Othen

Following on from my last. There was one reoccurrence of the ABS and other warning lights coming on - as I was turning onto the M8 on my way home from Paisley. The lights cleared themselves after about a mile and I made it home (330 miles) with no further problem. I thought the issue must be with the OSR ABS ring, so this morning I got round to swapping the hub with the ring attached. I suppose it took me about an hour to get to this stage: … once the car was jacked and the wheel off there were only 6 bolts to undo - but some of them were a bit hard to access. First the calliper (13mm and 15mm open end spanners, then tied out of the way with a bungee). Then there was the calliper bracket - two #14 XZN bolts hidden away behind the inside of the brake and fiendishly hard to get at - also done up very tightly, after that remove the disc (a little Torx screw) and remove the cap to reveal the hub bolt. I thought it prudent to apply a bit of heat: 2 minutes from the electric heat gun, then the bolt came off easily enough with a #18 XZN bit and a big breaker bar. The hub then just dropped off to reveal the above. The magnetic ring didn’t look too bad: … so I suspected the issue may well have been that steel dust cover that was rotten to the core behind the ring. It had perforated in several places and rust was falling off in lumps - perhaps bits of rust were interfering with the magnets and causing the intermittent fault? I’d already bought a replacement hub, so I thought I might as well fit it rather than just clean up the dust cover. I noticed that the ABS ring stood about a millimetre more proud than the old one, so it wouldn’t fit with the rusty dust cover in place anyway - hence I knocked it off: …and everything fitted. I don’t think that dust cover was any great loss: I still rather suspect it was the culprit. The new hub slid straight on: The hub nut has to be done up mighty tight (180Mm plus 180 degrees - eeeek!). Clearance to the sensor seems just right: I suppose it took about another an hour to get everything buttoned up, so this wasn’t too hard a job. Hopefully that will be the intermittent problem sorted out. Alan

Now I know about it, I’ll give the two sensors a good spray with some WD40 once or twice per year. 😎

I used Carista to code the battery, it worked fine (that was the reason I bought it, but it has been useful for other things). The Autophix scanner that David6253 recommended above also claims to be capable of re-coding the battery, and he tells us that works. That is exactly the point of my question though: how good a scanner do I need? Having checked my Carista contract, I find that I have until January to decide what to do. Many thanks, Alan Addendum: I can see the Autophix 7610 is available on eBay for £57, which would be less than the renewal price for the Carista licence, with no annual recurring fee - so at first sight I’d probably go for that when the time comes.

My modern motorcar is a 2013 Superb diesel estate, Elegance model. I have lots of other cars and motorcycles, but they are all too old to need an OBD scanner. Nearly a year ago I purchased a Carista dongle with a fairly cheap first year subscription (I think it was £30 for both). It seems to work fine and I have used it to help maintain my Skoda to good effect, but the first year’s cheap subscription is nearly up (October I think) and the renewal would be £60. Whilst this is probably a reasonable price, I’d prefer to buy a scanner without an annual fee; also I feel Carista is rather more capable than I need to maintain one motorcar. I know very little about OBD scanners. I’ve spent an hour or so this morning reading reviews and comments, including in the BRISKODA forum; now I’m more confused than when I started. I’m guessing VCDS is VAG’s own software, and as such will be much more competent and expensive than I need. At the other end of the spectrum eBay and Amazon are full of hand held, plug-in scanners for a tenner or so. I’m guessing that something between is what I need - but I have no idea what that might be, so my question is: can someone point me in the right direction regarding OBD scanners? As I said in the above, I only need a scanner for my 2013 Skoda as my two ancient Volvos and 5 motorcycles are all too old to need a scanner. I don’t particularly need Bluetooth connectivity (although it has been quite useful with Carista) - a wired scanner would be perfectly fine. It might be useful to be able to update the scanner online - I’ve noticed some manufacturers offer this - and often free. It may well be that the answer is to stay with Carista and pay the yearly subscription fee, but if there was something similar I could buy for say £100 that didn’t need a subscription and might last some years I’d prefer that. Is anyone able to help with some advice? Alan

I had driven my Superb for a month and probably 1500 miles (a return trip to Paisley and two to Gatwick from Skegness) with no problems whatsoever, when whilst driving around a local car park the same set of warning lights returned a few days ago. The lights all cleared themselves by the time I got home (about a mile) and the fault could not be traced with Carista. My first thoughts were a poor connection at the only joint in the wire, the one close to the wheel sensor. I pulled that apart and gave it a spray with contact cleaner, and the outside of the joint with WD40. The warnings have not returned and again I cannot trace anything with Carista. Maybe that did it? I suppose this could just be a computer on a day with a ‘y’ in it - just a spurious fault that will never return? Otherwise the new sensor I fitted could be faulty, but that seems unlikely? Thirdly perhaps there might have been some dirt or debris around the sensor when I fitted it (it was a very tight fit), or finally it could be the ABS ring on the back of the hub starting to fail? I will have another long trip to take my son back to university in Glasgow this week, which will be a good test. I’m wondering whether I ought to have a new hub (or a pair, they aren’t expensive) ready to fit just in case the issue returns? Changing the hub looks easy enough - a few of those XZN fasteners that VAG likes, a bit of heat and some brute force. Alan

I can’t particularly help with the issues, but it might be worth starting a new thread with a catchy title - this thread probably won’t attract much interest now the issue is fixed. Alan

The good news is: I’ve waited for dusk and taken the Skoda for a spin; what a difference! Everything is back to the way Mr Skoda intended for less than £20. 😎

It is fixed!

This will probably be the final post in this thread. After 55 minutes this message appeared telling me the process was done: Everything seems to have worked fine, the map version has changed from 8536 to 8557. I don’t know how much of an improvement in detail that will give me. This has been a good few days work on the Skoda, I’ve changed the glow plugs, found and (I hope) fixed an issue with the headlamp aim and changed the rear brake pads. That should be all that is required for a while. I really like my Superb diesel estate, it is such a practical motorcar, and so much less maintenance than my two old Volvos. 😎 Addendum: I have also received the Skoda’s road tax reminder in the mail this morning- just £35 for the year. It is (almost) a pleasure to pay it.

The postie delivered the v.17 map CD this morning. I understand this dates from 2021 and is the last update available for my Columbus unit. There aren’t any instructions with the CD, but it is pretty obvious. Turn on the car (no need to start the motor), insert the CD, press ‘continue’ a couple of times and eventually get to a screen asking whether the maps on the HD should be replaced, or run from the inserted CD. I chose to replace the maps… then wait an hour or so (which is what I’m doing this whilst typing this, and listening to Smooth Radio). There is a comfort screen, activated by touching the ‘eject’ button (this was about 5 minutes into the update): I’ll let you all know whether the process worked in about another 30 minutes. 😎

I’m pleased to report that the replacement headlamp level sensor and the map update CD both arrived with the postie this morning. I’d left the Skoda up on the ramps, so fitting the replacement sensor took just a few minutes. It is helpful to have a ratcheting ring spanner to do up the 10mm bolt at the top because there really isn’t much room. The 10mm nut at the bottom is much easier to access. So, wheel back on and the motorcar jacked down. These are the rubber pucks I mentioned the other day. They fit the ridges underneath the Skoda’s sills perfectly and ensure there is enough clearance so the Kwiklift doesn’t damage anything under the car. Everything looks okay. I’ve returned the headlamp adjusters to their original positions (I’d marked them with a white paint pen), but I’ll have to wait until it gets a bit dark this evening to see if the aim is right. Now on to the map update. 😎

I would tend to do the cheap and easy things first - so the ABS sensors are only a tenner each and are easy to fit. That probably won’t stop a scraping noise though, that still sounds like a brake pad or disc. These are free to diagnose and cheap to replace. Wheel bearings are easy enough to check yourself - so that would be a really good place to start.

I did change the rear brake pads this afternoon- an easy job with the motorcar already up on the ramps. The old pads didn’t look too bad for 45,000 miles worth of wear: This was the third set of pads, so they are lasting pretty consistently (97,000 miles total for the first 2 sets). I might as well leave the motorcar up on the ramps until the headlamp level sensor arrives. 😎

This should only be a 10 minute job to fit, so I should have my bi-xenon headlamps working as Mr Skoda intended on Saturday. I’d adjusted both headlamps up ‘a little bit’ to compensate before I knew about that sensor - fortunately I’d marked the start point a white paint pen, so I can put them back to their original positions. It is nice to solve a problem (fingers crossed). 😎

Thank you. I had no idea those sensors existed until I saw a similar thread yesterday - this forum is such a useful resource, I might have gone round in circles looking for faults if I hadn’t been pointed in the right direction regarding the sensors. Alan