could be undone using fingers. To get to the lower bolts, I jacked up the suspension arm a few inches from underneath the end of the arm by the caliper. This moves the drive shaft out of the way enough to be able to get a small socket and rachet in there so these undo quite easily. The ARB bushes and plates can then be romoved. Fit the bushes around the ARB and then push the clamp around the bush. It is a bit of a pain to fit but does go on with the help of a bit of grease. You can then refit the bolts. This can either be easy or a complete swine. The first went straight in, but the second took a few goes and trying different heights with the jack under the suspension arm. PLEASE TAKE CARE AND CHECK THAT THE CAR DOESN'T SLIP OFF THE STANDS. I used various spanners, socket extensions etc to leaver against the clamps to get them fitted and the bolts to start to take onto the thread. It took me about 2.5 hours but I wasn't rushing and kept having breaks for tea and to stretch the aching back. I could propbably do it quicker second time around. I'd guess 1-2 hours. Car now sounds and feels brand new!!!

I had Cupra bushes fitted last summer. Didn't have issues with vibrations. Icouldn't really tell the difference, mybe a slight increase but that's all. However, have had creaky bushes since the day they were fitted. Really bad over speed bumps and the lovely roads we have here in West Yorkshire. Silicon lube would cure it for a few days only for it to come back. Got so fed up with the creaky Cupra bushes that the car is in the local VAG specialist today having the Cupra bushes removed and the uprated Skoda ones fitted.

I had Cupra console bushes fitted at Awesome GTI last summer and have had creaking issues ever since. I'm convinced it's the console bushes, as a spray with silicone lube stops it for a few weeks until back again it comes. Anti rollbar bushes are the next suspects but drop arm links are new and the heavy duty Meyle type. The noise sounds exactly like rubber rubbing against metal which is exactly what happens in teh solid Cupra bush as the lower suspension arm rotates as the suspension moves. It's so bad you can hear it when doing a bounce test on both front corners. Now, there's a lot of common sense and good ideas floating around on this forum (honestly there really is!), so I want your opinins on this idea. The console is a pretty chunky piece of alloy. The Cupra bushes have an alloy outter rather than plastic like the Skoda bushes. I think the hexagon hole has a metal bush moulded into it (I know the uprated Skoda bushes have as I has a set ready to fit just in case). I could drill a small hole (3-4mm) right through the console, through the alloy outter of the bush and right through to the shaft that runs through the bush. This hole could then be drilled out and tapped at the outer diameter of the console and a grease nipple fitted. A grease gun could then be used to pump grease right through the hole in the bush to the shaft until it leaks out both sides of the bush. Instant quiet bush that can be re-greased once a year when fitting my winter wheels/tyres. Do you think this idea is a goer or a complete cop-out? Feel free to add replies claiming I am insane or other comic insults.

I'll be there as it couldn't be any closer to home. I may give my own 'flying banana' a trip there instead of the wife's Yeti. Mine won;t look so good as it has it's 15" steelies and winter tyres on. Looks truly horren dous with it's £9.99 Lidl wheel trims. Winter tyres are 185/55R15 Nankang SV-2 Snow on steel wheel from Mytyres delivered in August for 2/3's the price they are now. Not too bad so far. Certainly not Toyo Proxes grip but that wouldn't be expected.

I've had my vrs for a couple of years. A few weeks back mine started doing a similar thing. A bit of a whining noise when cold that goes away once warmed up. Other than that, performance is normal. I trawled through the forum and found someone that says his started doing this at about 40k miles and is still doing it but without further issues at 70k miles. I've got a turbo supplier sorted that can do a Garrett for £495 plus £200 fitting just in case. So far it's not got any worse and that's over about 12 weeks. I think the whining is a sign of some shaft/bearing wear or a build-up of carbon that maybe just touches the turbo blades when cold. I've been checking the oil level and it's not burning any more oil than normal so the turbo seals appear OK. I'd just keep your ears on it for a while and see how it goes. It's probably nota sign of a likely catastrophic failure, more likely a slow deterioration that you can just assess longer term.

Quite correct. I used to work for Mintex at their (now gone) UK headquarters. A firend, visiting this weekend, is the R&D and Technical Sales chairman at their headquarters in Leverkusen in Germany. Most Mintex supplied aftermarket pads are last generation Original Equipment materials usually made at the TMD factory in Hartlepool. All are boxed to OE standards. Usually pretty good but I am biased a bit.

I actually wish the car didn't have xenons. Don't get me wrong as they are great, but the cost if anything goes wrong or even if a bulb fails is a bit daunting. It looks like replacing a bulb isn't too bad but certainly not the 2 minutes job of an ordinary headlight. Just to ensure the haedlights don't get cracked (they are about £500 each!) I used the laminex clear film to protect them. I had a another Fabia with normal headlights and with Ring +50% halogen bulbs the lights were simply superb without all the extra stuff required for xenons.

I had the console bushes replaced with cupra type at Awesome GTI after seeing that they are recommended on this site. I'm not sure they have done the job right. There is now an awful creaking noise from the passenger side when going over any bumps. I did take it back to them on the day they did it but they said it was the front anti-rollbar bushes and not the console bushes. They were OK before the work Awesome did. I've had a quick look at the bushes and they appear to have go the axial alignment wrong. That is, the little nipple moulded into Cupra bush to indicate aligment of the hexagon hole is a long way out on the passenger side. This would result in the flat of hexagon not being horizontal along the bottom of the bush. Could this mis-aligment be causing the god-awful creaking noise or are Awesome correct in saying it's the arb bushes? If so, why were they silent before fitting the cupra bushes? I replaced the drop-arm links with the heavy duty Meyle ones before having the console bushes replaced. All was quiet until the console bushes were done at Awesome Gti. I'm going to get the local VAG guy to have a look first as Awesome is almost 50 miles away. Any help would be much appreciated.