[abgpal]

Originally Posted by Sandy2345

So, is it just the steering rack or should I look closer on anything else? Can I expect a slightly better ride quality once the center bed and flywheel is replaced?

Has anybody else ever experienced a failed steering rack on their Octavia? Please shed some light on this as the noise and extreme harsh ride has been driving me crazy. And why are these harsh thuds and vibrations felt only from the driver seat and not from any other seats in the car?

Hi. After reading your post I was waiting to see if anyone with the same issue would respond. Haven't seen any yet.

I have been having a knocking/ rattling noise from my front suspension for some time now. It was attended at JMD Skoda in Mumbai first in 2018, where the front shot strut mounts/bushes/link-rods were replaced. The issue however remained. JMD could not solve it. I had to move to Hyderabad in Sept 2020 and I then took it to Mahavir Skoda for the issue, where the strut mounts/bushes/bearings and both front shock abs were replaced. The problem remained worsened progressively, and I then had the engine and gearbox mounts ( A and B ) replaced. This removed some of the noise but the main rattle continued. One rather interesting aspect of this noise issue is that if the car was not driven for a few days ( during my work trips), there is a significant reduction in the sound during the first ride. But as I ride through the day, the rattle returns to what it was. I have given this input to Skoda mechanics, but it doesn't give them any leads to the cause.

I am now in Bengaluru since June 2023 and the problem has become worse. Not having much faith in Skoda to resolve it, I took it to Carsmith here in Sarjapur. They diagnosed it as the steering rack 9 every other suspension system part was in good condition as per them) and had it "serviced" by an associate workshop. Two main bushes in the rack was replaced. As expected, there was some noise reduction as the car was immobile for around 12 days and the steering rack bush replacement seemed to have made some difference. However during the drive back home after I took delivery of the car from Carsmiths on 25th October, the problem returned quickly. Every undulation on the road was amplified into the cabin and the ride was horrendous. I informed Carsmith on reaching home.He has recommended the replacement of the steering rack assembly. I just received the quote and its a whopping Rs. 1,21, 073/- with an 8-day lead time!

I have to decide whether to go for it ( I don't see any other option) but the dilemma is whether after spending so much, will the issue be resolved? I don't seem to get 100% assurance from Carsmith.

Would the forum members be able to recommend any other reliable FNG in Bengaluru who is good with Skoda cars? Carsmith has offered an option to fit a used original steering rack at 58K. I will be discussing this with him soon and let you know.

Any inputs from any one on this vexing problem would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

[speedracer05]

Originally Posted by abgpal

Any inputs from any one on this vexing problem would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

I have found CarMed (formerly code6) to be very good. Maybe get a second opinion from them.

[Sandy2345]

Originally Posted by abgpal

Hi. The problem remained worsened progressively, and I then had the engine and gearbox mounts ( A and B ) replaced. This removed some of the noise but the main rattle continued. One rather interesting aspect of this noise issue is that if the car was not driven for a few days ( during my work trips), there is a significant reduction in the sound during the first ride. But as I ride through the day, the rattle returns to what it was.
They diagnosed it as the steering rack 9 every other suspension system part was in good condition as per them) and had it "serviced" by an associate workshop. Two main bushes in the rack was replaced. As expected, there was some noise reduction as the car was immobile for around 12 days and the steering rack bush replacement seemed to have made some difference. However during the drive back home after I took delivery of the car from Carsmiths on 25th October, the problem returned quickly. Every undulation on the road was amplified into the cabin and the ride was horrendous. I informed Carsmith on reaching home.He has recommended the replacement of the steering rack assembly. I just received the quote and its a whopping Rs. 1,21, 073/- with an 8-day lead time!

Hi there! I think we both are in the same boat.

I changed the engine beds too post which the noise and vibrations reduced significantly but not completely. The ride is still harsh at most of the potholes.

A couple of observations post the engine bed replacement:

1. Whenever I drove over a pothole, the whole axle in the front crashes with a loud thud and vibration, later settling down to zero vibrations as the road smoothens.

2. The above doesn't happen much when driven over undulations of the road. However, the noise is still obvious when driven over expansion joints on flyovers.

3. Surprisingly, all these could be felt in much more detail only from the driver seat. I couldn't experience all these drama from the co-driver seat.

Could you kindly let me know if you are facing the same only from the driver's seat and not from any other seats in the car? Since you mentioned that your steering rack has given up, could you confirm if you hear the thud noise when you wiggle the steering left to right while the car is in standstill?

And yes, I was quoted around 1.4L too for new steering rack replacement which is more than 20% of the price I paid for this car.

[abgpal]

Hi Sandy,
My car (an Octavia 3/1.8TSI AT/ 2014 Model/ nearly 92K kms ) appears to be in a more degraded condition than yours because the noise and knock/rattle is clearly felt from both forward seats. Since I got the car back from Carsmith, the issue has further deteriorated and there is now a feedback on the steering wheel, which wasn't there earlier.

To report further, I took the car to Carmed in Kannuru this morning( As advised by Speedracer05).

Their chief mechanic Mr. Babu test drove the car to check the issue. He has confirmed that it is definitely the steering rack. He offered me two options. He can have it serviced by an external workshop (again!) and assured me that it will resolve the problem but he cannot guarantee for how long (~ Rs. 12K). Or I could bite the bullet and go for the replacement. This was separately endorsed by one of their Partners who happened to be present there. And BTW, I am pretty impressed with Carmed's set up, facility and approach.

Considering everything I am inclined to give the repair option a try. I am planning to take it to Carmed on Monday. Three days is the downtime that they have asked for.

[anaghp]

Part 1 - Before
It's been four years since I created an Octavia-sized black hole in my bank account. Unfortunately, it saw nothing but my porch for the first two years due to Covid. But at the end of four years, it's now seen 55k km of tarmac. I had already planned on taking it to the spa at the four-year mark, and it seemed like the car Gods wanted me to have a good enough reason to do it.

Why did I want a four-year spa?
There were four scratches at the end of four years. Two on the rear bumper that was my own doing, one on the rear door and quarter panel when someone decided to check their Innova's build quality, and one on the front bumper left by some wellwisher when the car was parked somewhere.

Could I let this go? Of course. An average person wouldn't even think about getting these repainted as they were trivial. But here at team-bhp, I'd like to believe we are a little too peculiar about our cars. Or maybe it's just a handful of us. Who knows?

The plan
The folklore is that I'm a financially-blind moron who splurges when it comes to cars. It's true when you consider the fact that I pushed my already stretched budget of 15 lacs to a whopping 30 lacs to buy the Octavia. And that to buy a DQ200 German that gives a city average of <9 km to the litre. Was the 15 lacs worth the smile on my face still? You bet!

The 225/45/R17 ContiSportContact 5 tyres had done over 30k km and they had a good run. I was planning to get a set of PS4s when I reached Kochi after my Kochi - Madurai - Bangalore - Calicut - Kochi run.
To rewrite the folklore, I decided to halt the bodywork to the next credit card cycle and just change the tyres now. Who's the financially-blind moron now?

Unfortunately, this seemed blasphemous to the Car Gods.

What did the Car Gods do?
Behold. 80km left to Kochi, the Gods showed their wrath. I think it had to do with my decision to delay the body works clubbed with the cardinal sin of driving the Wolf Stage 2 remapped 1.8TSI too slow (at around 30kmph).

Somewhere in the Trissur town, the FL tyre fell in a pothole that blew the sidewall instantly and bent the outsides of the 17" OZ Racing alloys that I protected dearly from the slightest of curb rashes.


With this unexpected damage, I had no choice but to get the wheel fixed and painted. Two other wheels were also reported to have slight bends in my last wheel balancing 5k km ago. It was trivial to be fixed but was enough to get the car vibrate at high speeds.

Now that I have to repaint one wheel, I decided to go all in. Got 3 wheels fixed, and painted, and now that the car is at Code6, I decided to get the bodywork and a ceramic coating done.

Other work to be done
I had installed PPF on the hood to avoid rock chips on the highway. I am glad that I did not do a full-body PPF because I've realised that PPF is overrated(no offence to the ones who got it done). Why do I say this?

1. Someone/something decided to fiddle with it and tore a finger-sized hole. I had to live with it until now.
2. There were tons of scratches on the PPF beyond its self-healing properties. These could not be gotten rid of by polishing.
3. Getting the paint corrected when damaged is way cheaper than getting the PPF. For example, the PPF cost me around 15k when I got it done in February 2021 from The Detailing Mafia, Kochi. I think paint correcting the rock chips on the hood and polishing it would cost me no more than 3k. And I wouldn't have had to live with a tear and an unpolishable set of scratches and swirl marks.

The car was too dirty to see the scratches, so unfortunately, I don't have the 'before' photos.

Part 2 - During
The body shop at Code6 is pretty good. They have a skilled and dedicated set of folks doing the work. I had gotten my car and my friend's Virtus dechromed from there and repainted and ceramic coated a 7-year-old Polo to make it look better than new. They know their stuff. I wanted to call this out to rid your minds of any doubts regarding their workmanship and professionalism. Why does it matter? Because there was a surprise waiting for me.

As they heated the PPF and peeled it inch by inch, what I'm sure was done carefully, a huge piece of the paint just peeled off the body. It was heartbreaking to see. The fact that the hood was going to be paint-corrected anyway gave me some relief.



They were thorough in finding imperfections across the panels, puttied wherever it was needed, and the work was butter smooth.









While they removed the wheels, they also noted that the front brake pads were due for a change. I decided to get this changed from my trusted ASC, EVM Skoda in Kochi.

Part 3 - After
Pads and rotors changed, wheels and body painted, ceramic coated, and the car looked better than new. Except for the faded HSRP which was an eyesore (More about how I got it fixed here (High security registration plates (HSRP) in India)). I'm in awe of the car every time I look at it. Here are some pictures:

[abgpal]

Originally Posted by abgpal

Hi Sandy,
My car (an Octavia 3/1.8TSI AT/ 2014 Model/ nearly 92K kms ) appears to be in a more degraded condition than yours because the noise and knock/rattle is clearly felt from both forward seats. Since I got the car back from Carsmith, the issue has further deteriorated and there is now a feedback on the steering wheel, which wasn't there earlier.

To report further, I took the car to Carmed in Kannuru this morning( As advised by Speedracer05).

Their chief mechanic Mr. Babu test drove the car to check the issue. He has confirmed that it is definitely the steering rack. He offered me two options. He can have it serviced by an external workshop (again!) and assured me that it will resolve the problem but he cannot guarantee for how long (~ Rs. 12K). Or I could bite the bullet and go for the replacement. This was separately endorsed by one of their Partners who happened to be present there. And BTW, I am pretty impressed with Carmed's set up, facility and approach.

Considering everything I am inclined to give the repair option a try. I am planning to take it to Carmed on Monday. Three days is the downtime that they have asked for.

Hello Sandy 2345,
The steering rack has been repaired and reinstalled. I understand the bushes were replaced by a third party workshop. The test drive indicated the problem was resolved. Its been 3 days now and I can assure you all the sounds associated with the steering rack are gone and I am very relieved and satisfied. Total cost Rs 23K. Rgds

[RahulRV]

Hello Members,
Just an update with my car, off late I was feeling the steering & dash was vibrating a lot & was very noticeable. Later it was found that the mounts had gone bad. Yes, it had gone bad at just around 46000 KMS & at 9 years. So the Engine mount & transmission mounts were gonna be changed. Along with this I found it was the perfect time to get bilstein B6’s on my car as well. Always wanted the car to be a bit Less-comfy on highways but couldn’t do much as dad was primarily driving it all these times. So for the first time in 9 years i was on a look out for an FNG who can carryout with these works as all these years the car was maintained by Skoda ASC, Kudlu gate. After days of searching on forums & through recommendations from friends, I went ahead with Aeon Motorworks. Mr Anirudh handled the whole process smoothly & was in touch with me throughout the process.
The Bilstein B6 changes the car characteristics all together, sure your bottom will feel all the undulations & patches on the road, but the planted feel you get on highways is way better & the handling has improved a lot.
The parts that were changed:-
-Engine mount
-Transmission Mount
-Link rod & Tie rod
-Ball joint
-Bilstein B6.

[db01]

Hey Everyone,

I dropped off my 1.8 TSi for general service at Carmed in Bangalore. When scanned, the car shows error P164E00: Oil Pressure Regulation Valve - Electrical Error. There was no other sign of oil pressure issues before dropping the car off.

The folks at Carmed say that changing the oil pressure switches should solve the problem. I just wanted to know if anyone has faced this issue before and what the solution might be.

[Driver 33]

Originally Posted by RahulRV

Hello Members,
Just an update with my car, off late I was feeling the steering & dash was vibrating a lot & was very noticeable.
========
Attachment 2529619

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my Octavia suspension to Bilstein B6's.Mine is 2.0 TDI Style Plus AT pre L&K that gets torsion beam suspension. Currently I'm running on stock dampers which have been driven around 125k km. I'm planning on getting slightly stiffer dampers now cause highway runs have fairly increased and I want to prioritize driving dynamics. May I know from where you've sourced B6's? And I want you to compare it with stock dampers in aspects of stiffness, comfort for rear seat passengers on highway runs, handling (in terms of how stable is the car in deep corners).

[speedracer05]

Originally Posted by Driver 33

I'm planning on getting slightly stiffer dampers now cause highway runs have fairly increased and I want to prioritize driving dynamics

Consider B4 as an alternative, they are ~30% stiffer than stock shocks. They would be cheaper than B6 and may offer a better balance on Indian roads.
Online forums might mention B4 as a OEM spec replacement in international markets, but in India its an upgrade to the softer shocks sold here.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by Driver 33

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my Octavia suspension to Bilstein B6's.Mine is 2.0 TDI Style Plus AT pre L&K that gets torsion beam suspension. Currently I'm running on stock dampers which have been driven around 125k km. I'm planning on getting slightly stiffer dampers now cause highway runs have fairly increased and I want to prioritize driving dynamics. May I know from where you've sourced B6's? And I want you to compare it with stock dampers in aspects of stiffness, comfort for rear seat passengers on highway runs, handling (in terms of how stable is the car in deep corners).

It’s stiffer than the stock suspension and very busy under the speed of 50 to 60. But once the speed builds up the car stays flat, irrespective of the speed you are doing. I found it more comfortable for rear passengers too at highway speeds. Handling and high speed stability is at another level. B6 is the best investment you can do for your Octavia. My TDI is running on B6 for close to 3 years.

[treadmark]

Originally Posted by Driver 33

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my Octavia suspension to Bilstein B6's.Mine is 2.0 TDI Style Plus AT pre L&K that gets torsion beam suspension. Currently I'm running on stock dampers which have been driven around 125k km. I'm planning on getting slightly stiffer dampers now cause highway runs have fairly increased and I want to prioritize driving dynamics. May I know from where you've sourced B6's? And I want you to compare it with stock dampers in aspects of stiffness, comfort for rear seat passengers on highway runs, handling (in terms of how stable is the car in deep corners).

If you are looking for a CoilOver

https://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy...ia-Jetta.html/

[shishir333]

Originally Posted by ppathak3383

there is significant vibrations coming from the engine that i feel in my seat at idling

I feel the same vibrations when idle. The vibrations are not constant but come and go in a span of few seconds... I asked the service center guys to look and they always say either of the two things...
1. they dont feel any vibration
2. this is normal

Did you find a solution for this one or at least whats causing this?

Mine is a 2016 Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSI (70,000 kms)

[ppathak3383]

Originally Posted by shishir333

I asked the service center guys to look and they always say either of the two things...
1. they dont feel any vibration
2. this is normal

Same here, they said it is normal. Also tried to show me other cars with similar vibrations in the service center. But i am not convinced so i have kept the issue open and under observation.

[db01]

Hi all!

If anyone is looking to buy a clean, well-maintained 1.8 TSI. We have just listed our car for sale.

Link: https://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy.../Octavia.html/