RobGu

Hi Dan I basically googled 'how to remove a Skoda Columbus' and then watched a couple of youtube videos and read a few posts. Basically, this is what I did: 1) Loosened the cover of the climatronic by simply putting my hand underneath is and then giving it a bit of a yank (you can feel when your fingers get behind it). I thought I had to take this completely off, but just loosening it seems to be more than enough. 2) I tried for about 30mins to get a credit card behind the facia around the Columbus and prise it off (this technique described in a few posts) but I had no luck. I ended up using a child's knife (we have a 4 year old so we have some metal kiddie cutlery in the kitchen), just inserting it between the edge of the facia and the soft plastic of the main trim and gently levering it off. I did the bottom right, then top right, then bottom left and top left. Once I had something that didn't bend is was surprisingly easy! 3) I simply undid the 4 screws holding the Columbus in place and pulled it out. The wires were somewhat tighter then I had expected, especially the GPS one which I had to disconnect to get the pictures I posted earlier. I'm yet to disconnect all the wires, but hopefully this should just be a case of pulling the terminal blocks out, then putting them into the new headunit. Hope that helps, nothing earth shattering I know. Rob

Ok, so I've taken the Columbus unit out of the car and have had a look at the connections behind it. I also had a conversation with the retailer earlier today which was useful to an extent. I really want to be able to use the factory fitted microphone with whatever I fit now, and he pointed to the below model as one that could do this - if I had the right wires connected to my existing Columbus. https://audiotechdirect.com/pba-vw7915v-8-android-9-0-after-market-radio-for-vw-seat-skoda/ Below are the pictures of the connections to my existing Columbus: And this is the info from the website on the connections to the back of the aftermarket unit: So I think it's pretty simple that the connector blocks in the top picture just come out of my existing Columbus and straight into the black terminals on the new unit. According to the diagram on my Columbus, wires exist for my factory fit microphone, so that should still work. My concern is on the second picture. The retailer said I would need an aerial adapter, but it looks to me like the white block I have now should come off and attach straight to the back of the new unit. Secondly, I have two wires with a blue connector on the end. One wire goes behind the steering column and the other is bound to the two wires that are connected to the aerial connector. On my existing setup, the one that goes behind the steering column was connected to the blue terminal on my Columbus. The one bound to the aerial wires was not connected to anything. Any ideas why I have two wires with connectors but only one is in use (I assume this is the GPS cable)? Does anyone see any problem with me fitting this unit as a replacement for the Columbus with the setup I have? As you can see, I know exactly the right amount to be very dangerous!

I hear you; it is a concern. I think calling the retailer and getting some confirmation of how it will work is required before any purchase. Does anyone have one of these 'cheap' after market headunits and can confirm all the steering wheel controls, parking sensor graphics, and dashboard display work with them?

Thanks. With an aftermarket head unit such as the one I linked to, If I unplug the stock Bluetooth unit I assume that when it's all reconnected up I will still get the messages on the screen on the dashboard as I do now with the Columbus?

Thanks for the reply, I think you're probably right. I've been reviewing other threads in this forum and see that there are a number of recommendations of aftermarket head units to replace the Columbus. I'm thinking of going with something like https://audiotechdirect.com/pba-vw7948v-7-android-9-0-after-market-radio-for-vw-seat-skoda/. What I'm confused with though, is how Bluetooth works with a replacement head unit. Even though my Columbus is dead, my phone still connects happily to the car. So if someone calls me when I'm driving the display in the dashboard says someone is calling and I can answer it. Obviously I can't hear what they are saying and they can't hear me as the head unit controls the speakers and the microphone. All of the aftermarket head units I look at have Bluetooth themselves, which means I'm going to end up with a car with two Bluetooth devices (the car and the head unit). It it normal for the in-built Bluetooth not to be in the head unit and am I worrying about nothing? It's obviously important to me that the in-build microphone etc work with whatever aftermarket head unit I get. Thanks, Rob

Hello all Hopefully someone can help me with a very odd issue I'm having with my Columbus system in my 12 plate Superb Elegance Estate 4x4. I've read loads on this forum and others but non of the threads seem to be what I'm experiencing. When I start the car, the Columbus system only powers up about 50% of the time. It's not random, so it will go for a week or two powering up fine, but then won't power up at all for a few weeks. When it does power up it's faultless, it has never turned off during the journey and it works fine (CD, radio, Bluetooth, sat nav, I don't use the HDD)). When it doesn't power up, sometime it will turn on during the journey, sometimes not. When it does turn on during the journey it takes a long time to boot - I assume performing some sort of full system reboot. So it's not a simple fuse issue, as then it wouldn't turn on at all (and I've checked the fuse in the main fuse panel and that's fine). It's not some simple loose connection, as then it would sometimes turn off when driving (which it doesn't do). It's not the hard drive failure that people experience when it turns on and then promptly off again. It's not simply 'died' as then it wouldn't work ever. Does anyone have any idea what's going on, or how I can investigate further? Thanks in advance, Rob

An earlier post asked if a car with this fault was safe to drive. My 06 plate Fabia 1.9TDi has had this exact issue for about a week. I have only drive short distances in it since then but have a 400 mile round trip to do this weekend. I can't get the car seen by anyone (or really look at it myself) until next week. Does anyone have any advice? I'm not 100% sure, even after reviewing these posts, what this wire actually connects and why it takes 10 minutes to come on.