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My wife has at last recieved notification that Skoda is now ready to carry out the NOx emisions modifications on her 1.6 diesel Octavia. Recent bad press and reading through various forums have made both of us very reluctant to allow these modifications to be carried out.

Many owners are reporting problems like increased fuel consumption, the engine rattling like a bag of nails below 2000rpm, loss of power, engine running on limp mode, engine cutting out, sooting up of the DPF filter which is also sometimes blocked with ash, EGR valves failing, etc.etc.

I wondered if anyone here has experience of having this fix done, and also are there any legal implications if she does not have it done?

The car is no longer under warranty

Nigel.

OH has refused to let them near her Audi - for similar reasons you cite above. She has commented a couple of times to wonder whether the dealer has done it deviously when she feels the car isn't pulling as it should, but I can't detect any difference (although I only drive it infrequently).

The dealer has told us on at least two occasions that they have no 'power' to enforce any customer to accept the mod, unlike a safety recall.

A lot will be a matter of opinion.
I am an enthusiast ex aircraft engineer [60's/70's]but not Automotive now just very interested but only a bystander.

The media and all my magazines [Autocar/Auto Express Evo WHICH etc] are full of it

Some huge articles too. So far the consensus has been:-

If it was just the defeat device no change.
To 'Modify' it to meet its spec or current spec is almost trial and error as VW could not get the Euro 5 and 6 engines to meet the spec and comply in the first place.
Some engines require an immense amount of work [Manifolds/turbos/injectors/ecu.]
Owners are complaining of so many issues [reliability poor performance] all to be emissions compliant.
VW said it has been 90% successful very few issues [ Knowing me it would be mine!!]

If not done The threat is:- what does the insurance company say/how will it affect the resale/will it appear that is has not been done.
And if you worry it is polluting more than it should or its design and spec says. [You could have had it chipped as others have.]

So your choice if your happy and it is running well. I would leave it.

If it was me that is what I would do.

However you probably know all this SO
I would sign up to or log onto some forums on VW's or your model etc and see what all the owners say. You would just find someone like you with real experience and PM them.
Bound to be a lot.

Also try a search on some Magazines like What car and Auto express to read informed information.
Lastly try a google search. That will decide you from what I can see.

I've had the 'final' notification for my Ibiza. At 100,000+ miles it's a bit late to worry about emissions!

I have nothing to gain, only potential grief if it goes wrong. And having just spent almost £1k on the exhaust gas valve when that failed, I'm not risking a failure again.

If you have the mod done presumably the dealer will warrant the work - does it then cover more general engine issues?

If you don't have it done, I can't see there would be any insurance or legal issues...but could it fail it's next MOT emissions test?

Thanks for the replies which pretty much echo my sentiments.

With regards to the MOT, I usually run the car on the rev limiter on an open stretch of road for a couple of miles to blow out any soot etc. pre MOT. I also tend not to drive in the high gears that are recommended for eco driving, following advice from a dealer when test driving a Mazda 6 diesel. He said that adheing to the change up indicator was in his oppinion the cause of most DPF failure due to it not getting hot enough.

Nigel.

Martin - No issues with last two MOT's for OH's Audi, hence one of the reasons her telling the dealership to "stuff it" with the mod

We're in the same boat here with our Yeti. Have a 1.6 Yeti Greenline. Got the letter 2 days ago saying dealerships are ready to carry out the work on our car, so we should just book the work to be done, but I've told my parents to ignore it as I've seen far too many posts over on Briskoda moaning about the fixes. Also had someone on there say they had the fix done, then the car performed atrociously so they gave someone with a laptop some money to retune it back to an almost OEM map, and the car is back to pre-fix behaviour.

As far as we're aware, there are no legal consequences if you tell the dealerships to get stuffed regarding the fix. The car is waaaaaay out of its warranty now so we're using our local independent garage so no chance of Skoda sneaking in a fix by getting mum to sign paperwork without thoroughly reading it.

Also the MOT doesn't test for CO2 or NOx emissions on a diesel, it only tests for smoke. Hence why it's perfectly okay to get a car then retune it so that it produces considerably higher levels of CO2 or NOx and not have any issues with MOTs flagging them as the MOT testing doesn't look for those.

In fact I think the only reason the MOT tests emissions is because they are only interested in ensuring that a car doesn't produce a massive cloud of smoke which would impair the vision of following drivers and thus reduce safety on the roads.

martine wrote:If you have the mod done presumably the dealer will warrant the work - does it then cover more general engine issues?

If you don't have it done, I can't see there would be any insurance or legal issues...but could it fail it's next MOT emissions test?

No as the MOT does not test for these particular things.

Horse wrote:I've had the 'final' notification for my Ibiza. At 100,000+ miles it's a bit late to worry about emissions!

I have nothing to gain, only potential grief if it goes wrong. And having just spent almost £1k on the exhaust gas valve when that failed, I'm not risking a failure again.

Do you mean the EGR valve?