[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by Traveler

Recent owners of Kodiaq, have you tested the 12v Socket that is present in trunk. It on the driver side on the rear plastic side trim.

Today I tried using that socket for the first time and plugged in my tyre inflator, however it did not turn on.

The socket has no power. The same inflator when plugged in the 12v socket at the front works just fine.

I checked the fuse box as well and the fuse is okay which also explains that the front socket is working while the rear one isn't. Both use the same fuse as per the owners manual.

The car was on and Engine running when I tested this.

Can anyone check the rear 12v socket in their car and confirm if it works or if it's a dummy.

It works for me, I regularly use this for my tyre inflator. You may want to twist and wiggle the inflator plug to see if that is making proper contact.

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

It works for me, I regularly use this for my tyre inflator. You may want to twist and wiggle the inflator plug to see if that is making proper contact.

I tried again today and it worked as if though nothing had happened. Guess I might not have plugged it in properly.

Thanks

[phi]

A bear filled with 100 RON

I was on my monthly trip to Bangalore and it was time to return to Cochin. I had splurged on HP Power 100 petrol from Bangalore a couple of times before, when I was not expecting much traffic on the return journey. Both times, I felt that the engine was smoother, faster to respond, and had less turbo lag than when I was running at RON 98. Given that the recommended RON was 98, I was not sure if the perceived increase in performance at RON 100 was just my mind playing tricks.

It was a beautiful Friday morning, and traffic was not expected to be heavy on my drive back to Cochin. I thought I would try to add some objectivity to my perception, so I filled up Power 100 again, put the car in Sport mode, and drove in a semi-spirited manner, taking it as a challenge to be not as rough as to disturb my wife who was sitting alongside, working on her laptop. It was such a pleasure, the car was responding extremely quickly to every input, as I was struggling to plan ahead and adjust to avoid sharp speed changes, and it was gliding with almost imperceptible vibration across the great new highway via Rayakottai, that I was reminded of a brand new Gillette razor driving smoothly over my freshly lathered cheek.




It was awesome until Dharmapuri, when a couple of braking incidents (a scooter that veered on to my path, and a suicidal dog that wanted to bolt right across the highway) jolted my wife off her concentration. The joyride continued, and as much as I could, I was closely keeping track of turbo lag and vibration, committing the experiences into memory quite consciously. By mid afternoon, as we crossed Salem, wife wanted to take a nap, and asked if I would miss her chatter. My dad had forbid her from sleeping while travelling with me, chiding her lovingly about the need to keep the driver alert with good company, just like he would do unfailingly on every family trip that we took. So it was our private secret that she would indulge in her privilege of getting rocked gently to sleep once in a while. She gently suggested my choice of music to keep me engaged. I refused amiably, too polite to tell her that our bear of a car was talking to me, and me to him, and that was all the joy I needed while she slept.



And so we drove on, and as I crossed Coimbatore bypass, on towards and beyond Palakkad, the sky decided to bring on drama with a beautiful sunset, wispy silver winter clouds spread as flakes illuminated among the orange light. It lasted for a glorious thirty minutes, and the bear and I were still chatting in mirth when my wife woke up finally. She asked me if I was swerving and braking more than usual - probably I was, but how would she know when she was sleeping so soundly, so I told her that she might have dreamt it, while I winked at the bear.




A quick bio-break and tea later, my refreshed wife and I were conversing in earnest about small things as we love to do, and the bear hummed along smoothly on straights, accelerated lightning-fast out of clutters, and overtook cleanly upon my slightest whisper, keeping a steady pace even as traffic picked up beyond Thrissur. Finally, we reached the Indane COCO pump at Pongam, which is where I ensure that the bear has his fill before we reach home. True to my experiment, I filled up XP100 and XP95 in part quantities to true up to approx RON 98 and resumed my journey, still in Sport mode.

And there it was, the bear was grunting in protest, my legs and mind which were tuned to the instant response through the day were left waiting, not just once, but again and again, until I decided to turn off Sport mode and started driving more sedately, till I reached home at Cochin. After a good night's sleep, I took the bear out the next day on a short trip, and with my muscle memory partly reset, it felt much better than the previous evening after that refueling.

Now that I had a pretty clear idea that the better performance with RON 100 was not a fluke, I set out to dig into the theory of how this could happen. Spent a pleasurable Saturday afternoon revising my understanding of Otto and Atkinson cycles, learned about Miller cycle and how it worked great when paired with turbochargers and superchargers. Then, got a little insight into the EA888 Evo4 DNNA engine used in my Kodiaq, read about how it used Budack cycle, and variable valve timing to shift between Budack and Otto cycles by adjusting camshaft phases to boost efficiency during low-power operation and deliver power at load. Finally reached the conclusion that the turbo lag itself does not reduce with RON 100, but the higher RON probably causes the ECU to adjust (advance) ignition timing and boost pressure more aggressively, leading to faster power delivery, creating an impression of lower lag. Apparently, one of the steps that engine remaps do is to adjust settings such that ignition timing is advanced and boost pressure in the turbo is increased, leading to faster power delivery (which is why they often insist on higher octane fuel after remapping). My daughter, with her budding interest in cars (or as I sometimes like to believe, her feigned interest in cars so that she can get me to spend more time with her), then distracted me to discuss interesting trivia - that Otto, Daimler and Maybach collaborated on the development of Otto cycle engines, that L&K was the original name of the company that was renamed Skoda after its founder, that Skoda means "pity" or "shame" in Czech (urghh!, that spoiled the name for me), that the original Superb was released in 1930s in beautiful art-deco form, and that Volkswagen was started as a Nazi company and was directly complicit in Nazi war crimes. We ended the day discussing whether our bear was a Nazi too, and concluding that he was too gentle to be one, and anyway, it was impossible for him to be one, since Skoda was acquired by Volkswagen many years after the latter was cleaned of its Naz(t)iness.

As the Sunday rolls down its curtains, the bear is back to being happy with his RON 98 diet, and the two of us are back to having fun feigning class and etiquette on the road. But I know that our tryst with 100 RON petrol is gnawing at us, and we will be back at our expensive hobby pretty soon, as soon as we get a chance.

[jishnu7]

Originally Posted by phi

A bear filled with 100 RON
I was on my monthly trip to Bangalore and it was time to return to Cochin.

isn't recommended RON 95?

By the way, nice to meet another Kochi-Bangalore once a month fellow. Do share tips and tricks from your experience that I can make use of it as well.

[phi]

Originally Posted by jishnu7

isn't recommended RON 95?

By the way, nice to meet another Kochi-Bangalore once a month fellow. Do share tips and tricks from your experience that I can make use of it as well.

Nice to meet you too. :-)

Min RON is 95 and recommended RON is 98 for BS6.2 compliant Kodiaq models manufactured from April 2023 onwards.

[jishnu7]

Originally Posted by phi

Nice to meet you too. :-)

Min RON is 95 and recommended RON is 98 for BS6.2 compliant Kodiaq models manufactured from April 2023 onwards.

Any difference in performance or fuel consumption with RON 98? (I believe shifts would be smoother).
Also, how do you make it 98 RON when 100 RON is rare to get.

[phi]

Originally Posted by jishnu7

Any difference in performance or fuel consumption with RON 98? (I believe shifts would be smoother).
Also, how do you make it 98 RON when 100 RON is rare to get.

I have run the car with 95 RON for a full cycle only once, and the usage condition then was not consistent (mixed terrain etc.), so I am not sure about improvement in fuel consumption when RON 98 is used. I did notice a drop in performance with 95 RON, but that would matter only for spirited driving - engine is more silent with 98 and picks up faster, for instance. I did not notice that gear shifts are particularly smoother, just that you will get faster shifts.

Usually, I fill XP95, Power95, or Speed97 from COCO or other reputed pumps, and then use Proctane additive to true up to 98 RON (the general calculation is 2.5ML per octane number per litre). Occasionally, when 100 RON fuel is available in the pump, I mix 100 and 95 to get to 98. For instance, the IOCL COCO pump at Pongam has both, so when I know I will be filling around 40L based on fuel gauge (3-4 bars left), I fill 24L of XP100 and 16L of XP95. In terms of fuel cost, Proctane works out better than using XP100, since 100 RON fuels are priced exorbitantly high (around Rs.180 per litre for Power100 and Rs.160+ for XP100). But using Proctane is a leap of faith - the only indication I have is the feel from the vehicle especially in Sport mode, which has been consistent whether I use Proctane or 100 RON, so I am still getting Proctane regularly.

I am also not sure of the impact of Ethanol content, and the difference between XP100 and Power100 in this respect. The lore on the street is that Power100 does not have Ethanol added. BTW, I saw this article on RushLane today which claims RON 98 on regular fuel with Ethanol addition. My driving experience makes it hard for me to believe this - it needs either explicit confirmation from oil companies or testing with random sampling to confirm.

(One disclaimer - I rarely use the Kodiaq for regular city use, which is why I go for RON 98 regularly. It would be a waste in stop-and-go traffic, IMO).

[Old Dude]

I’ve always been on XP95 and never ventured to try anything else except for one tankful of XP100 - the vehicle was too new at that time for me to notice any difference as I was venting it through the break in period. After reading the posts above, I’m tempted to try Proctane ( Or STP or Mannol) octane booster to see if there is any perceivable difference. However, mine is the older ( pre-BS6.2) engine and the fuel cap just says min RON95. Also, most of my usage is in Bangalore city due to exam season for my son, leaving no time for outstation trips. Still, can’t wait to try the booster.

[Josteam]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

I’ve always been on XP95 and never ventured to try anything else except for one tankful of XP100 - the vehicle was too new at that time for me to notice any difference as I was venting it through the break in period. After reading the posts above, I’m tempted to try Proctane ( Or STP or Mannol) octane booster to see if there is any perceivable difference. However, mine is the older ( pre-BS6.2) engine and the fuel cap just says min RON95. Also, most of my usage is in Bangalore city due to exam season for my son, leaving no time for outstation trips. Still, can’t wait to try the booster.

Do.not use any other fuel additive other than Proctane Evo. Most of the other Octane boosters use MMT which leaves a orange residue on spark plug tips and will be detrimental to your vehicle ( especially TSI engines).

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by Josteam

Do.not use any other fuel additive other than Proctane Evo. Most of the other Octane boosters use MMT which leaves an orange residue on spark plug tips and will be detrimental to your vehicle ( especially TSI engines).

Thanks, haven’t done any research on octane boosters and don’t know what is MMT. Will read on it.

I’m seeing on Amazon, 2 types of Proctane
1) Proctane Evo High Octane Booster (MMT Free) (4.2 Stars on reviews)
2)Proctane Evo Octane Booster with ethanol stabilizer

I’m assuming the recommended variant is the first one.

[itwasntme]

What is Skoda Service's take on adding boosters? As an ex-Octavia 1.8TSI owner, I'd prefer to stay on the centreline with RON ratings rather than experiment with non-VAG additives / boosters, especially those that leave any visible 'residue' on spark plugs.

You never know what the good Service folks will pull out of a hat, should any issue arise with any associated critical component like the fuel pump, high pressure rail etc.

[Josteam]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Thanks, haven’t done any research on octane boosters and don’t know what is MMT. Will read on it.

I’m seeing on Amazon, 2 types of Proctane
1) Proctane Evo High Octane Booster (MMT Free) (4.2 Stars on reviews)
2)Proctane Evo Octane Booster with ethanol stabilizer

I’m assuming the recommended variant is the first one.

You can order it directly from their website:

https://exlr8.in/?srsltid=AfmBOoruxH...7OT0u507rtMder

This is the best octane booster currently available that does not contain MMT. BTW this particular Octane booster was also recommended whole heartedly by a few of the most popular Tuners.

[phi]

Got OBDEleven Pro finally after sitting on the fence for an year. It was a busy weekend, but still eked out a few hours to play with it. Found a few faults, mostly caused by low battery incidents caused by me forgetting to disconnect the dashcam in the past. The only active fault was low battery warning from the key. Was surprised that it was showing the warning at 3V (against 3.2V for new battery) - anyway, replaced the battery, cleared all faults, scanned again, and things are good.

Also made two simple changes - turned on display of refuel volume in dashboard, and turned on storage of air recirculation setting so that I do not have to change it on every start. The app stores history of changes, and I also took backup before each change. Planning to turn off the changes before taking to service, just in case they track it and make a fuss later.

Looking to play around with live data when I can spare some time - would be interesting to see if data related to timing advance etc. are logged and if they vary when fuels with different RON are used.

Also noticed one discrepancy with the parameters set for Air Conditioning module. The value for "Roof" is set to "Standard", though the car has panoramic sunroof. Not sure if this was a miss during initial parameter configuration that is done before car is prepared for delivery. Also not sure whether changing this would impact the behavior of AC.



Planning to review all parameters across modules over time. It would have been really nice to have access to a catalog/manual that explains what each parameter for each control module does. Could not find anything like that by searching the web, including previous conversations on Team-BHP - does anyone here have access to such information?

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What is Skoda Service's take on adding boosters? As an ex-Octavia 1.8TSI owner, I'd prefer to stay on the centreline with RON ratings rather than experiment with non-VAG additives / boosters, especially those that leave any visible 'residue' on spark plugs.

You never know what the good Service folks will pull out of a hat, should any issue arise with any associated critical component like the fuel pump, high pressure rail etc.

I have the same concern, so I have been limiting to using Proctane Evo (they claim they are not using MMT, but I have my doubts about ingredients since they use a black bottle, indicating the presence of light-sensitive compounds). I am also mixing up my fuels to limit the amount of Proctane used - fill a mix of 100 and 95 octane fuels when I can, fill 97 octane with only a little proctane when possible, and so on. It has been an year and 2 months of this circus now - no issues so far, except that it makes me reflect on my life choices sometimes.

I have been thinking of checking the plugs for residues DIY - did not have the nerve to go through the procedure yet (disconnect coils etc.) for the fear of breaking something.

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by phi

Got OBDEleven Pro finally

Also noticed one discrepancy with the parameters set for Air Conditioning module. The value for "Roof" is set to "Standard", though the car has panoramic sunroof. Not sure if this was a miss during initial parameter configuration that is done before car is prepared for delivery. Also not sure whether changing this would impact the behavior of AC.

Attachment 2722405
.

Have you observed any change in the AC performance after changing the settings to “ Panoramic Sunroof” from. “standard”?

[phi]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Have you observed any change in the AC performance after changing the settings to “ Panoramic Sunroof” from. “standard”?

I did not change it. I am happy with the AC in Auto mode, with AC Profile set to High. Trying not to tinker with stuff unless I know exactly what it is, or I badly need some function.

Also, in general, I do not think the service center takes a lot of care to keep infotainment/dashboard settings exactly correct. I get an intermittent error (U111000 - Function restriction due to communication interruption) from dashboard module, which was present even with stock settings before I changed anything. It keeps reappearing after some time even if I clear it. From a Google search, I found that this typically happens when some feature is enabled that is not supported. Have to try to track it down when I get some time.