Hello everyone, first time poster, long time reader.

Firstly the problem; I have an Octavia Combi, 1.9 TDI,60,000 miles, since new in April 2002. This morning I noticed that the 2 LCD displays are displaying gibberish. The colour is as "black" as normal, they do not change when key is turned nor when I use the stalk switch. Also noticed that the temp gauge, which is analogue, went to cold and then suddenly went back to 90 degrees. I cand find anything relevant on the forums; any help greatly appreciated.

Also; up to now I have prided myself on constantly achieving average MPG of 63 to 65 ; on longer journeys i can get up to 80 MPG. Am I right? I know my speedo reads 10% over actual, does this translate to MPG readout too?

I have not modded it in anyway, just keep it well serviced & buy good diesel.

Am I missing something? or is that sort of MPG normal. I consider myself a pretty average driver, keep to speed limits, anticipate traffic lights changing, etc etc. I dont coast down hills etc, though I do subscribe to the imaginary notion that there is an egg 'tween my foot and the accelerator

Milo.

Are you basing the MPG on pump volume and trip mileage? The mileage counter should be accurate, but could be over-reading; if your motorways have the same mileage posts (the white sticks, not the white on blue signs)as ours do, you could calibrate it against them.

The LCD readouts might be warning you of a low charge issue, so check you've got at least 12v, preferably 14.3v across the battery with the engine idling. Otherwise, the readouts themselves might be failing, or the instrument panel PCB might be failing.

Hi and welcome aboard.

Thanks for the above; I will throw in a new battery over the weekend; it is past due anyway and winter is coming.Hopefully that will solve it; will measure voltage then. Otherwise I will explore the displays failing ; hopefully not.

Our motorways do indeed have the mileage markers. Unfortunatly they were probably contracted to the son-in-law of a government minister and thus are spaced at intervals of 70 to 100 feet so they could justify the €27 million they cost.

My sat-nav would seem to corresspond pretty closly to the mileometer, allowing for undulations etc on the motorway. When I get my displays working again I will do a definitive fill-to-fill count and post the results.

Welcome to Briskoda!

Make yourself at home, It may be worth have a search in the Octavia 1 forum as there may be members who have had similar issues