[maheshramaling]

In my Laura TDI MT done about 36k ams - I get this strange breaking noise. Not the usual grinding noise while breaking. Unable to figure out why and it comes only after few kilometres of driving.

I changed the break-pads when it was 32k (all 4) - so it is fairly new.

Any idea on what it could be? Could it related to clutch since it happens only when I am trying to park the car when the clutch is engaged to an extent or while I am moving my vehicle after a slow or stop go traffic.

PS: While listening to this audio clip - pls. keep the volume bit high, so that you could hear the distinct noise clearly.

[srgntpepper]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Spark plug in Cylinder 2 is your most likely culprit.

Update :

Ignition coil was faulty. Autobahn techs swapped the ignition coils on cylinders 1 and 2, and the VAG scan showed cylinder 1 misfiring.

SA said I should replace all four coils not just the faulty one. Couple of knowledgeable folks agreed. so asked him to go ahead and swap all out. Estimate was 2.5K per coil + taxes labour etc.

Actuall billing was done at approx 2.2 per piece plus labour so not too bad. Of course the coil shouldn't have failed in the first place.

Service experience wasn't too happy.

Since changing the plugs was recommended by bunch of people, asked him to do them as well. SA said plugs are fine, no need to replace. Asked him how much it'd cost, and he came back with a 400 per piece estimate. so I gave the go ahead.

Today at time of taking delivery, the plugs were billed at 1800 per piece. I said that is not what was quoted, looks way too high anyway and you should honour your earlier estimate. Talked to the manager, but no go. When I refused to pay the inflated amount, they removed the new ones, and put the old plugs back.

I compared the old plugs with the new ones. The gaps looked fine. There was some black deposits on the side on three of them. One of them was sooted out it more than the others, and it must have been the misfiring cylinder. Had asked them to mark both the coil and plug for the faulty cylinder, but they didn't, so were guessing. There was no sign of corrosion on any of the coils, and really no way I could tell which is any was faulty.

One thing I learnt was once the misfire is detected, the cylinder is shut down to ensure fuel doesn't continued to get injected. Made me think, cylinder deactivation feature should be something that ought to be rolled out in more cars.

total bill : approx 12K

coils : 2.2 X 4 = 8.8K
consumables = .25K ?

labour of about 2hours was charge. about 2K
Gross overestimate. To replace the new plugs with the old ones, they essentially re did the whole thing once again, in less than 15 mins. plus taxes

oh, and a pair of raybans in the car went missing. so an additional cost of 7.5K

Was very irritated while leaving the service centre, but it was good to have the engine running smoothly again and all troubles were forgotten when i was back in the drivers seat.

thanks behemoth for your input

[manson]

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

I changed the break-pads when it was 32k (all 4) - so it is fairly new.

Did the service centre also advise on swapping the brake discs? They had recommended switching the brake pads and the discs simultaneously, and when I asked why they insisted it was a regular Skoda practice.

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

PS: While listening to this audio clip - pls. keep the volume bit high, so that you could hear the distinct noise clearly.

Are referring to the sound at 0.09 - 0.12, 0.31 & 0.54-0.57 in your clip? I have been hearing the same sound on our 37K done, Auto transmission 2011 Laura Ambient too but could not point to where it was leading, my largest fear was the DSG gearbox but I am honestly a little relieved since you are facing the same issue in your manual Laura.

Originally Posted by purge

Hi All,

I own a Skoda Laura 1.9 TDI Automatic and the car is nearly 3.5 years old and has clocked 80,000 KMs and has been serviced and maintained properly at Giriraj Motors. I have already had the compressor changed twice earlier under warranty and the A/c works fine now.

The issue that is coming up is that there is a yellow light on the cluster and I have been facing problem with the Gearbox that it sometimes does not change the gear when I try to do it from D to R and on the cluster the gearbox light which shows the current Gear goes off, then I have to switch off the ignition and switch it on again and then I can change the gear, but when I do this there is a sound from under the car and the gear changes after good 10 seconds and not instantly

For this I got it diagnosed at Giriraj Motors. After the diagnostic results Giriraj Motors send me a quotation to get the Multi Clutch and ATF ( Automatic Transmission Fuel ) changed as it has never been changed till now and the car is already done 80K KMs and the quote is well above 1.5Lakhs + I'm not personally looking to invest that much of an amount on the car. I would like someone to help me out in finding a good reliable service center in NCR who has good experience with Skoda cars. I had heard from somebody that there is someone in Lajpat nagar but when I enquired I got to know that he has shifted his base somewhere else.

If anyone here has had any problem like this or know a good service center who could help me out I would be thankful.

Quoting my post from the DSG failure thread located here:http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...cm-bugs-7.html

Originally Posted by manson

Apologies for the late update, but the good news is that JMD seems to have fixed everything just fine this time around.

I got the car back about 10 days ago, but nothing at Skoda happens without a little drama. The aircon compressor was fixed in the three day period and notably JMD did not charge me for any consumables either. Alongside the compressor replacement they had apparently performed another reswipe to figure out the blinking light error.
JMD also fixed the 'broken' vent which works how it should now, point to note, initially I was informed it would need replacement, but they figured a fix around this when I pressed for warranty. Not putting Skoda down on this since almost every authorised service centre shares a similar practice.

Just when I was on my way to fetch the Laura from JMD, the assistant works manager called to say that the car was not starting and the blinking light problem has resurfaced. I was almost half way from my place so I decided to show up anyways and check on what was really wrong this time. In the meantime one of the technical guys had the blinking error figured out and diagnosed to moisture trapped in an electrical relay which he duly replaced.

He mentioned that there have been a handful of similar cases and this error shows up only in the mornings or after an engine bay wash which was correct in my case too.

For now, we have done a 600 kms round trip since I got the car back and everything seems to be sorted. JMD has done a reasonably good job on finally fixing all three of my grouses for now and I'm just hoping I will not have to visit them until its time for the second service.

[Santoshbhat]

My Laura TSI completed 3 years in May this year. I am still running on the original Varta battery. Is it a good idea to replace the battery as a preventive measure, just so that I am not left stranded with a dead battery or complications due to a weak battery?

I use the car quite quite often for out of city drives. I don't want to face a situation where I am stranded somewhere with a dead battery.

How long do these Varta batteries usually last?

Originally Posted by srgntpepper

Today at time of taking delivery, the plugs were billed at 1800 per piece. I said that is not what was quoted, looks way too high anyway and you should honour your earlier estimate. Talked to the manager, but no go. When I refused to pay the inflated amount, they removed the new ones, and put the old plugs back.

I replaced spark plugs on my Laura TSI recently. Costed me about ₹ 2,200 for a set of four plugs at Skoda ASC.

[srgntpepper]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

How long do these Varta batteries usually last

Mine lasted about 3 years. The end was pretty swift with no warning. It was good enough to start the engine in the morning, and by evening it had to be replaced. A diesel laura owning friend had exactly same experience. Having said that, I don't see any reason to preemptively replace it. Might require a dhakka start once, but that should be manageable.

Thanks for the plugs reference. Your price make sense. I will follow up with my service centre.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

How long do these Varta batteries usually last?

Varta battery in my friend's Laura lasted for about 3.5 years. I think 3 years is what even Skoda service centre claims as average life of these batteries. Some cases have gone past 4 years also without replacement.

[v_2rahjo]

So what is recommended - replace the battery by another Varta from the service centre? Or go ahead with another Amaron or Exide? I don't need a battery replacement as of now, but safer to ask will swapping it for Amaron or Exide lead to any warranty issues?

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by v_2rahjo

So what is recommended - replace the battery by another Varta from the service centre? Or go ahead with another Amaron or Exide? I don't need a battery replacement as of now, but safer to ask will swapping it for Amaron or Exide lead to any warranty issues?

I will be swapping it with an Amaron or Exide. Since these are made for Indian conditions, I think we are better off with these than the imported Varta ones. As long the ratings are the same, I don't think any car company can dictate what batteries we use. I still have about 9 months of extended warranty left. Probably the most crucial few months of the warranty.

[maheshramaling]

Originally Posted by manson

Did the service centre also advise on swapping the brake discs? They had recommended switching the brake pads and the discs simultaneously, and when I asked why they insisted it was a regular Skoda practice. [/url]

No - they did not recommend me to change the disc but said - if I run with the same pads for another 4k to 5k ams - disc might need to be change.

Originally Posted by manson

Are referring to the sound at 0.09 - 0.12, 0.31 & 0.54-0.57 in your clip? I have been hearing the same sound on our 37K done, Auto transmission 2011 Laura Ambient too but could not point to where it was leading, my largest fear was the DSG gearbox but I am honestly a little relieved since you are facing the same issue in your manual Laura.
[/url]

Yes - Whenever I have taken the car to ASC, I couldn't reproduce this noise. So - took this audio clip. But - they couldn't diagnose with this clip. Hence, thought of seeking feedback. Any one else can suggest the root cause of this noise?

[Inder7]

Steering Wobble - Laura

Hi guys, this may have been covered earlier though my search did not throw up anything. I own a Skoda Laura l&k, Oct 2010, 54000 kms. Around a couple of months back i started noticing a wobble in the steering when the car approached the 120 kph mark and then it would disappear after it reached 140! On drive to Agra on the JP expressway in June, i tried this atleast a dozen times and it appeared like clock work. I took the car to Skoda workshop - wheel balancing was the diagnosis and was promptly done. The problem has persisted. This was with the original alloys and wheels. Since the car had crossed the 50K mark i decided to change both the alloys and tyres and now have 17" wheels and Conti Contact sport 3 tyres (225/45/17). This combination has worked beautifully except the 120 kph wobble persists. Any one else have any experience like this, any advise/ suggestion is welcome.

[v_2rahjo]

If I were you I would also get the alignment checked. If the issue still does not get fixed then my guess would be - wheel bearings

Originally Posted by Inder7

Steering Wobble - Laura



Hi guys, this may have been covered earlier though my search did not throw up anything. I own a Skoda Laura l&k, Oct 2010, 54000 kms. Around a couple of months back i started noticing a wobble in the steering when the car approached the 120 kph mark and then it would disappear after it reached 140! On drive to Agra on the JP expressway in June, i tried this atleast a dozen times and it appeared like clock work. I took the car to Skoda workshop - wheel balancing was the diagnosis and was promptly done. The problem has persisted. This was with the original alloys and wheels. Since the car had crossed the 50K mark I decided to change both the alloys and tyres and now have 17" wheels and Conti Contact sport 3 tyres (225/45/17). This combination has worked beautifully except the 120 kph wobble persists. Any one else have any experience like this, any advise/ suggestion is welcome.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Try getting spigot rings for all 4 alloys if everything else has already been taken care of.

[v_2rahjo]

Does this sound come when you take a turn? Is it more pronounced when you turn the steering while reversing?

Originally Posted by maheshramaling

In my Laura TDI MT done about 36k ams - I get this strange breaking noise. Not the usual grinding noise while breaking. Unable to figure out why and it comes only after few kilometres of driving.



I changed the break-pads when it was 32k (all 4) - so it is fairly new.



Any idea on what it could be? Could it related to clutch since it happens only when I am trying to park the car when the clutch is engaged to an extent or while I am moving my vehicle after a slow or stop go traffic.



PS: While listening to this audio clip - pls. keep the volume bit high, so that you could hear the distinct noise clearly.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by Inder7

a wobble in the steering when the car approached the 120 kph mark and then it would disappear after it reached 140!

Have the dealer true your brake discs. Some Skoda's are known to have a steering wobble when the brake discs are not true. Note: This wobble is different from brake judder vibration (prevalent in Skoda Rapid's).

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Inder7

Steering Wobble - Laura

i started noticing a wobble in the steering when the car approached the 120 kph mark and then it would disappear after it reached 140! On drive to Agra on the JP expressway in June, i tried this atleast a dozen times and it appeared like clock work.

Quite a few possible suspects: Brake discs, suspension components. But as @VeyronSuperSprt suggested, start with the brake discs - they are easy to diagnose and fix. Only after they are ruled out, start checking the rest of the components. Though it has never happened with my Laura, it happens periodically with my Tucson and grinding or replacing brake discs fixes it. My SA who is really good at his job told me that scratched/warped discs can cause steering wobble even when no brakes are being applied, which was a learning for me.

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

Some Skoda's are known to have a steering wobble when the brake discs are not true. Note:

Why only Skodas? It happens with my Tucson as well and I got from SA that it's a pure mechanical thing that can happen in any vehicle which has front disc brakes.