I've just bought a totally standard '02 Octavia RS with 70k on the clock, and was looking for some advice from you more experienced owners!

Firstly I'd like to say that I love the car already! I looked at Audi S3's, Impreza turbo2000's, Leon Cupra's, an Octavia 1.8T L&C and even a Suzuki Swift Sport in my hunt for a new car. But then I came across the RS, and it just ticked all my boxes. Love it.

I'm taking the car down to my local specialist today (Alltecnique in Salisbury), so they can plug it into their computer. I've seen loads of threads about the orange lamp that comes on the dashboard signalling "Testing Engine Electronics", and came to the conclusion that it could be anything, considering the car drives fine. So I'll let you know what my fault turned out to be, hopefully nothing too serious.

I'm also going to get them to service it for me, in order to maintain the cars good service history. Whats this "long life service" stuff all about then that I've read about in the manual?

Also looking at two new front tyres, Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31 205/50ZR17 XL, for £150 a pair fitted etc. I've looked at the test info from Evo, and they seem pretty good, but I was after some info from any owners.

I'm looking to keep the car standard while I get used to it over the first few months, but after that I'm thinking Superchip, K&N filter element and Blueflame exhaust. Would you say that was a good basic tuning combo?

Thanks for reading this, and thanks for your help!

Andy.

Variable servicing uses special oils, but allows service intervals to be up to about double the book fixed intervals. I'd not bother unless you're happy to do all the inspection work from the oil services yourself.

As for the tuning, I think most of us would go for a CAI induction system (quite possibly a Carbonio) rather than a "long life" panel like a K&N. If you do go for the panel anyway, you should defin the airbox base (quite obvious what I mean with the filter out).

Welcome to the site Andy

It's always worth letting a specialist have a look over the car just for peace of mind

I brought mine and went to have a full service and camblet change the next day now I know everything is fine and I'll service it every 10K(Oil changes at 5K)

I hope you enjoy the car m8

'Oh dear, whats up with this' were the exact words of the skoda specialist as he plugged my car it into his computer! Don't worry, I managed to hold off the tears!

11 logged faults! 10 speradic, one saying mixture too lean. He poked about for a couple of minutes then a strange sucking sound appeared as he poked a hose under the intake side. So that was the lean mix error sorted. Also noticed that the cam cover breather hose was torn in two, which wont have helped. The other speradic sensor faults seemed to be mostly mixture related, such as oxygen sensors, so he recons someone had been fiddling about trying to find the problem previously and put the ignition on with the sensors disconnected. As the engine would not have been running if all those sensors were faulty. So with any luck, and a couple of new hoses, I'll be back on the road by Wednesday.

He's also doing me an oil service, and general check-up. He's using fully synthetic engine oil in all the turbo cars he has in. What are you guys using?

Thanks for all your useful advice and comments guys, great website.

He's also doing me an oil service, and general check-up. He's using fully synthetic engine oil in all the turbo cars he has in. What are you guys using?

I'm using Synta gold fully synthetic in mine

When you go back get them to vag-com the car again and see if any of the faults have come back!

Hi Bodge,

I've just had a pair of 205/50 17 Kumho KU31's fitted to the front of my Octavia Vrs. It seems to me that the plus and minus points of various tyre options have been fully covered, elsewhere in this forum. I would merely point you to the data that's printed on the sidewall of the Kumho's, which reads as follows:

Temperature: A

Treadwear: 320

Traction: AA

I have included some pictures so that you can see how they look in situ.

Regards,

CC

Welcome Andy.

KU31s - nice mid-range tyre.

Superchip - do a search before you buy. Reviews are mixed.

Many prefer Green to K&N but either does the job. Just watch for over-oiling of the filter.

Enjoy your car - sounds like you already have most of the initial niggles sorted.

Cheers for all the help guys, I've got the KU31's fitted now and have already given them a speed test, for safety reason's of course! Waited till 2am, then hit my local dual carriageway when it was empty...... hit 140 then got scared and backed off!! Felt like it had much more in it though! It was so stable and quiet, very impressed.

The garage fixed my ECU warning light problem, with the addition of two new hoses. I have to say though I was not impressed by ##!!##nique's job on my car. The engine cover was left with only one clip attached, the dip stick had not been fed onto its support tab correctly and just pushed to one side instead, they hadn't bothered cleaning around the oil filler neck and left it covered in grit and finally they haven't put any clips on the new breather hose! Where there were originally 3 clips. Garr. Oh yeah and they hadn't put the panel at the base of the screen back properly after changing the pollen filter. So yeah, pretty ****ed off about that one...... I'll be doing all my own maintenance from now on!

Waited till 2am, then hit my local "Private ;)" dual carriageway when it was empty...... hit 140 then got scared and backed off!!

I assume this is what you meant to say

haha oh yeah missed that bit out... thanks for correcting me!

I see you have the blue flame exhaust. How is it? Is it really loud, as I want to hear the exhaust, but not be deafened by it on my regular 4 hour journeys. I just like to be able to hear my engine, plus my current standard exhaust has a rattle, so its a good excuse to upgrade!

As an OEM system, this one looks great:

FITS OCTAVIA EXHAUST RS MILLTEK OVAL CAT BACK NEW - eBay Performance Tuning Parts, Car Tuning Styling, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 17-Oct-07 16:55:36 BST)

Cheers for all the help guys, I've got the KU31's fitted now and have already given them a speed test, for safety reason's of course! Waited till 2am, then hit my local dual carriageway when it was empty...... hit 140 then got scared and backed off!! Felt like it had much more in it though! It was so stable and quiet, very impressed.

The garage fixed my ECU warning light problem, with the addition of two new hoses. I have to say though I was not impressed by ##!!##nique's job on my car. The engine cover was left with only one clip attached, the dip stick had not been fed onto its support tab correctly and just pushed to one side instead, they hadn't bothered cleaning around the oil filler neck and left it covered in grit and finally they haven't put any clips on the new breather hose! Where there were originally 3 clips. Garr. Oh yeah and they hadn't put the panel at the base of the screen back properly after changing the pollen filter. So yeah, pretty ****ed off about that one...... I'll be doing all my own maintenance from now on!

Hi, Its Alltecnique Here,

Sad to hear the problems, We thought you were going to pop in and give us a chance to rectify these problems. The new modified hoses dont come with clips any more - We have done loads of these. We have learnt from your comments online and like to think we take pride in our work, Just check out our commets received from customers at 'goodgargescheme.com' and like i said, Wish we could of had the chance to make you happy again. Regards Darren - Alltecnique Ltd.

Another reason why I do servicing myself now!