xman

Took out 4th year extended warranty today for my 2018 1.4 SEL Hatch (manual) £188 for All Component Cover £0 excess up to 15,000 miles. I never normally considered this on new cars I've bought in the past but I haven't racked up much mileage in last 3 years (6000) so not sure if the car has proved itself and worried about possible yet to surface problems and also cost of repairs of the techie bits could be astronomical. Warranty is not transferable and a full Skoda compliant service record is required. Lots of exclusions and crafty wording make me nervous though. That may put me off from renewing next year.

My car has led a sheltered life, 6000 miles in 3 years, always garaged (internal so its not only dry but temperature doesnt vary much night/day, never below 10 deg as well). Usually only take it out on dry sunny days and avoid taking it out in wet or bad weather. We use the Fabia on rainy, wintry days as well as for short trips. So its at home and in the garage safely tucked up for up to a month at a time, with the parking brake always off. Despite this Briskoda induced OCD , it appears the rear discs are indeed made out of swiss cheese. In particular the passenger side has become quite pitted on the outside, at last service Skoda reported that the inside face was far worse "mainly in one place where the pad had clamped the disc when parked" Confirmed by their health check video clearly showing it. Hmmm. Disappointed but not unexpected judging by this forums testimony. The front discs are nice and shiny , as is the rest of the car underneath, the suspension etc. So, frustrated that nobody here is man enough to try, today I decided to be the forum pioneer/guinea pig and use the EPB as an emergency brake to see what happens. First, I checked YouTube to see if someone had already tried this and what to expect. Found an american video with a Honda Civic, where the EPB pulls the car sharply up making lots of loud alarming farting/grinding noises. Another was a Topgear video in Golf R (closer to a Superb), no farting/grinding was evident but a sharp pull up. Handbrake Turn with Electronic Parking Brake So I set off down our estate, got up to 20mph , onto a straight quiet deserted bit, checked it was safe to proceed, EPB on, loud farting type noise from rear for a fraction of a second and sharp pull up, took no more than 2 seconds. Judging by the way the car squatted, it was rear braked only. Quite dramatic but controlled. Tried again, this time at 30mph, same again, fart and sharp pullup, though the car evidently travelled that bit further and took a bit longer. I tried it a third time, same. Nor sure what causes the fart, might be ABS, but its quite brief followed by a smooth but sharp deceleration. Be prepared! Anyway, I can confirm it definitely helps to clean up the rear discs, although my three low speed attempts weren't enough to completely remove the pitting. I can't see the inner face to check that side. Gonna have another go at a faster speed when the car is out again and the mood takes me, but that might be another month. I will have to take the rear wheels off (for the 1st time) sometime later this year, before they become too welded to the hub. I will check the inner faces then, and if I remember, I'll report back. So if you're going in for an MOT or a service/upsell attempt, or those discs look like a scrapyard castoff, why not try it yourself, just make sure its safe to do so, straight deserted road, weather/road surface good, and brace for impact! Definitely don't try it with passengers/pets or half a ton of bricks in the boot.

Apparently the 1.6tdi is fitted with no lees than 3 coolant pumps, 2 electric pumps in addition to the main water pump with the moveable sleeve. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TEap0nuVrE8 Heater has an electric support pump in addition to the main pump Apparently you can check it with VCDS https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uCO9QvgFtDM And possibly an elaborate procedure to bleed the system if coolant or water pump has been changed, maybe your independent didn't do that properly https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XSPBkPBPx1E Basically it appears you have you use a diagnostic tool (eg VCDS) to turn on the secondary electric pumps in turn to bleed them. Following a procedure no doubt

If the radiator is cool (top hose end) is suggests that the engine is not being over cooled. The blue light wouldn't go out if the engine was constantly cold I would have thought. Could be heater flaps are stuck in the cold position and not moving. Does it have climate control or manual heater control? The cc version has electric flap actuators, manual is a bowden cable setup. If it has CC consider scanning the car with an OBD reader, that might show if flaps are stuck or not working. It might be a duff or stuck actuator or even a fuse. Or if its manual, the cable could have come adrift, I think its probably easy to pull the panel out to check the cables at the control end

Is the car a manual or dsg auto? Reason I ask is I think some cars with dsg have a second thermostat that if faulty causes the car to run cold. Might be wrong though so try a forum search on that possibility

I would jack the car so leaving the spring extended and wheel hanging down. I've never had to check the rear wheel bearings, iirc you might find it difficult to reach the spring (safely) You also might find it difficult to spin the rear wheel by hand if the rear disc brakes are dragging. So take extra care when jacking, secure the car and only do it on level ground. You will need the handbrake off so put the car in gear and/or chock the front wheels. Don't take risks. A common reason for droning from the rear on the Octavia mk2 is "saw tooth" wear due to alignment being out. You can check for tyre sawtoothing by running your hand lightly round the tyre tread in opposite directions and comparing. Recommend you check this first before thinking about the wheel bearings. Swapping tyres front/rear is another thing to try. Good luck.

Three things spring to mind, not sure but you can search the forum for further info. 1. Does the coolant tank have "mit silikat" printed on it? In that case often the "silikat" bag in the coolant tank disintegrates over time releasing its contents that cause a chemical reaction in the engine and a kind of sand is produced that usually blocks the heater matrix. Common issue, difficult and expensive to fix. 2. AFAIK this diesel engine has a water pump that features an internal moveable sleeve. It moves to control how the pump works. When this sticks usual symptom is overheating, but I suppose it could stick in the cold position. 3. Lastly it could simply have an air lock in the coolant circuit, someone somewhere would have posted how to check/remove airlocks?

Was it a manual gearbox or a DSG?

On my SEL hatch, if I tap my knuckle on the outside upper rear quarter panel behind the passenger side rear door, its obvious theres no sound deadening material on that panel, its a large thin plain metal pressing and acoustically it sounds bad and cheap. Haven't tried the drivers side, but I'm sure this amplifies road noise and is definitely part of the problem. No idea how difficult it is to access the inside of this panel to stick some stuff on. Not willing to start stripping my Superb yet. I may put some old bed sheets in the well under the spare wheel, that helped a bit with my Fabias. Doubles up as something to put on the ground under my knees if I ever have to change a wheel at the roadside.

Spanner icon is simply a service due reminder, its nothing to do with a wheel bearing. The method that works for me is: Jack up the car so the suspect wheel is off the ground. Obviously take appropriate precautions to make the car safe when jacking, handbrake on if checking the front, or in gear and handbrake off if checking the rear. Using one hand, grip the suspension coil spring at the half way position. Use the other hand to rotate the wheel. If the wheel bearing is going, you can feel obvious vibrations amplified on the spring as you rotate the wheel, if you cant feel vibrations and the wheel turns smoothly, the bearing is ok. Compare side to side when it will be more obvious which side is faulty. Abnormal tyre wear can give droning sounds while driving which are similar to a failing wheel bearing. So swapping tyres around or using the spare can help you ascertain whether the tyres are to blame. Abnormal tyre wear could be due to suspension alignment issues, worn suspension bushes or simply bad tyres.

Afaik, you can't set up a VPN on a smart tv or set top box. You would have to install it on your router, not viable on standard ISP ossue routers or set up a PC woth a VPN and use it as a hotspot. Beyond most people's knowledge and a lot of faffing about. Plus you would be breaking T's & C's of various bits if that bothers you.

Charging using the negative battery post with any decent charger will NOT fry the ECU or anything else. What it will do at worst is confuse the battery management system as to state of charge (SOC) as you've bypassed the current sensor housed in the negative terminal connector.

New car warranty No mention of main battery being excluded/limited only keyfob battery. Extended (factory) warranty bought at time of registration is same terms just longer time/mileage. Skoda have removed the booklet where this was detailed, or at least I can't find it anymore.

For information in case it hasn't already been mentioned. The real man that was Honest John, the champion originally behind the website, reviews and it's ethos, retired a while ago. One factor is this was the financial viability of the website. The brand, team and website was bought out and is now run by Heycar. Not sure if the VAG ownership of HJ influences the way the HJ team now operates, but just be aware.......

It is monitored on the Mk2 facelift, don't know about pre FL On our 2011/12 FL Octavia Estate, it puts the bulb warning light on and throws a message on the Maxidot "Third brake light faulty" or something to that effect. Water ingress leading to corroded tracks, or fatigued/dry solder joints at the connector on the led PCB are the usual reasons. Give it a whack with your hand and if it comes back to life, it'll be a bad solder joint (usually only a very temporary solution) I had no joy at trying to open up the light even using a stanley knife it was very well sealed even though I could see it had the connector issue and no evidence of water damage. To remove the light you need to remove the bottom tailgate trim first, followed by the upper piece. Take care when removing as its easy to break the plastic mountings that hold the metal clips to the trim, especially the upper piece. Dont forget to undo the screw at the pull down thingy first.

Our 2012 Octavia Estate 1.2tsi SE (280mm discs) didnt have a brake sensor connection. Pads supplied by GSF came with sensor wire, just cut it off and fit the pads. Our 2009 Fabia 2 1.2htp hatch (256mm discs) has a brake sensor connector fitted. Our 2013 Fabia 1.2tsi SE estate (same 256mm discs), no sensor connector so cut wire off pads. So doesn't seem to have any particular pattern. The sensor connector if fitted is on the left side (uk passenger side) near top of brake shield.

Here we go again with the insinuations. Just shut it root.

Its time @ColinD made an executive decision and shutdown the Roadside Hotel and other forums where the handful of offensive and irritating threads exists where certain individuals can be obnoxious, and often adopt the broken record style. 1. I do not spend my time on the internet permanently logged on, I do not want to be tracked, and I regularly clear cookies etc, many times a day for security reasons as I access important and sensitive information often. I prefer to check occasionally for new content simply by checking "All activity". So ignore function does not work for me and on days I see many inflammatory posts as I scan the site. You simply can't ignore them. 2. The resident moderators are too sympathetic to certain members, there seems to be a policy of Freedom members can say what they want. IIRC one freedom member even boasts about "unseen" behind the scenes helping of the site but does not say how. Not sure, but from a brief foray into the roadside hotel, it seems that certain members have now gained the right to edit other peoples posts, becoming super biased moderators. Obvious what the consequences would be. 3. As for technical forums (my interest) there are other long resident characters who can sometimes get offensive and aggressive when they disagree with what is posted. I have tried to avoid them, but it still angers me when they try to belittle other peoples opinions, some even spend what must be considerable effort to dig up and quote ancients posts and like to accuse members of lying or talking BS. They, however, on the other hand are never wrong, and as a result people are too afraid to challenge their posts. 4. The system of reactions fosters a strange obsession in some, and like facebook is abused by some individuals to upset people. Sorry for the lengthy rant.

Regarding leaving the car in gear and handbrake off, you have to be very careful on VAG cars fitted with camchain engines, particularly the infamous 1.2 tsi but also 1.2 htp engines. Due to the layout of the chain and tensioner, if the engine crankshaft is for some reason rotated backwards, the hydraulic tensioner side of the chain is pulled abnormally tight and can force the hydraulic tensioner to retract so slackening the other side of the chain, allowing it to become loose and drop on the bottom sprocket. This can lead to the chain trying to climb or jumping the bottom sprocket when starting the car. It would then rattle loudly on start, at worst the chain will jump a tooth or even come off with disastrous results. So if you want to park in gear, on a gradient, if the car is nose down, choose 1st gear, if it is nose up, choose reverse gear. On the flat, I don't think its a good idea to park in gear as you don't know which way the engine is being forced. I believe the highway code states you must leave the car parked with handbrake applied (on a public road). You can also use the advice of turning the steering such that if the car were to roll, the car would move into the kerb, thereby stopping any further movement. But I guess you probably know all that. TIP(s): if you ever do hear a loud chain rattle on start, switch off immediately and after 3-4 seconds, try restarting. Hopefully the tensioner will have extended that little bit and the chain is held in a better position on the sprocket. Seems to work for me whenever I've encountered this alarming situation (many times on 1.2tsi) If I think the chain is slack before I start (e.g. after changing the oil) what I do as a precaution is put the car in an appropriate gear, e.g. 1st and physically nudge the car forward a bit, to rotate the engine in the correct direction a little and so tension the critical side of the chain, before trying to start. Hope you understand what I'm babbling on about..... Note: This whole chain issue seems more of a problem on the later gen camchain engines that use inverted tooth chains (aka silent chains). The earlier engines (mk1 and pre FL mk2 up to 2009) use a conventional roller chain that seems better in this respect, possibly they can tolerate a bit more slack in the chain/sprocket interface than inverted tooth. OP has a 2008 1.4 tdi, not sure if thats camchain, but same issue may apply. (Sorry for going a bit off OT)

For reference https://workshop-manuals.com/skoda/fabia-mk2/chassis/brake_brake_mechanics/handbrake/setting_the_hand-brake/setting_the_hand-brake_drum_brake/

Pull the rear storage bin out behind the handbrake to reveal the T bar. Use a small open ended 10mm spanner to adjust the cable travel. Not sure about armrest, my car doesn't have one. I adjusted mine so brake only starts to apply on 3 clicks and is full hard on at 5 to 6 clicks. No comment at MOT. Its good to check the T bar from time to time as you can see if there is any imbalance in the 2 handbrake cables, the T bar will then be skew whiff when the handbrake is applied. (That can also be down to drum brake issues) What clicks you want is up to you, if the MOT guy said its too much, just adjust it.

Nonsense, I have adjusted our 09 Fabia for the same amount of clicks. Plenty still in reserve. If MOT was done at Skoda, they love to say handbrake needs adjusting, told me it should be 2 clicks. Only £30 please. Bull**** , its a 2 minute job to adjust the T bar at the handbrake end for any clicks you want. At 2 clicks for full on, the brake may/probably will still drag when released. And if its prone to sticking on after its parked and it rains like most Fabias do, 2 clicks is far worse than 6 clicks, because of lack of cable and lever movement in the rear drums, means it seizes up quicker.

Being the eternal pessimist, I wouldn't be surprised if the insurance claim is rejected. At the very least, its an at fault claim which will mean changing insurers at renewal will lead to a significantly higher premium. Your premium will be increased with your existing insurer regardless of NCD. The simple fact is you continued to drive on after the accident and so caused further more costly damage, and you were fully aware of that probability. That would most likely result in the claim being rejected, (its a standard exclusion) especially if its an expensive engine repair, with all the baggage that can add onto your record. Too late now, hope I'm wrong, fingers crossed.

Here's the 3yr/30,000 mile Maintenance List generated for my car last week by Skoda's ELSA computer system I also got 3 other sheets detailing the free complementary health check that comes with each service. Things like battery, tyres, fluids, wipers brake condition, leaks, body damage etc.

On fixed servicing regime, 1.4tsi, 30,000 mile/3 yr service is simply an oil/filter change plus a brake fluid change. An inspection (tick box sheet) is done as standard which also includes a battery check. Spark plugs and air filter are not required until 40,000 miles/4 years. Pollen filter is changed every 20,000miles/2years so yours should have been done last year and is not due until next. So you should be paying only for an oil service, brake fluid change and MOT at most. I have just had a 3yr/30,000 mile service plus an mot on my 1.4tsi superb. It was all done in a little over an hour, no idea how they managed that considering that the MOT should take 1 hour by itself. Supposedly a road test was also done. I did straight away get a video showing/explaning the under car inspection and what was checked. Be prepared for "some corrosion on inner face of rear discs" advisory and a subsequent upsell attempt. Can probably be cleaned up with some enthusiastic braking or "emergency braking using epb" if you have the nerves to try that. (See manual for detail of how to do that). Your decision. Superb rear discs are renowned for corrosion issues, check out the other threads on that subject.