Hi all,

Looking for some advice please.

I just bought a 2018 Mk3 Octavia SE L, 1.5 petrol DSG. 40,000 miles, new service and new MOT.

Small niggles that I'd like to remedy if possible (from your experience):

1. Trim rattle. Mainly the long strip of plastic trim next to the door handles.

2. Squeak at low speed, and during turning (I can't fully identify where it comes from, but maybe the steering wheel?).

I had similar problems with my Mk7 golf (facelift), and VW offered no help, so looking for your experience of fixes please.

Thanks

Sorry to hear about the trim rattles. This sometimes come from the door panel not being properly reinstalled and can be resolved by dismantling the door card and padding out any plastic that is not properly supported.

The squeak at low speed is often the steering wheel rubbing against the plastic. If its marginal, then some light rubbing wax will be enough to take that away. The more extreme version would be to carefully shave off a couple of mm of plastic or the steering wheel, but that is an extreme option.

Thanks Varaderoguy,

Re the trim, I'll give that a go. Is it easy to remove the bits of trim?

Re the wheel, which part of the steering wheel rubs against which bit of plastic? Just the rotating part vs the static part?

47 minutes ago, TH87 said:

Thanks Varaderoguy,

Re the trim, I'll give that a go. Is it easy to remove the bits of trim?

Re the wheel, which part of the steering wheel rubs against which bit of plastic? Just the rotating part vs the static part?

Do you mean the silver coloured strip (with the led lighting strip)? If so, this is a plastiwelded piece (been there, done that, thanks dealer for scratching mine). The only removable bits on the door card are the switches, switch cover thingy on the passenger side, and the outside of the grab handle. Everything is else is part of the door card.

What @varaderoguy is suggesting is to remove the entire card (it's a couple of fixings) and see if it's anything behind there. It could be the lighting strip is a bit loose, etc. It's not difficult to do, however if it's your first time then I would exercise some caution - they come off much easier than they go back on!

Hi all,

Follow up from my original post, and a request for further guidance please.

My initial problems (now solved):

1. Trim rattle. Mainly the long strip of plastic trim next to the door handles. - Now solved, it was the window switch button box that was loose. Popped it out, packed it back in.

2. Squeak at low speed, and during turning (I can't fully identify where it comes from, but maybe the steering wheel?). - Now solved, it was the fan for the air vents located behind the glove box. Took it out, lubricated the stem, and the noise is gone.

However, this has made a more concerning problem more evident. There is a grumble / grinding / vibration noise during slow acceleration in 1st and 2nd gear. More so on hill starts.

I've been to Skoda today for diagnostics, and they agree that there is a problem. They can't immediately identify it exactly, but suspect the gearbox. Apparently the DSG box has not been serviced (and should have been by the Skoda dealership I bought it from).

Now comes the fun part. Although the car is under a 12 month approved Skoda warranty, I've been told that the further investigation and fix may not actually be covered. The Skoda dealership that performed the diagnostic are hesitant to do any further work before confirming that they can claim it on the warranty.

Any help here please? I simply assumed that a warranty is a warranty, and where I have a problem, it will be fixed under that warranty. What are my choices if it's refused and I would have to pay for the fix myself?

Thanks for any help.

TH

They might suspect it is the clutch pack, which is not covered by the warranty as it is a consumable item. I personally think this isn't fair on DSG boxes, but there we go. Here is the booklet.

At this point, I've just deleted the rest of the post I'd written. I was going on about how it was completely the fault of the dealer, etc. However, when I went to check the age of your car (I was advising to visit an Indie VAG place for service records) I noticed that it was a 1.5.

This car is fitted with a DQ200 gearbox, which has no service interval.

Regardless of the nuances of this (my gearbox is set at 80k miles, however I'm having it done now at 35k), the dealer had no obligation, responsibility or need to service the gearbox. It's good practice to replace the fluid at some point, however as it is a dry clutch box, it is a sealed for life unit. Certainly, at 40k, a service isn't really needed (age aside).

TLDR - if the gearbox in general is at fault, then you are covered. If the issue relates to the clutch pack, you might have an issue.

May I ask, is the issue prevalent when changing gear, or when actually pulling away? The two major issues (not DMF as they would have said) are the clutches, or MCU (mechatronics). By the sounds of it, I would be more inclined to suggest it is unfortunately the former. However, with only 40k on the clock, I'd be surprised if the clutch packs had an issue with wear.

It's a bit of a cop out on VW's part, but the warranty isn't really there to help you is it?

A low grumble like this will probably be the DMF failing. They do that - especially if the car has been abused - failure to let the gearbox warm before applying full power; towed extra weight etc.