The timing is never any good with these things, but I got into the car at lunchtime to be met with a tyre pressure loss warning, front assist not available, and emissions control warning flashing at me. I need to be at the airport tomorrow afternoon to make a short business trip.

 

Needless to say, the tyres are fine, but it won't let me reset the warning. I'm not sure if it is actually in limp mode, or whether I was just being paranoid with all the warnings, but it felt less smooth than usual on the short journey I made.

 

Rang my local dealer (Mitchell Cheshire Oaks) when I got home and they advised ringing Skoda Assist. I did this, but was given the choice of the AA in an hour, or a Skoda technician in the morning - I went for the latter, but I'm not sure this was the right thing. Given the complexity of the systems I thought it would make sense, but maybe not. 

 

I've no idea what the problem might be, or whether it might be easily remedied. Does anyone know if Skoda Assist will provide a loan car if they have to tow it off, and if so how quickly I'm likely to get it? I doubt it will be quick enough for me to get the airport later in the day....

 

Bl**dy hell.

Seems like an odd collection of errors with no obvious connection.

 

Has the car had a flat battery? 

 

sound  like a low battery charge - usually sends weird errors

No, no battery problems previously that I'm aware of...

Oh, and to add another error into the equation that I'd forgotten about - parkpilot not available either....

No previous battery problem does not mean no present low battery problem or loose terminal.

 

The AA would have been fine, all the gear and an idea, it is what they do for a living.  As to the Skoda tech.....

35 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

No previous battery problem does not mean no present low battery problem or loose terminal.

 

The AA would have been fine, all the gear and an idea, it is what they do for a living.  As to the Skoda tech.....

 

Nothing would make me happier than finding it is an easily-fixed battery problem.

You could have found out in 1 hour, and then still had the car at a Dealership not long after if the AA had come out.

Can you sit in it for half an hour or so with engine running and minimum possible electrics switched on, to give it a chance to charge?

13 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

You could have found out in 1 hour, and then still had the car at a Dealership not long after if the AA had come out.

 

That's what I come here for. Your insight and warm wisdom.

 

Bet you're great at parties.

9 minutes ago, Wino said:

Can you sit in it for half an hour or so with engine running and minimum possible electrics switched on, to give it a chance to charge?

 

If there's any issue with them turning up in the morning, I might give that a go. Thanks.

I had an issue with Adblue and called Soda Assist. They sent an AA tech who did the diagnostics and advised driving straight to the dealer for repair. The dealer gave me a Superb courtesy car until it was fixed, so you should at least have some wheels.

Same for me when the battery died.  They don’t carry one of the right type (AGM) so Dealer visit.

Hmmm, I don't like the sound of this. The VAG tech who came out this morning described it in idiot-terms for me as a canbus error - basically it's dropping messages left, right, and centre. Sounded almost like a when a network loses packets. No battery issues. The upshot was that it was very much a dealer job, so I drove it to the dealer and the tech followed me, and then drove me back. In the meantime he'd arranged a hire car so I took a couple of calls to sort that out whilst at the dealers. The Service Manager did a lot of sucking of teeth when the VAG tech explained what he'd found, and gave the impression it's unlikely to be a quick fix.

 

A couple of hours after I got home, a Tiguan was delivered via a 3rd party rental firm. Truly filthy (I think he'd had fun off-roading down my muddy lane) but otherwise fine. Made it to the airport in plenty of time.

 

So it seems I might be Superb-less for a while. Obviously not great news, but credit where it's due - they've dealt with it well and not left me high and dry (yet!). Let's see what the dealer reports back when they've had a chance to investigate further....

Nightmare. A mouse has eaten all the sound-deadening material and feasted on the Superb's core wiring.

 

 

Oh!

 

That would cause it. My MIL's Octavia had the same a few years ago. Had to have a great big chunk of the loom repaired. 

17 minutes ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

Nightmare. A mouse has eaten all the sound-deadening material and feasted on the Superb's core wiring.

 

 

 

oh.. not good - Company car or private owned ?

Private leased....

 

@CoolC Really interested in your experience - did you investigate whether your MIL's insurance would cover it? Do you know how or if she prevented it happening again?

 

I can see me spending thousands getting it fixed, only for the buggers to move back in again the next day.....

On 06/02/2018 at 22:55, CheshireBumpkin said:

basically it's dropping messages left, right, and centre. Sounded almost like a when a network loses packets.

 

As you probably know, CANBUS is a network and the messages are not getting to where they need to in your case. CAN stands for Controller Area Network. It's a messaging protocol that allows devices/micro-controllers to communicate without needing a host computer.... but you knew that I think.

More likely rats than mice I think. Time to get a cat.

These guys seem to be breaking a Superb 3 at the moment:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-Skoda-Superb-DRIVER-Side-O-S-Wing-Mirror-LF7M-breaking-breaker/252952032213?hash=item3ae51db3d5:g:46wAAOSwcaFZItbL

 

I'm sure they could be negotiated with for the loom.  Guess it depends on which part you need and if it would need to be from a car with a matching engine.

 

Also, as xman said, get a cat!

Haha! I'm not a big cat fan, but I might make an exception here. I'm hoping I can encourage my neighbours cat to come over - he's an expert hunter.

 

It's a lease car, so anything outside the dealer network in terms of parts or service is out of the question unfortunately.

 

I should know today if errors are still showing (and more extensive damage) when the most obviously visible 10-12 chewed and destroyed wire bundles have been replaced....

@CheshireBumpkin It was a while ago now when we had this on my MIL's car. It was paid for and not through insurance, to be honest I hadn't even thought about whether it could go through insurance or not.

 

The bill was somewhere around £800 if memory serves me well. There were a few wires chewed through which could be repaired rather than replace the loom/section of loom. It was mainly time that caused the big bill though. 

 

She got rid of the car soon after as she wanted something smaller and had lost confidence in it. I still see it around now though, so presumably no lasting damage.

You maybe able to claim on your car insurance if the lease is not fully maintained...

 

Doubt the warranty would cover it

30 minutes ago, RickTT said:

You maybe able to claim on your car insurance if the lease is not fully maintained...

 

Doubt the warranty would cover it

 

I'm hoping the insurance will cover it if necessary. I've given go-ahead for the dealer to do this initial work, but if there are deeper problems I'll have to run the gauntlet and contact them to see if I can claim for any ongoing and more intensive work. I don't really want to see my premium triple next year if I can avoid it, but if the costs get too high I'll have to see if it's covered.

 

No warranty cover for this unfortunately - no fault on Skoda's side. Of course, there's the debate abut soy use and recycled plastics being attractive to rodents, but I don't see much mileage in pursuing it on that basis.