Good shout re the tool, even that may need some maintaining in position when you tighten the bolt.

 

I know what Skomaz means, at one point the wipers come very close to each other, it does not take much for them to clash and then things turn really ugly.

 

I advise you to move the wiper in several small stages testing each time and watching for the overlap, maybe on the Superb its not an issue, if it is you may even choose to move the other wiper slightly to be able to get what you want to achieve.

 

Another  thing is to test the sweep on a saoking wet screen and on max wiper speed, there is considerable inertia and the sweep is always exaggerated in conditions of torrential rain.

Hooray, the Amazon driver has just been and delivered my wiper arm puller tool. I dashed out to give it a whirl, removed the rubber cap and placed in the scuttle, undid the retention nut a few turns and slipped on the tool, (one thing to note is that it does not come with the required 8mm Allen key, so if anyone is ordering one, make sure you have a Allen key), gave it few turns, tool remained securely locked on with zero attempts to slip off. A few more turns and "Crack", the arm was free and yes the taper is indeed splined, moved the arm very slightly away from the A pillar and tightened up the nut nice and tight, went to replace the rubber cap, and its gone, can't find it anywhere 🙄. Oh well, tried out the wipers with a drenched screen and full speed and there was silence, no more smacking into the pillar, success, now to try and find another rubber cap.

 

One thing I did find though, was that the plastic under tray for the engine is missing, never noticed that before as I just thought it would be there. I can see the 2 side pieces that it attaches to and it looks like the clips etc are there so I'm guessing the dealer removed it when they did the engine and gearbox service and forgot to refit it. Anyone know the part number and the cost of it at all? I don't think it would be worth my while driving another 290 miles round trip to Mansfield to pick it up, assuming the dealer still has it?

Edited 30 June, 20232 yr by Graham Butcher

The undertray is probably keeping the wiper spindle cap plus several 10mm combination spanners and sockets company in the black hole that is the scuttle!

 

On the basis that everything I have lost there I eventually find sitting on the undertray then your cap is probably on the ground under the vehicle.

44 minutes ago, J.R. said:

The undertray is probably keeping the wiper spindle cap plus several 10mm combination spanners and sockets company in the black hole that is the scuttle!

 

On the basis that everything I have lost there I eventually find sitting on the undertray then your cap is probably on the ground under the vehicle.

Snap, I thought the same so I rolled the car back and guess what there it wasn't, I got my high power LED torch and searched around the engine bay looking for it and that was how I discovered the missing undertray 😒 Breezy_Pete Has found the part number for it and its classified as external noise insulation panel, it has a huge piece of sound damping material on it, and that helps to explain why this mk3 sounds far noisier than my old mk2, that had all of its underbody trays intact.

I just checked mine Graham, in it stops 12mm from the edge of the plastic windscreen moulding at the top of the screen. 20-25mm will be far too much, and it’ll foul at the bottom of the screen. 

1 hour ago, numskull said:

I just checked mine Graham, in it stops 12mm from the edge of the plastic windscreen moulding at the top of the screen. 20-25mm will be far too much, and it’ll foul at the bottom of the screen. 

Yes, but as mine was actually hitting and then going onto the pillar, it needed to be approx 20 to 25mm of adjustment to get back to the same position as yours, which now means that mine also now sits at 10 to 12mm from the pillar at worst case. When parked it is now slightly downhill rather than level, but as it is lower than bonnet level, it is not noticeable and it always parks on the glass so all is good 👍

Wow, what dammed good customer service, last night I emailed the dealer and asked about the missing engine undertray as they had done, prior to me purchasing the car, a cambelt change, water pump at the same time as Skoda recommend, a full engine service along with a DSG gearbox service and oil change, a new N/S headlamp replacement as the DRL had packed up (Xenon) and a new replacement N/S rear lamp unit, lens had been broken, new discs and pads all round. My thinking was that they had to remove the undertray in order to carry out the engine service etc and might simply have forgotten to replace it afterwards, so I asked them if it was laying around in their service bay someplace at all.

 

This morning I received a nice email back saying that they had checked all of their records and discovered that they had received the car minus the tray when they purchased the car from Skoda fleet operations and as a gesture of goodwill, they were ordering one from an aftermarket supplier and having it delivered to me at home, a 145 miles away from them in Mansfield. What brilliant customer service and it is real treat it is to deal with a reputable dealer, especially after coming across their complete opposite in Heathrow, who even wanted me to buy a car with a huge crack in the windscreen and claim a replacement on my insurance, err, no way it was a MOT failure and a major safety hazard.

 

So if anyone is looking for a decent 2nd hand Skoda, I can 100% recommend you check out the dealer where I got mine from, they buy lots of cars from Skoda leasing and always seem to have plenty of stock on hand, their details are:

 

Radford Motor Sales Ltd,

337A Nottingham Road,

Mansfield,

NG18 4SG.

Tel. 01623 652004

www.radfordsgarage.co.uk

 

I'm glad I discovered them.

 

 

 

They are quite near to me - bought a used Honda Jazz from him 2 years ago for an elderly friend - seemed very straight and honourable - this time last year (MOT time) I couldn't find* the locking wheel nut key and despite it being a year since the purchase he was prepared to sort it, as you say Graham, he's one of the good guys.

 

*As it happened, the locking key was exactly where he said it was, in the glove box but Jazz have a secret upper glove box and mug here wasn't looking in the right place!

6 minutes ago, Berisford said:

They are quite near to me - bought a used Honda Jazz from him 2 years ago for an elderly friend - seemed very straight and honourable - this time last year (MOT time) I couldn't find* the locking wheel nut key and despite it being a year since the purchase he was prepared to sort it, as you say Graham, he's one of the good guys.

 

*As it happened, the locking key was exactly where he said it was, in the glove box but Jazz have a secret upper glove box and mug here wasn't looking in the right place!

Thank you that endorsement, the world is full of rip off merchants and people like Radford's should be supported and highlighted, the world needs more good guys like them.

Edited 1 July, 20232 yr by Graham Butcher

On 29/06/2023 at 19:23, numskull said:

Don’t botch it, Graham - get one of these. Easily cracked the stuck-fast arms off the splines on the MKI and II.

 

Thanks for the link - I've just ordered one but for Mrs BJ's Panda as the black is cracking off the initial part of it's aluminium wiper arms looking rather messy.

17 hours ago, bigjohn said:

 

Thanks for the link - I've just ordered one but for Mrs BJ's Panda as the black is cracking off the initial part of it's aluminium wiper arms looking rather messy.

Boy, I wish I’d kept SWMBO Panda 4x4 given how much they’re now worth. Loved that car, but the rear diff was so noisy, thought it was time to say goodbye…🙄

6 hours ago, numskull said:

Boy, I wish I’d kept SWMBO Panda 4x4 given how much they’re now worth. Loved that car, but the rear diff was so noisy, thought it was time to say goodbye…🙄

 

Hmm - I wish I'd bought a cheap barn to store some of my old cars as they'd be worth a fortune now inc Vauxhall VX 4/90,  Ford Zodiac mkIV, Capri 2.0 ghia, Cortina mkII, Cortina mkIV etc..   Panda 100 would have been a hoot as well..

Edited 2 July, 20232 yr by bigjohn

On 30/06/2023 at 15:57, Graham Butcher said:

 removed the rubber cap and placed in the scuttle ....... went to replace the rubber cap, and its gone, can't find it anywhere 🙄.

 

Check behind the front wheel arch liners near the sills - it may have dropped/rolled down there.

 

 

Edited 2 July, 20232 yr by bigjohn

19 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

 

Check behind the front wheel arch liners near the sills - it may have dropped/rolled down there.

 

 

I may do that when the undertray arrives, or I may just get my dealer to order one for me, if I need to order the fixings for the tray, its not important for now.

16 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

I may do that when the undertray arrives, or I may just get my dealer to order one for me, if I need to order the fixings for the tray, its not important for now.

 

It's worth a peek anyway although hopefully the design on the mkIII is much improved. My mkII Superb had a lot of trapped debris behind wheelarch liner near the sill. My son has a mkIII Octavia and that is much better designed.

 

Edited 3 July, 20232 yr by bigjohn