Thanks I'll mention it to the dealers when I take it in on Wednesday. It's driving me mad! Is the track day at Bruntingthorpe open to everyone? I was thinking of coming over with my partner and son.

Thanks I'll mention it to the dealers when I take it in on Wednesday. It's driving me mad! Is the track day at Bruntingthorpe open to everyone? I was thinking of coming over with my partner and son.

Yes, open to spectate for free by anyone who's interested. If you'd like to go on track you can find all the details here: http://www.briskoda.net/pages/events.php

If it's driving you mad why not check it out now, you don't have to be a mechanic to fix it, honest! They are designed to be removable by the owner, mine weren't properly secured, took about 5 seconds to fix it!

Dave.

Mine is going back in to the dealer later this month for the ridiculous amount of creaking when I get in & out of the car. Definitely suspension rather than seats but does make the car sound like a crock of s*** whenever anyone gets in and out.

Solved the creak in mine, I binned the original suspension. the new stuff being much harder means it hardly moves.

Had a graoning over speed humps, almost thumping noise on fast rough B roads on my Octy vRS front left., started at 6k and was getting worse, I was getting worried . After the sound advise (sorry) on this, thread jacked up front left , pry-bar proved little. Little spray of rubber lubricant on anti- roll bar and rear wishbone bush - peace and tranquility was restored instantly. Lasted 500 miles now, will get them looked at at 10k service.

Mark

Hi there,

Forgive me if I am circumventing any etiquette but I am a newbie and have not used forums before.

I recently purchased an Octavia VRS on a Y plate 2001.

It was fine for a few months and then a squeek started to emminate from the nearside front, most evident when travelling over speed humps at slow speeds.

It has been getting steadily worse over the past month and has now developed into a vagueness to the steering and a very unnerving loss of balance when on the limit.

It has been to two different dealerships and finally someone has admitted that this problem has appeared before on a few of the older cars.

The dealer has indicated that it is more than likely the link arm bushes or the anti roll bar bushes or a combination of the two.

Quite annoyingly the warranty expired on 15th June and the dealer wanted around

Welcome to Briskoda, retr0nut, and good to hear that Skoda are fixing your car for you free of charge.

My Y Plate Octy vRS still squeaks and groans over speed ramps and is really p***ing me off!

Also it now feels as if the front end is goin to collapse. When goin overundulating ground the front end feels very unsure and the whole car rocks about as if there is plastacine in place of the bushes.

It already has had the ARB bushes replaced under warranty but that only solved the squeaking for a few days.

The warranty runs out in a few weeks so i'm goin to ask the dealer to get there finger out and replace the ARB.

Considering chopping in the Octy for an RX7 but the running costs hav put me off for the mo. But i will buy one someday!!!

Kenny

kennyhkw,

I really do sympathise with your feelings as my confidence is starting to wane a bit.

I have only been living with this problem for 3 - 4 weeks but it did cause major concern the other day when I was trying desperately to keep with a 328i Sport Coupe at some insane speeds.

The car got extremely nervy on a sweeping right hander and I had to grip the wheel with determination to keep a good line and stop it breaking away.

However, I must admit that although this and the ever failing coil packs do seriously detract from the overall package, the car still has a knack of keeping me interested and putting a smile on my face at times.

In the lead up to this problem I found the car to be extremely stable on the tightest of bends with an uncanny knack of tucking in well with little evidence of running wide (a trait of my old Vectra 2.5V6 GSI).

In my opinion I would hassle the dealer to fix your problem and if they don't get their act together call the Customer Service Centre as they were extremely helpful.

I don't have any experience of the RX7 other than the fact that I reckon you could be putting you hands in your pocket quite frequently.

Oh and just in case you fancy an EVO 5, my friend took his in for a service before he sold it and was greeted with an estimate of nearly

Yep the RX7 is a car for people with DEEP pockets!

Engine needs rebuilt every 50K miles @ a cost of

Hi all,

The car is back from the SWAN Chichester dealership with new ARB bushes and even though I have only driven it about a mile to get back to work it instantly feels like its old self again.

There is a road full of speed humps on the lead up to work so I dropped down the drivers window and approached them at a normal slow speed listening for any noises and jarring from the front.

There was nothing at all. The creaking had gone and more importantly the front end absorbed the bump rather than jarring the whole front of the car.

This is a good sign so far but not sure how long it will last.

Cheers,

Retr0nut

Oh dear,

Only a week or so with new ARB bushes and there is a knocking coming from the near side front.

This is how the creaking started last time and it is at exactly the same corner.

What concerns me now is why the new ARB bushes appeared to have resolved the problem but only for a very short period of time ?

I am beginning to think that the dealer tightened up the suspension links around this area after fitting the bushes and that is what cured the problem for a while rather than the new ARB bushes themselves.

There are an awful lot of people with this problem and it seriously tarnishes the experience of owning what is essentially a good car if not for this recurring problem.

Surely someone out there can identify a commonality and route cause to this problem so that others can go to their dealer and tell them what the problem is likely to be rather than keep going back and forth to try different things ?

I would guess that early adopters had similar pain before the recall for coil packs become apparent but at least that resolves the problem even if it might reoccur at a later date.

The car is back with the dealer next Monday after another call to Swan Customer Service to inform them that the problem is back.

This call has become a pre requsite to all dealer visits now that the warranty has expired but I intend to pursue based upon the fact that the problem originally arose whilst it was still within the warranty period.

Also, my dealer has said that there might be a stone caught in the wishbone that is causing the problem but I cannot believe that this would be causing these symptoms as there is in general a rumbling/looseness feel to the near side front which still harks back to a level of play in either bushes, link arms or whatever.

If anyone out there has actually resolved this problem for good then please, please, please let everyone know how ???

If this does not get resolved soon then I am going to have to seriously assess the situation and potentially change to another brand.

More news next week.

what age cars is this affecting..mines september 02 with 18k miles on and has no squeeks or knocking that I can discern?

FTM,

Mine is a 2001 Y reg car. Not sure about the others hence my suggestion of a poll / survey on this site.

The latest on this issue is that the dealer has engaged the area technical bloke who said that the dealer should accompany me in the car to experience the fault first hand as they say there is nothing wrong.

They also suggested it was compared to another vRS (that as privately owned by the Manager at the dealership).

Well this morning I took out the dealership manager in my car and once the creaking started he agreed that it was not worth taking out his own car as it did not do it !!!

Great, I thought at least now we will get somewhere...............

How wrong I was when the dealer said that they were told by the technical bloke that they should not pursue investigation at their cost without prior authorisation from Skoda Customer Service.

I called my contact at Customer Service and he basically said that as the car was out of warranty and they changed the ARB bushes as a goodwill gesture only, I would now have to pay this dealership for all investigation work to resolve a problem which was first reported while the warranty was still in effect or find another dealer willing to take on free investigation, some hope !!!

I think this absolutely stinks and I made my position clear that if they had resolved the issue when it was first reported then there would be no reason to further investigate after the warranty expired.

I have now insisted to Customer Service that they at least fit a new ARB before dismissing the issue entirely but they are still contemplating.

If anyone can help me in any way shape or form to back up my case then I would be eternally grateful.

nb. I have already printed off some of the threads from this web site and passed to both Customer Service and the Dealer but they just dismiss the information as third party and insist that there is no known experiences of this issue within the dealer network......crap, as everyone here with the same problem is taking there vehicles back and forth with the same problem.

Obviously they don't share information !!!!!

Mines a 2001 Y reg too. A fellow briskodian is waiting to have a whole new ARB fitted by my dealer once they get the part (for some reason there is a shortage). If this solves his problem, my dealer is then going to change mine even though the car is now out of warranty.

Mannyo,

I wish I could say that my local (to work) dealer was prepared to go down this route.

Customer Service say I now have to book the car in at the dealers for a 5th time for investigative work to identify the route cause of the problem.

Should this turn out to be the ARB then they will pay for it, but if it is something else (ie. wear and tear item like a shock absorber) then I will not only have to pay for the new part but all of the hours labour that the Dealer spent trying to find the cause of the problem. That could be hundreds of pounds !!!

If they claim to not know what is causing the issue now (with exactly the same symptoms as before) then what hope is there that they will find it quickly going forward.

Customer Service suggested that if I have no confidence in the dealer then I should take it to another (bloody cheek).

Trouble is that I had no confidence in my local dealer (to home) and this is why I changed to this other one in the first place.

My biggest problem I have is that I am now being told things like, well it could be another similar issue which has developed and has no connection to the earlier problems.

Oh yeah, with the same symptoms from the same corner blah blah....

I have obtained the name and contact address for the Customer Services Manager but have to write to the central adress which means that I doubt it will even reach his desk before being intercepted by others and put in the receive standard response pile of some idiots inbox.

I am now not sure what to do ?????

I think they are just hoping I will go away........not likely !

Mine is a 2001 51 reg car ... its having it's ARB replaced on Monday. The mechanical guy said that the arb's had been redesigned to stop this from occuring (he also said it was a problem they had experienced more on Fabia's than octy's) something about the octy vRS being more similar to the Fabia in the ARB area than the normal Octy.

It has taken at least 4 or 5 attempts to get to this stage. I would say just keep trying.

Cheers,

Keoghan

I think I am right in saying this (but I am not a sollicitor, nor work in the legal trade), but a fault discovered on a product whilst in the manufacturers warranty period requires a manufacturer to rectify it, even though the period might expire whilst trying to rectify it. Speak to a citizen advice bureau.

I think I am right in saying this (but I am not a sollicitor, nor work in the legal trade), but a fault discovered on a product whilst in the manufacturers warranty period requires a manufacturer to rectify it, even though the period might expire whilst trying to rectify it. Speak to a citizen advice bureau.

Skoda seem a bit mixed up when it comes to this when my seat cover was replaced under warranty they had no interest in replacing it again even thought the same fault occured a couple of months later. Its a joke.

I think I am right in saying this (but I am not a sollicitor, nor work in the legal trade), but a fault discovered on a product whilst in the manufacturers warranty period requires a manufacturer to rectify it, even though the period might expire whilst trying to rectify it.

Exactly why mine is going to fix it, they were made aware of my problem a good few weeks ago now. My warranty run out last weekend.

Thanks to all for their comments.

Whilst my dealings with the Customer Service people started with a comfortable feeling that they were supporting me through this issue, it has since degenerated into a most infuriating battle.

I was getting nowhere fast with the Customer Service who will not authorise a new ARB without the Dealer saying that it is at fault and the Dealer refuses to believe that the ARB is the route cause and will not recommend the change to Customer Service (Catch 22).

I find it hard to believe that the Customer Service dept are aware that the ARB has been redesigned to fix this issue but are unwilling to authorise replacement unless the Dealer pinpoints the issue.

The car is now booked into the original dealer closer to home to see if they can find fault with the ARB (or maybe agree that it would be a wise next move) and get them to notify Customer Service so they can authorise.

It might be time for a letter to Watch Dog before long. See if that rattles their cages a bit !

Will have to wait until the 27th before I know what the next step is likely to be but I'll be buggered if I am going to agree to paying the other dealer to investigate the problem when it could take ages and at

Just a brief update.....

I have called a third party supplier of OE Skoda parts and they have contacted their supplier for more information on ARB and bushes.

According to them there are 3 (count 'em) different diameter ARB's for the Octavia, 19mm, 21mm and 22mm.

This leaves me even more confused as to what order these were produced and I am now trying to identify the latest diameter bar fitted to the newest models as this is likely to be the revision which cures all previous issues at a guess.

Is there anyone out there who has a nearly new model who could let me know what diameter ARB they have on the Octy vRS ???

I will check mine out over the weekend (2001 Y reg June 2001) and post the results here next week.

Cheers

Retr0nut

My Vrs is the same If I bounce the suspension it squakes on every corner. Even closing the dorrs the suspension squeaks I was saving it till the first service do you think i should take it sooner ????

Oh BTW mine is a 2003 car and has been squeaking from next to no miles