About to embark on Skoda ownership, Superb L&K Estate

[Shuggyboatsuperb]

Minor detail re. The jacking point inserts:

theres a longer version of the “hard plastic pin  insert” available, an Audi part for 12.95 post free on Ebay.    Were a touch too long in the Superb but easy enough to trim 5-6mm off with a multitool saw.  
For the rear positions covered by plastic undershields snd a small removable  cover, a 57mm hole saw worked perfectly for the jacking point inserts to fit.

Would save wasting the soft rubber halves/parts you have Commievid:

 

First pic shows the trimmed version

 

Edited 20 May by Shuggyboatsuperb
Spelling and picture reference

[commievid]

Thanks for the heads up @Shuggyboatsuperb! Something for the near future!

 

Went and took off the steering wheel and replaced it with the original one, I think maybe 2 or 3 splines to the right. A short drive and it now feels centre, so will do for now.

 

In the future, I think I'll reinstall the wheel in the correct position based on the notches/guide marks, and then get the wheels aligned once the track rod ends are replaced, as that should be done as a matter of course. No idea if a 4 wheel alignment will be physically possible given the state of the rear suspension, but that's for the future.

 

Car went and had a moan about only having 35 miles of range left after the drive and in various modes, the thing took 61 litres, so quite a hungry thing and I guess 65 litres is the tank size.

 

Interestingly though, the cruise control still doesn't work with the original wheel back on.

 

So the only two things remaining is the replacement stalks, the heated steering capable clock spring, and the Kufatec loom.

 

I now suspect the Kufatec loom, but sod's law, it'll probably be the last of the three above that I check that might be the culprit. For now I'll swot up on the loom and the wiring between the two clock springs.

 

Maintenance: £2317.23

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £697.20

Edited 21 May by commievid

[petrolcan]

Well done on the MOT pass 🙌

[commievid]

Ok, so found a tiny bit of spare time before work to disconnect the battery again, and this time take off the wheel again, and put in the old clock spring.

 

This also means the Kufatec loom isn't in play, as they can't be isolated, with the old clock spring being 16 pin and the replacement being 14 pin.

 

Dry fitted the steering wheel back on so the airbag is loose for now, and well, the cruise control now seems fine, VCDS coming up with no faults and the measuring values showing the stalk is receiving inputs.

 

Continued on and replaced the original steering wheel with the new one, and it is still working.

 

So I can only suspect the replacement heated steering capable clock spring is the culprit here.

 

At this stage, can only guess it's the software being different?

 

Original non heated clock spring:

Address 16: Steering wheel (J524)       Labels:| 5Q0-953-549.clb
   Part No SW: 3Q0 953 521 BD    HW: 5Q0 953 569 A
   Component: Lenks.Modul   075 0195  
   Revision: FF033033    Serial number: 20160118401316
   Coding: 6410
   Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00063
   ASAM Dataset: EV_SMLSVALEOMQB 001015
   ROD: EV_SMLSVALEOMQB.rod
   VCID: F3B833CBFB374B22A21-80A6

 

Replacement heated clock spring:

Address 16: Steering wheel (J524)       Labels:| 5Q0-953-549.clb
   Part No SW: 5Q0 953 521 ET    HW: 5Q0 953 569 B
   Component: Lenks.Modul   100 0265  
   Revision: FF035035    Serial number: 20220218501004
   Coding: 6410
   Shop #: WSC 66564 385 16448
   ASAM Dataset: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH 001007
   ROD: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH.rod
   VCID: 8842742792B158FA9F3-80DC

 

So the HW bump from 5Q0 953 569 A to 5Q0 953 569 B makes sense as that's what the rest of the forums suggest (either that or 5Q0 953 569 C).

 

But the software is probably the main difference, going from 3Q0 953 521 BD to 5Q0 953 521 ET, so not just a suffix change but prefix too.

 

Wild guess is that the 5Q0 was for a different car in the group.

 

So I guess the question is what next? Is it a case of finding someone with ODIS now to reset/reflash/update/rewrite the software on the clock spring? Is that a thing?

 

If it's possible, then I can refit the new clock spring and just get it sorted, otherwise, for now the car will just have to have the heated steering wheel without it working.

 

Any advice welcome!

 

Maintenance: £2317.23

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £697.20

 

 

[commievid]

Took the car out for a drive last night and unfortunately the cruise control stalk is still being a bit funny. Had an orange light when coming on, then when turned off and on again, nothing.

 

Suspect the replacement stalks might be dodgy now, so will put the original back on to try and ascertain if that's a reason. Probably not today though with the weather.

 

Car appears to be fine, the Bilstein's aren't super firm, less squidgy than before but can't tell as we're comparing relatively knackered OEM dampers.

 

Front wipers are really smudging the windscreen, could be due a replacement, but could the fact that the car has been laid up for a couple months and all sorts of rust proofing overspray and whatever is probably on the windscreen, so need to give it (and the entire in general) a proper exterior clean.

 

Looks like the front headlight washer totally misses and shoots straight up, which is sorta amusing.

 

Maintenance: £2317.23

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £697.20

Edited 22 May by commievid

[commievid]

So reinstalled the original stalks over lunch, and after a short drive, still not turning on, the car saying no ACC.

 

Seen several post which suggest to just let the car have a rest, so after work, went to do some shopping, and the cruise control and ACC and all worked absolutely fine.

 

So apart from the facelift steering wheel, it's pretty much reverted.

 

So either the replacement stalks are dodgy, or there's some coding or firmware that is misaligned. It was from a SEAT I suppose, so just enough difference in some software somewhere.

 

Not really sure how best to proceed, because it sounds like a load of stuff is in play:

• Stalks
• Clock spring
• CAN gateway
• BCM

Probably need to continue asking around. I'm less confident with any future virtual cockpit retrofit based on this steering wheel fiasco, but I'm hoping sheer stubbornness will get me somewhere.

 

Maintenance: £2317.23

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £697.20

[commievid]

Just noticed on another post that there is coding around the speed limiter button being installed or not.

 

Double checked on VCDS this morning, and there it is. Interestingly, it's not obvious in the experimental features section, just in the normal coding section.

 

Setting that changes the coding from 6410 to 6414. This doesn't work on the original stalks (out of range). Will need to check the new one to see if it accepts the coding and whether that might do the trick.

 

So I'll do that when I spare moment, either this evening or Sunday by the looks of it.

 

-UPDATE-

 

So that was a bust. Once installed, tried to code it the same 6414 with speed limiter installed and the same out of range error. So am waiting for a few minutes before taking off the airbag and reinstalling the original stalks once again.

 

With the measurements facility on VCDS, it looks like most of the on/off and speed changes work, but the "Mode" button is registering as the "Set" button, the actual "Set" button does nothing, and the top slider for the ACC distance does nothing, until you let go, after which it then stays on "Increase" distance according to VCDS.

 

Based on that, my current guess is that software/firmware on the clock spring is a tad too old on the original clock spring and doesn't know the arrangement of the newer stalk, and that the replacement clock spring just has the wrong firmware for a Skoda.

 

I will start asking around based on that as my only lead. However, I don't really see anything on the Internet about firmware for the clock springs, so this might be a massively incorrect guess.

 

Maintenance: £2317.23

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £697.20

Edited 24 May by commievid

[commievid]

Something a little less exciting:

 

A new pair of wipers for the front. A pair of Bosch Aerotwins, namely 26U for the driver side, and 19U for the passenger. The 19U was suggested elsewhere on this forum instead of 18U. Came to £22.99 on eBay, not too bad I thought.

 

The wipers have a suffix U presumably for universal, as it comes with 4 different fittings to attach to the wiper. The box labels the Skoda as "4" (technically the 19U doesn't specify the Superb, but Octavia was on there, and well, it'll be 4 anyway).

 

So got the clip labelled "4" and slotted it in:

 

The manual was a little vague in orientation, but the wiper blade had an arrow as did the clips, so just aligned them to point the same way.

 

I then initially went to try and lift the wiper arm before realising it fouls the bonnet, so consulted the manual, and it suggests to turn the ignition on then off, then hold the wiper stalk to position "4". This position being downwards, the single wipe option (some cars call it mist). After a couple of seconds:

 

It goes and stays put, was expecting the position to be just slightly up, but this is fine.

 

I recall seeing a chap outside Halfords attempting to replace the wiper blades on his car, and when attempting to do so, removed the wiper blade and let go of the arm without the arm being opened up fully. The spring tension on the wiper arm then smacked back onto the windscreen, leaving him with an enormous crack on the windscreen.

 

Hence I didn't stop to take pictures of me pushing the square button down, pulling the old wiper off and sliding the new wiper blade on until the square bit clicked into place:

 

Repeat for the other side, then car ignition back and on and some wiggling of the wiper stalk. Quick test and it's streak free.

 

I might have gone a bit mad over the Bank Holiday weekend, and have started to entertain the idea of a clone ODIS interface coder to see what it can do. Might be a further waste of time and money, but I suppose better for now that it's my own.

 

Maintenance: £2340.22 (+£22.99)

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £697.20

[petrolcan]

Fitting new blades and having a streakless windscreen brings me immense joy 🤣

Edited 28 May by petrolcan

[commievid]

I mentioned going a bit mad. So went and bought a clone of the VW adapters and retrieved some versions of ODIS in some form or another.

 

For the curious, it was a VNCI 6154A, which was €107 which resulted in £95.10, and a €5 "activation" of ODIS, which meant £4.11

 

I then took another deep breath and paid up for membership to MHH Auto, which was $30 which meant £23.66. This allowed me to get a bunch of "Flashdaten", specifically, one for the Steering Module, in the hopes that would help.

 

After a good week of swotting up and mentally preparing, I reinstalled the 569 B version of the clock spring, with the newer indicator stalks, and went about attempting to flash the firmware for the steering module. This was specifically file FL_5Q0953521ET_0245.frf which ODIS-E highlighted automatically when selecting a local file.

 

Here's a snippet of the results log:

 

So essentially, I actually downgraded the version from 0265 to 0245, with the wild hope that it being the firmware for a Skoda (Brand C I think it was in all of that Flashdaten), that would help in some way.

 

It didn't. No real effect from what I can tell, there's still a "Short to Ground" fault with the CCS, so either the stalks are broken, or there's still something else amiss. No idea if parameterisation is one of the factors, or if it does involve updating the CAN gateway as well.

 

Not brave enough to do that, as I'll either need to acquire a just-as-dodgy online account, or get someone who has one for the component protection whatnot.

 

At the very least, the VNCI thing did appear to work, so at least I think I have the ability to mess around with firmware flashing.

 

For now though, disconnected the battery and waiting so I can take the airbag off the steering wheel and reinstall the original clock spring. Maybe I'll try the original indicator stalks first to see if that helps.

 

Any ideas welcome!

 

Maintenance: £2340.22

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £820.07 (+£122.87)

Edited 1 June by commievid

[commievid]

So putting back the original indicators with the new clock spring still produced the same issues.

 

Putting back the original clock spring and original indicators and we're back to square one again.

 

The errors from VCDS:

Address 16: Steering wheel (J524)       Labels:| 5Q0-953-549.clb
   Part No SW: 5Q0 953 521 ET    HW: 5Q0 953 569 B
   Component: Lenks.Modul   100 0245  
   Revision: FF035035    Serial number: 20220218501004
   Coding: 6410
   Shop #: WSC 66564 385 16448
   ASAM Dataset: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH 001007
   ROD: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH.rod
   VCID: 8842742792B158FA9F3-80DC

4 Faults Found:
229127 - Cruise Control Switch 
          B1154 11 [00001001] - Short to Ground
          Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Priority: 3
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Reset counter: 4
                    Mileage: 164940 km
                    Date: 2024.05.02
                    Time: 13:36:41

                    Ubat 30 Voltage: 12.40 V
                    Ignition State: On
                    Terminal 15: 11.60 V
                    A/D #1: 0.00 %
                    A/D #2: 0.00 %
                    A/D #3: 0.00 %

229143 - Cruise Control Switch 
          B1154 11 [00001001] - Short to Ground
          Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Priority: 3
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Reset counter: 4
                    Mileage: 164940 km
                    Date: 2024.05.02
                    Time: 13:36:41

                    Ubat 30 Voltage: 12.40 V
                    Ignition State: On
                    Terminal 15: 11.60 V
                    A/D #1: 0.00 %
                    A/D #2: 0.00 %
                    A/D #3: 0.00 %

229145 - Cruise Control Switch 
          B1154 12 [00001001] - Short to Plus
          Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Priority: 2
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Reset counter: 4
                    Mileage: 164940 km
                    Date: 2024.05.02
                    Time: 13:36:41

                    Ubat 30 Voltage: 12.50 V
                    Ignition State: On
                    Terminal 15: 11.70 V

229160 - Cruise Control Switch 
          B1154 29 [00001001] - Signal Implausible
          Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Priority: 3
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Reset counter: 4
                    Mileage: 164940 km
                    Date: 2024.05.02
                    Time: 13:36:41

                    Ubat 30 Voltage: 12.40 V
                    Ignition State: On
                    Terminal 15: 11.60 V
                    A/D #1: 0.00 %
                    A/D #2: 0.00 %
                    A/D #3: 0.00 %

 

So right now, it's either:

• The replacement clock spring itself is broken
• There is something else, which is making the steering wheel module do things just differently for the cruise control switch to be handled differently

With the original clock spring and newer indicator stalks, the cruise control switch almost works, with the buttons being a little bit rearranged, presumably as the coding to allow for the speed limiter can't be applied to the original clock spring.

 

I'm not brave enough to flash the old clock spring with the same version as I tried with the newer clock spring, lest I mess that up with no way back.

 

If I could source even a second hand example of 5Q0 953 569 B (or C I think) then I could at least confirm whether its the replacement clock spring.

 

Maintenance: £2340.22

Upgrades: £1414.46

Miscellaneous: £820.07

Edited 4 June by commievid

[commievid]

So another set of clock springs and indicators arrived today, ordered last Monday, so took a week to arrive from Lithuania, bought for £180.79 from eBay.

 

The part number on this particular stalk is 5Q0 953 521 LA:

 

Costly yes, but to be honest I don't see it second hand for any cheaper and its a bit more brand new from most other sources. The item also appears to be from a 2017 Skoda Superb and also has the speed limiter button on the stalks:

Alas, like the original stalks, the cruise control is a bit worn. So decided to swap this clock spring onto the nicer looking stalks and did the entire rigmarole again.

 

Battery disconnected, wait about 15 minutes, airbag disconnected and out, bottom steering cowl disconnected, unbolt steering wheel, steering wheel out, indicators and clockspring removed, then reverse of all the previous.

 

Once the power was back on can immediately see the cruise control icon appear with the stalks, and plugging in the VCDS and checking the buttons, everything is absolutely fine!

 

So the VCDS scan for the Steering Module:

Address 16: Steering wheel (J524)       Labels:| 5Q0-953-549.clb
   Part No SW: 5Q0 953 521 LA    HW: 5Q0 953 569 B
   Component: Lenks.Modul   100 0245  
   Revision: FF036036    Serial number: 20170427500937 Dataset Number: V03935250QX 0001
   Coding: 6414
   Shop #: WSC 33361 790 00141
   ASAM Dataset: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH 001007
   ROD: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH.rod
   VCID: 7CAA98F75669845A0BB-8028

No fault code found.

 

So compared to the one that didn't work:

Address 16: Steering wheel (J524)       Labels:| 5Q0-953-549.clb
   Part No SW: 5Q0 953 521 ET    HW: 5Q0 953 569 B
   Component: Lenks.Modul   100 0245  
   Revision: FF035035    Serial number: 20220218501004
   Coding: 6410
   Shop #: WSC 66564 385 16448
   ASAM Dataset: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH 001007
   ROD: EV_SMLSVALEOMQBLRH.rod
   VCID: 8842742792B158FA9F3-80DC

 

Part number differences of ET vs LA suffix, with the working one also having a dataset number field with the non-working one being blank. Is that the main difference?

 

So yeah:

 

Two wornish indicator stalks, two steering wheels, and two clock springs, with one either broken or just not compatible with the Skoda Superb:

 

Not sure what to do with the spoils. The flat bottom wheel could be used for a change of look. Not my cup of tea, the Superb is hardly an F1 car with restricted leg room or 270 degrees of steering lock to lock.

 

I guess I could sell the clock springs on as spares or repairs or something I suppose.

 

I'll need to check things over with a quick drive some time. For now, the heated wheel button doesn't work, and still only kicks in via the touch screen panel. Can only guess some coding somewhere is missing. For now, I'll leave it and take the very expensive victory.

 

Next thing I think I will swot up on is this:

Address 57: TV Tuner (R78)       Labels:| 8V0-919-DTV-V1.clb
   Part No SW: 8V0 919 191 G    HW: 8V0 919 191 B
   Component: DVB-DTV       H09 2660  
   Coding: 0304030000000101000000
   Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00063
   ASAM Dataset: EV_TVMELC 001039
   ROD: EV_TVMELC_VW37.rod
   VCID: 43D8230B6B173BA20A1-8016

1 Fault Found:
8211 - Antenna 1 for TV; Tuner Antenna Module; Antenna 
          B124F 13 [00001001] - Open Circuit
          Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Priority: 4
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Reset counter: 39
                    Mileage: 165771 km
                    Date: 2024.06.10
                    Time: 15:38:12

                    Voltage terminal 30: 11.5 V
                    Connection status antenna 1-Antenna current: 0 mA
                    Connection status antenna 1-TV tuner to impedance converter: electrically OK
                    Connection status antenna 1-Impedance converter to antenna: Open circuit
                    Connection status antenna 1-Phantom voltage: 5.1 V
                    Connection status antenna 1-level: 19

 

This has only popped up with the full scan today, no idea what it's about. Guess is one of the antennas needs replacing or a look, so I'll need to figure out which one is "Antenna 1". I did have some drama with the tailgate trim, and I can't help but feel some of the antennas are tucked behind said trim.

 

Maintenance: £2340.22

Upgrades: £1595.25 (+£180.79)

Miscellaneous: £820.07