As my Octavia gets near to its 3rd birthday I've been debating an extended warranty. A bit of searching in Briskoda (especially this thread http://www.briskoda..../page__hl__ abs) threw up a few areas that could cause concern, but I wondered how many (if any) of them had been designed out by 2010.

As best as I can tell the ESP and air con compressor are, or were weak spots - does anyone have an idea if these were sorted, I've not seen them mentioned recently? There is also the timing chain tensioner for the 2.0 TSI, but I'm undecided if it's really rare or not (and why it only seems to effect the 2.0 and not the 1.8)?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Oh, and I've no desire to start another extended warrenty debate -I'm just curious about the ESP and compressor!!!

Think youll find AC compressors are a weak spot across quite a bit of the VAG group. Had a 59 plate Golf MK6 2.0 TDi GT and the compressor died on that just before its 3rd birthday. Was told its a common fault but newer compressors have been redesigned to reduce the risk of failure. Gather the internals break up which then leaves the drive assembly just freewheeling when you turn the AC on, effectively doing nothing.

I didnt take out any warrenty after my 3 years finished on my tfsi however if i had a tsi i would take one out just because of the timing chain tensioner issue.

What's the warranty anyway? £300-400 a year?

If you've got that money take it and bank it. If your car breaks try for good will first failing that you've got money in the bank towards the repair.

If you're lucky you might not see any problems for years. [touch wood] my vrs is 6 in June and so far I've done nothing but service it and clean the cruise control contacts. Still on the original light bulbs. If you match that after 3yr you could have £1200 in the bank.

I agree with Aspman which is why i havent bothered on my tfsi,but with yours been the tsi i would take out a warranty as a timing chain failure is at best a engine re-build if not a new engine,your £300 to £400 warranty is a good idea when your faced with a bill for £6000. This is just my opinion & is what i would do with a tsi vrs.

The ESP issue should see a 100% contribution or at least a gesture of goodwill from Skoda UK as it is a well known/documented issues across the VAG range, even on vehicles out of warranty. Also the fix kit (instead of replacing the whole thing) is now reduced in price and readily available.

The A/C system on the Octavia is quite unique as it is spinning even when the system is turned off. On other cars the system decouples and the compressor sits idle. The issue with the Skoda system is that it wears out the bearings quicker as it is running as long as the engine is, so can fail prematurely.

I agree with above though with regard to extended warranties. Stick the money in the bank each month instead. It's then there if you need it but the best bit is if you don't you can spend it on something else instead.

Sticking money in the bank is fine for a turbo or ABS issue. If the TSI tensioner goes out of warranty you should have a huge amount saved.

...which incidentally is very, very rare.

Not that rare,i know of 3 in the last 2 weeks that have failed,its alot more common than you think.

Briskoda is usually a good gauge of common failures.

Whilst I've read the recent TSi tensioner thread, A/C compressors and ESP lights are much more common.

Where'd you hear about the three failures in two weeks?

Had a octy vrs hire car fail in our car park & a friend has a golf thats done it & one of my dads neighbours octy did it & that one is just out of warranty. Hire car had 6k on clock,golf had 15k & other octy 33k.

Thanks for the replies.

You’re right about the annual cost ~ £310 (when they rang with a better deal).

Looking at this tread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/253446-in-mind-of-the-teves-mk60-fault/page__hl__esp#entry2975576 it seems that with a part number of “1K0 614 517 AS” the ESP should be OK.

So, I think it’s a flip of the coin to decide whether to have piece of mind for air-con and timing chain.

Cheers,

Hi, the ESP light has come on my 57 plate VRS 2.0 diesel, my local independant garage diagnosed it as fault in the ABS unit, said it could be sent to a company which replace the faulty component, replaced on my car for around £450. Does anybody think it is worth taking it to a main dealer as it is a common fault & see if there is any recall on it? Hoping somebody has some positive feedback!

Ahhhh (that's my wallet screaming). What's the ESP? Not another design weakness??

Hi, the ESP light has come on my 57 plate VRS 2.0 diesel, my local independant garage diagnosed it as fault in the ABS unit, said it could be sent to a company which replace the faulty component, replaced on my car for around £450. Does anybody think it is worth taking it to a main dealer as it is a common fault & see if there is any recall on it? Hoping somebody has some positive feedback!

Ring Skoda UK (08457 745745) tell them you know it is a well known and well documented issue across all VAG cars, and then plead poverty.

If you don't get it done for free then you should at least get a substantial discount.

The independant garage isn't quite right, the ABS pump doesn't need to be sent away. VAG have released a fix kit which means it can be done without having to send it away to a specialist.

It's gonna be on a thread somewhere, but there's a link to some business that does the new replacement ABS TEVES kit for not a lot of money nowadays and i'm 100% sure the blurb from the company says that it gives a lifetime warranty on the replacement part, so I don't know if Skoda just replace it with a part that's possibly gonna go again in the future, but with that company at least you never have to worry about it again. I have a funny feeling you send them yours and they rebuild it with proper internals, but I might be wrong on that.

Just a thought.

Ah, knew i'd find it somewhere in history.... I love Firefox. :love: Only snag might be I don't know if it refers to cars built after 2008, but no harm in asking them I guess.

http://www.ecutestin...ump_module.html

Edited 24 January, 201313 yr by blackspaven