Hi all,

I'm after some advice.

I bought a black 07 plate Skoda Octavia vRS TDI (170PS) with less than 10k on the clock around 6 months old from a main dealer as their demo vehicle. It has every single one of the 12 added extras; cruise control, bluetooth handsfree, maxi dot computer, 18" wheels, climate control, etc, etc, etc. Have ran for over 4 years, paid off loan (was on company car scheme), mainly motorway miles. No problems until recently;

- Air bag light (passenger side) permanently on

- Engine management icon (intermittently appears)

- Particulate filter (intermittently appears)

- Needs new rear wiper arm (not just blade, whole thing got snapped off last week)

- Driver side electric window doesn't automatically go up unless you keep pressing up every half a second until it's a third of the way up then it makes it's way on it's own

- Needs cam belt (I think recommended at 98k miles)

It runs like new but as I'm getting a company car in April and 100k service due in about 3 weeks, I want to have it in pristine condition for a private sale on autotrader in April. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I'll make the most money out of the sale. I doubt a dealership will be interested unless I'm part exchanging which isn't possible due to my circumstances.

I'm planning on taking it to a main Skoda dealership to get the work done so it's appealing to a private buyer when April comes around.

My question is, shall I bother spending £510 on a new cam belt? I'll drive approx 8k miles between now and then. Will a typical buyer ask the question if it has been changed? Is there much danger of it going and destroying my engine in the next 4 months/8k miles?

In my opinion, a car is like a house; the little things matter, i.e new car mats which I'll buy. Best valet I can find to make it feel/look brand new. I should get £6-7k for it.

I'm just not sure about the £510 outlay on the cam belt. Should I bother? Is a buyer likely to ask if it's been changed? Is it likely to go between 100k and 108k miles?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

PS - the tw@ts at my work are giving me a 3 door Audi A3 - the most basic model, 140PS - I can't even plug in my MP3/DAB radio in as it has no aux-in socket!! So any suggestions welcome there too!

Happy New Year everyone.

Thoughts on cambelt intervals have been discussed at great length on here as opinions vary.

The official line is that Skoda recommends them to be replaced at the four year mark irrespective of mileage so yours should have been done last year. However there are others that prefer to go just on mileage, I can't remember if the official mileage is 60 or 80,000 miles but again you are over due.

I just bought a 2007 (57) vRS in October, I made sure I found one that had had the cambelt done as it can be an expensive job. £510 is steep though. There is a recent thread on cambelt pricing and the average is around £400 for the full cambelt kit. I'd shop around a little more.

As it is now out of warranty then you could consider an independent specialist rather than a main Skoda dealer in an effort to reduce costs.

There is a good chance your vRS is subject to a recent recall too as it affects the vast majority of pre-2008 diesel PD vRS Octavia's.

The recall involves replacing all four injectors and the wiring loom for free, irrepective of service history, mileage or warranty.

If you do take it to a main dealer to have the cambelt done make sure they check the injectors too. Some interesting reading here...

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/197422-vag-170-ps-diesel-injector-failures-vosa-action/

I think VW dealers will do the Cambelt change for £399 inc Vat, water pump extra. That was the price I was quoted but my dealer price matched.

There is a recent thread on cambelt pricing and the average is around £400 for the full cambelt kit. I'd shop around a little more.

Here it is...

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/223093-whats-the-going-rate-for-cambelt-change/

If you are looking for top money then spending the money on the cambelt is essential in my view. If I was your buyer I'd just knock the money off the price you want as a starting point. As it's significantly late as well it then gets me thinking what else have you scrimped on etc. But maybe every other buyer doesn't think like me.

Thanks all, VW seems the place to go for cambelt replacement (hopefully Skoda willl price match).

Any other tips, please feel free to share.

Thanks all. Much appreciated.

Edited 2 January, 201214 yr by Steve78

There are reports of poor connectors under the seat which can result in the airbag light being displayed. Apparently repeated forward and backward adjustment of the seat can pull the connector apart, so hopefully this might be an easy/quick fix. I've only heard of this on the drivers seat though so not sure if its the same set up under the passenger seat?

If it was just the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) light being displayed then I'd be asking the usual questions like how long is your commute, have you noticed the symptoms that would suggest that the DPF is performing a regen etc. but I think that with the engine management light coming on too then there may be another underlying problem.

I'm sure that the Skoda / VW dealer will be able to read the ECU for logged fault codes and be able to diagnose the issue very easily.

The rear wiper arm is an easy DIY, if you lift the plastic cap up over the hinge point you'll see a bolt that secures the arm to a spindle. The rear wiper on the vRS is the same as the standard hatchback so there will be loads on eBay etc.

Does the electric window complete the final third at full speed? i.e. does the motor sound OK? If so it may well just be a worn or failing switch or actuator, a fairly easy but fiddly / time intensive fix.

Im trading mine in on saturday for £7700 with only 40k on the clock, its immaculate IMO with no niggles except low front tyres.

Have tried all the usual routes for selling privately for the last 3 months and my best offer was 7k (which is lower than trade). I was only looking for £500 above trade in

TBH the used car market is poor just now and I think you will be at the lower end of your expected sale price, so I would not spend the £400 to 500 on the belt. If a serious buyer comes, and happens to ask, then negotiate it into the deal.

You'll need to get those warning lights sorted out if you want to get a good price for your car - they're all reasons for MOT failure from this year (read more here)

If you live near Chester there is an excellent VAG specialist indy here http://www.qrsport.com/contact_us.php , they did my cambelt tensioner and water pump for £350 , Mitchells the local Dealer wanted £650.

If it was me, I'd save your money on having the "Best Valet" and spend it sorting out it's faults and getting the missed cam belt change done. Unless the interior trim and paint work has been particularly neglected, then you should be able to "clean it up" yourself. It'll cost you a lot less, but may take you a morning.

If you don't do the cam belt and fix the faults, a buyer will use them to knock dow the price and in this climate, the could knock you down hard. But what would a buyer knock you down for if you've cleaned it yourself, but not had it professionally valeted it?

When my mate sold his late wife's 4 year old Polo, just before Christmas the couple who "eventually" bought it came to see it a couple of times and had a couple of test drives. In they end they said they'd only take it on the outcome of a full AA/RAC type inspection, this included a check of the "presented" service history against the manufacturers recommendations as well as a full fault code scan. He said ok, and it was duly carried out. It showed that her car had logged several intermittent (but potentially expensive) electrical faults and that they had "missed" a service & ...... the cam belt change! in the end they got him to reduce the price by £1,000. A big hit on a Polo that was already priced below what a dealer would have asked. As he needed to shift it as part of the will, & he had funeral costs still to recover; he was backed into a corner.

They got an absolute bargain, but I can see both sides. He had advertised it as "full VW Service history", which it clearly wasn't, and had it been properly serviced, then the faults would have been picked up under the warranty. I doubt VW would have showed him or the new owners any good will in this case had the developed in to anything!

I'm just not sure about the £510 outlay on the cam belt. Should I bother? Is a buyer likely to ask if it's been changed? Is it likely to go between 100k and 108k miles?

If it hasn't been changed at all then you run a significant risk.

I personally wouldn't even buy a 100k car that hadn't proof of perfect service history, price is irrelevant, I would just walk away.

As for your question about warning lights - you need to get all the errors cleared or you will really struggle to sell. The airbag light is likely to be the connector under the seat. Put a tie wrap round it lengthways and pull it tight to really force the connectors together. This is the trick Vauxhall used for years on the seat connectors that had the same intermittent problems and caused the airbag light to come on.

Get someone local with VCDS to scan the car and clear the fault codes, you never know they might not come back!

If you are looking for top money then spending the money on the cambelt is essential in my view. If I was your buyer I'd just knock the money off the price you want as a starting point. As it's significantly late as well it then gets me thinking what else have you scrimped on etc. But maybe every other buyer doesn't think like me.

Agreed. I'd feel the same as you, especially as I haven't used official Skoda dealerships for the long life services since the warranty expired.

Edited 3 January, 201214 yr by Steve78

There are reports of poor connectors under the seat which can result in the airbag light being displayed. Apparently repeated forward and backward adjustment of the seat can pull the connector apart, so hopefully this might be an easy/quick fix. I've only heard of this on the drivers seat though so not sure if its the same set up under the passenger seat?

If it was just the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) light being displayed then I'd be asking the usual questions like how long is your commute, have you noticed the symptoms that would suggest that the DPF is performing a regen etc. but I think that with the engine management light coming on too then there may be another underlying problem.

I'm sure that the Skoda / VW dealer will be able to read the ECU for logged fault codes and be able to diagnose the issue very easily.

The rear wiper arm is an easy DIY, if you lift the plastic cap up over the hinge point you'll see a bolt that secures the arm to a spindle. The rear wiper on the vRS is the same as the standard hatchback so there will be loads on eBay etc.

Does the electric window complete the final third at full speed? i.e. does the motor sound OK? If so it may well just be a worn or failing switch or actuator, a fairly easy but fiddly / time intensive fix.

Sounds like good news that the airbag fault is an easy fix (incidentally, we push that front passenger seat back and forth a lot as the ISO-fix baby seat is directly behind it, so when recliding the baby seat, etc...)

The Diesel Particulate Filter light turn off when I rev at so many RPM (can't remember what the main dealer told me), so that should be an easy fix too, hopefully.

Is the rear wiper arm really an easy DIY fix? The spray nossle is still intact and moves when I activate the back wiper but no water sprays out. I think I might need the dealership to sort that out, or will simply replacing the arm fix this isue? eBay turns up nothing. I also called my local car transplants and they don't have one.

Edited 3 January, 201214 yr by Steve78

If you live near Chester there is an excellent VAG specialist indy here http://www.qrsport.com/contact_us.php , they did my cambelt tensioner and water pump for £350 , Mitchells the local Dealer wanted £650.

THANK YOU FOR THAT INFO.

The airbag light is likely to be the connector under the seat. Put a tie wrap round it lengthways and pull it tight to really force the connectors together. This is the trick Vauxhall used for years on the seat connectors that had the same intermittent problems and caused the airbag light to come on.

Get someone local with VCDS to scan the car and clear the fault codes, you never know they might not come back!

Would you mind explaining the airbag tie wrap under the seat trick? That will no doubt save me a quite a few quid as when local garages plugged in their gizmo, they couldn't clear it and said they needed to strip the whole seat down. I can imagine that will cost a bit.

Find the connector under the seat. Put a tie wrap round it so that it goes between the wires on each half of the connector and will pull the two halves together when you tighten it. If it is a dodgy connection then it should cure it. If it doesn't, take the tie wrap off.

Try and find someone with VCDS, they should be able to tell you what all the error codes are. Generic code readers might not be able to do the job.

So it sounds like the general consensus is:

- Take car to http://www.qrsport.com/contact_us.php for cheap cambelt and water pump change. See if they can clear DPF, airbag and engine management icon lights while they're at it

- Try out the DIY passenger front seat airbag fix (further advice needed)

- Sort rear wiper arm (if anyone had any further advice, would be much appreciated)

- Take car to Crewe Scoda in a couple of weeks when it hits 100k (they quoted cheapest 100k service). Get them to fix driver side electric window (I've tried all sorts but can't get it to go up the first third without half second flicks on the switch, then it goes up). Received letter in the post re: the recall involving replacing all four injectors and the wiring loom for free. They said I'd need to leave it with them a couple of days but if I get the other stuff sorted such as cambelt, hopefully not.

- Get some new car mats and do a super duper valet at home.

- List on Autotrader and local papers/news agents/supermarkets

Thanks to the poster who recommended I get the belt changed. Last thing I want is it going on me, or a potential buyer thinking I don't take care of my car (I do), it runs like a dream.

My car will be up for sale around March/April at which point I get a company car. At that point, with approx 108k miles on an 07 plate, and all above problems sorted, how much do you expect I could get on a private sale (rememeber, it has EVERY one of [i think] 12 added upgrades) plus Parrot bluetooth.

Thank you everyone. Any other tips welcome.

Edited 3 January, 201214 yr by Steve78

Buy the way, thanks so much to everyone for their advice. Really appreciated. I have an 20 month old baby boy and just found out my wife is pregnant again, so every penny counts!!

Hapy New Year to you all.

Edited 3 January, 201214 yr by Steve78

Whereabouts in Cheshire are you? The tie wrap takes about 2 mins and I am quite often in the north (Stockport) region if you need any advice.

Whereabouts in Cheshire are you? The tie wrap takes about 2 mins and I am quite often in the north (Stockport) region if you need any advice.

Very generous of you to offer mate. I'm located in Winsford but cover the whole north UK with my job on the road. I could do a detour on Thursday 5th Jan about 1pm if you're around (I'll be driving back from BAE Systems in Samlesbury).

Top man!

Any time is good for me, I can fit you in - name a time and date and I'll re-arrange appointments.

Gosh, what a friendly forum!

Cab belt is late so anyone that knows the schedule will still know it is late.

Whats the rest of the history look like for timings/mileage?

If the servicing has been neglected as you have mentioned and there may be unknown costs in fixing the various warning lights then why not consider offloading it at an auction. Or E bay with a comprehensive and honest listing. Selling privately is a very unknown quantity. You will get no shows, idiots, unsolicited phonecalls from agencies etc etc things you may well not need with a job and children to deal with as well. You may well invest a lot of time and money and see little of it back.

Just give it a good clean up and let someone else deal with the troubles.

You would obviously need to factor in Auction sellers fees, but set a realistic sale price and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Cab belt is late so anyone that knows the schedule will still know it is late.

Whats the rest of the history look like for timings/mileage?

Long life service (every 20k miles) at main Skoda dealer until warranty expired. Further to that, taken to German car garages for service and always made sure used correct synthetic oil and topped up if neccesary.

Skoda told me on the phone that the cambelt needs doing at 98k miles (it has apparently recently been revised by the manufacturer of my car and year of manufacture), so it'll only be 2,000 miles overdue.