Well, this seems like as good a place as any to detail my misadventures. First post, please be gentle. 😇

Late last year I came into possession of a 2006 Skoda Octavia Mk2 VRS. It's a 2.0 petrol, pre-facelift, and was named 'Verity' by a friend, on account of the first letter on the number plate. It's my first car, and as such, I love it to pieces.

...and have also spent far too much of my free time figuring out how it works, fixing various components, and yelling obscenities into the engine bay.

Things I Have Fixed/Added

• Replaced the handbrake blind, which had split entirely into two separate pieces
  
  

• Replaced a missing dust cap on one of the tyres (I know, heavy duty stuff)

• Replaced the ignition barrel/steering lock (part number 1KO905865) with the help of a friend, as it had seized and wouldn't turn, rendering the car inoperable

  • Side note: I never want to see another shear bolt ever again
    

  

  
  
  

• Hardwired a front and rear dashcam, routing the wires through the body of the car

  • This was an endless nightmare

• Fixed the steering locking mechanism, with a hammer
  

  
  

• Got a tyre repair place to fix my back left tyre, whose air pressure valve had somehow sunk into the tyre wall

• Replaced my fog lights. This is more difficult than you'd think on this particular model. Ask me how I know.

Things I Have Broken

• The front ashtray light (RIP)

• Countless clips, fixings and pieces from various interior trim pieces (remember the dashcam hardwiring?), much of which has either been replaced, or epoxied back together

• Some fixings on the driver side interior door card, from an apparently misguided attempt to replace the door lock

  • Got the old door lock out, promptly dropped a mystery interior piece into the door, then spent the next 3 hours trying to fish it out through a hole in the panelling. Door lock still isn't replaced.
    

  
  

• An entire ****ing door, by attempting to overzealously park in a space that was simply too small, resulting in a very quickly-lost argument with a cast iron gate
  
  
  

  • This necessitated the purchase of a door from someone breaking the same model of Octavia, which then sat in my living room for a month as a reminder of what I'd done/an ill-advised art deco piece

  
  

Things I Have Yet To Fix

• The various warning lights on my dashboard, which lit up like a Christmas tree after I took the steering wheel apart, and refuse to leave (anyone in Sheffield got a VCDS unit handy?)

  • Airbag warning light, which was already on when I bought the car

  • Tyre pressure warning light - I think one of the sensors is busted

  • EPC, Power Steering, TCS/ESP warning lights - all came up after the ignition barrel was swapped over, but car is no less functional and all 3 components work. Need to clear via VCDS

  
  
  

• The incredibly annoying wind noise coming from both back doors, where the window panels meet (I think I know how to fix this)

• The equally annoying wind noise coming from the driver side door, which I have much less of a clue on fixing

...it's been an eventful 4 months of car ownership. 😂

Wouldn't change it for the world though, as this car has given me an amazing sense of freedom, and I love learning how to fix this kind of stuff. I'd love to add mods as well, but I'm not sure how much can be done given its age! It was previously owned by an enthusiast though, so a fair few mechanical mods (turbo mapping, upgraded brakes & suspension) have already been done. I just wanna add interior LEDs lol.

If you've made it this far, I salute you for your reading tenacity (but seriously, thanks). Pleasure to be here - you've all helped me plenty already, so I figured I'd try to add some humour to your day(s).

xo,
Ellie

Edited 19 March, 20251 yr by BadlyTimedExplosion
Formatting

11 hours ago, BadlyTimedExplosion said:

The various warning lights on my dashboard, which lit up like a Christmas tree after I took the steering wheel apart, and refuse to leave (anyone in Sheffield got a VCDS unit handy?)

• Airbag warning light, which was already on when I bought the car

• Tyre pressure warning light - I think one of the sensors is busted

• EPC, Power Steering, TCS/ESP warning lights - all came up after the ignition barrel was swapped over, but car is no less functional and all 3 components work. Need to clear via VCDS

Firstly, congratulations on the Race Blue, the best colour.

Secondly, the quoted faults can all be either fixed (hopefully) or confirmed using VCDS or OBD II. Just cancel them and see if they stay gone.

7 hours ago, Paws4Thot said:

Firstly, congratulations on the Race Blue, the best colour.

Secondly, the quoted faults can all be either fixed (hopefully) or confirmed using VCDS or OBD II. Just cancel them and see if they stay gone.

Thanks! I'm really happy with it myself. Never thought of myself as a blue car kinda girlie, but I do love it, and I've never lost sight of it in a car park yet!

Yeah that's what I'm hoping re. the faults that have come up. Tried with a neighbour's cheap knockoff OBD II unit but no dice there, and I can't justify shelling out for a VCDS unit myself just yet, so the faults shall remain - for now...

I suggest a post on the diagnostics forum to see if someone near you can help. I have VCDS here but I'm on the wrong side of the Pennines for you :)

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/23-diagnostics-amp-vcds/

On 20/03/2025 at 15:21, MikeTheThinker said:

I suggest a post on the diagnostics forum to see if someone near you can help. I have VCDS here but I'm on the wrong side of the Pennines for you :)

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/23-diagnostics-amp-vcds/

Wrong side of the Pennines only because I no longer live there (I'm from Lancs originally)! Thank you though, that's really helpful - I'll make a post there soon.

Whereabouts are you based in Sheffield? I don't have VCDS but do have a VAG-specific Quicklynks T55 scanner that I used to successfully delete various codes on our pre-facelift 2007 Octy 4x4...

6 minutes ago, skomaz said:

Whereabouts are you based in Sheffield? I don't have VCDS but do have a VAG-specific Quicklynks T55 scanner that I used to successfully delete various codes on our pre-facelift 2007 Octy 4x4...

Hey, if it works, it works, right? I'm based south of Sheffield centre - could you message me for further location specifics? Thanks!

For the TPMS fault, the system works using the ABS rather than sensors in the actual wheels, so if you have an ABS fault showing the two will most likely be linked.

Hope you get it all sorted. Keep up the good work!