I own a 2008 Skoda Octavia estate 2.0tdi automatic. I have owned it since 2013 and purchased second hand from a sales company  in Pudsey.

There have been no real issues with the car since I purchased it and I have been impressed with the reliability. I have continued to get it serviced through a local garage.

In March this year it went in for an MOT and required the tyres replacing which I had done. However, when I collected the car there were some issues that I did not notice until the following day. The issues being as follows:

1. The digital dashboard display was not showing what gear I was in despite the rest of the dashboard working

2. The reverse parking sensor was not working, as well as the display not showing on the dashboard as to how close I was to anything behind

3. The rear heated window button automatically turns off when I select it

4. The twin climate control adjusts independent of each other now. I used to be able to change the drivers side which would also change the passenger side but now I have to do both separately

I took my car back to the garage and asked what they had done and they said nothing other than changing the tyres but would take a look at it.

They looked at the car a few weeks later and said it might be a switch near the gearbox but they would need to order the part. I never heard back from them so decided to book my car into Kwik Fit who looked at it on 5 August.

Kwik Fit ran a diagnostic and said there was a problem with the code as the system was detecting my car as a two door left hand drive Audi. They said they would correct this code.

They said the rear window heater was a blown fuse however despite changing the fuse it still doesn't work.

With regard to the reverse lights which I forgot to mention also don't work, when connected to the diagnostic machine they did work through the laptop but still do not work when I put the car in reverse.

Finally, the dashboard display showing what gear I am in could not be fixed.

The garage said I will probably need to take it to a specialist Skoda dealer. I was just wondering if anyone here had come across a similar problem before I contact Skoda and try and get this fixed, hopefully at not too much expense.

Welcome.

I would not be taking it to a Skoda Main Dealership & paying them crazy money.

 

The issues seem to be with where your car was MOT'd and the tyres changed, they can not just pan you off unless you let them....

If you paid money then why let them off with things?

 

In the 7 years you have owned it gave you never been to a VW Independent Specialist with the car?

I would find one in your area and go to them.

Someone with all the gear and more than an idea or excuses, they need licensed equipment and knowledge on it's correct use.

 

As to Kwikfit, they can be a joke as you have discovered,

Edited 6 August, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

Hi e-Roottoot,

 

Thanks for the reply. When I took it back to the garage that did the mot they said that the faults are probably a coincidence and would not accept any blame.

 

When I mentioned this to Kwik Fit more recently they seemed to agree with the mot garage that things can just fail by coincidence.

 

I will probably have to just take it to a VW independent specialist. I have not taken my car to one so far since I purchased.

Sounds like the CAN-bus gateway might be having issues or something lost it's coding/stopped communicating...

 

You need to get VCDS or similar attached to see what's going on. A local member might be able to do an autoscan for you which will help us make more informed guesses.

Hi Langers 2k,

 

Thanks for your reply and suggesting a possible cause. Does the issue you raise sound like something that could have developed after a standard mot?

 

 

Nope... I can't see how an MOT or tyre change could cause the symptoms you've described.

 

An MOT really shouldn't damage anything. Obviously if something is about to fail, for example a brake hose, it could fail during the MOT but that's not really their fault.

 

I guess ABS wiring/sensors can get damaged during tyre changes but that wouldn't explain your issues and is pretty unlikely unless they are super hamfisted.

Do they have to plug into the OBD socket to retrieve fault codes or was that something I read to be introduced at a future date?

 

On the face of it tyre changes and an MOT test could not be responsable for the issues that you are suffering, it sounds like a corruption of the can gateway module or a communications error.

 

I once had a customer phone to complain that I had serviced his car 6 months earlier and now he finds out that his daughter is pregnant 😯

 

Buy one get one free

These cars develop frustrating electronic issues at any time especially at the age yours is, I would not want to be repairning cars for people any more as these days its commonplace to look to implicate someone else for plain & simple misfortune.

 

I agree about staying away from the main dealers for these sort of issues, I would extend that to Kwikfit type places as well, find a good independant that specialises in VAG.

Thanks for the replies. I have taken it to a specialist dealer who has said it needs recoding. They are not sure what caused the existing code to malfunction other than possibly a low battery ( I changed the battery a couple of months after the faults started as the battery died). It's going to cost £90 plus vat to recode.

£90 to recode a canbus gateway? That's steep! Where are you located there's most likely someone with VCDS local to recode for you it's about a 15 minute job (at least the last one I did on a touran was, including fitting the unit)

I bought VCDS because a VAG specialist wanted £125 + Vat just to run a scan and could not look at it for 2 weeks anyway.

 

They also said that dependant on what they found it could be an additional couple of hours at £80 + VAT or something stupid for further physical faultfinding. = go away, not interested!

I live just outside Leeds. I took the car to a place called I.V.C. I thought it sounded a lot but have not had a comparison cost.