My new Octavia - some questions

albob

Hi,
I have my Octavia (Ambient) for about a week now and have the following questions:
1) The air conditioning switches itself on automatically but I can't figure out under what conditions. I didn't expect it to come on automatically at all i.e. I assumed I would get the normal blower and temp functions until I turned AC on myself. I can't figure out under what conditions it does turn itself on which suggests to me its a fault.
2) I've never driven a diesel before so perhaps this is normal - I find that in 2nd (and 3rd to a lesser extent) the car can accelerate a little on its own. For example in second it can accelerate from 14km to 19km. It make driving in slow moving traffic annoying as I sometimes have to keep riding the brake to keep the car from accelerating. Again this sounds dodgy to me but as I've never driven a diesel I was wondering if this occurs if the turbo has been triggered or something?

Love the car though!

Thanks

stealthyspeeder

hazard a guess (if its like the mazda 3) air conditioning willl turn on automatically when you turn your front windscreen demister on.

Fiesta

Does your air con turn on automatically when you set the air direction to the windscreen?

colm_mcm

the a/c might come on when you turn the heater towards the windscreen.

colm_mcm

we can't all be wrong, surely!

stealthyspeeder

Great minds eh!

kinvara64

Have a golf 1.9 tdi ,and pulls along by itself in 1st , 2nd , and 3rd . Normal for most diesels , best of luck with the car!! .....

albob

Hmmm....does look like a concensus alright
I normally have it on the windscreen so maybe thats it so. Thanks guys.

Any thoughts on the acceleration?

crosstownk

albob wrote: »

Hi,
I have my Octavia (Ambient) for about a week now and have the following questions:
1) The air conditioning switches itself on automatically but I can't figure out under what conditions. I didn't expect it to come on automatically at all i.e. I assumed I would get the normal blower and temp functions until I turned AC on myself. I can't figure out under what conditions it does turn itself on which suggests to me its a fault.

It will do it's own thing once the 'Auto' function is selected. If you make a change (air direction, fan speed) it will revert to manual control. Auto will work and maintain the set temperature.

albob wrote: »

2) I've never driven a diesel before so perhaps this is normal - I find that in 2nd (and 3rd to a lesser extent) the car can accelerate a little on its own. For example in second it can accelerate from 14km to 19km. It make driving in slow moving traffic annoying as I sometimes have to keep riding the brake to keep the car from accelerating. Again this sounds dodgy to me but as I've never driven a diesel I was wondering if this occurs if the turbo has been triggered or something?

You may be changing gear a little early. The management system will do it's best to avoid an engine stall so if you change up to soon you may get a brief surge.

albob

Thanks everyone. Driving the diesel will take getting used to, especially the pulling itself along. Love the car those. Big change from what I had (99 Corolla). I just hope its as reliable as that was. MPG is great though. On my 40 mile commute to work I get ~64mpg if I am reasonable on the accelerator. If I follow the car's gear change advice I get ~69mpg but that does involve changing gear very early (5th at 60kph!).

GTE

albob wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Driving the diesel will take getting used to, especially the pulling itself along. Love the car those. Big change from what I had (99 Corolla). I just hope its as reliable as that was. MPG is great though. On my 40 mile commute to work I get ~64mpg if I am reasonable on the accelerator. If I follow the car's gear change advice I get ~69mpg but that does involve changing gear very early (5th at 60kph!).

You will get used to the gear changes. Id say all diesel engines can just pull themselves along. I can go in 5th at a fair bit below 50kph and it pulls itself along, I rarely need to though

EDIT:
You were wondering what the cause of the acceleration is.
One part would be the gear ratios. The engine may not like being in 2nd gear at 14kph. Its below its normal idle speed so it naturally brings the speed up. It does this so easily because of the torque that a diesel engine makes.

Your corolla may have had an engine idle speed and 2nd gear ratio that preferred being at about 14kph.

Thats different from car to car, not just because of petrol vs diesel. Id say you could find another diesel with different gearing that can stay at a slower speed.
For me though, with my diesel I do find myself going a tad too fast in 2nd for the slower traffic, but 1st is grand. Used to it by now.

What does the handbook say about the Air Con?

alexmcred

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Great minds eh!

And fools seldom differ

245

albob wrote: »

Any thoughts on the acceleration?

It can depend in the engine revs and whether or not you've got the turbo spinning. My Subaru (and previous diesels) will sometimes crawl along at idle speed and sometimes I'll have to hold it back - all depends on what the engine was doing beforehand.

GTE

245 wrote: »

It can depend in the engine revs and whether or not you've got the turbo spinning. My Subaru (and previous diesels) will sometimes crawl along at idle speed and sometimes I'll have to hold it back - all depends on what the engine was doing beforehand.

How long does it last say, if you were going at 70 then down to crawling speeds? When does it settle down for you?
I never noticed that myself. I would have thought the turbo spin down speed is quite quick.

albob

bbk wrote: »

What does the handbook say about the Air Con?

It refers to it as semi-automatic. It does not mention anything about coming on automatically when it is set to the front windscreen....but I suppose they wouldn't use the term automatic for nothing I assume. Plus seeing that a number of people here see the same thing its probably that.. I will test it in the morning.
Cheers.

Dark-Mavis

As said already AC comes on when you hit the front windscreen demister button to clear it quicker.

The accelerating on its own is because you are in too high a gear for the speed you are doing. The car speeds up to stop the engine conking out!

PS: if it's like most VAG cars if you hit the button with arrow facing upwards it directs air to the screen. Keep the windscreen button for when it fogs up.

1948Wolseley

The A/C system usually has two modes, auto and inhibit. These modes are controlled by a button marked either 'A/C' or 'Econ'. These buttons work in opposite ways, ie. if the light on the 'A/C' button is on, then the system is in Auto mode, but if the light on the 'Econ' button is on, the A/C is inhibited. This button, whichever way it's marked, should work independantly of the rest of the climate control system. The A/C might switch itself to auto when you turn on the demister, but you can inhibit it by pressing the 'A/C' (/'Econ') button.

Phew, that was a little more long winded than planned!

Crazy Taxi

albob wrote: »

It refers to it as semi-automatic. It does not mention anything about coming on automatically when it is set to the front windscreen....but I suppose they wouldn't use the term automatic for nothing I assume. Plus seeing that a number of people here see the same thing its probably that.. I will test it in the morning.
Cheers.

Welcome to the Skoda cult club. Best of luck with the car,
Anytime you change heater settings to demist windscreen it'll automatically switch on air con to dry the air and speed up demisting, if you press the "econ" button after you press windscreen symbol it'll still demist without running A/C all the time.

albob

I only have an A/C button and not demister button. From what I can make out this morning the A/C comes on automatically if I have the heater setting set to the windscreen exactly and turn on the blower. If I have it set slightly off the windscreen then the A/C does not come on. Now that I understand how it works I can work with it. Happy days.

weebelly

On the subject of Octavia's - anyone recommend a minimum oil change cycle (e.g., 20,000km or once a year regardless of mileage?). And what's the best oil for a Ambient 1.9 diesel?

2 Espressi

Our Caddy van is every 16,000km AFAIK.
From Honestjohn.co.uk
You must use oil to VAG spec. 505.01 for fixed interval servicing or 507.00 for variable. I use 507.00 oil at fixed 10k mile intervals as it's fully synthetic. You need a big 14 sided socket for the oil filter plastic cap.