Hi all,

 

I am looking at a 2014 vrs estate with 78k on the clock with loads of toys and in good condition. It is the manual version and I was wondering what mileage does the clutch and cambelt (if it has one) need to be replaced? Will I also need to consider the DPF at some point?

As always look all over for damage, wheels, stone chips, quality tyres, service records.

From the age and mileage was probably a company car, so should have been serviced either annually or every 20k miles.

Check the gears and clutch, selection can get sticky and the clutch juddery.

Cambelt and water pump is about £400, but I don't know the interval.

3 hours ago, Xeon5 said:

Hi all,

 

I am looking at a 2014 vrs estate with 78k on the clock with loads of toys and in good condition. It is the manual version and I was wondering what mileage does the clutch and cambelt (if it has one) need to be replaced? Will I also need to consider the DPF at some point?

I bought a 2014 vrs diesel in April. 

Cambelt is 150k I believe...I'm open to correction on that though.

I don't think the DPF gives trouble because it has a clever regen function...see the thread 'diesel burning smell' and u'll get the idea.

All going well with estate so far, although at the weekend engine oil level light came on...I put over a litre of oil in...again I believe this is nothing to stress about I have over 7k clocked up since I bought it and there is nearly 119k on the car.

Best of luck with the car u wont regret it..a great car to drive and very practical. ..

Edited 8 August, 20178 yr by andysheehan2003
Spelling

Cambelt replacement on EA288 Diesel engines is 140000 miles / 5 years in UK. 

 

Clutch and DPF replacement are upon failure / wear. 

 

Clutch wear will depend upon how the car has been driven; if it's been doing loads of motorway miles, clutch unlikely to need replacing. Easiest way to tell if a clutch is on its way out, is to leave handbrake on, place car in second or third gear and gently raise the clutch pedal - if the car stalls easily, then the friction material is good; if the car doesn't stall then clutch may be slipping. Just be wary that the stop-start system has anti-stall mechanism, so as soon as you dip the clutch the car will try to restart (or you'll get the 'start car manually' message on the maxidot dash display).

 

The notchy gear change can be resolved by readjusting the gear linkage mechanism.  The outside air temperature can affect this too; especially when the temperature drops below freezing. 

Edited 8 August, 20178 yr by Black_Sheep

I bought my Octavia 3 MY14 63-reg 2.0 diesel DSG automatic at the end of May, so far no issues found. It had 70k on the clock, was ex-demo and then 3 year ownership by a family. It's got check-up stamps between services done all at Skoda dealer. DSG oil changed at 41k miles and major service done in February.

 

I asked Skoda UK directly and Skoda told me outside servicing, only the following  need doing:

- Cambelt + water pump need replacing every 150k and 5 years, whichever soonest. Skoda fixed price at just below £500 for this to be done. My car is due September 2018.

- DSG oil change every 40k, at £125, I estimate due similar time to cambelt (this one won't apply to you, OP)

 

Considering OP has similar high mileage car, I'm guessing it's mostly motorway miles (or taxi miles). If OP also drive mostly motorway miles, same as me, I don't think we need to consider DPF problems. I took my previous car from 80k to 135k miles, no hint of problems with DPF.

 

DMF however, I'm not sure with a manual. Because if the previous owner keeps driving at under 1500rpm, the DMF has to work harder. My DSG should hopefully reduce any excess wear caused by bad driving habits of previous owner.

 

 

The 14 plate diesels seems to have a weakness with the water pump. Look for the Overheating thread on here. Mine went at around 38k and was lucky car was still under warranty.

 

Check to see it has been changed. Might have, as it seems to occur after about 30k miles.

 

But if it hasn't budget for an early Cambelt and Water pump change (and you might be able to get some contribution to the work from Skoda).

 

Also check the wheel caps for 'White Worm'. 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I am looking and possibly test driving one Sunday. If a cambelt and water pump change is advisable then I will budget for it. I'd rather know it's new and have another 5 years of piece of mind.

 

In regards to this "white worm", any examples you could show me? Never heard of this before.

 

It is a white corrosion that can appear on the alloys, centre caps and badges. I had it on the centre caps of mine

It's not a massive big deal but, the alloy wheel centre cap badges are just the usual cheap plastic stickers with lacquer on. After a couple of winter's the lacquer peels giving this white appearance.

They are about a £5 each from Skoda, but less on eBay.

I see, thanks for confirming. 

 

Note for mods: Noticed I made a typo in the thread name due to auto correct on my mobile. Could someone change CARS to VRS? Thanks.

Edited 9 August, 20178 yr by Xeon5

You want to keep the car for 5 years+ & your considering a diesel !!!!

 

You must have loadsa money to give the government for environmental taxes

15 hours ago, themanwithnoaim said:

You want to keep the car for 5 years+ & your considering a diesel !!!!

 

You must have loadsa money to give the government for environmental taxes

 

At the moment we don't know what the government is going to do. Apart from the increase in Congestion Charge in London for older diesels and a increased parking charge around the Marylebone area no additional taxes have been announced (as far as I know)

 

Not saying they aren't looking into doing something, but atm we have no real idea.

 

 

23 minutes ago, WayTooTall said:

At the moment we don't know what the government is going to do.

Agreed, but what we do know is that the environmental groups are not only lobbying Government but also taking them to Court over their lack of action on pollution levels.

 

So not to expect either some increase in taxes or some restrictions on city usage (like the French Crit'Air scheme) would be naive.

Just now, SWBoy said:

Agreed, but what we do know is that the environmental groups are not only lobbying Government but also taking them to Court over their lack of action on pollution levels.

 

So not to expect either some increase in taxes or some restrictions on city usage (like the French Crit'Air scheme) would be naive.

 

While true, the government have now published the white paper in response to the legal action, and no new diesel taxes are referred to in the document. 

 

T be honest, my view is that there will be more concentration on the older diesels and encouraging them off the road, rather than worrying about the newer engines.

12 minutes ago, SWBoy said:

Agreed, but what we do know is that the environmental groups are not only lobbying Government but also taking them to Court over their lack of action on pollution levels.

 

So not to expect either some increase in taxes or some restrictions on city usage (like the French Crit'Air scheme) would be naive.

 

Further to the Crit'Air scheme, I have my sticker, and the my car comes in as a Yellow class 2. So the times the restrictions are going to be in force that apply to my car are going to be minimal.

 

All I am trying to point out is that there is a lot of scaremongering going on about what might be around the corner for diesel vehicles, but very little detail.

True they might not concentrate on New Engines, Euro 5 or Euro 6, 

but then the Transport Secretary & UK Government can not just keep ignoring the elephant in the room if a European Car Manufacturer or more produced vehicles with Defeat Devices and even if they carry out Voluntary Recalls and a 'Fix' or a 'Tweak' are carried out the emissions are still as high as when the Defeat Device was 

fitted during EU Testing.

 

Or maybe they can, and it will just be the London Mayor that will be prepared to not accept high polluting passenger cars be that newer vehicles or not.

If all they do is charge more and still allow them in city centres then not much of a change from anything happening up to now.

Even though I drive 2 diesels, Euro 4 and the Euro 5 Octavia. I am in support of any acknowledgement of diesel's localised harm. I don't drive them out of choice, I drive them because diesel engine happen to be on the car I wanted to buy. I know my use-case suits diesels, so won't be faced with DPF problems.

 

Remember pre-2014 cars are mostly diesel. People loved them up to dieselgate. So while panelising diesel owners seems unfair. A change in tax scheme (be city entry fee or diesel tax) is needed to signal to all new car buyers that buying diesel need to be a conscious choice based on specific use-cases.

 

Wait 3 years then we can debate the diesel ownership issue. In this forum, many second hand car buyers coming in are highly likely to only have diesels to choose from.

If the car is eligible for the 'fix' make sure that it hasn't had it done.

I wouldn't even consider a car that has had the fix done to it, especially at that mileage. It would end up a money pit.

 

2014 and before it was about the same 50/50 petrols to diesels in the UK.

Maybe more business users had diesels due to the MPG available and the UK Government / HMRC making that the easy choice.

45 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

2014 and before it was about the same 50/50 petrols to diesels in the UK.

Maybe more business users had diesels due to the MPG available and the UK Government / HMRC making that the easy choice.

Yeah, HMRC had effectively subsidised all diesel purchases. Now, the government has changed away from that VED tax scheme and made hybrids a lot more attractive for BIK driven business users, there should be less diesels about.

 

Octavia sized car upwards are mostly business users, so finding a petrol car this size was a bit difficult.  Problem I had was that I wanted adaptive cruise control, finding a large-ish petrol engine with ACC optional extra is like trying to find finding fairy dust. Only motorway cruisers spec this, meaning almost all are diesel engine cars.

(I didn't want a Golf Mk7 because I don't think the boot was big enough, wanted saloon profile)

The talk about the 2nd car market is interesting, as if there is a significant increase in diesels taxes in the next 2 years, then you can see the 2nd market value for the cars falling, and loads of people handing the keys back on their PCP deals, as the GFV will be so much higher than the resale value.

 

 

 

The beauty is that many are handing back leased cars anyway because that is how leasing works.

So Much Cheapness buyers market for those wanting a keeper, and a diesel as a keeper if the 'Used Prices' really fall through the floor.

 

Oddly the Used Motor Trade 'Asking Prices' on the not in demand used diesel cars is not reflecting the crash in value.

Probably because their stock is bought using borrowed money / tick / never never / lent by BCA / Manufacturers and financial institutions.

5 hours ago, WayTooTall said:

 

Further to the Crit'Air scheme, I have my sticker, and the my car comes in as a Yellow class 2. So the times the restrictions are going to be in force that apply to my car are going to be minimal.

My 1.4TSI is a Purple Class 1 (as is my brother's Vauxhall Zafira, also a petrol) - which illustrates that diseasels will be banned from the concerned French cities when petrols aren't.

 

We don't know what measures Government will take, but what we do know is that Government listens to the Green lobby so IMHO it's not credible to believe that the Government won't do something, and the worse the pollution ratings (CO2 AND NOx) of a vehicle the more likely it is to be affected.

4 minutes ago, SWBoy said:

My 1.4TSI is a Purple Class 1 (as is my brother's Vauxhall Zafira, also a petrol) - which illustrates that diseasels will be banned from the concerned French cities when petrols aren't.

 

Some petrol cars. Not all. Petrol cars built before 2011 would also be banned.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, WayTooTall said:

Some petrol cars. Not all. Petrol cars built before 2011 would also be banned.

OK but you get my point that more diesel cars will be banned than petrol cars due to the higher pollution rating of cars of the same year.

 

There's no point fighting against the Green lobby, they have the ear of media and Governments so what they want (restrictions of vehicle usage) they will likely get.