Octy II Fire extinguisher - How to.

[cheezemonkhai]

Right well since our lovely Belgian friends make great chocolate I decided I'd be going there for a few days over Christmas. They also however require a car to have a fire extinguisher in reach of the driver.

Since I didn't fancy taking chunks out of the car or having it go off with the thing rolling about in the foot well and also didn't want to leave holes I set to with the Skoda extinguisher and brackets. I'm fairly certain the ones for the Fabia/Roomster that mount under the seat are pretty much the same.

The bracket can mount under either of the front seats, so I put mine under the drivers seat, meaning I could retain the storage bin on the other side.
(Thus giving me somewhere to store the required high vis jacket )

So anyway you will need the following parts for an octy II:

- 10mm spanner
- torx driver set
- M10 spline tool
- Small screwdriver

- Skoda Extinguisher P/Number : GCA000001 (Approx cost £30 from dealer)
- Skoda Extinguisher Bracket P/Number : GCA600001 (Approx cost £5 from dealer)

To make life easier you will also want a torch and detailers will want their hoover handy to clean around the seat

You do not need a power drill, even though the Skoda instructions kind of imply you do.

The bits should look approximately like the items shown in the attached images

Disclaimer: Everything shown in this how to is based on the experience of members here and is carried out at your own risk. I or briskoda.net are not liable for any problems, injuries or costs arising from the use of this how to.

[cheezemonkhai]

First thing to do is to disconnect the negative lead of the battery using a 10mm spanner.

This step is incredibly important and failure to do this could result in serious injury or even death.

I placed the negative lead in a small plastic sandwich bag and made sure it was placed in a position such that it could not touch any metalwork or either of the battery connections.

Once done, the next step is to disconnect the airbag and seatbelt wiring from the seat.

If you look at the front of the seat (on the door side) you will see a small black plastic cover approximately 2" wide and 4" long. Press the lever catches on either side of this and pull it out.

In here you will see the airbag wiring connector (yellow) and the seatbelt warning wiring (2 pin black). (See attached images)

Carefully detach these connectors by pressing the locking tabs on the connectors and move the cabling out of harms way.


Next undo the 4 M10 spline bolts that hold the seat rails in place, there is 1 in each seat corner (can be seen in the attached image), and gently tip the seat slightly backwards.

With the front of the seat in the air you can now see a clip that holds the wiring in place. Gently push a screwdriver into either side of this clip to release it and pull the connector upwards taking car not to damage the wiring.

Depending on how you wish to work you can now either tip the seat backwards and work in the car, or remove the seat from the car and find somewhere warm to go and work.

With it being cold and getting dark, there are no prizes for guessing which option I took and if you do this it makes life easier if you remove the head rest and slide the seat forward on the runners before you take it out.

[cheezemonkhai]

Now you have your seat up and can expose the base of it the first thing to do is to undo the two screws that hold the plastic trim at the front in place (see attached image).

For this you will need a torx screwdriver set.

Once this these screws are out you will now see that the plastic trim is held in by two clips on the door side going into the other trim piece.(See attachment) Much as i tried to get these out I couldn't so took to them with a Jnr Hacksaw and cut the clips off so freeing the trim and then pulled the clips out from the other side.

If you have to cut the clips take care not to damage the piece of trim that will remain on the seat.

[cheezemonkhai]

Once this piece of trim is off you will need to place in the two white plastic screw clips at the front of the seat base and slide over the two black metal screw clips towards the rear of the seat.

The holes for these are already in the metal seat base and they should just push the foam out of the way.

To determine which holes you need offer up the bracket and note the holes it lines up with.

If you find the black spring type holders hard to get in open them up very slightly first using a screwdriver and slide them in the square hole and push upwards such that the screw hole on the clip aligns with the circular hole in the seat base.

Once the clips are in again offer up the bracket and screw it into the newly installed screw clips. I found this easiest to work from the side where you have the seat rail slider control at the rear of the seat and then to do up the other rear screw. Once these two are securely attached you may find the bracket needs slight adjusting to line up with the other screw holes, so do this and then screw in the final two screws.

The location of the four screws and the final installed seat bracket can be seen in the attached images.

[cheezemonkhai]

Once the seat bracket is attached to the seat the next step is to attach the extinguisher bracket to the seat bracket.

To do this offer the extinguisher bracket up to the two holes on the seat bracket, using the `long` holes on the extinguisher bracket not just the circular holes.

Use the black screws and washers, making sure the recess in the washer is on the screw head side, to attach the two brackets together.

The holes and screws in question can be seen in the attached images.

Once you have the bracket installed test to make sure the fire extinguisher fits.
The trigger should sit behind the remaining plastic trim so that it can not be accidentally kicked etc. (See attached image of extinguisher in place)

If the extinguisher fits correctly, remove the extinguisher and place it to one side.

[cheezemonkhai]

The next step is to take the seat and place it back into the car (or just back up if you did it in the car).

Once you have the seat back in the car line the seat rails up correctly using the locating tabs on side of the seat by the exhaust tunnel.

When doing this take care to make sure the small piece of plastic that protects the carpet from the runner slides into the locating hole on the plastic at the front of the seat trim.
Failure to locate this piece of trim correctly will mean the seat does not line up with the bolt hole by this piece of trim.

Once the seat is located, place the two rear bolts in part way and then from the front of the seat push the airbag cable clip back into it's locating hole and tuck the connectors out of the way in the hole. Next attach the two front bolts, making sure that all 4 bolts have the washers attached, are correctly tightened and the seat does not move around at all.

Next reconnect the airbag and seat belt wiring taking care to double check that the connectors are correctly attached. Failure to carry out this step will result in the airbag light coming on and VAGCOM or a dealer visit to clear the fault.

Once the wiring is reconnected place the plastic cover back over the hole.

Reattach the battery and take the car for a short drive.

You will notice that the Power Steering light stays on (amber). This light should go out after a short drive and if it stays illuminated you should seek professional diagnosis.

[cheezemonkhai]

Now you are happy with your car reattach the extinguisher to the bracket and make sure the clips are securely done up.

It is also worth making sure that the clips are in a position where you can release them quickly should you need to.

Stand back and marvel at your quite well hidden work (attached pic)

[Tom_vRS]

Nice guide this Mark, and great for those who wish to travel on the continent.

[WW_VRS]

might have to check this out as well then I guess

Got a high vis jacket, two of those lovely warning triangles, emergency hammer/seatbelt cutter as it is, suppose I'll have to drop this in as well then - good thing I've got an estate