jimbof

I'm pretty sure the airbag light will never clear by itself, all airbag faults I believe are "sticky" and once set will not go away until you clear them with diagnostics. This is to prevent what could be deadly intermittent faults being overlooked. RE: the rest of it, no idea.

There are many motors in these that fail in varied ways, and varying levels of difficulty. Some of them involve removing the dash and heater matrix, some the glovebox, some can be removed without taking anything else out, but involve the dexterity of houdini and a complete lack of self-preservation of knuckles... You need to identify which failure you have first. VCDS can often tell you which.

Don't take off the carrier panels themselves (as that obviously breaks the seals) until you are sure, but you can remove the trim panel. There are some videos on repair technique. I've used Shell Tixophalte in the past on my old Skoda, which worked well. Certainly if anyone has at any time been inside the door for repair of lock module, window motor, etc, you can likely expect the carrier panel seal is broken and leaking.

Sure sounds like some kind of water ingress to me... These cars leak like sieves. Some of the places they leak from: 1) Pollen filter housing (front left of bulkhead) 2) ECU housing (front right of bulkhead) 3) Sunroof drains getting blocked 4) Door carrier panel seals Good luck working it out.

I have a brand new bonnet cable if you need one, but no latch...

You thought you were driving a car, but it is, in fact, a boat. Misbehaving lights is one symptom of water ingress damage. Either current or previously repaired (perhaps a repair coming to the end of its life). Check through the big thread on the subject.

Check there is no damp on the carpets or evidence of water on the headlining. Water can get in from plenum pollen filter housing, ECU housing, sunroof drains, door seals. Ask owner if the plenum filter housing has been resealed. In an ideal world get a look / feel under the carpet, though that can be hard. Check all the interior electrics work (lights, seats, etc). Though it is tempting to put these sort of things down as minor issues, they're often a sign waster has been in the car and not adequately fixed. Check that you don't get repetitive clicking sounds from the dash when changing the air positions and heater settings on the climatronic. There are several servos buried at various places in the dash / footwells / air handler box which are really really annoying to change and do fail. Sqealling or knocking from the front under deceleration can mean a new alternator pulley or damper are required. If you do buy and get a good one, enjoy! I was commenting to my father in law how much I actually missed my old girl now.

Good change changing the oil will make it worse, not better. If you've got problems with reverse it almost certainly needs new parts.

These bits and bobs are all still available. No reasonable offer refused (might even accept an unreasonable one...!). All available for instant collection here in Norwich or posted at cost.

Original mats are dark grey with light grey piping but no cheesy badging. Very classy. Foot rests are standard dark grey. I have a complete set still in my garage - little used, drivers mat has a bit more wear but plenty of life in it. . Last time I checked you could still order new replacements of the drivers mat via TPS (I'd had two in the course of owning the car). Let me know if you're interested in them. Link here: https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/457619-superb-edition-100-sundries-ice-equipment-phatbox/

Sorry, the hols came and went and I forgot about this. I'll let you know next time i'm about.

Hope you're still enjoying the motor. I'm over in Ipswich briefly over the Christmas holidays and if you're still interested in some bits and bobs I can let you know what I have left in the garage,..

Where did you get it done?

Through laziness, no. No one local seemed to want to do it for sensible money and the place that did the gearbox were too far away. From what I understood the big problem on these boxes wasn't the fluid ; there were a couple of design issues with the valve body and the reversing drum which were fixed aftermarket with revised parts. I will say that after 150,000 miles on the refurb box it wasn't changing much different to after it had just been repaired.

I got bitten by the ZF autobox reverse drum breaking at around 90K miles (on the 1.9PD130). Had it repaired (£1500 bill) and went on to do another 150K before I got rid of the car. It is a common failure for that gearbox/