Broken Down.

[HKPhooey]

I'm not a happy chap. We were driving over Exmoor and the Yeti suddenly lost power and developed a mis-fire, followed by the EPC, Engine Management and TCS lighting up and several warning messages flash up on the display. With no mobile phone signal and a four month baby on board I nursed the car to the nearest village.

Skoda Assistance duly dispatched the RAC, who after an hour of tinkering concluded it was a mis-fire and it would need to go to a dealer. We were then left waiting a recovery lorry to take us back to the Skoda dealer in Gloucester.

Skoda Assistance weren't very helpful, and within five minutes decided that we couldn't have a hire car because 1) it was a Saturday afternoon, 2) it was a bank holiday weekend, 3) we only had the card part of our driving licenses and 4) due to the threatened airport strike there was a shortage of hire cars.

We were then contacted by the recovery company, who happened to be the local Citroen dealer - and because it was a bank holiday weekend and we had a baby - unprompted, offered us either a courtesy car or a B&B until Tuesday! We opted for the car and as we weren't too far from our friends they offered to drop it off there and then go back to collect the Yeti from the side of the road.

Four hours later than planned we finally made it to our destination. A short time later, while having a brew and discussing our day we noticed the Yeti pull up outside! The mechanic had managed to get it going again by replacing one of the HT leads with a Ford one he had in the truck. He offered us the Yeti or the courtesy car, after a quick test drive we decided to take the Yeti.

Later on that evening, on our way home the mis-fire returned, but we managed to make it back. I'll be off to the Skoda dealer first thing Tuesday! The Yeti hasn't seen a dealer in 14 months and now twice in less than a week.

This is the first car that's left me stranded on the side of the road since my 15 year old Mini i had when I was a student.............

Edited 9 April, 2012 by HKPhooey

[Macdemon]

Hi HK, sorry to hear about your troubles.

Hope you get it sorted, and let us know how you're getting on :yes:

[yetiscot]

Is it me, or is there a bit of an undercurrent of unreliability with this engine? For me too many stories of failing turbos and the like.

It may be just me, I have to acknowledge, as when I was considering what engine I would go for I was a bit dubious about a 1.2 pushing out all that power. Again, I appreciate I am a bit of a dinosaur that way, but I thought that a relatively unstressed 2 litre diesel, producing 110hp felt right for me. There seems to be few problems reported with any of the diesel engines , or for that matter the 1.4 petrol. Does anyone know how many 1.4s have been sold in relation to the 1.2?

With the long term possible reliability issues with the diesel engines [ I'm thinking DPF EGR DMF etc] there should be room for a petrol 4x4, with better emissions than the 1.8--or is a 1.4, 4x4 available in other markets?

[lok]

2 days ago Skoda dealer contacted me about our 1.2 TSI, something about chekcing the turbo and some belt stuff before our waranty expires.

I will know more in Wednesday...

We had no problems with our 1.2 TSI (20.000km) so far.

Worst case scenario Im afraid of is turbo fail after 25.000 kms.. and warranty expires.

[HKPhooey]

I think this is more of an electical fault than anything mechanical. The car's done 27,000 miles in two years and up until Saturday felt strong and always pulled well, which was why it was such a shock when it went wrong.

[yetiscot]

I think this is more of an electical fault than anything mechanical. The car's done 27,000 miles in two years and up until Saturday felt strong and always pulled well, which was why it was such a shock when it went wrong.

Well good luck getting it sorted out- and let us know how you get on

[HKPhooey]

Well the Yeti has been taken away on the back of a lorry this morning, hopefully we'll hear back from the dealer soon.

Interestingly though the hire car is a 12 plate 1.4 petrol Astra, which draws some interesting comparisons with the Yeti (as a family car). The first thing I noticed is the suspension, the Yeti rides over the road imperfections so much better and is quieter too. It also highlights what a punchy little engine the 1.2 is, the low down torque is missing from the Astra's 1.4. My Wife's comment was on how low it felt and I have to say lifting the baby seat in and out of the Astra certainly puts extra strain on one's back. And the interior quality isn't anywhere near as good as the Yeti, even down to the feel of the seatbelt clip locating.

Hopefully we'll get the Yeti back soon!

[HKPhooey]

We got the Yeti back yesterday and it appears to have been a dodgy spark plug lead that caused all the problems.

Fingers crossed we don't have any problems when we head off to France over the summer.

[cackok]

Did the warranty cover this, or how much did you pay for the ignition lead and labor? Did you change the spark plug(s) as well?

[HKPhooey]

Did the warranty cover this, or how much did you pay for the ignition lead and labor? Did you change the spark plug(s) as well?

Everything was covered under warranty - we didn't pay a thing. The dealers services was first class, they replaced the spark plugs as well as all the leads.

We've got another Yeti on order, for delivery in March - just had the build date confirmed for the third week of January.

[Macdemon]

Way to go HK, nice job. :yes: :clap: