Hello all

We live in italy and wife has a company octavia 4*4. first thing to say is that it COULD possibly be the ultimate car to buy for using in hilly and sometimes snowy area where we live, but ours is having some problems and skoda Italy are bloody useless.

just glad it's not our money that bought it.

6 months old with 45000 kms ( approx 28000 miles ). this last month has broken down about 6 times, each time dashboard saying " stop immediately, oil pressure" then other warnings and flashing lights. Be back to skoda 6 times and they say not much wrong and try again. Problem here is , remember only 6 months old and 5 year extended warranty bought also, when you break down you get a lift to nearest skoda garage and a hire car for max of three days, then you have to pay out of your own pocket for hire car !!!!. the hire car is not from skoda, you have to get a taxi to the nearest hire car place !!!!!.

Any parts replaced you have to pay for !!!!!!!

So far wife's company has paid god knows how much in hire charges and wasted time collecting her car back ( ohh no, skoda does not deliver car when fixed, you have to get taxi or lift to collect it ).

Sorry for that , just a little rant in english as I can't say all that in Italian yet.

Now to the faults and anyone else had these types of problems as I feel I'm going to have to help the garages look in the right area as they have been hopeless so far.

Every time the problem happens on the motorway at approx 85 -90 mph, cruise control on or off. first oil pressure light warning to stop immediately. always stop and leave for a while then check oil levels etc, no probs. car will not start and then does. last few times we have orange engine shape light up ( exhaust probs ) can then limp home at 50 mph.

Garage every time says can't find problem, engine "feels" and sounds fine to me when running so is obviously electrical prob. Anyone any ideas.

Few months previously to these breakdowns one night the car opened all it's windows and then a few days later overnight the car was filled with condensation and air bag warning lights and oil pressure warnings the next morning. Remember that here we've got the opposite prob to Uk, no water and too much heat. Car went to garage but they found nothing wrong !!!

any help appreciated as it will be a shame to give up on Skoda cars just because these Italian mechanics are so bloodly usesless.

thanks

Steve

On the Sharon/Galaxy/Alhambra a little trick it liked to pull was to leak water into the footwell's of the car until it shorted out the ECU under the seats and then unlock the doors and wind all the windows down just to ensure the interior got totally soaked! Unsure where the ECU is on the Octavia but it might be worth checking to see if your carpets are damp as the Octy's are known to leak thro the door seals too and this could be a route to the problem.

ECU is the engine controller, it's located in the engine bay. Comfort electronics controller can be placed in the interior of the car, but maybe it's a water leakage in one of the fuse boxes. One located in the engine bay, next to the battery box.

The other is on the left side of the dashboard, when you open the left front door, then it's cover can be removed.

Check the fuses, look for white/green dirt on them or on the wire contacts.