Anyone who logs in to PistonHeads will know they run a weekly Shed of The Week. The concept of this is intrigued me for a while. Buy a car for <£1500 and run it on the cheap. 
 

Enter my 2006 Octavia Elegance DSG Estate 😁

 

Acquired for the princely sum of £1250 with an MOT until Jan 2021 and full history. Last 4/5 MOT’s have been passed with flying colours. 
 

At some point it’s had a dog cage in. So the list of jobs at the moment go along the lines of...

 

Wet Vac the interior

Source new drivers door card (elbow tear)

Fit some kind of Bluetooth streaming/handsfree to the Stream CD Changer Head Unit

Fix the non-working cruise control

DSG Service (never mentioned in the history)

 

And just generally tidy the old smoker up. She’s got a couple of dents on the roof that are starting to scab (I’m assuming from ladders/bikes on a rack) so I want to get these seen to. 
 

I’m a comms engineer for my sins and do 20k plus a year. So the aim is to keep it mechanically sound but use it. Mountain bikes on the roof/in the boot and cruising up and down the country to sites and see family. 
 

If anyone has any hints/tips/preventative advice - please enlighten me. I’ve been away from the VAG stuff for a few years now but I reckon I’ll still remember how to spanner on most stuff!

Check the tail gate for rust ! Mines pictured there wasn’t any sign of the rust back in November last year and a thumbnail size on the lip below the window mid March !!

Thats something I looked at when picking it up, after stumbling across your post. Thankfully mine is rust free for now!

Cruise inoperable is usually an easy fix as common stalk / switch / pcb connection issues well known.

 

Might even work if you just wiggle the pcb / connector block if it has one.

If not, you could try cleaning the contacts of the switch. Most say this is the issue but on mine placing extra solder on the mini pcb contacts, inside the stalk, so that there is a better connection here, has cured mine.

So my cruise switch doesn’t appear to have a ‘connector’ as such. 
 

is there supposed to be some indication on the dash that cruise is ‘armed’?

@bigyorkshire I cannot remember if there is a dash light.................If there is, it is tiny, but i do not think there is on my Octavia.

 

Yours is slightly different to mine as your wires are soldered directly. Mine had a little plastic connector.

 

Just clean the contacts on the switches with Isopropyl alcohol and try it next time you go for a run.

 

If still not working then I would suggest clutch switch maybe faulty. My A4 one was and a replacement switch sorted the cruise on that.

 

Good luck with it.

Edited 15 May, 20206 yr by Tilt

Thanks @Tilt I’ll give the contacts a clean. 
 

Clutch switch won’t be there.. it’s a DSG, could the brake switch be an issue? (Brake lights work fine...)

12 minutes ago, bigyorkshire said:

 

could the brake switch be an issue? (Brake lights work fine...)

 

Could be........I knew what I meant as I have DSG too. Still a clutch switch imo so clutch / brake switch, yeah.

 

Most likely clean the contacts though in stalk and it will work...........hopefully.

 

Both switches / rocker and slide switch.

Edited 15 May, 20206 yr by Tilt

Cheers muchly @Tilt I’ll let you know how I get on 👍🏻

New stalk time...

 

 

...and yes there is a light for the Cruise Control...

 

Pre-facelift it's amber, facelift it's green...

 

 

 

7 hours ago, silver1011 said:

New stalk time...

 

 

...and yes there is a light for the Cruise Control...

 

Pre-facelift it's amber, facelift it's green...

 

 

 

But possibly not on his car IIRC, I think pre-2007 cars may not have had a light? Pretty sure mine has never had one (also a 2006 model)

Change the engine oil  twice a year.

No light on my 2006, always catches me out when I have had it set to 50kph ph in town, its cut out through braking, then I am back on the unrestricted 80kph and have unknowingly re-engaged it (the previous 50kph setting)  when I slow down by engine braking for a stop junction it suddenly surges forward giving a brown trouser moment.