octavia007

I bought my mkII Octavia mid-April of this year from Hitachi Lease Capital. A good economical estate car which I'd driven since 18k, and for which I got a fair price for when bought at 50k at 4 years of age. Can't fault Hitachi on the buying process, other than the fact that it's a "computer says no" situation when it comes to negotiating price!!! Oh well. Mustn't grumble. Problem is, Lease companies seem to be cheapskates when it comes to servicing etc. Here is my case. Last winter, as we all know, was a harsh one. I got caught in particularly harsh weather with a long journey ahead. Extreme weather resulted in warping of front discs, and pads were low too. So. I had them replaced. By Halfords. I followed "bedding in" instructions as I was told to do. This was end of February time. Since then I've a knocking tapping sound from what appears front brakes since then - and we're now in June! Sound only happens at slow speeds (under 30-40mph), I've had it checked 3 times. Twice by Halfords. One in Cornwall, one in Cambridge. They've checked for grit/movement etc. They say brakes operate fine (although I think not quite as fine as before). But brakes shouldn't make a blardy great clacking noise when braking at slow speeds! So something ain't right! Halfords don't seem to budge. Should I take it back to Halfords? Or cut losses, deal with the noise and carry on as I am? Get AA (I'm a member) in to look at it? Just s0d it, and go to another garage to get them to have a look...even though the last 3 can't see an operating problem with the brakes? The brake "clang" noise is driving me crackers....hence the rant!

Totally agree stacon. Where is the logic in disconnecting MAF? The performance is not nearly as good as the last MkII Octavia I had and yet it pulls OK(ish) on accelerating, and doesn't seem to be misfiring or anything. Nothing really changed with the MAF disconnected though...maybe it takes a few miles to drop into "default" mode before performance drops off...and we only drove a mile or two. I'll stay clear of tuning chips. Have read the low down. They aint great by the looks of it. Really flummoxed still. Why should I still be getting 520 miles (driving like ya Nan) to full tank when in the past I'd be getting 600+ miles on the 2005 MkII (driving hard)? doesn't make sense!! Also - the engine seems to run a little noisier than the last one (although I'm possibly just splitting hairs here). Maybe time to try and see another dealer for second opinion? Any technicians out there got any ideas? Did the reset on driving style yesterday. Driving to Bristol tomorrow - so I shall see how the mpg goes on a long run then and feedback. The car (law of the s0d) starts fine now - so I put that down to cold weather and perhaps the fact that a couple of the glow plugs were faulty (changed today).

Went to the dealers last Friday, and took a technician in the car with me so he could see what I was trying to describe over the phone. To be fair - he was very helpful...and Skoda Octavia owner himself. We went for a drive and I said the acceleration was v poor in 3rd 4 and 5th gears. We then disconnected the MAF sensor and drove some more. disconnecting the MAF puts the ECU in "default" mode. There was no real difference in performance, however he said that there would be notable differences if the MAF was faulty. Logically - this appears illogical! However I took his word, we went back to the garage and linked the car up to the £15K bit of kit (known as VAS...not VAGCOM) and he went through all the details. No fault (other than the disconnection) was showing for the MAF. I asked about the coolant and fuel temp sensors - but they seemd OK (but to check was a tricky job. The readings (below) show (at normal optimum running temperature) that the status was in the prescribed range of settings: Coolant Temp: 81.9C (specific value [or range] >75C) Engine Speed (at idle): 810 rpm (allowable range 770-870rpm) Specified Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) 240 mg/H (allowable range 200 to 280 mg/H) Current EGR: 225mg/H (allowable range 180 to 300 mg/H) EGR duty cylinder: 43% (allowable range 20 - 90%) Fuel temp: 69.3C (allowable range 20 - 95C) Current air mass: 255 mg/H (allowable range 170 to 300 mg/H) So I'm completely bewildered! I asked the guy why I was still getting poor MPG. The reasons he offered were: ECU recalls/ memorises (to a certain extent driving styles)...so as I'm the 2nd driver, the previous driver's style could be "lingering" in the ECU. He said I should drive it as I would drive my last skoda. He also said I should give th car another 10k to seems how things "bed in" and to see if there are any changes. He said although the estate (which I have) is marginally heavier, there shouldn't be that much difference in performance. He said - sometimes diesel engines (mine's a BXE engine used from 07 onwards) should be better than the previous MkII Octavia I had (on a 55 reg). He also said that the immediate MPG signal on the dash was not nearly as accurate as the average MPG reading - and to not pay too much attention to it. I had been paying a lot of attention to it as the readings until cruising in 4th or 5th are very, very low (between 6mpg and 27mpg). With warmer weather still upon us - I'm still unsure about the diagnosis...but I'm kind of lost as to what to do next! Was thinking of installing a TDI tuning chip (about £30 for an OK one on E-bay) as this both improves MPG by a few miles and boosts performance by about 10-20bhp. However - I'd need to be sure it wouldn't harn the engine in the long run. Do you know if these tuning chips knack the engine? I used to drive my previous Skoda quite hard and still get 600 miles to a tank and get 50+ mpg! Just really hoping I haven't got a "dud one"...but judging by the diagnostics results (which only showed to glow plugs had blown - which will be replaced Monday) - there isn't anything wrong with it. In spite of it being noisier than my last one, poorer performance than the last one and using a shedload more fuel than the last one!!

Think I agree JohnGW...think weather has affected things more than I thought... the anti-waxing additives in diesel issue is quite interesting but on a long run from the South Coast to Cambridge (quite warm today)...still gotta unstable idle (850 - 900 rpm on 90degrees C),....still got horrid "lag" on acceleration...(couldn't pull the skin off a rice puddin').....on driving half the distance between 80 - 90 and then rest of the way driving like a cautious nun (55-60mph tops takin it really steady and coasting where I could) - still returning cr@p mileage compared to my last skoda. The way I drove today - I should have at least evened out and averaged 50mpg..I ragged the last skoda I had - and even putting my foot down returned 50mpg on average. Garage (AGAIN) this Friday....I'll feedback after that...that's assuming the garage actually employs mechanics and not "fitters" - and can thoroughly check different avenues to close off potential faults!!

Air filter changed....the old one was a bit mucky, and there may be a slight improvement in MPG - but I'll have to give it time and put the car on a long m'way run....in warmer temperatures an' all. Starting up first time seems to be OK now. The acceleration is still very poor compared to my last Octavia...seems to be a marked delay in response on the throttle...so I'm kind of veering towards faulty fuel temp or maybe coolant sensor. Also at optimum temp (90 degrees) the idle still not static (varies between 850 and 900rpm). Back to the lease car company..then back to the dealer I reckon....

Stacon - I bought an air filter off my own back....as this could be a simple solution. I'll pop it in tomorrow, test it, if nowt changes after quite a few miles. If nothing changes - I'm gonna hammer the lease car company into submission until I get what I think I need. With these companies it's a case of "feck the customer...show me the money"....which is annoying as I actually intend to purchase the car when the lease period is up. So, in answer to your question, they did not service it (as they said it didn't need servicing/ wasn't due a service)....happy days.

Thanks folks! Much appreciated! Piccie is just what I need! Looks a piece of cake...5 mins tops.

kenONeill - d'you reckon it's just altered driving styles given the unusual weather then? I just got a real big sneaking suspicion that the MAF is out - or my air filter is a bit knacked....

I've changed filters on volkswagens an even my old (old) audi no trouble...but how do I change the air filter on the Octavia MkII (diesel) without knacking some thing up?

One question: under malfunction messages on the diagnostics log I have (right at the very end), it's saying: Vehicle System Test : Fault Fault number: 800.11 <0067000511> <0000000000> Then it says: Result - cancel It repeats this 4 times. Anyone know what this means?

Well. Time for a rant!! Skoda Octavia is back from the dealer. VAGCOM diagnostics completed. No faults found. I asked if no faults were found on diagnostics, could they please consider :- • Check/swap MAF* • Air filter/fuel filter – check and replace? • Is the engine timing at fault? • Faulty fuel temp sensor* • Faulty coolant sensor? *I understand that these faults do not necessarily show as faults on vag-com diagnostics. I had basically told them that on £53.50 worth of diesel I am achieving a distance of 479.2 miles. A total of 48 litres (about 10.5 gallons) was used for this mileage. This equates to 45.37mpg. This is a mixture of town and motorway driving at very very careful speeds (but vast majority was steady long haul motorway driving) and use of acceleration (I was trying to not enable the turbo too much, so changing @ around 2000rpm, and coasting where I could). I would at least be expecting 50mpg on this kind of driving. My last Skoda Octavia Elegance 1.9TDi PD achieved 52-60mpg on long journeys and 44+mpg on urban driving, and I drove the vehicle much harder compared to this current Skoda). On my old Skoda I was getting 630 miles on a full to empty tank. On this Skoda, it is evident I am getting much less. The tests I have undertaken also range from cold start mpg to review of mpg when the engine is at normal running temperature. As expected cold start mileage is lower. The idle is a little erratic. It varies between 850-900rpm when the engine is at optimum operating temperature. Also, does not always start first time. The acceleration is very poor compared to my last skoda in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears. Dealer said that no faults showing on diagnostics, and that they had checked all of the above bullet points...and suggested I monitor it myself. Reckon they couldn't be @rsed on such a snowy cold day so just tell me what I wanna here over the phone. Not happy. Don't trust them. Don't trust that they've done what I have asked them to do. As this car is a lease car (which I hope to purchase at end of lease) - the servicing is dealt with via the Lease car company...and like any huge, lease car company - they're probably financially tight when it comes to servicing. I also checked what servicing schedule I'm on...I'm on variable.... so at least any problems are not aided by duff oil etc. Rant over! Any suggestions? What should my next approach be? Is there anything I can do myself to sort?

Another question....the idle on the Octy is a little random. When the engine has warmed up to it's optimum running temperature, the idle varies (slightly) between 8-900rpm. Could this be a faulty/sticky fuel injector(s). Also - have driven the thing without aircon on (cos of dodgy fuel consumption). If it was turned on - how much might/could it affect the mpg? Also - on another thread - there's been loads of chat about "running in". At what point is it considered that an Octy 1.9 105bhp PD engine is "properly run in". Am i still the running the thin in at 24.5k?!?!? Also (this is the final question) Sometimes on starting (cold or otherwise) it sounds a bit juddery or doesn't start on 1st turn of the ignition. Wass that all about then? Can't wait to get the car into main dealer! Think I'm at risk of going all OCD over the blardy thing!

Thanks for that. I've got the car booked in to a main dealer (as it's still under warranty hopefully!) for Friday 8th Jan. I'm hopeful they'll do a complete vag-com check. I'll make a note to ask the dealer to check the MAF and the fuel temp sensor also as they may not show as a fault code. It's just a shame I gotta drive the thing from Brighton to Bristol on the 5th Jan for work!!! Probably cost me an extra few quid in the process! Many thanks. I'll report back when it's all done. The info may be of interest to others. Happy New Year by the way!

Help! Had a 07 plate Octavia Estate (Mk II)delivered on 23rd December...handing back my lovely hatchback in exchange. New estate car is exactly the same model (Elegance) but with a boot (obviously). However the fuel economy is way lower than my old hatchback. Old 'un = 50 to 55+mpg. New 'un 45-50Mpg..and that's driving the thing very very very carefully. Around town I'm in mid to late 30's mpg (this is all showing on the MFD) Have checked fuses. All OK. Have yet to check air filter...but has anyone else had this problem with a TDi before (it's the 105bhp PD)? Or does anyone have any ideas what could be causing it to drastically use loads more diesel than normal? Any offers of help gratefully received!