skomaz

Fair point... Mine are DIY ones made from high amperage welding cable 😀

Getting back to the subject matter... Just buy some heavy duty ones rather that thinner light duty ones and you'll be fine.

It won't be the battery. Just swap the bulbs over left to right and make sure the contacts are clean. You'll only have one fog light on the drivers side at the back that is activated but the factory fit bulbs to both light units so you effectively already have a replacement spare. Even if the filament looks fine and is working it could be that it's starting to fail and the resistance is increasing which is enough to flag the error message

Graham, Just a very quick example of the potential difference in costs between insurer repairs and non-insurer repairs. I recently had my swift damaged whilst parked. I don't know where t happened and clearly the person that did it did a runner. The damage was a dented front wing above the wheel, a very small 1" scrape on the front bumper down to the plastic in front of the wheel and a tiny scuff on the front drivers-side wheel decal (the car has red 'accents' on the diamond cut alloys. The initial quote from an insurance-based repair outfit I had used before and contacted direct, and not via insurance, asking for a cheapest repair possible was £715 for the paintwork and a further £400 for the alloy plus £175 for a set of replacement decals. So a total cost of around £1,300. Asking around I found a well regarded local bodyshop who did the work for the sum total of £270, about a fifth of the original quote. The work is indistinguishable from the original, unrepaired elements alongside from any viewpoint and in any lighting. I realise your situation is slightly different but it gives you some idea of the true cost of the work vs what the insurers will tell you.

There's a range here depending upon how much you want to spend... Roof bars & Roof racks | Skoda Octavia Scout (2009-2014) (roofbox.co.uk)

One simple question... Have you told the insurance company that their write off settlement value is too low and does not reflect market value. If you cannot find a similar car to the written off one for the settlement value they have offered with similar spec and mileage then you need to do the above and show them examples of similar spec and mileage cars in sale for higher prices and tell them they need to match them in thier settlement. From past experience with my dad their first offer will always be far too low. You should not be running around talking to thier assessor etc. However if you've already accepted the low settlement offer your stuffed unfortunately and will need to put it down as a life lesson.

Yes - I used 25mm wide stuff to tape over the gap between the screen and the bodywork at the sides of the screen against the A pillar down as far as I could to the scuttle panel and then the top of the screen against the roof, making sure the roof tape overlapped the side tape at the top and that the tape was into the roof gutters. It didn't come off even in rain on the motorway and lasted months, as electrical tape is generally waterproof, albeit you need to be careful not to stretch it too much when applying it as it can come loose when it shrinks back.. I'd hesitate using duck tape as there's a risk of it pulling the lacquer off the paint (it shouldn't but why risk it?...). For me the ultimate solution was filling the joint between the glass and the bodywork with a suitable sealant (can't remember what I used but it was probably something like tiger seal or similar from Toolstation/screwfix).

Apologies i meant electrical tape... Must've had a brain fart with the ptfe bit!

The PTFE tape trick certainly worked for me and helped narrow down the windscreen issue on the Octavia and also a similar rear screen issue on it's predecessor - a Fabia estate.

Could just be a bad connection at the plug and in trying to get it off you've disturbed it enough to make the connection again. I didn't do on on my old octavia 4x4 BMM but did do one on a Fabia tdi and that was by feel alone unsighted

I did say 3w3 were the right ones... 😁

Yes on a mkii Octavia. One way of checking is to tape around the screen between body and glass with ptfe electrical tape and see if it stays dry.

We test drove both manual and DSG 1.4tsi and 2.0tdi versions of the Kodiak before we purchased and i reckon i could have lived with a DSG as it suited the nature of the car but SWMBO couldn't get on with it at all so we went manual. No regrets at all byt i still wonder every now and then if a DSG might be better suited.

Honda tried that with the Civic Mk 8 many years ago... and even reckoned they'd shaped the rear end so that rain etc. would get blown off by the aerodynamics whilst driving (as MG claim to have done with the 4). They soon learnt and the Mk 9 replacement had a rear wiper...

Wow - the hybrid element of the Arkana is hardly worth having at 20Nm - even the one on the swift kicks out 50Nm and only adds 10Kg to the kerb weight (it is a tiny battery though).

I know you keep referring to Dinosaur Juice but you do know that oils doesn't derive from dinosaurs don't you? Oil is actually derived from plants and animals, such as algae and zooplankton, not dinosaurs... As for mpg claims - the difference to actuals is more to do with the types of journey rather than how they are driven and the terrain. You can drive like a nutter but if your journey is less than the EV range you'll get fantastic mpg from a hybrid. However, if you drive like a saint on a long journey that exceeds the EV range that mpg will drop like a stone and be well below the WLTP claimed.

Sounds like a bit of a mare overall though... and a reminder that Vauxhall's maybe still aren't as god as they should be post-Stellantis take-over?

Re that notch you've cut in the console I'd seriously suggest you smooth it out and radius the corners, otherwise you've created the ideal conditions for a fracture starting and propogating through it, potentially with a fast fracture failure (I'm dredging my memory re materials and failure modes here from years ago but...)

I've done this on various cars and cubby holes etc. Mk1 Fabia, Mk2 Octavia, Kodiaq, Civic, Mx5. My favourite go to is speaker felt and double sided tape... Works a treat at stopping things rattling around in there. If needed you can make card or paper templates to get the correct shape first.

Pretty much... Yes... They have to allow 75% of the light through by law which is pretty much the level of the OE tint, meaning no more can be added.

Can I suggest you check / replace the oil filter. I had similar on a 1.9tdi Fabia with the oil pressure light coming on intermittently on the motorway and it turned out to be a faulty / old filter that had either been missed during the servicing and was starting to collapse.

Given what you've said I'd be drilling the hole in the sdi firewall...

He he... Sorry!

I think you'll find the EV6 low sales numbers are down to a lack of supply as last time I looked they had a huge waiting list.

As above you may need to adjust your driving style... These small capacity turbo engines seem to be more economical if you give them their head and let them rev a bit rather than using low end torque like you would a diesel (says the man having gone from two 1.9 or 2.0 pd TDi estates to a 1.4 tsi kodiaq...)