john.errington

No Andy. I must admit the vacuum system is a mystery to me. However I've got a diagram I'll check it tomorrow. In the documentation it says if the turbo control system doesnt move smoothly it can cause jerkiness at "changeover". I'm not looking forward to forking out for a new turbo!

Answering my own question - according to a diagram i found, the pin connections on the headlamp plug are as follows: (colours for right headlamp unit - left is different but pins are the same) 10: sidelight - 0.5 grey/red. 9: turn - 0.5 black/green 8: main beam - 1.0 white return for all these is pin 7: 1.5 brown 6: dip beam - 1.0 yellow return on pin 5 1.5 brown brown seems to be a common color for connections to chassis ground. two useful links: http://www.dimebank.com/LucasColours.html http://www.motor.com/article.asp?article_ID=651

Thanks Andy - no fault indication, no faults reported on diagnostics. and I dont think its limp mode - I didnt need to turn the ignition off to reset it, it just purred away when I let up on the throttle and it came to a less steep bit.

For some time now my Octy has had a slight intermittent "hiccup" in low gears at around 2000 rpm. Only occasional but sometimes quite sharp. Recently there have been three or four occasions when it would not accelerate above 2k rpm. It also seems more prone to stalling. Today coming up a steep hill I noticed this happened in second gear, and when I floored the throttle i saw a cloud of black smoke. I eased off and when the hill levelled out I was able to accelerate away. I've had the turbo cleaned out and given it some injector cleaner, but no better. Can anyone shed any light on a probable cause? My feeling is that 2k is where the turbo cuts in so that could perhaps be significant.

so what do you suggest Andy? The new ones are leds so no current drain to speak of, and the bulbs I have in the sidelights are canbus led's so resistors in circuit already.

I'm trying to wire some additional front position lights in. I've stripped back the cable harness at the drivers side headlamp unit plug to expose a couple ofinches of wires. Can anyone tell me what the connections are (pin numbers/ wire colours) on the headlamp plug?

Following a rear end hit and run I had to replace the passenger side rear lens on my Octy 2. I took some pics as I did the work. Removing the old lens - unclip the connector by squeezing the clip on the plug and puling gently. Pull out the sidelight bulb holders. Slide the clip on the lampholder fitting to one side and remove the lampholder ( pull out, turn it gently to the left, (right for the drivers side) to clear the bulbs, and down. Use an 8mm ring spanner to loosen the two top nuts, then take them off. Dont drop them. Now remove the bottom nuts and take off the lens. rear view with lens removed http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2046/outsidej.jpg and the inside http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/1229/insideq.jpg you can see the upper fixings are above the access hole in the trim. No easy to get at. Here is the new lens http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/6336/lensrear.jpg Put the lens into place and fix it by fastening the bottom nuts til they get a hold. With it still loose use a ring spanner (8mm) to fit the nuts over the upper fixings. Its fiddly. Once they are on you can use an 8mm socket to tighten them - not too tight! Finally tighten the bottom nuts. The bulb holder has three P21W lamps and 1 PY21 as marked on the rear of the fitting http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/8855/holderr.jpg FIt the bulb holder http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/9118/holderbulbs.jpg and make sure the fixing clip goes into place. Push the sidelight bulbs back into their holes until they click into place Fit the connector and check it all works.

Info from the police999 forum http://www.police999.com/forum/index.php/topic,9513.0.html is that the RVLR (1989) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/contents/made permits fitting additional front position lights. Specifically, Schedule 2 part 2: Requirements relating to optional front position lamps In the case of any other vehicle the only requirement prescribed by these Regulations in respect of any which are fitted is that in paragraph 7 of Part I. "must be white" so there is no limit on the position, size or intensity of additional front position lights. They are not even required to be E marked or in pairs. Although that WOULD look tacky!

Quoted £57 from Silbury and £69 from Benfield; both prices inc vat. Interesting. ordered one and they only charged me 40.89 (plus VAT) when it came - no fasteners - that will be another £8.23 inc VAT (plus postage to send it to me!)

Trying again. I didnt ask for advice on styling, all I want to know is .. Can anyone explain simply (and accurately) just what the law allows in fitting extra lights to a car? Thanks FMF at least one sensible answer. What type are they? I'm not interested in styling, I just want to make the car a bit more obvious because I'm fed up with numpties driving as if its not there. Best answer - put blue and yellow overlay on it - but sometimes other people in similar cars take exception. OK, Dingo: "put headlights on." Then everyone thinks "aggressive b***d I'll stay in front of him he's not passing me" Or fit DRL's - they are lights you cant use at night, when you need to see and be seen. Or DRL with night styling. And get flashed 'cos you've got your foglights on. And if I wanted to pay more for my insurance and tax and fuel so I could drive faster than the law allows .. I still would'nt buy a VRS.

I've seen "daylight styling lights" available on ebay. They can be wired as drl's (ie off when sidelights are on) -OR- on with sidelights etc. So basically they act as additional sidelights. I'd like to fit these as the existing sidelights are .. not very good. http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/227892-improve-sidelights/ however I cant find a clear explanation anywhere of the current UK law governing fitting of additional lights. There seems to be a lot of confusion about HID kits, DRL's, side position lights, night styling lights etc. There is some simple stuff about drl's here http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ACArticleDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&articleId=809953&categoryId=245215 Can anyone explain simply (and accurately) just what the law allows in fitting extra lights to the car?

Any chance of pics to show us what you did? I've got 5 * 5050 T10's in both upper and lower holes for rear parking lights and they're much better than bulbs.

I'm sure you dont need to use such a high power. My guess is that a 82 ohm 2W or even 150 ohm 1W resistor will work fine, and it will generate MUCH less heat. and you can solder it easily across the back of the bulb holder.

LED's DO get hot. Unlike tungsten they dont continue to work up to 3000C. So you need to keep the temperature down. If you solder an LED lamp cross a festoon you will get a fault when the festoon blows. And the LED will overheat and stop working. So whats the point of fitting an LED? CANBUS error. My guess is the CANBUS error circuit requires a lower resistance than the one provided in the LED lamp. An easy and RELIABLE solution would be to solder a resistor across the back of the LED lamp. It has wire ends so its dead easy to fit. A 150 ohm 3W resistor will do the trick and not get so hot. Use Order Code: W150R available from MAPLIN £0.59 each http://www.maplin.co.uk/3-watt-wirewound-resistor-2173

Yes, it is. This link has all the details on requirements.

bit of black plastic. how much - well allowing for overheads lets be generous, 20 quid? £57 oh - but that does include the screws! Try on line http://www.skodapart...9519??YES!??... ... NO! £80.29 PLUS £12.50 delivery! oops - and extra for screws. Guess its a trip to the scrapyards. OR find a bit of Aly and make my own.

I've searched the forums etc with no success, dont know what else to call this plastic tray thing that stops oil dripping on my drive. Basically, I was filling my windscreen washer and it occurred to me to wonder whether the tray needed cleaning. Well it didnt. Cos it wasnt there. There are fixings for one, but no tray. Now I wonder - is this one of these crazy things that Skoda do (like not fitting a bonnet strut) to save money on the base models? Or was it there originally and has been removed for servicing at some point and not refitted. I'm sure the main reason for them is to improve aerodynamics and improve consumption. So if anyone has an Octy 2 1.9 TDi estate can you please let me know whether it should be there? And maybe a skoda whiz could tell me the right name forit - and where I can get one?

I've been running mine with (ebay) LED bulbs since Feb with no problems. I've been using them a lot since then because the weather has been so dire. It's made a huge difference to the rear lights, they appear twice as bright and bigger. (had one partly fail but they're easy replaced.) The W5W's are useful to have handy, I've just fitted ont to a boot light when the bulb went. http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/227892-improve-sidelights/

A useful tip - use a camera to take a photo from underneath - it helps you see where everything is!

Following the repair as above the gearchange now seems fine. Time will tell. I might still get the box oil changed; however I'm thinking it would be a good idea to change the cambelt (two have failed on me in previous cars and at £2k a go I dont want it happening again!)

How hard is it to open the windows when you arrive? Why not make the feature even better so it opens all the doors and tailgate - that would really cool it down! and if my car was always in a secure car park and never parked in a high crime area I'd be happy to have this feature. Shame SKODA dont provide a security guard with each car! My point is this "comfort feature" exposes my belongings to opportunist crime, and there is no safety feature on the remote to prevent it happening by accident. If they want to let you cool the car down it would be easier, much safer, and probably use less energy to run the fan blower for a fixed time (say 5 min) in response to the remote.

Any idea what I would pay to get it done?

And interestingly 65557 km aint far off 65535 many digital systems experience glitches when a lot of bit values go from 1 to 0 at the same time. 1048575 is 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 in binary 1048576 is 1 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

This happened to me yesterday. I parked my car in a high crime area, when I went back about an hour later I saw all the windows were wide open. My coats, etc etc all inside. I was very worried. They could have gone. It could have rained my car could have been vandalised ... or stolen. Anyone leaving their dog in the car could come back to find it gone. Did some idiot think this would be a good design feature? So heres a little questionnaire. 1 can you think of ANY valid reason why you would use this feature? 2 who else has found this happen without their expecting it? 3 in view of this what do you think of the "security" feature of having to unlock the car 5 or 6 times to open the boot or let passengers into the car? (OK I know its press - presspress but how many can make this work first time?)

According to many sites "OBDII became mandatory for all vehicles built and sold in the USA from 1996 onwards. It wasn't mandatory for EU (EOBD) sold/built vehicles until 2001 (petrol) and 2004 (diesel)." And wikipedia: - "The EOBD (European On Board Diagnostics) regulations are the European equivalent of OBD-II, and apply to all passenger cars of category M1 (with no more than 8 passenger seats and a Gross Vehicle Weight rating of 2500 kg or less) first registered within EU member states since January 1, 2001 for petrol (gasoline) engined cars and since January 1, 2004 for diesel engined cars." "There are five signaling protocols that are permitted with the OBD-II interface." However looking at OBD2 readers most exclude the VAG & Skoda from their suitability list. and i read "the Octy1 uses an OBDII port, whereas the Octy2 interface links directly into the CANBUS..." SO: Does the Octy 2, Golf 5 etc conform to OBDII? Which protocol does it use? Why are these the only cars that OBD2 readers cant interface to? Where can we find some real information about the standards and compliance for these cars? (ie post 2004 Audi, VW, Skoda?)