Team-BHP - Beauty of the Beast Skoda Octavia RS

Fitted a replacement K&N sometime back.

The drivability of the car improved though I will not say that there is a power increase.

Today I fitted Bosch super4 plugs, Removed cover and you had had to remove yet another vacuum system to get at the number 4 plug.

Carefully lifted the coil packs and somewhere 6 ft below are the plugs. I got them out okay but fitting them in was crazy as the spanner bit would not come out so had to remove plug. Finally found a way by removing the rubber bit in the box spanner when refitting, whew!

Fired he up and engine revved to 1500 rpm. Took it for a short drive, by then the ECU had adapted. Car's smoothness is transformed, can't wait for an empty road. Today is saturday and Bangalore is at it's worst.

Watch this space!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajmat (Post 891844)

Fired he up and engine revved to 1500 rpm. Took it for a short drive, by then the ECU had adapted. Car's smoothness is transformed, can't wait for an empty road. Today is saturday and Bangalore is at it's worst.

Watch this space!

WOW!! Ajit has started tuning his AK47. I am sure you might have already planned what extra you need under hood. I have subscribed this thread, waiting to see what more plans you have for your AK47.

I was noticing the change in signature “I love the whoosh, but I miss the bellowing” so any plans of getting after market Headers and exhaust for your AK 47:)

Sunday - quick drive from UB City - find weather humid and AC not able to cope, hell it is not working

Monday, disgusted with the A/c and mentally finding a time slot to give car in, at Marathahalli, I hear and see the coolant warning flash, I see a little steam and move to the side. Morning rush and everyone curses. Proper bonnet open and wonder what to do , checking fan fuses means opening the drivers door. Not a good idea.

Car - hisses and spew coolant and cools down after 10 min. I give it a go and it starts, I get onto the ORR and stop. fuses are okay. I drive on and reach office. Car is fine. Check manual which indicates that the a/c shuts down if overheating detected. Run VAG-COM - no fault code.

Spend my day in depression and decide to leave early to avoid peak traffic. I drive like a priest, so much so, I actually get 12km/ltr. Hit the jam on Richmond Road and car is about to boil and I park in time.

The fans ain't working! Call Skoda on their "help line" and say my car is overheating and fan is not working.

"Saar, your water pump is gone, three day job and parts need to be ordered, around Rs 12000"

Heartattack, I call the old man for a shot of verbal Single Malt. He says Mumbai car, not used much so connections corroded. Also call Mad Monkey who is also not convinced.

Trawl of Briskoda points to water pump. Later realise, earlier Vrs had palstic impellers that broke.

Tuesday - drive car to my airport road office, early morning, no problem. Complete two hours of work and set off to the dealer. Horror of horrors - airport road is jammed due to some BDA evictions. RReach Marathahalli and hisssssssss, I sssssstop and ssssswitch off. Traffic is thick so this holds off stopping the traffic flow. I then manage to turn left at the junction and stop. The boiling is about to begin. Prop bonnet up and wait for five minutes.

Start her up and get on the highway. She is back to normal so "bully to the water pump issue". Reach KRpuram which is miraculously clear and enter through the town and reach the dealer before the boiling starts.

Service advisors are being pulled left right and centre. After 30 min, one advisor gets assigned, I tell him the fans are not working and ac is out. Checks car in and I order a Meru back

4.30 - sir, car is ready, wiring fault. We topped your A/c. Bottom line, the fault was small so we needed to make money so we toped up the a/c

Fetched car this morning. They cleaned it up and gave me a Rs 955 bill. No mention of the overheating/ fan defect for A/c top up. They drove the car for 20km so it obviously will not overheat.

Fans were working on start up from cold

Am relieved! My faith in vinayak motors as a dealer and not a stealer is re-affirmed. It helps to be specific on the problem.

BTW - auto fare from KR Puram to Airport Road = Rs 150, Meru Cab costed Rs 180, call it Rs 200
I pay more for an honest ride

Some updates, it happened again the following weekend, go with old man and leave car. We go and pay condolences to a friend of ours who lost their child. Return - nothing wrong saar.

I take it home and douse it with WD 40. Two days later, go to E City, rain is heavy and the trucks are throwing it up. Get to Koramangala and discover, a/c shut down and ...oh not again. Stop in Koramangala before the temperature rises as I had an appointment. Get the car home stopping before the needle goes beyond 90. Look at all connections. This time, based on another Briskoda trawl, i look at the fuse box above the battery and find a fuse burnt and fuse box slightly melted. NC's problem also. Change the fuse and it works. What is happening, is that moisture is forming around the battery leading to electrical tracking, when it gets bad, it shorts.

I spray WD40 all over. Last Thurs went to Ranga shankara. On my return, I drive through 250 mteres of 7 inch deep water. I am home dry. Phew

After dropping my mother back home after an aborted train journey, return home to find the boot jammed. Next day, tap around the lock, no luck. Tap into Briskoda to find an emergency lever below the lock jamb covered by a lid. Only way to get there, was to fold the rear seats, crawl past the sub Push up the luggage shelf, lever it out. Prise open the access lid, and click the orange lever and headbutt the hatch open. They think of every contingency!

Tried WD40 around the locks, a lot of light tapping but came to naught. Went in for a strong coffee and a look see in the Haynes. Came out and removed the the tailgate panel. It comes out and put back like a bit piece of lego. Studied the lock mechanism, tapped the motor - nothing. Removed the motor, tapped it, doused it in WD40 - nothing. Remaining mechanisms work. Decided either having the hatch being always open as I had a golf game for the weekend. Also since it was to work and back, car is parked next to security both places and I make a pretence of locking the boot. Now permanently locked

Rang the dealer, who had no idea about the part, gave him the number and he promised to revert. I somehow did not expect too much. Rang a UK dealer who quoted 37 pounds + shipping.

Today rang my dealer who said, "Part is despatched saar!"

"How much? "

"Rs 6000"

"Gulp, I said, I wanted only the motor"

"Sorry sir, we can only give you a whole subassembly"

Hmmmm, went back to the car. Removed panel, two screws and the motor was out. Took it in.

Beauty of the Beast Skoda Octavia RS - 57000 km review-dsc00011.jpg

It looked as if it could be opened. It was a snapfit lug job. I had nothing to lose. I used a long nose plier to push the lugs from the retainer. Hey presto! it came apart cleanly. The motor is moulded in but the geared rack came out. I merely looked at it, put it in and twirled the motor which looked clean. Everything worked.

Beauty of the Beast Skoda Octavia RS - 57000 km review-dsc00012.jpg

Snapped it together. Went back to the car and connected and "phatak". the motor turned and the rack moved. It was dark so am yet to fit it up. Till morning, and tomorrow is a holiday!