So I've switched Katie the business Grey Superb for another business grey Skoda, this time a Kodiaq. 103000km on the car.

DSG 4x4, 2.0TDI, 110kW.

 

Let's see how this goes.

 

List of things to sort:

 - new aux light --> this will be a Linear Elite 18, under the plate, in the honeycomb, between parking sensors, I think. Only have HBA not Matrix, so that makes things easier.

- charger for overnights --> DEFA have a kit for this with a 4A charger, that should be enough to keep things topped up.

- rear mudflaps --> the rear gets dirty enough as it is, would like to keep it cleaner

- probably some new summer tyres as they seem to be original and therefore 7 years old... and I may well upgrade to 19" at the same time

- audio system (need to chat to @KoenG and @spacelordon this, as it sounds lots like the center speaker is getting a real workout and I just want a clean signal for an 8 channel DSP (miniDSP c-dsp 6x8) so i can feed a couple of hundred watts to the replaced door speakers. Will probably end up moving mids and tweeters to the dash somehow.

- needs a new rear wiper blade

- key and webasto remote need new batteries

 

Stuff I'm surprised about:

 - the ambient is only in the doors. the footwells are still white.. .this needs changing. Not sure how to do this, there's lots of ideas.

- the plastic on the front of the upper glovebox reflects annoyingly - have to think about what to do here

- i haven't worked out how to set the memory on the seats despite having read the manual (I will look this up again)

- Canton is a huge disappointment in terms of sound quality - i was expecting staging, imaging and a certain amount of bass and i got some bass that required turning the sub up to +6. We can do better than that..

 

Stuff that seems borked:

 - passenger mirror won't dip in reverse

- virtual pedal doesn't want to play ball, i suspect it has to do with the poor key battery

 

Will have to try and get out in the darkness one day this week to confirm the high beam capabilities, the lights inside, test the heated rear seats and find my place.

 

It's snowing out, so it should be pretty slippery in the morning, and this car wears friction tyres (no studs), so it should be easy enough to slide. I want to see what ESC Sport allows on this car.

ah, forgot a couple of things that absolutely need doing:

 - order rubber mats, it's only got carpet ones with (and they don't really work when you've got a crapton of melted snow which is refrozen into ice... at least with the rubber ones you can take them out and hammer the ice out).

 - set up the cambelt change and waterpump

 - DSG oilchange isn't due for another 15k kms (was done at 58k), will have to think through how and when this is going to work.

 

Also need to Rain-x the side windows and try polishing a couple of marks out of the bonnet.

also just saw that Audiotec Fischer appear to have a demo Kodiaq.. https://www.facebook.com/audiotecfischer?__cft__[0]=AZWb1PL-hirojR6IX3knrFOH7VMJf9okTQ2tsj0oIjeBBr6KOCL59cCrPALrmZFvlnlA4KMtn8Ut1PldCVrwU5Mzi-s8XYv4t9rK-H739c-bunz72wSf5dsbk0zsWS9e4qzNn0dxnPGn1YVhD0rtSv0rwNJncMwEeh1C7VAYe7ZY3IuW1i-ZuUvz2EKRj4gXNNudwDQMvOEenK51A7RtavgF&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R ....

 

will have to look and see if I have those cubbies on the side in mine. Would be very useful for the Amps...

one more thing to add to the list: replace the rusting screws in the front number plate.

Been out today.

 

Coding for Limiter and Cruise is a must. Happy with the way the car works in individual mode now (with Sport gearbox, normal DCC, and a bunch of other minor changes). Also very impressed with the handling on seriously bad / wet and muddy gravel roads. Filthy it is, though... need the rear mudflaps and that wiper is annoying.

Also found that a Linear 24 might fit in the middle underneath the parking sensors, where an 18 will fit between them. A 24 takes the reference over 100, though, I think, so that will need more complex cabling (i.e. a switch somewhere inside). Decisions, decisions...

Edited 1 May, 20242 yr by brettikivi

I've driven it more and have been searching.

 

First up: the cruise / limiter thing should be just a case of editing Byte 23 of the set. I'll maybe play with this later today.

I also have a couple of other coding things to do; the walk-away locking and something else I don't remember but printed the other day.

 

Will also be looking to do the button on the tailgate as described elsewhere, there's a guide in German - it adds the "shut tailgate and lock the car" button in place of the "shut the tailgate" button alone.

 

Found some lights that would work, need to investigate how low I want to put them, as the 24 is too big to fit between the sensors. It's also something that will require me to have a switch inside as it will take me over Ref 100. Disappointed with the lights at some level; it was almost dark when I drove home from the airport at 1:30am this morning, and... yes, I feel vindicated in the idea of adding to them. Missed the 12 that was on offer, so the 18 or 24 it is.

 

Also now seriously debating adding some RGB WS2812Bs in the doors etc rather than using the LIN setup, as I'd have to code those. Want ambient in the centre console around the glasses holder, more in the dash and footwells and the doors... might try to get a color sensor, or just replace the door strip LED. not sure yet.

 

Why doesn't the upper glovebox have a light?

Following your journey with interest...

Erwin done, that was painless. Now to find the cabling I'm interested in.

Tailgate looks easy, the front light should be simple, too.

Easy entry completed.

Can't do the GRA change I wanted to, though, as I don't seem to have all the bytes shown. Will test the security code I saw tomorrow.

 

Cabling for the light seems painless enough. LIN is also present in the doors if I wanted to go that route for the pocket lights and again for footwell ones... I'm just not sure that's what I want to do. I think i'm going to get a bunch of Wemos D1 minis and see if WLED will sync cleanly. If it doesn't, I have a W32 with 16 outputs, but then they need to get to where they should be, so it will need to be installed in an interesting place to keep cable lengths short.

 

 

First money spent: a new rear wiper at €13.

 

Return from the summer house today:  5.4l/100, so 52mpg. Not bad.

also, decisions need to be made: Lazer Linear 18 Elite or 24 Elite. Or a 12 and then a pair of Triple R 750s.. the 24 is massive but should fit underneath the parking sensors; the 18 would fit easier. I think it might be the 18.

took it to the local mechanic today. No noises found, no real issue apart from the tie rod itself having some play and the tracking is probably out (uneven wear on the front tyres).

It's going in next week for cambelt & water pump and a set of Hankook K125s. Tie rod set for Friday up here, then an alignment. Will see if the times align...

 

Currently looking good for the summer vacation end of next week.

everything aligned so far (literally).

 

Lots of money spent.

€500 on the tyres.

€85 on getting them onto the rims and onto the car again.

 

€800 on the waterpump / cambelt replacement. Another €6,5 on a liter of G12++ and water, as it appears there was a minor airlock in place and so when I took the car out onto the motorway, it burped itself and BIMd at me. No temp issues, but apparently coolant level.

 

Got BIMd again an hour later for tyre pressures. they are now set to 2.7/3.1 for the trip.

Hankook K125s: impressed. Quiet. Better (stiffer!) ride.

 

 

oh, and the tie rod is done, but the boot is not (will have to do that when back). The alignment wasn't out that far to my eyes, but it's a hell of a lot nicer drive now. Much improved.

Checking in from almost the Arctic Circle. 9.4l/100 on the last tank, that mostly had a 1500kg caravan on the back, +26C and 90km/h on the tacho. Very impressed with the Kodiaq as a towcar. Now to clean some bugs off ahead of tomorrow's jaunt back towards south (after visiting Santa's village...)

Overall 8.5l average (including returning the caravan at 5.x); 1700km. Can't fault the car, excellent in Sport mode with the stiffer damping at the back. Weight seems to make a minor difference, but rain makes a bigger one. And the higher the stützlast, the better... been using the full 100kg and it's worth it. Don't like having 40kg of clothes at the back... Impressed, I am.

Now to sort out2 things on my list:
 - Elite 18 or so on the front

 - stereo upgrade.

 

Stereo update: having read a bunch of threads, it's clear that coding back to "normal" for the radio should not be difficult, but the guy who i want to put the system in was looking for a bit more than that. So we took the glovebox out today to see the back of the HU - that's all good, looks like we have the ports needed. Now to find a T set up and then to get the damned top glovebox to shut again... grrr!

 

It's off on a trip with my offspring Tuesday and then I'm out so it will be a couple of weeks before this moves forward. I need to create an amp rack anyway, as the positions of everything will be behind the seats and under a false floor, i think - i can integrate the sub better that way and it's going to be way easier than trying to mess with the other locations, as there's simply not much space.

50mm to the rear, then 2 x 10mm for a 2 channel (front bass) and a 4 channel (front treble, rear) and then 20mm for the Sub amp. 7 channels of output from the DSP, 2 stereo pairs coming in from the radio to retain fader functionality. Need to work out exactly how to do the false floor, whether I raise everything 100mm and give myself some spare space (quite likely) or just part... could also drop everything next to the sub, especially since even though the sub was removable in the Superb, I essentially never took it out. Decisions, decisions....

 

Lamp is also pretty clear at being another Lazer Elite 18. Can find one for an OK price; having driven some with the wife's Philips whateveritis, I really like the Lazer's light output and spread. Easy to get a mount for, too.

Couple of small updates:

 - parts for the spare subfloor (990x510+520 x 2, 75mm x 520 x6) have been bought. That's 990mm wide, total of 1030mm depth. Should be enough and I have a jigsaw and a circular with a guide... both top and bottom are 9mm, so I can screw the amps into place and the top shouldn't bend too much. Support with the 75mm pieces (the big amp is >50mm tall). So I will "lose" 75+18 --> 93mm - apparently the standard height difference is 100mm. And i have the reversible mat, so it should be good.

 - need to plan the layout itself, but that's something I will do in real and then drill everything, paint, carpet the outside and maybe add a drawer? not sure, have to think about how to use the remaining space best. Got to allow for some air movement somehow, too.

- lamp-wise, I currently have the Phillips 5103L on both the A2 and the SX4. The SX4 mount moves *way* too much, i will have to reinforce that - but I don't particularly like the spread. Too concentrated in front of the car... I will have to see what happens with the specific positions when the lamp holder is flush all the way against the bumper, but right now it's OK and a decent improvement (on the already *very* good LED high beams of the SX4) ... needs some optimization.

 - will try to test the BCM method of main beam activation over the next day or so to see if I really do need to drop €80 on a canM8 or if I can do it with €10 and some programming...

will probably also be adding some LEDs with diffusion film over them in *lots* of places now I've seen how good the stuff is through work.

Plywood purchased, I'm going to have to make some more 75mm wide strips to support the floor (or strengthen it in other ways). 990mm wide (it's actually about 998 but this slides in and out nicely) and then 510+520mm depth. So there's a split and I'll use the front for the hifi and the back as a large drawer (another reason for the strengthening).

Layout is sorted pretty much for the amps: 1 x35mm2 from the front, then a distro with the 1600.1 on the left, 400.2 in the middle and 400.4 on the right. DSP top right. Probably painted black / dark grey and then the top will be finished in something nice. Alcantara, maybe? have to see what I can find.
Will try to make it clean and good looking, might well light it on the sides with some LED strips. And then light the drawer, too. More to follow as I do some work with this this weekend.

package 1 arrived with some cables.

Initial layout:

More to come.... cabled up for testing with a 60w psu. Enough to prove stuff

 

Edited 3 September, 20241 yr by brettikivi

It broke. Handbrake switch. No ACC, no parking brake. Finding parts is not trivial, factory order. Last time I had to sit through that, it was 4 weeks... we will see.

 

Mild change of plan. Different board used, as this already has space for the sub to bolt into.

 

Mostly done on this side now, waiting on connectors and a cable.

 

MOST T is here, last cinch too. DSP connectors are through customs, should be delivered this week still. So I will try to get something running tonight or tomorrow with an SPDIF output from a Pi to the DSP, so I can test everything.

 

Then i need to figure out when stuff is going to happen.

light ordered, will be a Linear 24. Now to find a way to mount it...

On 09/05/2024 at 21:33, brettikivi said:

Easy entry completed.

Can't do the GRA change I wanted to, though, as I don't seem to have all the bytes shown. Will test the security code I saw tomorrow.

 

Cabling for the light seems painless enough. LIN is also present in the doors if I wanted to go that route for the pocket lights and again for footwell ones... I'm just not sure that's what I want to do. I think i'm going to get a bunch of Wemos D1 minis and see if WLED will sync cleanly. If it doesn't, I have a W32 with 16 outputs, but then they need to get to where they should be, so it will need to be installed in an interesting place to keep cable lengths short.

 

 

Hi!

 

Can you tell me what you did to get the easy entry to work? I have tried som coding and aaptions i found in some forums. but none of those work on mine