AMartinD

Once again, thanks to everyone who has replied to my original posting. I've just found the following item on eBay and have ordered one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-SUPERB-II-08-15-GEAR-SHIFT-STICK-KNOB-6-SPEED-BLACK-3T0711113/323318773901?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160811114145%26meid%3D20b95a6b35364acc9485f5bb51d82dcd%26pid%3D100667%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D172319531018%26itm%3D323318773901%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2334524&_trksid=p2334524.c100667.m2042 Although it's slightly more expensive than the Poland-sourced item mentioned by Othen it'll hopefully arrive here a bit sooner (although there's no guarantee of that with Royal Mail...!). The eBay posting states that the Reference OE/OEM Number is 3T0711113, 3T0711113TRYP but presumably that covers both the gaiter and the gearknob; there's nothing to indicate what the part number is for just the clip-in insert. When I receive the delivery from S2 Group Parts Ltd I'll try (carefully!) to remove the insert from the gearknob in preparation for swapping it for the faded one on my gearknob - just hope I don't end up breaking any of the clips on the replacement insert! -- Martin

Here's a pic of what the top of my gearknob currently looks like. As I'd previously described, the entire legend showing the gearshift pattern is much less clear than it should be, but what I hadn't noticed until I looked closely at the pic I took this morning is that there appears to be a black tab of some sort obscuring the figure 6 at the lower RHS. There's also a kind of a grey halo around almost all the part of the insert that shows the gearshift pattern, and the edge of the 'halo' looks far too smooth to be the result of wear - most odd! I think I need to try to remove the insert to see what's happened to it - does it just clip in, and hence can be prised out with a screwdriver blade? -- Martin

Thanks to all for the replies. I don't need reminding where the gears are when I'm driving - I think I've just about got the hang of them after almost 55yrs of driving experience... :-) The picture posted by Alan (Othen) shows exactly what I'm pretty sure my gearknob used to look like but now the entire white pattern is almost completely invisible, which is why I began to wonder if there was meant to be some form of back-illumination. What's odd is that the outer surface of the insert in the gearknob is not showing any signs whatsoever of damage, abrasion or wear, and I would have expected the white pattern to be on the inner surface anyway, so I don't believe the cause of the disappearing legend/pattern can be wear - it's almost as though the pattern has just faded away evenly and completely for some reason. I'll try to remember to take a photo of the gearknob in the next day or so and will post it on here. I'll see what I can find by way of replacement inserts, although it might be simpler just to try to find an entire gearknob from one of the dismantlers who advertise online. I'd like to restore the gearknob to looking like it should for when I intend to sell the car in a few months time. -- Martin

Here's a hopefully simple question - is the gearknob on a 2011 Superb Mk II Estate in Elegance trim (with manual-shift 6-speed box) supposed to be internally illuminated, to make the legend showing the gearshift pattern visible? I noticed quite some time ago that the legend on the gearknob on my car is almost completely invisible in normal daylight conditions; I haven't checked it after dark to see if the legend becomes illuminated when the headlights are switched on. I have a vague recollection of the legend being much more visible than it currently is even during the day, so I'm wondering if there's some form of internal illumination behind the legend that might have failed, as some of the surface-mounted LEDs that illuminate the dashboard instruments did several months ago. I asked my local independent VAG specialists if the gearknob is supposed to be illuminated and they didn't know, and there's no mention of gearknob illumination in any of the service/technical documentation I've got for my car, so I'm somewhat puzzled as to why the legend has become almost completely invisible! Anyone got any suggestions??!! Thanks in advance, -- Martin

If anyone doesn't want to have a go themselves at replacing the surface-mounted LEDs that illuminate the instrument cluster, then I can thoroughly and wholeheartedly recommend a small company called Totaltronics who can do it for you; they're located between Coventry and Rugby and will do the job speedily and efficiently. Take a look at: https://totaltronics.com/cat/skoda/ I recently had a partial failure of the illumination of the instrument cluster in my 11-plate Skoda Superb (Mk 2) Estate; the background illumination of the fuel gauge and the water temperature gauge had become intermittent. I had arranged to take the car to Patryk at Totaltronics at 11:00am today; he removed the instrument cluster and replaced not only the one or two failing LEDs that illuminate the fuel and water temp gauges but he also replaced all the other 16 (or was it 18?) surface-mount LEDs that illuminate the entire cluster. He then refitted the cluster to the car, all within about an hour while I waited. The end result is excellent - all the instruments are now fully and clearly illuminated so I wonder if I'd previously suffered some other LED failures that weren't as apparent as the failures of the LEDs that illuminate the fuel and water temp gauges. The cost of the work was £160 which might sound a bit steep but it's almost certainly an awful lot cheaper and more time-effective than buying a second-hand instrument cluster from some dubious source on the Internet and then trying to get it coded so that it'll operate fully and correctly in your car! It's rare to find such competent and speedy service these days, so I can wholeheartedly recommend Totaltronics, especially Patryk's competency, diligence and sheer professionalism (and he's a very nice guy!). -- Martin PS - there was no need to disconnect the battery when removing or refitting the instrument cluster.

If anyone doesn't fancy having a go at replacing the surface-mounted LEDs that illuminate the instrument cluster themselves then I can thoroughly and wholeheartedly recommend a small company called Totaltronics; they're located between Coventry and Rugby and will do the job for you speedily and efficiently. Take a look at: https://totaltronics.com/cat/skoda/ I recently had a partial failure of the illumination of the instrument cluster in my 11-plate Skoda Superb (Mk 2) Estate; the background illumination of the fuel gauge and the water temperature gauge had become intermittent. I had arranged to take the car to Patryk at Totaltronics at 11:00am today; he removed the instrument cluster and replaced not only the one or two failing LEDs that illuminate the fuel and water temp gauges but he also replaced all the other 16 (or was it 18?) surface-mount LEDs that illuminate the entire cluster. He then refitted the cluster to the car, all within about an hour while I waited. The end result is excellent - all the instruments are now fully and clearly illuminated so I wonder if I'd previously suffered some other LED failures that weren't as apparent as the failures of the LEDs that illuminate the fuel and water temp gauges. The cost of the work was £160 which might sound a bit steep but it's almost certainly an awful lot cheaper than trying to get a replacement instrument cluster, bought from some dubious source on the Internet, coded so that it'll operate fully and correctly in your car! It's rare to find such competent and speedy service these days, so I can wholeheartedly recommend Patryk's skills and diligence. -- Martin

Hello Octavia people, from a Superb owner... :-) Later this year I'm looking to replace my 11-plate Superb Estate (Elegance CR 170 2.0 TDi) with probably an Octavia Estate with the 1.5TSi engine - I no longer do the miles to warrant getting another diesel. I've been playing with the car configurator for the SE L estate on the Skoda website and wanted to include Bi-Xenon headlights as an option - I've found them to be excellent on the Superb - but they no longer seem to be available. Instead, the option (or maybe standard fit on the SE L?) seems to be full LED headlights. This got me wondering about how the two different types of headlight compare, so I'll be very interested to hear from anyone who's got experience of both types, I'm especially interested in learning which type has been found to be "better" (whatever that might mean!). Thanks in advance, -- Martin

Another question about a broken door mirror... Last weekend I managed to damage the n/s door mirror on my 2011 Superb Estate CR170, Elegance trim, by hitting the mirror on the handle of a wheelie-bin as I was reversing down my driveway - stupid me!! The mirror was knocked back in the opposite direction to which it folds, and became floppy so I had to secure it with some PVC tape to enable me to go away on a trip for a few days. The mirror glass is intact, as is the outer shell, and all the motors that control the mirror itself all seem to work, as does the heating element. I haven't tried the power-folding for fear of causing more damage! I've managed to obtain a complete 2nd-hand mirror assembly from a dismantler, at about a quarter of the cost of a complete new mirror base unit assembly, and the 2nd-hand unit seems to have all the expected features - power-folding (so I was assured), indicator repeater, puddle-light - so will hopefully be a direct replacement for the damaged mirror. The dismantler assured me that the mirror came off what he described as a "fully-loaded" vehicle he was breaking, which I took to be an Elegance (or higher?) trim level. However... The 2nd-hand mirror assembly has 13 wires going to its connector; although I haven't yet tried to remove the damaged mirror from the car I seem to recall reading somewhere that a full-spec mirror assembly has 15 wires. Can anyone confirm this, and offer any suggestions as to whether or not the 2nd-hand unit is going to be a direct replacement for the original? Thanks in advance, -- Martin

Hi again all, here's an update on the situation re: the possible unauthorised installation of the 23R6 emissions fix on my 2.0TDi CR170 Superb... Approaching 4 weeks ago I had a dialogue with the service management personnel at the local main dealer in whose workshop my car had had the bonnet release repaired; they assured me that the workshop personnel had categorically NOT installed the 23R6 software update without my permission, and I was offered the opportunity to verify for myself, on their premises, that the installed ECU software was a pre-fix version. This morning I took the car into the main dealer's workshop again and saw the output data generated by the ODIS diagnostics system; the data for the ECU in my car shows that the VAG part number is 03L906018CH and that the software version is 7825. The workshop 'master technician' who had done the diagnostics showed me some other information that confirmed that the software version number for the 23R6 emissions fix is 9977 (and possibly later). All of this confirms what I learned a couple of weeks ago from my local independent VAG specialist and from people on this forum, so thanks to everyone for your inputs and I'm now wholly persuaded that the engine symptoms I experienced after my car had been in the main dealer's workshop to have the bonnet release repaired definitely weren't caused by the unauthorised installation of the 23R6 emissions fix. However, something else of potential relevance has just come to light this evening... A good friend of mine who phoned me this evening is acquainted with a chap who, until a couple of months ago, worked for VAG in Banbury. My friend recently told this acquaintance about the symptoms - loss of mid-range pulling power etc - that I'd experienced and the ex-VAG chap immediately told my friend that there's a 'feature' on VAG diesel cars that are more than about four years old that does something to the engine mapping if the engine is left idling for more than about 20mins. Apparently the change to the mapping is intended to prevent the DPF from getting too clogged up in such circumstances, but it has the side-effect of causing the engine to run roughly for some time - a figure of a couple of hours was mentioned - after the period of idling has ended. VAG overcame the problem in more recent cars by modifying the design of the DPF. I wonder if this idle-mode protection was the cause of the problems I experienced back in early July... Has anyone else ever observed any changes to their engine's characteristics after a very lengthy period of idling, eg. when stuck in holiday traffic on a motorway??!! -- Martin

Almost certainly the compressor - I had to have mine, on my 2011 Superb, changed last year after the system failed to produce any chilled air in the middle of last summer... :-( There was apparently a particular model of Sanden compressor (the PXE16) that VAG fitted to a very large number of vehicles; that model had an inherent design flaw that resulted in inadequate lubrication and subsequent failure. Take a look at: http://www.sinspeed.co.uk/sanden-pxe16-air-conditioning-aircon-compressor-skoda/ If you're anywhere near the SW Midlands then I can strongly recommend Motorvation Ltd in Evesham for any aircon-related work. Their principal chap, Geoff Dyde, really knows his stuff and is used by Bosch as a consultant and tutor for teaching aircon stuff to garage mechanics. Motorvation did the work on my aircon system last year and it's now performing as it should (touch wood!). HTH, -- Martin

Well, I've checked again in the boot including under the black foamy stuff and there's no sign of a "23R6" label anywhere. When I picked the car up from the VAG specialist this afternoon, after the service and cambelt change, I didn't get a chance to have a detailed discussion about the findings of their VCDS tests but on the invoice the chap has written "03L 906 018 CH 7825" which he said indicated (to him) that the firmware hasn't been upgraded to 9977 or later... Can anyone confirm that the 7825 in the string of characters mentioned above does indeed represent the firmware version that's installed in the ECU? If it does then it would appear that my suspicions about the main dealer having done the 23R6 upgrade against my instructions are ill-founded, and that perhaps the poor engine performance I'd experienced yesterday and to a lesser extent this morning was due to some other factor. When I drove the car home late this afternoon the engine behaviour did feel more like it had done previously, before I took the car into the main dealer yesterday afternoon, so perhaps all is well - fingers crossed! -- Martin

As people might have seen in the thread I started about the failure of my bonnet release, my car was in the local main dealer's workshop yesterday (Thurs 6th July) to get the bonnet release sorted out, which was successful. However... I very strongly suspect the dealer's workshop also implemented the 23R6 ECU emissions update despite my clear and explicit instructions to them, when I booked the car in, NOT to do so. When I drove the car away from the dealership after the bonnet release had been sorted it felt extremely sluggish and unresponsive compared to how it used to drive, and when I drove the car down to my local VAG specialist this morning for a service and a cambelt change it also drove very differently to how it was before. I've asked the VAG specialist to use their VCDS to check for any engine management faults and also to check what ECU firmware version is now installed; can anyone tell me what firmware version would expect to be found if the 23R6 update hadn't been implemented and also what firmware version will be shown if the update HAS, as I strongly suspect, been installed in direct contravention of my clear and explicit instructions. The car is a March 2011 2.0 TDi CR 170 Superb Estate, in Elegance trim. Assuming the 23R6 update has been implemented "illegally" by the dealer, what options might I have for getting it removed and having the car restored to its previous condition and level of driveability - is there really no way of reverting to the previous, pre-update firmware version? Thanks in advance, -- Martin

I've just had a very quick look and couldn't see anything but I'll check more carefully tomorrow. I'll also ask the V-Hub people who are doing the service and cambelt change to use their VCDS system to see what firmware version is installed and hopefully from that I'll be able to tell if the 23R6 update has been done. Grrrrr......! -- Martin

Hi all, just a quick update... I took my car into the local main dealership this afternoon and they managed to get the bonnet open; apparently the bonnet release cable is in two parts (don't ask me why!) and the joint in the middle had for some undiagnosed reason come undone. Anyway the repair has been made and I can now open the bonet again so the car can go for its service and cambelt change tomorrow as re-scheduled. It took the dealer's workshop about an hour to sort it out but they only charged me for the half-an-hour the jobs was supposed to take. Not a bad result from that perspective. When I was booking the car in at the service reception this afternoon, the girl pointed out that their records showed that the car hadn't had the 23R6 emissions 'fix' implemented; I stated explicity that I did NOT want it, or another s/ware update, doing, so the girl marked the jobsheet as 'Declined' against those two items. However, when I received the invoice it showed that 'Other work carried out' was the 23R6 emissions update and the 'Campaign 66F1' update. I queried this with the service reception girl and she assured me that they hadn't implemented the updates, but when I drove the car away it felt quite different to normal and was decidedly gutless when I tried to accelerate away. If I find that the 23R6 emissions update HAS been implemented despite my clearly stated and explicit instructions not to do it then I'll be very, very angry... -- Martin

No! The lever inside the car moves freely enough, and is apparently correctly attached to the cable, but pulling the lever doesn't unlatch the bonnet so it would appear that either the cable (or the latch) is broken or the cable has become detached from the latch. The main dealer's reference to a clip makes me suspect the latter, but this can't be confirmed until someone manages to unlatch the bonnet so that it pops up and can then be lifted to enable access to the latch mechanism. -- Martin