Hi folks, this is my first venture into the World of Skoda (and diesel cars), and so far I am enjoying it (keeps everything crossed!)

I do have a few questions though, which hopefully some of you can answer.

I bought the car last week (Octavia 1.9 TDi Classic hatchback, 2005 55 reg, 90K miles, pretty good condition), and factored a few jobs into the price. I have had the cambelt and water pump changed, and my mechanic (ex VAG) has given it the once over. The DMF seems OK at the moment, but I will need the OS/NS CV boots replacing, and all the tyres fairly soon (the previous owner has fitted a complete set of 185/65/15 instead of 195/65/15, they all have good tread but are mismatched).

Apart from that, it is solid, brakes smoothly and powerfully in a straight line, feels good on all road surfaces, steering is great and there is loads of room inside.

One little niggle - I have the bulb warning light on, and it is the rear NS cluster. The two offset pin bulbs - rear light, reversing light I think) are not lighting up, despite new bulbs. Are there any problem areas on the lighting front, because all the clusters and wiring looks clean, easy to get at and fairly sensible.

Cheers,

Andy

BTW, the fuel economy is impressive, I have done 365 miles since putting £63 of fuel in (43 litres) when I picked it up, and the needle is only just below the half way line.

Sounds like a good buy! Welcome to Briskoda too!

The rear lights don't normally have issues however the set-up, bulb configuration and bulb types are quite unusual.

The only bulbs with offset pins are the combined brake/tail and fog/tail. This is because unlike most cars the Octavia runs 21/4W rather than the much more common 21/5W. The offset pins are supposed to stop people fitting the 5W bulbs but they still manage with some force! It seems to vary car by car but using the 5W bulbs can cause the 'bulb out' warning despite them still lighting up. The fact you say they aren't working at all would suggest a blown bulb (but you've changed them right?) or a duff fuse or a poor earth?

In addition to the two twin function bulbs there are then two addtional 4W tail light bulbs and the 21W reverse light bulb and orange 21W indicator bulb as illustrated below...

Nice one silver1011. Did wonder how the rear light set up was myself, very good information, I probably would have got the wrong bulbs! thanks.

Good luck with yours Andy.

Cheers Silver1011, that is a great help. Just been out there, and I think it is just down to poor contacts, so I have taken the plastic bulb holder out (after disconnecting the black multi plug for the wiring), and given the terminals a once over. I now have both reversing lights and all the rear lights working, but only one fog light. Are there twin foglights on the rear of my model (one for each side) or just the one? The dash bulb warning is still illuminated.

Andy

The Octavia leaves the factory with just one (OS) rear foglight activated.

It is possible to activate the second (NS) rear fog light on your Octavia. This can be done by your dealer or a friendly member with VCDS software and a laptop.

However, this won't be the cause of the 'bulb-out' warning still appearing.

Just double check that the little single filamant 4W tail bulbs are on (these are easily missed) and also both number plate lights as these too are monitored by the cars CANBUS system and are often overlooked...