Hi Guys,

Car went into limp mode a few days ago with the coil light flashing. Took it to my local garage who charged me £20 to read the codes so I went looking for a cheaper solution.

I have the skoda connect lite app on my Pixel 7 but I dont have the OBD hardware to connect to the car.

What I was curious about is can I just buy any old bluetooth/wireless OBD reader or does it need to specifically be the skoda version?

Will I be able to reset codes with this or would i need more sophisticated software? (most likely available on aliexpess)

Car is a Octavia Scout MkIII TDI.

Just avoid all that nonesense and go and get yourself an ODBEleven dongle. It will be a lot less hassle and will give you a proper code readout as opposed to just generic codes.

@varaderoguy

Thanks for the heads up! Looking at the website it looks like I can just go for the Nextgen device free plan? I assume theres no need for the pro verion as I only want it to read and clear codes and look at some live engine data?

Sure, that should be fine. That will read codes and allow you to do basic changes and checks.

Ordered. Thanks mate much appreciated! 👌

Ok, OBDEleven device arrived.

Connected it up to the car and cleared all the old codes out. Went for a drive and checked it when I got home and it came up with this.

I took it to my local garage a few days ago because the coil light started flashing and then it went into limp mode. Was fine when I stopped and restarted the engine. My local garage plugged it in and it came back with a turbo underboost error which they said was most likely glow plugs need replacing. My OBD11 didnt see that error so I guess he cleared it. Coil light started flashing again yesterday but as soon as I noticed it I pulled over and stopped the car for a few mins and when I restarted the coil light stayed off.

Obvously the remote key voltage issue is nothing to worry about but are the other errors indicative of something needing sorting sooner rather than later?

Thanks

52 minutes ago, AlexScout said:

Ok, OBDEleven device arrived.

Connected it up to the car and cleared all the old codes out. Went for a drive and checked it when I got home and it came up with this.

I took it to my local garage a few days ago because the coil light started flashing and then it went into limp mode. Was fine when I stopped and restarted the engine. My local garage plugged it in and it came back with a turbo underboost error which they said was most likely glow plugs need replacing. My OBD11 didnt see that error so I guess he cleared it. Coil light started flashing again yesterday but as soon as I noticed it I pulled over and stopped the car for a few mins and when I restarted the coil light stayed off.

Obvously the remote key voltage issue is nothing to worry about but are the other errors indicative of something needing sorting sooner rather than later?

Thanks

I'm struggling to see any connection between an indicated under boost issue and faulty glowplugs! What was the DTC that was read?

Edited 17 April, 20251 yr by Warrior193
question

Okay, yes. Acknowledge the low battery in keyfob. You have two bigger issues:

Firstly, the gear selector sensor is faulty. Common problem on VAG cars. Quite an easy fix but you need a new gear selector sensor or you need to get the sensor cleaned and checked.

The other error is in relation to the camera on the front of the car. It needs setting up. Suspect you may have had a new windscreen recently and not had the windscreen alignment done??

Hi guys got this error code using launch pro diagnostic machine , I have a Octavia vRS MK3 2014 only has 2 leveling sensors both in passenger side , I looked at the front passenger and seen the green leveling arm twisted could this be the reason why it throwing up the headlight range code , I do have the part but not sure if it should be coded in or not

I would say it's not helping. The car is also complaining about low voltage so suspect you might also have a failing battery.

Worth changing leveling arm and battery ? I don't think my green arm should be twisted or bent though

My battery is running at 14.5vlts to 15vlts when I have the diagnostic machine reading the battery when cars running

Edited 19 April, 20251 yr by Holderness88

Hello, welcome to the forum.

That alternator output, if constant, could possibly be an indicator that the battery is struggling to hold charge - depending on whether it drops back to float voltage after replacing usage, etc. shortly after start up.

Around 14.7 volts is normal, max. charging voltage for AGM/EFB.

One fact I've not often seen mentioned is that a charged secondary battery, in good health, acts like a smoothing capacitor, if battery health is compromised, more electrical interference (noise) from the alternator can be present in the vehicle circuits.

Have you had the battery tested?

Edited 19 April, 20251 yr by Warrior193
Add welcome

No but battery readings while running doesn't drop below 14 volts

What is typical usage of vehicle - is it mostly short trips?

Do you know how old the battery is? There is often a date code stamped onto the top of negative terminal - format is WW;YY.

Suggest getting a full battery test, there are very reasonably-priced test meters available that will give accurate condition readings - or get a trusted garage to do it, who may charge a significant portion of the cost of having your own device.

Outlets providing 'free battery testing' may not always be competent or completely unbiased.

Thank you for replying, I'll have a check soon in the battery age and the diagnostics machine I have is a bi directional one that gives me the option to monitor battery health not sure if it's showing overall battery condition , also noticed the car turns over a few times to start if the cars been sat in the sun all day , no problems from cold starts in the morning so not sure if this is related to the battery I drive 175 miles a week

Edited 20 April, 20251 yr by Holderness88

Is your 2014 vehicle fitted with Stop/Start?

OBD reader is probably unable to give a battery condition report. Given the way the battery management operates for recuperative charging, consider adding a suitable battery test instrument (and possibly charger) to tool box.

Yeah it's stop start this is my battery

33 minutes ago, Holderness88 said:

Thank you for replying, I'll have a check soon in the battery age and the diagnostics machine I have is a bi directional one that gives me the option to monitor battery health not sure if it's showing overall battery condition , also noticed the car turns over a few times to start if the cars been sat in the sun all day , no problems from cold starts in the morning so not sure if this is related to the battery I drive 175 miles a week

Warm start is definitely going to be less stressful on battery than cold, so something else is possibly the cause of slower warm start.

I did have a slight drip leak from the fuel return pipe that had to be tightened up at garage and stopped the leak

I also looked through service history and glow plugs haven't been changed in the last 4 years maybe that ?

1 minute ago, Holderness88 said:

Yeah it's stop start this is my battery

That may even be original battery, if so has done extremely well - is there a date code stamped on the neg. terminal?

Also the warm start is only after iv driven to work in the morning about 6 miles then parked up and left all day till I leave at home time around 4pm that's when I have issues starting the car

I didn't see any stamps when I took the photo I'll check soon, also the shock absorbers I changed was the original that came out of factory so wouldn't surprise me if the battery was too

By the way if the glow plugs need changing are they straight glow plugs or does one of them have a sensor on?

Edited 20 April, 20251 yr by Holderness88

I believe that at least one glow plug also incorporates a pressure sensor.