The Good Shag

I should have taken some before and after but didn't. It does look like a showroom car now though.

My Superb is just under 8 years old with 85,000 miles on the clock. I bought it at 3yo/30,000 miles with a fully stamped book but since then I have serviced it myself. There was bubbling paintwork around the rear number plate light and some almost un-noticeable bubbles where the sills meet the rear wheelarches. I was going to sort it myself when my son mentioned that these cars came with a 10 year anti-corrosion warranty. I didn't hold out much hope because the service book hadn't been stamped in over 5 years but gave them a call anyway. They asked me to bring it in for a look and after inspecting it said they believed that there was a manufacturing paint defect and that it should be repaired under warranty. After they confirmed with Skoda UK that it would be covered, I took it in 10 days ago. I picked it up today and, boy, am I well-chuffed or what! A whole new boot lid, new number plate lights, sills and wheel arches sorted out. It was also polished all over to a gleaming shine and 4 very grimy wheels are now sparking again. I've heard others moan about manufacturers warranties being bad news but my experience with Skoda is very, very much better than I expected.

Had this on mine. Local garage took all four tyres off, cleaned the corrosion on the rims back to the metal and no problems since. He says its quite common on all alloys. He only took £40 for the lot. If yours are generally a bit scabby then sandblasting and powder coating would do the trick. More expensive but they will look like new.

I had mine fitted by a towbar professional. He used some kind of module which doesn't interfere with bulb failure alarms and the trailer flasher confirmation (legal requirement) is a beeper in the boot. I know that the official Skoda kit for a 2006 Superb involves ripping out a load of trim and running wires back to the fusebox. The stuff of nightmares.

Most of my driving is high speed motorway stuff.

The fluid I used was like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-VOLVO-ADM-FLUID-ADDITIVE-KIT-EOLYS-1161752-DPF-OIL-/111301591006?pt=UK_Vehicle_Oils_Lubricants_Fluids&hash=item19ea177fde I've had the car since 30,000 miles and have never had any trouble with it other than a radiator leak which was replaced under guarantee. I read the self study guide before I bought the fluid and was convinced it was the right stuff with the right iron content. Since getting the car back, I've has an emissions warning come on and VAGCOM reports 18366 - Exhaust Gas Temp Sensor 2 Bank 1 (G448) P1958 - 000 - Short to Plus Freeze Frame: RPM: 0 /min Torque: 0.0 Nm Speed: 0.0 km/h Load: 0.0 % Voltage: 12.92 V Mileage: 60 km Temperature: 138.0°C Absolute Pres.: 979.2 mbar It wasn't on when I got the car back and I reset it only for it to come back on a couple of days later. The guy in the garage says that the sensor may have been sooted up too and it should burn off after being run for a bit. If it doesn't I shall be taking it back. Is this sensor prone to failure? Anyone know?

Had to get a new DPF at £520 + VAT plus more bit plus labour. £924 all in. After my car had lain for 2 weeks I got about 3 miles then put the foot down as I hit a dual carriageway then there was a bang. No lights, warnings, buzzers or anything. The car lost power and it sounded like the exhaust had gone from the noise. Limped along for 3 miles and it eventually cut out completely and I had to get recovered. The bang was caused by the intercooler hose blowing off due to high pressure caused by a blocked DPF. Now I know that regeneration is supposed to take place automatically and obviously this hadn't been happening. The guy in the garage showed me the old DPF and it had about 10mm of soot built up on the inlet side. I topped up the fluid about a year ago with stuff I got on Ebay. No it wasn't Adblue but the stuff they use in Volvos and Peugots and it seemed to be the same spec. So my question is...........was it the wrong fluid or is there perhaps something wrong with the differential pressure sensor which is supposed to detect when a regen is required. If it is the sensor, is there any way I can check the differential pressure using VAGCOM which I have. What are the memory addresses for this differential pressure sensor. I don't want my new DPF going the same way because the regen process isn't happening as it should. I am after informed advice. Please don't tell me to get rid of the car as this isn't an option right now.

Tight-arsed technician with common sense who recognises quality and value for money. And I enjoy looking down my nose at Merc, BMW and Audi drivers.

I wish that dieselV6 and GaSelle would take their handbags and slug it out on another forum.

£500 would get me about 15 litres of fluid which would last about 300,000 miles.

After reading all the stories about the DPF additive being an expensive top-up, I was dreading the day when I had to do mine. Well it finally happened! The glowplug light would come on for a while then go out for a while. Turning the ignition off and on again didn't always get it to go out. The light was coming on more frequently and it was only a matter of time before the additive tank became empty. A call to my local Skoda dealer resulted in a quote of £280 to refill it. I looked for a cheaper alternative. AdBlue seemed to be very cheap but was it the right stuff for my engine? And how to get the stuff into the tank with its little special connectors? A lot of trawling on the net came up with the following http://www.volkspage.net/technik/ssp/ssp/SSP_330.pdf A most interesting read. It explains in detail that the DPF in my car is mounted well away from the engine where the exhaust gases are cooler and that the additive was iron-based. AdBlue is a solution of urea and isn't suitable for cooler exhaust gases. A search on eBay came up with a DPF additive called EOLYS which is used in Volvos, Peugots, Citroens and Fords. Try a search for Volvo DPF EOLYS. I checked the spec of EOLYS on Google and it is iron based. I got the kit for £45 including delivery. And it is a doddle to use. Connect the vent tube to the vent connection (the smaller one) and the other end to the empty bottle which is to catch any overflow. The other tube connects to the fill connection and here I had to press the tube over the connection because the connection fitting was the wrong size....Volvos must be different. The other end screws onto the bottle of fluid and has a valve which lets the fluid out and the air in at the same time. Hold it up in the air, open the valve, and it fills in about a minute. Job done. The fluid is brown as I've seen described in other posts so I am sure it is the same stuff. The fluid supplied is only 1.5 litres rather than the 4 litres to completely fill the tank but it will be good for around 30,000 miles by which time I will probably have sold it. Net saving - £235. Bingo!

My glow plug warning light came on and suddenly the car lacked power. I stopped, switched off the ignition and restarted. Glow plug light still on and down in power. A few miles later the light went out and normal service was resumed. No problems since. VAGCOM revealed the following Address 01: Engine Labels: Redir Fail! Part No SW: 03G 906 016 GT HW: 028 101 269 8 Component: R4 2,0L EDC G000SG 8203 Revision: 12345678 Serial number: SKZ7Z0F3720462 Coding: 0000072 Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00000 VCID: 7BFEE46C39FE40C 2 Faults Found: 17082 - Sensor Reference Voltage C P0698 - 000 - Too Low Freeze Frame: RPM: 1260 /min Torque: 114.0 Nm Speed: 0.0 km/h Bin. Bits: 00100000 Bin. Bits: 00100000 Bin. Bits: 00100000 Bin. Bits: 00100000 Bin. Bits: 00100000 16618 - Boost Pressure Regulation P0234 - 000 - Limit Exceeded (Overboost Condition) Freeze Frame: RPM: 2310 /min Torque: 346.0 Nm Speed: 95.0 km/h Load: 82.7 % Voltage: 13.98 V Bin. Bits: 00101000 Absolute Pres.: 2386.8 mbar Absolute Pres.: 2590.8 mbar Readiness: 0 0 0 0 0 I presume the boost sensor lost its signal and caused the turbo to go into overboost at which point the glowplug light came on and the engine switched to limp home mode. I am hoping that it is nothing more than a dodgy connection. So where exactly is this sensor located on a 2.0 TDI 140 so I can check it. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

At last! Someone to give me a little confidence in my car. Most people join these forums to get the answer to a problem they already have which is why they are full of talk about things breaking and being unreliable. I wonder just what percentage of these engines fail with this problem. 2%? 5%? Or maybe only 0.1%? I am sure that there are 100s of Mk 1 Superbs with these engines which have done high mileages without the oil pump packing in. Go on any forum for any make of car and you will find similar horror stories of shoddy design, apathetic dealers and manufacturers, warnings of never to buy a Thingummy Whotsit Mark X with the bilateral doodah engine coz it's a pile of **** despite the fact that there are zillions of Thingummy Whotsit Mark Xs with the bilateral doodah engine all going strong. I love my Superb and really don't want to part with it because a few or even several unfortunates have had a bad experience.....no disrespect intended. Fingers crossed I haven't tempted fate by posting this.

Further to this, I tried again after updating the software to v10 and the firmware to v1.83 and, Hey Presto, it worked. I assume that the previous version didn't have the info for a Superb. Just for info, the front sensor was 2.8v and the rear 1.7v.

Further to this, I tried again after updating the software to v10 and the firmware to v1.83 and, Hey Presto, it worked. I assume that the previous version didn't have the info for a Superb. Just for info, the front sensor was 2.8v and the rear 1.7v.

One duff sensor will cause this. They are expensive but come up on Ebay from time to time. I just replaced one for less than £30. They are dead easy to replace and you don't have to take the bumper off. I can replace one in less than a minute but the first time I did it, it took a lot longer. Once you know how they are fitted you can literally do it with your eyes shut. The one on the right hand side involves removing a small rear undertray but the other three are easily accessible.

I foolishly tried the headlight output test with VAGCOM. It said it was raising and lowering the lights, etc, and I heard the lights moving. Since I've done this I keep getting the "01539 Headlights not adjusted" fault and a lights failure warning on the maxidot display. I've tried the headlight adjustment procedure several times but to no avail. When I reset the fault code it comes straight back in. Am I missing something? Everything was working perfectly before. Any help would be appreciated and I promise never to do it again. I posted this in the diagnostics forum but got no replies. Hopefully posting it here will get a response.

I foolishly tried the headlight output test with VAGCOM. It said it was raising and lowering the lights, etc, and I heard the lights moving. Since I've done this I keep getting the "01539 Headlights not adjusted" fault and a lights failure warning on the maxidot display. I've tried the headlight adjustment procedure several times but to no avail. When I reset the fault code it comes straight back in. Am I missing something? Everything was working perfectly before. Any help would be appreciated and I promise never to do it again.

Further to this. Was it just the puddle light that went or did the electric mirror adjustment/memory go as well?

Thanks. It doesn't sound too costly to replace. Might give it a go.

Think this could be the issue with mine. I've got no puddle lights, interior lights and sometimes get the door ajar warning. Convenience unit is dry as a bone and all connections are bright and shiny. As a matter of interest, how much was the part for the mirror? Was it a complete unit or just a circuit board?

I'd be very interested to know what the engine damage was and the cost to put right. Is this a DIY job or a professional one?

I had this. One of the lugs on the bulb holder had completely corroded away. Cleaned up the contacts in the housing with emery paper and used a small piece of crumpled up cooking foil jammed between the end of the bulb and the housing. Not quite kosher but it worked. And before anyone starts about electrical safety, there is no chance of it short circuiting.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Having read all the stories of impending doom if you have a BSS engine, I would like to try shutting the stable door before the horse has bolted. Is it an easy job to modify the oil pump drive to something more robust? I am perfectly happy with my car and want to keep it so wouldn't mind shelling out for a modification. I am thinking here of the feasability of giving it to a local machine shop and having the end of the balancer shaft machined to a proper hex or square hole rather than the round hole with microscopic splines.