matkinson

Thanks for taking the time to respond. No coffee in mine though! But yes, I believe it was bad connections in the selector internals. After unrelated problems - excessive oil consumption from my 1.8 TSi engine (threads exist on this) I shifted me Octavia. I'm now a proud owner of an Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce. Good luck to all Briskodians! (is that the correct collective noun?).

Bah, Skoda UK won't provide any goodwill, based on the age of the car. My gamble of paying for an official oil consumption test to tell me what I already knew hasn't worked out :-( I need the car for the next month. I now have to decide whether to shell out the £3K and hope that's sufficient or shift the car "as seen", which goes somewhat against my ethics.

Cheers for all the advice. I think my next step hinges on whether I can persuade Skoda to contribute to my repair. I'll contact Skoda UK again. I'll update here once I get a response.

Updating again. Having paid a different dealer (Marshall's Oxford) some £250 for an oil consumption test, I now have formal opinion to back up what I already know... I'm using too much oil. One litre every 400 miles, The 5W40 used in the test didn't seem to make any difference to the consumption figures. Interestingly I've been told that next stage (after measuring timing chain) could involve rebuilding engine (piston rods, etc) and this could cost me up to ~£3K. This is far less than the near £5K for an engine replacement I'd been told elsewhere. Any views on whether it is worthwhile approaching Skoda UK for goodwill? Any hints on the approach to take? On one hand my car is getting on (59 plate). On the other hand it's not yet done 60K miles. They wouldn't talk to me until a dealer had backed up my own consumption figures. @silver1011 I'll update the main engine thread once I've got a conclusion to my own saga.

Seems like there haven't been any updates here recently;-). From my last phone call with them, this is now an independent.

Posting back. I've been monitoring 500ml top ups for the past couple of months. I'm getting through a litre of oil every 600Kms! Just spoken to my local dealer (Grey Gables) and they are pricing up a full engine replacement :-(. I have a 59 plate, so well over the 5yrs in which I could maybe expect assistance from Skoda. But I've only done 57K (miles) and didn't really expect this much cost for my Skoda ownership....

Hmmm, I've always accelerated hard on my 1.8 TSi. Yes the car was a compromise (space for kids to university, comfort, etc) but I wanted a "fun" ride and have used the rev range fully. OK, I don't think I've red-lined it many times, but I drive in manual as I want response. So I don't believe this is the full story to oil consumption issues, which I now seem to have. That being said, I may have been gentle in the first few hundred miles. Frankly I can't recall, but I believe that was the advice at the time :-(

Thanks @Awayoffski; an impressively quick response! I'll bear that in mind; I'm halfway through a 5l "can" of the 5W-30 so - unless I get advice to the contrary - I might as well wait until this has gone.

Guys, dare I ask how much such work is likely to cost me? I've now been tracking my high consumption and from the last couple of occurrences am adding 500ml of 5W-30 every 350 Km ;-). So I appear to be in the same boat - in excess of 1l per 1000 Km. My 1.8 TSi L&K only has 60K miles on the clock and drives well. I normally drive in manual mode on the paddles, although do regularly let it change down itself. I like a sports feel when accelerating but then maintain a high gear cruising - effectively sports mode accelerating, drive mode otherwise. I'm aware this may not be the most environmentally friendly way to drive. Is it worth modifying this technique to temper my oil consumption? I get my services done at the local dealer (Grey Gables), who advised tracking consumption when I complained. They did point out that doing the work described is likely to be far more costly than all the oil I'm ever likely to use, and that the high oil consumption won't impact emissions tests (is this point right?). So, ignoring the concerning environmental impact, what's likely to happen if I simply continue topping up each time the warning light appears? Is my engine going to go bang? Other than the occasional and intermittent issues with my gear selector refusing to identify a gear (see my other posts for details) I'm happy with the car. Although noisy it's roomy, comfortable and can be fun to drive. I hadn't intended to part with this for another 40K, but may need to reconsider :-( Thanks in advance for any reply!

Nearly a year on, and I'm seeing the same issue again . A few days ago it took me a few attempts to get into reverse, and this morning I initially couldn't get the car to fire up, getting an EPC alert. Jiggling the selector and repeated attempts to start did result in the engine starting - only to be unable to get out of park. I eventually did manage to start up in neutral and drive off. The galling thing is that there's no problem driving, this is simply a selector problem. Sigh, another trip to the garage is called for. I know there have been horror stories regarding mechanoids, but given this has been fine for a year I'm convinced it's a selector switch or connector. Is this a known fault?

Well, I may be tempting fate, but since the investigation I've not seen the problem again. So there's hope that anyone else seeing this behaviour doesn't need a >£1K mechatronic replacement, but perhaps just a wiring/switch reset :clap:. Note in my research for this problem I swear I read someone state it was due to an unrelated faulty light. I dismissed this on reading it. BUT one of my rear number plate lights was playing up, fixed by cleaning the connections. Whilst I can't believe this is connected, I suppose weirder things are known.

Just back from the dealers (they are a Skoda franchise). I discussed the Ross-Tech possible solutions with both the service manager and - by luck - the mechanic who was working on the issue. It does seem to be that they only work to the "book" provided by Skoda. So the comms was tested, but it's obviously there and the values returned make sense for a working system. Again, unless the issue is "live" they say they can't progress through the investigation instructions. What's perhaps needed is an old school investigation. Dave (service manager) did make the comment that a specialist may be able to use experience of the (extensive!) description of the problem and therefore make a call as to whether this is a mechatronic replacement (I'd get it refurbished) or merely sensor/wiring issues. Fingers crossed the wiring checks have fixed the problem. I didn't get the issue the three times I pushed the sleector back to D on the drive back. But I suspect this is a forlorn hope :-( I'll update this post in a couple of weeks with a. it's all working or b. Damn it, need to see a specialist.

Cheers silver1011, esp. for the v. quick response. I'm hoping they *have* done those checks, as I gave them then code even before taking the car in. But good point, I've printed out the Ross-Tech page and will be enquiring when I pick the car up (10 mins) to ensure they've at least done that. My current plan is to monitor the status for the next few weeks - when I can't do anything anyway - and then talk to Blue Engines (http://www.blueengines.co.uk/) who, albeit a long way away in Manchester, seem from their web presence to be switched on in this area. In the past I've been v happy with this dealer, a family run bushiness just outside Witney,.I do hope I don't have to reconsider my opinion!

Hmm, nobody? My dealer has had the car in for the past two days now, but they say - although there are codes showing - they can't perform diagnostics without the issue occurring. And of course when it does occur - every two days now - I can't move the car until I find a workaround (normally placing it back into manual), so I can't get it to them! They've checked wiring looms etc, but have said they can't do more until something fails. Essentially they can't diagnose whether this issue is wiring, sensors, or (my fear) mechatronic issues. Car is 6 years old, but has only 40K on the clock - I wasn't expecting expensive £2K+ gearbox issues at this mileage! Assuming this hasn't miraculously disappeared following the wiring checks, what are my options? I know there are specialist mechatronic refurbishers (anyone know of one in the Oxordshire area?), do I bite the bullet and book that work? Do I try Skoda Customer Services to see if they would contribute to a replacement on a 40K mileage car (unlikely in the extreme given its a 2009 model), or what? Car drives perfectly normal when it's going. All these issues appear at ~5 mph when I'm switching to D or engaging R.

I've been experiencing this worrying (and initially frightening!) issue on-off for the past 6 months. I have a 1.8TSI DSG, normally driven in manual unless in heavy traffic. But I used to knock the selector back to N at lights - and obviously on planned parking. Now - every few days - if I knock the selector back to drive then the selector lights flash and I have no power. The EMG light appears, eventually disappearing after a couple of days. My OBD code reader shows the single code UO103 - which a look-up shows as "loss of communication with gear shift control module "A". (Makes sense - although what;s the "A"?) If this happens then even switching from drive to reverse, etc, doesn't result in any power or change to the flashing. Fortunately pushing back to manual does fix the issue - but I'm worried that if this workaround disappears I'll be left with a brick in the middle of the street. I've only ever switched to auto at zero or very low speed - I dread to think of the impact of losing drive at speed. I mentioned this to my dealer at last MOT - but at that time this had only happened twice. They couldn't find anything wrong. I can't find mention of this code on these forums. Other more general searches result in alarming "flashing selector of death" reports and detail that the entire selector mechanics need replacing from the bottom of the car. Surely this is simply an electronics comms issue? Any hints? Thanks in advance for any pointers to solving this. Mike