Hi, Seems a bit of a silly question and as it's dark so I can't go and have a play but anyway - Should my Octavia have 1 or 2 rear fog lights, as at the mo I only have one working on the drivers side cluster. The other cluster bulb stays on like the other but does not get bright when I put the switch on

Thanks

Morph

Edited 1 November, 201015 yr by Morph

UK specification Octavia's leave the factory with only the O/S rear fog light activated.

Is your Mark II pre or post facelift?

On the pre facelift yes it is possible to activate the second rear fog light. Your dealer can do this or a friendly member with VCDS.

The facelift is a different matter, it has been discussed on here in detail, I think it is possible but it certainly isn't as straight forward as on the pre facelift.

Hi, Seems a bit of a silly question and as it's dark so I can't go and have a play but anyway - Should my Octavia have 1 or 2 rear fog lights, as at the mo I only have one working on the drivers side cluster. The other cluster bulb stays on like the other but does not get bright when I put the switch on

Thanks

Morph

Not a silly question at all (IMHO).

You have indeed two bulbs and someone, with the right equipment, can enable the nearside. Otherwise standard configuration is to only show the offside (driver's side).

You have two bulbs in case the car ever goes abroad and then it can be switched over. For safety's sake, the car shows one light so as not to drown out the brake light.

HTH

Dealer told me they could not/would not activate it ?

Intend getting it sorted hopefully when i finally make it to a NorthEast meet

You have two bulbs in case the car ever goes abroad and then it can be switched over.

I'm not convinced this is the reason as the option for one or two rear fog lights isn't selectable by the driver.

There are no twin filament bulbs on the Octavia. The single filament tail light bulb doubles up as the fog light - it simply gets brighter.

Activating the second rear fog is just that, all you are doing is simply activating the feature. No need to go anywhere near the actual light clusters.

Two rear fog lights shouldn't detract from the brake lights due to the large distance between the fog and brake light and the high level LED third brake light.

Dealer told me they could not/would not activate it ?

Intend getting it sorted hopefully when i finally make it to a NorthEast meet

Pre facelift or facelift?

As mentioned earlier, on the pre facelift it's simple. Dealer activated my 2008 pre facelift second rear fog light in minutes.

The facelift is apparantly much more complicated and for this very reason many dealers claim it is not possible.

As I drive a lot in France & Spain I e-mailed Skoda re 2nd rear foglight. Saying I wished to have the nearside rear fog light turned on. This is their reply

"Thank you for your email dated 25 October 2010, regarding the issue with your car.

I can confirm that all Skoda cars only come with one fog light working and it is not possible for your Retailer to activate two fog lights.

I understand and appreciate your comments with regards to driving in Europe, but regrettably we will not be able to make any changes to your car that would allow two fog lights to be working.

Thank you for contacting Skoda Customer Services.

Kind regard

Pre facelift or facelift?

As mentioned earlier, on the pre facelift it's simple. Dealer activated my 2008 pre facelift second rear fog light in minutes.

The facelift is apparantly much more complicated and for this very reason many dealers claim it is not possible.

Facelift

I'm not convinced this is the reason as the option for one or two rear fog lights isn't selectable by the driver.

There are no twin filament bulbs on the Octavia. The single filament tail light bulb doubles up as the fog light - it simply gets brighter.

Activating the second rear fog is just that, all you are doing is simply activating the feature. No need to go anywhere near the actual light clusters.

Hi,

I am not convinced either - it was just an unsubstantiated opinion so I will withdraw it. :yes:

However, there are twin filament bulbs on the Octavia. I'v just had mine out whilst I worked out how to wire a bypass relay for the tow bar.

The Fog and brake lights are both P21/4W twin fillament bulbs. Similar to the ones I had on my first car, a 1968 Austin.

The code for the bulbs is also marked in the plastic of the bulb holders so they haven't been fitted in error either.

IIRC the side lights and brake/fog filaments do both light up. There are however, just two wires into the plastic holder - one for the side/brake bulb, and one for side/fog bulb.

So I agree, you are correct, the car must send a signal down just one wire and the bulb holder works out which filament to light. How it does that I have no idea - could be magic for all I know - last time l really understood wiring it was on my 1968 Austin 1300.

By the way, the TEB7AS bypass relay works with my car and indeed is so clever there is no need to connect to the side light wires - Clip to the Brake wire and the Fog wire and it senses the differences in signal from the car!

Not the case on my 54 plate Octavia. Both top and bottom bulbs in the cluster are twin filament. Can guarantee that, as it's only yesterday I had to change a brake light. Also, the maxidot only showed "defective brake light nearside", with no mention of the tail light, which is the other filament.

Mike

Interesting, I wonder when they changed to single filament?

My 2008 is single filament top and bottom.

As I drive a lot in France & Spain I e-mailed Skoda re 2nd rear foglight. Saying I wished to have the nearside rear fog light turned on. This is their reply

"Thank you for your email dated 25 October 2010, regarding the issue with your car.

I can confirm that all Skoda cars only come with one fog light working and it is not possible for your Retailer to activate two fog lights.

I understand and appreciate your comments with regards to driving in Europe, but regrettably we will not be able to make any changes to your car that would allow two fog lights to be working.

Thank you for contacting Skoda Customer Services.

Kind regard

I guess this confirms Skoda UK's poor product knowledge.

It is definitely possible. I've had it done on my 2008 Scout by my local franchised Skoda dealer.

So I agree, you are correct, the car must send a signal down just one wire and the bulb holder works out which filament to light. How it does that I have no idea - could be magic for all I know - last time l really understood wiring it was on my 1968 Austin 1300.

I stand corrected, apologies, I didn't realise older models may still use twin filament bulbs.

My previous car, a 2002 BMW 320d SE had a useful system of using other bulbs as back up if one blew.

For example if your brake light bulb blew it was able to increase the power to one of the tail light bulbs to compensate.

Also, if a headlight bulb blew the indicator lit up, but dimly, to ensure both sides of the car were still illuminated.

I think the Octavia uses a similar system to monitor draw from the bulbs. If a bulb fails and this is interrupted I assume this tells the system that there is a fault and the dashboard warning light illuminates.

All very clever!

The post above suggests the 2008 models are also twin filament, so it looks a very recent change. Facelift models, maybe???

Mike

I promise that my 2008 (August) Scout has single filament brake and fog light bulbs that also double up as tail lights.

It's difficult to tell on the picture but I took this shortly after buying the car...

Started something here haven't I.

Its a Facelift model and the bulbs are single filament.

Thanks all for you replys, just find it weird that I have a Seat Toledo also and this does both sides, strange !!

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/177456-2nd-rear-foglight/