High mileage issues on a VRS 184

[Boxerdog1]

First time posting in the Octavia section !   Currently selling a year old 280ps Superb Estate ( also listed on forum) and have added p/ex considered in the ad as although I'm ultimately buying a VW T6 camper , I will still need something cheaper to use for around 6 months pending acquisition / conversion of said vehicle.  The p/ex would ultimately be retained in the immediate family .

 

Anyway , onto the reason for posting here . I have been offered a 65 plate VRS diesel estate 184 , in moon white with some nice extras like Adaptive Cruise but it has done 156,000 miles in under 4 years , albeit with full Skoda service history,  All motorway work and apparently running sweetly !

 

I've seen evidence of the history and images of the car and have to say it looks immaculate . Price wise within the overall deal it will stand me at around £7k although there may still be some movement .   The question is ,  how much more life is left in the major mechanical parts and in this respect I wonder if anyone here has had experience of running such a high mileage pre facelift Mk3 184 diesel and what their experiences are ? 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Edited 29 September, 2019 by Boxerdog1

[SashaGrace]

Mine has 116k on it now and no issues at all apart from an exploded DPF pressure sensor. People will try to tell you that my car has so many mods it’s not the same car anymore but that’s just heresy 🤣🤣 the mechanicals are all original and all perfect.

[Ju1ian1001]

4 hours ago, Boxerdog1 said:

First time posting in the Octavia section !   Currently selling a year old 280ps Superb Estate ( also listed on forum) and have added p/ex considered in the ad as although I'm ultimately buying a VW T6 camper , I will still need something cheaper to use for around 6 months pending acquisition / conversion of said vehicle.  The p/ex would ultimately be retained in the immediate family .

 

Anyway , onto the reason for posting here . I have been offered a 65 plate VRS diesel estate 184 , in moon white with some nice extras like Adaptive Cruise but it has done 156,000 miles in under 4 years , albeit with full Skoda service history,  All motorway work and apparently running sweetly !

 

I've seen evidence of the history and images of the car and have to say it looks immaculate . Price wise within the overall deal it will stand me at around £7k although there may still be some movement .   The question is ,  how much more life is left in the major mechanical parts and in this respect I wonder if anyone here has had experience of running such a high mileage pre facelift Mk3 184 diesel and what their experiences are ? 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

The only thing that would worry me is the dreaded DPF, and the carbon/soot/ash content inside, as they won't passive regen or "force regen", (done by diagnostics machine through independent's or dealers" if they are full and new DPF's are mega amounts of money (we recently changed one on a 15 reg range rover sport and the bill come to £4000 and dealer only parts.)

 

The other tried and tested mechanicals are near on bullet proof, but do get the timing belt and water pump changed as a precaution.

[uttanutta12]

To add to the above post, you can view the ash loading of the dreaded DPF vs it's maximum loading value using VCDS. It will give you an idea of how full it is. 
 

Appreciate it's not straight forward when it's not your car, but an avenue to put your mind at ease. 

[WayTooTall]

Check things like tyres and brakes discs, as I suspect they could be your first major outlay. Also check that Cambelt and Waterpump have been done, as that car would be over the mileage limit for those parts.

I have a 14 plate with 90k, and only issue was with an early version of the waterpump. The current version is fine.

[aki78]

We had MY14 2.0 TDIs as company cars and at 270k km (with 70% highway driving) the DPF was full of ash.

A new DPF is 2500 EUR here + 600 EUR labour.

We decided to go to a specialist company to clean (wash) the filters out which was 1/10 cost compared to a new one.

Try to get some diagnostic data about the DPF.

[Boxerdog1]

2 hours ago, uttanutta12 said:

To add to the above post, you can view the ash loading of the dreaded DPF vs it's maximum loading value using VCDS. It will give you an idea of how full it is. 
 

Appreciate it's not straight forward when it's not your car, but an avenue to put your mind at ease. 

Within the very comprehensive list of routine servicing and additional work there is recorded an 'off car' DPF Clean and Pressure Sensor Replacement  plus a Cambelt and Waterpump replacement all at beginning of this year at 140,000 miles so I guess that takes care of that issue . Invoices etc are held. 

Edited 30 September, 2019 by Boxerdog1

[Boxerdog1]

27 minutes ago, aki78 said:

We had MY14 2.0 TDIs as company cars and at 270k km (with 70% highway driving) the DPF was full of ash.

A new DPF is 2500 EUR here + 600 EUR labour.

We decided to go to a specialist company to clean (wash) the filters out which was 1/10 cost compared to a new one.

Try to get some diagnostic data about the DPF.

Within the very comprehensive list of routine servicing and additional work there is recorded an 'off car' DPF Clean and Pressure Sensor Replacement  plus a Cambelt and Waterpump replacement all at beginning of this year at 140,000 miles so I guess that takes care of that issue . Invoices etc are held. 

[uttanutta12]

3 minutes ago, Boxerdog1 said:

Within the very comprehensive list of routine servicing and additional work there is recorded an 'off car' DPF Clean and Pressure Sensor Replacement  plus a Cambelt and Waterpump replacement all at beginning of this year at 140,000 miles so I guess that takes care of that issue . Invoices etc are held. 

 

That takes care of that then! :) 

[pist0nbr0ke]

Have any of the shocks, springs and suspension bushes been changed at all?

Likely to be needed at that mileage - listen for any clonking whilst driving. Wheel bearings, drop links and front top mounts also prone to premature failure IME.

[mbames]

4 hours ago, WayTooTall said:

I have a 14 plate with 90k, and only issue was with an early version of the waterpump. The current version is fine.

 

14plate with 108k.  Had the waterpump replaced, and it played up again the other day.

DSG selector may ping up errors about only putting into park when stationary.  Message appears and disappears in a few seconds, think it gets logged under steering, rather gearbox.

Edited 30 September, 2019 by mbames
spelling mistake

[gm73]

Not a vRS but I run a '15 plate 1.6 CR TDI as a taxi and have covered 140k of mixed driving. Serviced every 10k (oil, air and fuel). Only had to replace the coolant temperature sensor and the fuel filler cap opening mechanism.

 

Still on original brake disks, had the pads changed twice front and back.

 

Had timing belt, alternator belt and water pump replaced at 133k.

 

Still on original clutch and flywheel although I've had the occasional and annoying bearing noise for quite a while.

 

Front shocks probably need replaced as they are weeping but not noisy or affecting driving as of yet. Had the rest of the suspension checked last week as part of the service and it's all still mint - shocks excepted.

 

DPF still regenerates fine although I'm frightened to check the ash levels.

 

I've had a few older Octavias that have ran to 400k so I look upon anything sub 200k as normal mileage.

Edited 30 September, 2019 by gm73

[ruffday]

Well I cant say with the VRS but I have run company cars for the last 17 years including 5 Skoda's which I had for around 2 years each. 

I was averaging 50k a year and had no issues with any of them. If you have history and the price is good then no need to worry too much.