More Skoda gremlins

[Bobupndown]

I was discouraged from pursuing a career as a mechanic by my secondary school, even though I did work experience in an Austin Rover garage (giving my age away a bit). Went on and did a national diploma at tech in mechanical and electrical engineering, had a job as a maintenance fitter for a few years before joing the ranks of HM Government and coming home with clean hands after a days work. (Quite a revelation ). Still enjoy a fair bit of DIY mechanic'ing but it gets harder as the years go by crawling about under cars, not sure I'd want to be doing it full time approaching 50.

 

[premmington]

I was discouraged from pursuing a career as a mechanic by my secondary school, even though I did work experience in an Austin Rover garage (giving my age away a bit). Went on and did a national diploma at tech in mechanical and electrical engineering, had a job as a maintenance fitter for a few years before joing the ranks of HM Government and coming home with clean hands after a days work. (Quite a revelation ). Still enjoy a fair bit of DIY mechanic'ing but it gets harder as the years go by crawling about under cars, not sure I'd want to be doing it full time approaching 50.

I am 56 and it is all I have ever done. 40yrs of other peoples problems - gets tiring.

 

[Nomad]

I wonder if a lot of people jacked it all in during covid and never came back?
Lack of encouragement toward manual work, engineering or trades from schools for the last two decades or more, pushing for university when the kids can't hack it and all this media/IT studies ******.
Anyway I'll have a look at Granny's car tomorrow morning and report back what I find.

Yes, and it's across all areas.

There are many different reasons but "financially inactive" is something I'd not heard of 10 years ago and now there's a large section of workers aged 50+ who have decided to cut back or do nothing until they get their pensions.
It's difficult to give more reasons without straying into taboo areas so I'll stop there

 

[m_c]

I wonder if a lot of people jacked it all in during covid and never came back?
Lack of encouragement toward manual work, engineering or trades from schools for the last two decades or more, pushing for university when the kids can't hack it and all this media/IT studies ******.
Anyway I'll have a look at Granny's car tomorrow morning and report back what I find.

I got made redundant last month, and I have zero desire left to fix vehicles

There are numerous issues.
Pay and hours are probably the biggest issues.
You can earn more as a plumber/heating engineer/electrician, and those jobs are generally simpler and less demanding.
Then you're often expected to work as many hours as possible
Lots of other industries have realised vehicle techs have a lot of transferrable skills, so you can get jobs in other industries that pay more for less effort.

Then there is the whole thing whereby if you didn't do academically well at school, a vehicle tech was a valid option.
As a result of this, there is a significant number of people in the motor trade who are out their depth. I have witnessed far too many techs bullshitting their way out of things, who have no idea how even basic systems work. At best they should be fitters/filter spinners, but due to lack of trained techs, have been promoted to fully fledged vehicle techs. I used to shudder when I seen certain people walking across the workshop with diagnostic kit, as I just knew it was the first step towards a game of Parts Darts.

Then combine that with bonus schemes.
I was the most skilled tech in the workshop, which meant I got a lot of the problem jobs, and I refused to shaft customers for unneeded work, so I often missed bonus targets, whereas those who fitted brakes to everything and screwed every vehicle for everything they possibly could, always hit target, so earned more than me.

And the knock on result of losing skilled techs, is apprentices have very few people to actually learn from.
The bonus chasers just seen having an apprentice as a way to boost their bonus, and management are only interested in how the figures look.
Before my workplace got shut, they employed a couple recently time served apprentices from dealerships.
One was lost once he had anything beyond basic servicing. His record was stripping the parking brakes on a Fiat Ducato 5 times, as it kept failing an mot on the park brake, and we eventually had to point out that the shoe levers were seized and not returning.
The other was a walking disaster zone. Claimed he was brilliant with computers. By brilliant, he meant he only ever done software updates, and never diagnosed anything. Every mot prep job he got, it was always a case of what it would fail on, not if it might fail. I don't think in his entire 6 months of employment with us, he ever had a vehicle pass an mot first time.

 

[dobbslc]

I agree with the above except this bit.

You can earn more as a plumber/heating engineer/electrician, and those jobs are generally simpler and less demanding.

 

[dobbslc]

Ok this mornings findings.
The same fault code comes back after clearing it.

The battery voltage after a few minutes switched off is 12.2v, that sounds a bit low to me.
Also there's a new message on the dash that the stop start system has a problem...
The waste gate actuator is twitching but not moving much, how far do these things normally move?
A short video.

Bang goes my weekend

 

[octo0072000]

stop /start will stop working if battery is not good showing correct voltage
fully charged is 12.7 if memory is working i would charge the battery first then try clearing codes again

 

[dobbslc]

I've just checked the battery again, 12.1v after standing for half and hour.
New battery ordered, fingers crossed...

 

[octo0072000]

I've just checked the battery again, 12.1v after standing for half and hour.
New battery ordered, fingers crossed...

@dobbslc​

special battery for stop start make sure you get the correct one
and sit down before you get a price for it

 

[dobbslc]

£88 with a trade card. Hope this does it...

 

[octo0072000]

View attachment 423033

£88 with a trade card. Hope this does it...

could be worse someone on here was quoted £750plus for a BMW battery
low voltage throws up all sorts of faults on modern cars

 

[dobbslc]

It looks like the new battery needs coding to the car!
FFS!
The very rude man at Halfords said it would be £27 to do it properly.

 

[Chippie]

Easy to code the battery….all that is needed is the battery manu and ah rating…( not even sure the manu makes a difference…)
I fitted a new one to sons Tiguan, all I changed was the ah figure using vcds..same battery manu Varta…so no need to change the batt code.
Check his settings against my 2019 Passat, same same…,

 

[dobbslc]

I don't have vcds. I don't think my Topdon reader has that function either.
The man in Halfords did say it would need coding
I'm only getting the EPC light up now so maybe this new battery has worked but needs coding

 

[bs2236]

It looks like the new battery needs coding to the car!
FFS!
The very rude man at Halfords said it would be £27 to do it properly.

I put a new one on my fabia, if the battery spec is the same I believe there is no coding required. I changed mine in a hurry and didn't have tha ability to code, car was fine for 2 years & everything worked without a drama.
Not saying this is the right way but it worked for me.

 

[octo0072000]

Iv'e got a copy of VCDS on a laptop and the hardware but im in south yorkshire bit far for you

 

[dobbslc]

Thanks for the offer @octo0072000 !
N
After a bit more prodding I think the actuator rod or wastegate is seized, theres no movement on that rod and the motor is jiggering about trying to move it. The mother in law has given me permission to try to get the circlips off it to see what's what and if I loose the clips she's taking it to a garage,
The start stop warning has now gone

 

[dobbslc]

Success!
I managed to get the servo motor circlip off the actuator rod without pinfecking it away into oblivion and the turbo end was seized solid! Luckily the wastegate is free moving.
I squirted some GT85 on and gave it some stick and it started moving, I eventually got it nice and free and put a smear of Wurth copper slip on in the hope the heat will melt it into the joint.
Reassembled, cleared the codes and went for a test drive.
It goes surprisingly well for a 3 cylinder 1000 engine
Poor thing hasn't had a decent thrashing since the mother in law bought it
No more codes appeared so I deem this a success.
Chinese takeaway is now on order

 

[dobbslc]

This is the end that seized.

 

[AVI_8]

It looks like the new battery needs coding to the car!
FFS!
The very rude man at Halfords said it would be £27 to do it properly.

Does your Topdon have service functions ? If so you should be able to code the battery