I have just purchased an Octavia 11 and have had the Factory fitted towbar preperation kit fitted.

I have fitted a Bosal Towbar ( the easy bit) and I need 7 pin socket which I have also fitted.

My question is there is a multipin connector fitted in the near side wheel arch does this need connecting to a ZGB1Z0055204 towing electrics so I can connect my 7 pin socket to this, I know it is for a 13 pin but I only need the 7 pin for my trailer.

Many Thanks

G.Marshall

I've had a nightmare with my towing elctrics, but believe I'm finally getting on the right track.......

I too opted for the factory fit towbar prep on my VRS TDi (Dec 09), agreeing with the dealer that he'd fit the necessary extras to provide me with the necessary 13 pin plug ready to go as soon as I fitted my towbar.

The car arrived a week earlier than expected and I went for a casual kick of the tyres before they'd done the PDi stuff....anyhow, it was clear there was no such towing electrics fited so I took it up with thr salesman, who to his credit assured me it would be done before my collection.

Anyhow, on the day of colelction I was acked to delay be a couple of hours as the wirign was still being sorted. Trouble was, with a lack of knowledge in the dealership, they took the car to a local towbar specialist who I susbequently found out, fitted a universal wiring kit, removing loads of internal trim, and having to bypass the cars systems and hack into wiring looms. Again, to be fair, they did as they'd been asked, and did actually do a decent job, proper soldering, sleeving etc of the cabling, and nice and neat. However, this really p***ed me off for so many reasons, and I challenged the dealer to make amends.

They eventually ordered the towbar electrics kit from Skoda HQ, and fitted it properly, removing the aftermarker parts fitted previously. This took several hours, though most of that was to remove the unwanted kit. I spoke with Skoda HQ myself during all this, and have a pretty good idea how it all works There's a multipin connector, inside the boot, behind the lining on the off-side of the vehicle (drivers side). Take a bit of trim removal in there to get to it, but it's there. The wiring kit, part number EEA 600 002 EL4 is the thing you need. It seems expensive, but having seen it it's not a simple cable as I expected. It's a whole box of tricks which has to sit in that same void the connector was found in. It provides a proper interface to the car, includig bulb failure, ESP (if you've got it that is), etc... There's a snag if you fit this yourself as the car needs a certain amound of additional coding - I have the codes if you find someone with VAGCOM that's prepared to help you !. The wiring etc is easy as it simply plugs in. Oh, of course the bumper has to come off too, which I found easy enough when I fitted my bar (Westfalia, supplied by www.towbarsdirect.co.uk - can't rate this highly enough !!!).

Sure, this kit terminates in a the newer 13 pin plug, which I too didn't want, but rather than investing in a converter etc, I changed the plug on my trailer. Believe me, once you've used these newer plugs, you wouldn;t dream of fitting those old 7 pin things - these are a dream, 100% connection, no wiggling about, and 100%waterproof too. They really are so much better and worth the change. I'm used to warning lights and/or buzzers to tell me the trailer is connected, but with this set up it's different. There's a loop-back in the trailer connector which effectively tells the car something is hanging off the back. You only get the warnings etc when something's wrong. Makes for a pleasant experience, but take a little getting used to if you take comfort from the indicator buzzer you're probably used to...

Anyhow, all that said, I do have one outstanding problem in that the wiring upgrade from Skoda doesn't include the additional '12S' terminations. Sadly these were included in the 3rd party fit which had been done originally, but now I've lost them again. The dealer's quite happy to fit them for me, but he can;t confirm if the Skoda 'Supplementary Wiring Kit', part number ZGB000055200W , is correct. His understanding is that this additional kit is only designed for vehicles 'without towbar prep', which doesn't make sense. If anyone can confirm this I'd be very grateful.

In closing I'd like to say that having done all this work, I've not actually towed my trailer once. Noce to know it's all there ready to go, but I haven't yet had the need. The car's done 1006 miles as of this morning, and running really nicely. If I could just get the roads to dry long enough to get my TCS warning light to stop flashing at the traffic lights I think my choice of vehicle would be more than justified ;-)