Moonman2

OK, thanks guys.

My 170 had its two-year service today and I noticed, from the service record book, that whereas at the one-year service (one year ago) the garage used "engine oil for variable service intervals QG1", this time they didn't. The part number for the oil used today was ZGB115QLB00521, which seems (via a Google search) to be "Quantum engine oil (Fixed Service)", an oil Skoda do not recommend for a diesel with a DPF. For a DPF, Skoda say ZGB115QLB00501 (Quantum engine oil LongLife) must be used. Am I going to have a problem? My annual mileage is low (about 4000 miles), but the journeys are not that short or stop/start and the engine is generally up to temperature before I arrive at my destination.

Noted! But then maybe Skoda had a duff batch of radios

Found it and in the middle of watching it, thank-you Unfortunately my multimeter only handles 400mA, so I suspect that would get fried if I tried to put it in series. I'll see if I track down a beefier one from a friend, and then go looking for "parasitic leaks". Hopefully it's the radio, as another poster found.

Thanks for all that. I'll clean the battery terminals, if the rain and wind ever go away.

Maybe Skoda had a duff batch of batteries?

I've just been bitten again by a flat battery! Luckily I knew what to do this time - ignore all the flashing lights and bongs, jump start the beast and take it for a good run. Once again I'm left wondering what has drained the battery, and I've responded to a poster who said his radio did for him. I'll remove the radio fuse (I never listen while I'm driving anyway) and see if the problem recurs. Some general questions if I may, since I've been Googling and found all sorts of conflicting information - How long (roughly) should it take, driving, to recharge the battery to full, assuming it was "dead" to start with (battery voltage was 10.8V) but not actually faulty. Five minutes? Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? An hour? I know, from today's escapade, that forty minutes is enough to buy one one "start", but I've no idea how much charge is now in the battery. The car might not start tomorrow! I drove the car mostly in third and fourth to keep the revs up, in the hope that this would speed up the charging process. Any science to my assumption? When the car is running should one expect the alternator to be able to supply power for whatever is in use? Or is it normal for some battery charge to be consumed when "everything" is on? What are the big power guzzlers in a Yeti? Heated seats I would imagine (and SWBO does like a warm back and derriere). But, air-con? Main-beam? Blower? I'll check the battery earth terminal (as per previous poster) - what effect would a loose one have? Does it restrict the charge that the alternator can push into the battery? There's a small amount of white corrosion on both -ve and +ve battery leads - anything to worry about?

Possibly! My 170 has been stood idle for the past 11 days, and when I tried to start it this morning - NADA. Battery voltage measured 10.5, which I took as a sign of a flat battery. Jump started it from SWMBO's (after a bit of faffing, no easy way to attach the lead to her battery's positive terminal) and took it for a 40 minute run. Switched off, and then, with fingers crossed, switched on again and fortunately it started. Another 10 minutes run home. Battery now measures 12.8V (comparable to SWMBO's 12.7V), but quite how much charge is in the battery I don't know. I had a similar problem about a year ago and that time called out the RAC, who told me it was a known problem with Yeti's fitted with electric seats. The guy installed new firmware for me and told he could no longer see any "activity", which was presumably a good thing. I assumed that had fixed things ... But maybe not - I'll try pulling the fuse for the radio and see if the problem recurs, though hard to believe a modern radio can drain a car battery!

My yearly question - Anybody had a car serviced here recently? Just trying to decide where to take my two-year-old Yeti for its second service. I used them last year and they were fine, but I see that they've moved and when that happens things might change ...

I ended up at the Station Garage in Ewhurst, but I'll bear those in mind, thanks.

Ewhurst it was, two or three weeks ago. No problems at all, booked in easily with Luke via email and a courtesy car was waiting for me on the day. They said my car would be ready by 5PM, I asked if I could have it back by 3PM, they said "shouldn't be a problem" and at 2PM I got a call to say it was ready whenever I'd like to pop back and collect it. So, a good experience

Aldershot's not too far, I'll put it on the list. And I guess you've all convinced me to go with a main dealer, at least until the warranty's up (three years I think). Any more suggestions (do or don't) for dealers gratefully received.

I'm trying to decide where to take my one-year-old, low mileage, Yeti-170 for its first service. Unfortunately some of the local (to Basingstoke) garages don't get too good a review in the Briskoda dealer forums. And some of the forums have been archived (e.g. for Winchester) and have no recent posts and a lot can change in twelve months. So, I'm wondering about independent garages, but am not sure how, in practice, this would affect any future claim under warranty. I can see that it would provide "wriggle room" if Skoda felt like not paying out under warranty so I might be taking a risk, even thought one suspects some of the (good) one-man bands would probably do a much better job than an accountant-run main dealer. And there can't really be that much to do at one year old and low mileage. Does anybody have any experience of this sort of thing? Or any recommendations for a dealer in the south of England ...

Anybody had a car serviced here recently? Just trying to decide where to take my one-year-old Yeti for its first service. Unfortunately some of the local (to Basingstoke) garages don't get too good a review ...

Anybody had a car serviced here recently? Just trying to decide where to take my one-year-old Yeti for its first service. Unfortunately some of the local (to Basingstoke) garages don't get too good a review ...

Anybody had a car serviced here recently? Just trying to decide where to take my one-year-old Yeti for its first service. Unfortunately some of the local (to Basingstoke) garages don't get too good a review ...

It does amaze me that there isn't a warning light/message that says "your battery voltage/charge is getting low". Maybe slightly tricky in extremis (need battery power to warn you that battery power is too low) but you'd have thought they could have done something, even if it needed a PP3! But, hmmm, how would I know if the PP3 was flat, wait, I know ... I wonder what percentage of callouts are down to "flat" batteries.

Well, the man from the RAC (aka Skoda Assist) turned up, took ten seconds look at it and said "flat battery". And indeed it was, or rather a fairly low battery. I had considered that but since the headlights worked fine I thought it couldn't be. The clicking noises, which seemed to be coming from both sides of the dashboard, were just the starter solenoid switching in and out as the starter motor failed to kick the engine into life. Anyway he jump-started it, reset the many errors and all was well. The big question of course is why was the battery low? The chap spent about 30 minutes checking various things with his box-of-tricks and eventually told me that it was a problem with the electric front seats. All the car's electronic systems (with the exception of the alarm) are supposed to shut down completely after 15 minutes. The electric front seats weren't, and over a few days (I hadn't had the car out) it's sufficient to pull the battery down low enough to completely phase the (many) electronic systems on the car, hence all the various warning lights (and this morning the boot just keep locking and unlocking itself as soon as I put the key in the ignition!). The RAC man (a VAG specialist) contacted Germany and they told him it's a known problem and there's a firmware update to fix it. This he duly downloaded and installed for me. He then checked that the front seat controls were indeed shutting down after 15 minutes. First class service as far as I'm concerned. So, if you have the electric front seats, be aware ... I'll take the car for a run this afternoon to get a bit of juice back into the battery. And buy myself a voltmeter )

It's now progressed to telling me that the rear brakes lights are not working, the left rear turn indicator is dead and the brakes have failed. And it switches the rear wiper on whenever I turn the ignition on, despite the stalk being in the off position. Unless there's some uber-rat munching its way slowly around the various bits of the car it's all starting to seem like screwy electronics. I'll give Skoda Assist a call tomorrow and see if they can either reset things with some magic box-of-tricks, or tow me to the dealer if they can't. Sigh.

I hopped into my (less than one-year-old) 170 to go to the shops, switched the ignition on and - many strange lights in the dashboard pods and then a "bong" and a message "Error : Stabilisation Control (ESC)" appears. If I turn the ignition key further round to try to start the car then there's a rattling or buzzing sound, hard to describe, from all over the dash board and many more lights coming on on the dashboard and the engine doesn't start. I tried waiting a while, and I've pushed the ESC button (the one that shows a car sliding around the road) a few times in case that caused anything to reset, but nothing. Rats. Anybody else experienced this? I'm hoping it's "just" the electronics that have got them themselves in a tizzy and that there might be some simple way to reset things. Off to read the Skoda Assist booklet to see just what level of cover they provide!

Looks useful - anybody fitted one to a Yeti? Simple unscrew-old-and-slot-in-new job?

That would be us Very pleased with it. Didn't really get much experience of the car coming home (apart from fiddling with buttons as I sat at traffic lights) as it was rush-hour - average speed 11 MPH for the first hour! I was out in the evening, but just town driving so didn't do much there either, except on one short stretch of 60MPH - seems quite nippy already, though I'm hoping it will get quicker as the engine loosens up a bit. No idea how long that takes for diesels, though I shall (mostly) be driving gently for the first 1000 miles or so. But will probably take it out for a little jaunt this weekend 4.5 miles on the clock and a third of a tank of petrol (diesel, diesel-diesel-diesel, must remember, can't recall if the nozzle for petrol fits a diesel tank or it's the other way around, diesel-diesel-diesel), so no complaints there. Just have a 240 page manual to read now ...

I'll keep you posted! Off to get it this afternoon <beams>

Do they come with a full tank of petrol? Diesel. I still call it petrol after all these years.

A week? How did you manage that?