before starting the engine, all the lights come on then they go out but the EPC light and the engine light stay on, they go off when the engine has started though, is this normal?

manual says this 'This warning light comes on for a few seconds when the ignition is switched on.'

:confused:

Normal (i think)... Can confirm tonight when I go home again

manual isn't that clear about it

manual isn't that clear about it

Doesn't help much but EPC light on mine goes out after a couple of seconds even without the engine been swithced on.

Ah! I've checked and mine remained on for longer than I could care about so I assume it doesn't go out without switching on the engine.

Yup its all normal mate

Doesn't help much but EPC light on mine goes out after a couple of seconds even without the engine been swithced on.

how comes his goes out then? :confused:

As long as the EPC light goes out its ok, it doesnt matter when it does, just as long as its not on when the engine is running.

I should imagine that as your car is brand new it hasnt fully learnt yet. New Skoda's have things called rediness codes. These are learnt values stored in the engine ECU. They are to do with things like lambda probes and lambda heating, throttle setting and about eight other areas of emission control. If these are not set up at PDi (which quite often they aint because you dont get time to do them) it will take some time for the car to sort itself out. The EPC light is tied in with these, it along with the engine management light is part of the OBD II compliance which you need on new vehicles now so the police can plug into your car and check things like lambda readings to check your car is road legal emission wise.

can the police check things like that?

They can yes. At the moment its not common practice, but the OBD II system is in place for them to do it in the near future, they do in parts of Europe allready so im told.

There is even legislation on the cars that the diagnostic port must be within so many inches of the fuse box so it can be found by the authoroties and all cars must still run the old K wire form of self diagnosis (most cars now run on CAN BUS data cabling) so the basic OBD Scanners (same as what the AA use) can read any fault codes). And as I understand it they plan on impounding your car if it doesnt meet regs.

Good job my clio didn't have an ODB II port, the emission were really high even with the cat back on!