casscat

Thanks Stuart. In my case I've had this error show up for about 2 months now - just as you say, it comes up as it goes dark. I have tried taking out the rear-view mirror and the forward-sensing headlight 'camera', and cleaned up all the contacts on the wiring plugs. Made no difference though. Does anyone know, can you just buy the headlight sensor on its own, or is it sold as a complete assembly with the rear-view mirror? Cheers

Stuart, what was the conclusion to this story? I've got the exact same fault you describe on my '63 plate Octavia III

I've met similar problems in the past with my last car (Octavia TDi), with a dramatic power loss. Both of which cases are not that serious (not as serious as a new turbo!) That said, I didn't check on error codes, if you genuinely have 'overboost' problems then maybe what I'm saying isn't relevant, anyway here goes: - The most recent case I put down to a contaminated tank of fuel. The problems were just as you describe, a sudden loss of power under acceleration. This started happening not long after I'd refuelled (normal diesel). I definitely used the Diesel pump - I blame the filling station for having dodgy fuel. It was sporadic, you couldn't predict when it was going to lose power (unlike the second scenario I describe below). Anyway I just kept on driving and ran the fuel tank as empty as I dared. Filled up again from a different garage and all was good again, and the problem never came back. At the time though I was scared it was the turbo being about to fail! - The other time I've met this problem, the root cause was a blocked fuel filter. The difference in the symptoms is that in this case the loss of power was predictable. Initally at high revs (over 3000rpm) if you put your foot down, the car actually slowed down and you could see white smoke coming out of the back. Bit by bit the filter got worse, and the point at which this happened got worse and worse, until eventually doing just 30mph was a challenge. What I haven't said up to know is that with that car, I ran on locally produced commercial biodiesel. I met this problem a couple of times, and started carrying a spare fuel filter with me just in case. Further 'proof' of this problem can be found visually under the bonnet. That Octavia had a clear pipe from the fuel filter to the fuel pump. If you revved the engine, you could see that the pipe was supplying 'foam' rather than liquid diesel because of the blockage in the filter. If the latter is the case, changing the filter is easy. Basically remove the four pipes from the old one and connect the new one! The only tricky bit is priming the filter. If (as the Haynes manual suggested) you just keep cranking the engine until the pump has filled the new filter with diesel.... then the battery runs flat first. I learned the trick was to fill the new filter with diesel through the hole on top manually, before then installing in the car. Good luck.

Car: 2009 Octavia with 2.0 / 140bhp TDi on 35k miles I'm having problems with my engine. The problems only lasts for fractions of a second, but repeatedly occurs every 10 miles or so. The problem is that there is a sudden blip in the power that both driver and passenger are aware of. This tends to happen at moderate loading (neither idle nor hard acceleration) - typically for me on a trunk road at 2000 rpm / 60mph. Few notes: - I've had this problem for a few months (more than 5k miles) - so its not a dodgy batch of fuel - Car has recently been dealer serviced (though I note fuel filter was not changed since not due yet). - I have just run through a tank full of fuel with an off-the-shelf diesel addiditive in, in case the injectors were getting soiled. That made no difference. Car is (I hope) still under warranty. But right now I wonder if there is any point taking it do the dealer. Unless they go out on a 10-20 mile test drive, they may not see the fault. Any ideas please? Is it a known fault? Is it an error that is likely to have been stored in the ECU?

I've recently bought a new-shape Octavia (2009, Elegance TDi Estate). Mounted low down in the front bumper are two sets of white lights. I know the lights towards the centre of the car are the front fog lights. They work. That's fine. However what are the other pair of lights for, mounted next to the front fog lights?? They have bulbs and wiring going to them, but nothing I do makes them illuminate. Are they: i) The 'cornering lights' mentioned in the manual ii) Daytime running lights or something else? Incidentally I've just got the 'standard' light switch for the side/dip/fog lights. Mine doesn't have the 'Auto' postion. Thanks

************* *CONCLUSIONS* ************* Since starting this thread I've learnt many things about the Bolero radio. Here's a summary: 1) The Bolero radio / head-unit offers bluetooth functionality on the touchscreen. However the unit iteself it does not actually contain the bluetooth hardware. 2) If you have the Skoda (VAG) bluetooth part, it will be a box screwed to the floor under the drivers seat. I didn't have one on my 2009 Elegance, so I assume its only fitted as a chargeable extra. 3) However the official VAG part wouldn't be of any use to me, because my phone is on the UK 'Three' network. Put simply, the VAG part is a phone in its own right. It uses the rSAP protocol to 'borrow' the SIM card from your mobile via bluetooth. The '3' Three network blocks rSAP from its phones, so it won't work. 4) The part to buy is the FISCON 'Basic Plus'. New these cost circa £350 at present. I've just bought a second hand one off ebay. It works nicely (including with my '3' phone). 5) The 'Basic Plus' consists of: i) A box of tricks, to fit behind the dashboard (mine is in the void behind the climate control buttons, below the radio). ii) A short wiring loom (male plug at one end, female at the other, and with its own wires grafted into the middle, hence no splicing of vehicle wiring needed). This connects in to the wiring plug at the back of the Bolero head unit. iii) A remote microphone to go high up (courtesy light or top of A-pillar). 6) I didn't need to do any recoding with VAG-COM. The Bolero and FISCON units found each other straight away. My understanding is that you only need to use VAG-COM if you want to use buttons on the steering wheel, or the multi-function display - neither of which I have. (The MF display is a dot-matrix panel between speedo and rev counter). 7) When installing, you get much better access if you also remove the top blower vents (those around the hazard warning switch). The awkward part is finding enough physical space to put the new wiring plug (where existing car wiring meets the FISCON wiring). It won't fit behind or above the radio. Best bet seems to be on the glovebox side, having cut some of the binding so the aerial wire has more slack from the loom. 8) In use, automatically, the phone book and call lists have been transferred from my phone. So now using the Bolero touch-screen, I can look for numbers in my phone addressbook, dial them (or dial manually from a touch-screen number pad), set a few preset buttons for favourite numbers. Basically everything you need :-)

CONCLUSION: Just thought I'd post the final outcome on this for anyone interested. I think the root cause was taking in some contaminated fuel. What I didn't mention at the start is that this happened shortly (30 miles or so) after filling up with diesel. About half a tank of fuel later, the problem went away and never returned. I did get the ECU codes read, and they showed no faults (either recorded in memory, or whilst the car was being driven briskly).

Just bought a (May 2009, new shape) Octavia Elegance 2.0TDi. Its got the standard (not multifunction) steering wheel: The radio head unit is the 'Bolero', and I want to understand my options for getting my mobile phone properly linked in. The radio has an option to 'enable bluetooth', however under media "B/T" is greyed out. Q1) How do I tell if I have the bluetooth hardware in the car or not? Q2) If I've not got the Bluetooth module, is it something sensible to retro-fit. Any ideas of a budgetary price for the parts please? Will this be of use without the MF steering wheel? Q3) (more of a statement than a question) I have recovered my old hands-free kit that I fitted myself to the old car (a Nokia CK-7W). Other option is to fit it in the new car. Just need power and mute connections for the Bolero, which I've already found on a Google search. I assume I can find a big enough void behind the dash to fit it.....

Something I just don't know: WIll the diagnostics tool show an error code just if the fault is present there-and-then, or does it remember if a sensor has had an error recently? In other words, since this is an intermittent fault, will the diagnostics help if at the time I plug it in, everything is working properly?

I've got an intermittent power loss problem. Does anyone have any advice on how I can diagnose this please: Car is a 90bhp TDi Octavia I, 130k miles, I've owned it for many years and so far so good. An intermittent power loss problem has started. Car will initially drive just fine, but when putting the engine under sustained load (eg climbing my way up a Pennine Hill) when 2/3 the way up the hill, a marked power loss suddenly happens. So one minute I'm confortably going uphill at 60mph, then a few moments later engine although sounding normal, won't let me pass 40mph. It's not the fuel filter. Ive had that problem before, I've just changed the filter again, but it made no difference (indeed symptoms are slightly different then.... blocked fuel filter leads to misfiring, which isn't happening now). Only other clue is that for the first time I've noticed a ratting sound from under the bonnet. Suppose I brake hard from 60 to slow. Engine and car slow down rapidly. I can hear a rattling pump-like sound from the engine bay. It too slows down, but rate of change is different to that of engine/road speed (rattle takes a couple of seconds longer to fade that the duration of the deceleration of the car/engine). So my thoughts are turning to whether its i) The Turbo ... I guess expensive.... anyone know what sort of money I'm looking at? ii) The ancillary bits of the turbo (waste gate or whatever) iii) A defective intake/exhaust sensor that is confusing the engine management. Fault is intermittent. I can drive for 20 miles without a problem (so engine long since running at normal temperature). Its just when I go for sustained power on a hill climb that it has problems after a while.

Thanks for the information folks. I took the car to a different garage, and the job was indeed straightforward (essentially a couple of hours labour, not a couple of days!), without having to move the gearbox. Looks like it was high time I changed which garage I take my car to!

Car is a 2002 Octavia TDi (90bhp). I have cracked and dented the sump, and as a result the car is leaking oil (not catastrophic oil loss yet, but obviously needs prompt attention). Could anyone please confirm (what I've heard from the garage) which is that the sump removal necessitates having to (re)move the gearbox - therefore expensive labour wise. Thanks