avi4tor

If you look here https://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2011_Skoda_Octavia_TDI_CR_2.0L_4_Cyl._Turbo_Diesel/lights/foglamp They show the removal method you mentioned in the video at section 3. About half way through you'll see the unit being removed and you can see the catch that my method is aiming to dislodge.

Mine is a 2011 facelift Elegance. I pop out the combined fog light / DRL unit by sliding a 1 inch wide paint stripper blade (a spatula from the kitchen might also suffice) down the in-board edge of the unit. It connects with a hidden sprung catch, and you need to apply a little bit of pressure to the blade at the same time as applying slight sideways pressure to the front of the unit towards the outside of the car.

Now fixed - a few gotchas. To remove the arm nut cover, unclip the sides and roll it towards the arm - then you can unclip it from the arm. Pulling the arm off the spindle I managed to pull the arm off the taper insert instead with a puller. The cheap replacement motor only lined up with 2 of the 3 mounting points. The replacement arm fouled the glass, so I had to repair the old arm with araldite. I managed to break a couple of the retaining clips for the boot lining moulding, but the remaining ones hold it on OK. The old motor gearing was ok mechanically, so it was probably an electronic problem in the control box, or the electric motor failed.

I used a puller, but make sure you use one with long fingers, otherwise you just pull the plastic arm off the taper insert (like I did). Then I had to araldite the taper insert back in.

Mine stopped working today - the original has been in almost 10 years. Any pointers as to how to change it? Recommendations on suppliers? Octavia 2011 FL combi Elegance.

I queried the replacement interval with my garage, and they pointed out that the cam drive was a chain . . . Mind you, I have a 1.8 TSI, so it might be different for the diesels.

Yup, it requires both the garage (or anyone with a VCDS) to set the appropriate flag, then the indicator switch trick as the ignition is switched on. Be aware that the DRL bulbs have a fairly short life - the bulbs get a lot of vibration and the centre contact wears away. I regularly have to replace my near side one.

I have to persistently replace my DRL bulb on the near side as the centre contact wears away - its nice to see that I’m not the only one to have this problem! The off side one has never failed. I’ll try soldering a small washer to the contact on the next one before I install it - it should wear better than the solder (need to do this properly, you don’t want the washer coming adrift and shorting out the terminals). I’ve contemplated going to LEDs, but they’ll have the same problem - and I have read that some need load resistors, some need the polarity of the wires reversed, and I guess if you install load resistors, you lose the ‘bulb failed’ indication for that bulb. Having said that, I’ve a pair of AUXITO LED bulbs (1156 white) from a well known on-line auction site which I’ll experiment with next time the near side DRL bulb fails. P.S. what’s a BCM, and does the standard MDS on my Elegance have the facility to switch to LED bulbs?