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After my first drive... School run Ran a few errands this morning then back to Wellington European I'm really happy with the work so far. The suspension knock on full lock is gone, and it feels better to drive. Boost cut issue is solved, and they've corrected the timing so it runs much more smoothly than before, and revs all the way up to 6000+It feels more responsive and sounds sublime. The main oil leak was from the rocker cover - it was a little warped and needed persuading back into shape. Bad news is that an hour's driving and fully warming things up highlighted a couple more oil leaks from the sump gasket and oil temp sender. It's also slightly leaking power steering fluid, which is a new feature. I have a new gasket which I'll give to WEEU to fit. Have dropped the car back to them today. We're getting there!!

Let me introduce you to my project, hopefully you find it interesting. It's a ex Leicestershire Police MK1 VRS, 160k miles and a total shed! (Don't be fooled by the photos of the outside, they make it look much better then it is). I've been looking on and off for the last 10 years for one of these, from the time the early ones first started to be retired from service. My plan was always to preserve one in its original police spec, and that's what I hope to do with this. My plans are to get this back to a decent useable car first, while researching it's police history. I'd like to be able to use it without fear of catching the plague from its disgusting interior. I need to strip this out to dry it out as it's got the usual soggy footwell. I'll try to keep this thread up-to-date but it will be a slow process as I don't get much free time to work on the car. Anyway, enough waffle, here's a few pics of the car in service and also what it looks like now. If anyone happens to have any pics of the car either in service or when it was retired or knows the car and can share any history on it that would be appreciated. Credit for the in service photos goes to their owners on Flickr and Facebook

Thanks. An engine change sounds drastic, but is surprisingly easy (given a safe way of lifting and supporting one, i.e. an engine crane, which my workplace happens to have). Nuts and bolts, plumbing and some electrical connections. Much, much easier than the messing about with taking apart the old one and laboriously rebuilding it; and far more successful, with the benefit of hindsight. Really wish I'd listened to @StevesTruck and taken the plunge earlier. Timing was very lucky for me; a low mileage, surprisingly cheap engine came up on ebay days before the owner/main driver said "my engine's sounding really, really bad recently". It passed MOT a few days after my last post with pleasingly low emissions numbers, and it runs beautifully smoothly and quietly.

I owned an A4 3.0tdi quattro, although it was just a manual. Great car. Mpg well into the 40s on the motorway and a decent turn of speed when pressing on I also had the Sports Diff, which after a job I went to got cancelled and we got sent home, I took advantage of the empty snow covered car park we would have used and spend 20 minutes being a pillock.... I broke my diff They had to fly a new one in from Germany and I got a loan car for a few days. Luckily the car was under warranty. I asked how much it would have cost me for the whole job if I had to have spent my own money (the Sports Diff was a £500 option on a new car) and I was told something like £7k (£5.5k for the diff alone)

I'm getting to that stage with changing the wheels myself as they are probably 23-24kg per corner, jacking the car up is the easy bit but holding it inline with wheel bolt holes is tricky balancing on your toes. More inclined now to think sod just go to the local garage pay a few quid and they are literally 400 metres from my house. Need to be less like a Yorkshireman as I get older.

My hardest car decision is deciding if I can be arsed to clean it or not It's the not been able to move for 2 days after that ###### me off !

I haven't done it to this extent, but did some of my own wrap work several years ago and was surprised at how easy it was. I'd be tempted to look into decent quality wrap, some how to guides, and save the majority of that £400. It seems a lot of money for what's involved.

If you didn't know he doesn't like to mention he floss's them every day because you never know when the valves will be opened for inspection. Cleaned my diesel recently but left the pistons for some BP Ultimate diesel (special treat).

I get where you are coming from but anything that could be suggested is purely guesswork without the car in front of them. The water pumps have an adjustable sleeve that can stick, there are also different cooling loops as mentioned above, it could be the thermostat, or it could just be a dodgy sensor reading. I doubt it would be the radiator fan unless you live in a very hot climate as in the UK you hardly ever hear them running on a diesel unless its doing a DPF regen or the air con is on. (which btw is how you could prove they work) You are obviously not going to start tearing the car apart to figure out the issue on the advice of anybody on this forum and risk voiding the warranty so the quickest way to resolve your issue is book it into the dealer IMO.

Well Sunday .... Engine bay de greased and cleaned. 303 aerospace applied. Inside cleaned and leather treated. Mats washed. Glass polished. Snow foam followed by wheels cleaned inside and out. 2 bucket wash and dry. Tailpipes cleaned and polished with Solvol. All outside plastics and rubber treated. Tyre black applied. Old girl still looks pretty good for nearly 60 months old. When the weather picks up i'm going to treat her to a proper paint decontamination and correction.

@TDI190 So a Workshop Manager need not be a Trained or Qualified Motor Engineer / Technician / Mechanic. Which has always been an issue with Main Dealerships. VW Group training is what matters.

finally here

Just paid for my second year's extended warranty for my 1.4 It came in at £162.70 which was lower than the first year! I reckon that's really good value for peace of mind.

🤣🤣 tell me about it. As much as I try and play it cool whilst waiting for the car, I just end up scouring YouTube for anything I can find on the new model. I’ve even watched some in German and Czech just to see if I can glean a little more detail just from the images. 🤦🏻‍♂️

There r 9 screws that hold the grille to the front bumper, and 8 tabs/clips!!! Bit overkill, but yeah, having the front bumper off will involve a lot less swearing, in order to remove & fit the grille. To remove bumper - wheels off, wheel arch liner off, disconnect washer pipe, disconnect wiring harness, remove screws - pull bumper out. be careful NOT to hit/upset/knock the ACC radar while sliding the bumper in/out. I created this how to guide on removing the front bumper. Removing Front Bumper.pdf

This is what i got.

Not sure where you are located, but if you can pick two options will depend on where you are. Is the 150 the 1.5tsi or a diesel Virtual dash is nice gimmick, but if you have had many cars with normal speedometer, what you have never had you won’t miss If you drive in a city, with heavy traffic, you will curse returning to a manual gearbox (and not sure why it is about 3 times normal price, unless you need to change spec to get it). Unless having a class A driving license is a condition of employment, since the Equality Act (disability Act) not normally able to insist on excluding anyone with an Auto only license. ACC useful on motorways and main roads, not worth it if you drive mainly on country roads Kessy comes in 2 forms, the basic one isn’t that helpful compared to a remote key Heated screen can be useful if your home doesn’t have decent garage, and you park it outside in frosty weather Rear Camera is helpful if park in tight spaces, but pointless if you have in and out drive (so rarely reverse) and big parking spaces at work

She's back in the car she likes and it's working like it should do. Don't worry about how you got there.

Thats hilarious I was dating a rather strange girl, would be called friends with benefits these days, the benefits outweighed her oddities. She wanted to drive one night and was a nightmare to be with, she spent all her time looking in the rear mirror moaning about the cars behind being too close etc & not watching the oncoming traffic, I showed her how to dip the mirror & eventually had to misalign it so she could not look behind. The worse thing was that she did not know where the dip/beam control was or what it was supposed to do, it was a MK1 Polo which I was familiar with and refused to accept my explanation of how to use it correctly, that was one of her oddities, she knew everything and could not accept any suggestion from others thinking it was criticism. The unused beam/dip lever control was permenantly on the high beam setting, as soon as she used the headlights she was on main beam dazzling oncoming traffic, if they flashed when she wasn't looking backwards and swearing about the driver behind she would switch the lights from main beam to sidelights that she thought was the dipped beam and of course complained about! And there was no way that I could convince her otherwise

More in reference to the previous comment about potholes destroying the 19s. Plenty of pot holes up here in Cumbria. I'm sure the 19s will be fine but I honestly would've gone for the 18s and a bit more rubber given the choice.

Following on from the wife leaving and taking the Tiguan (just to rub salt into a very open wound), it dawned on me that I could now buy myself a car, rather than buy her one. Don't fret too much, I'm keeping the Yeti as the works car and I've been looking for my ideal weekend / personal enjoyment car. This weekend I found it... It was a little more expensive than I wanted to pay, but it was the best colour I'd seen (Quartz Grey) and the spec list was immense. Front & rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, B & O Sound System, Multimedia package (DVD drive and 2 sd card slots, ipod/usb connection), full cream leather, electric adjustable seats with drivers memory function, paddle shift on the steering wheel, rear window electric blind, front AND rear heated seats, folding and auto-dimming door mirrors and auto-dimming interior mirror, and probably some other stuff I've forgotten... It's the 3.0ltr TDI Quattro but it's not the S Line. Someone has thoughtfully added S Line badges to the wings and installed an S Line steering wheel though, just for a nice touch. Happy motoring.

A little more "tinkering", together with an industrial-sized 12 volt battery and a new set of correctly gapped plugs has produced a "near-start"! Judicial use of some Easy-Start resulted in a splutter from the engine, suggesting that a fully-fledged start is not too far off. Other gremlins solved were the horn wiring (defective earth) resulting in a horn that sounds terrifyingly loud, and an interior light that now works. Something else I like with the car is the boot light, that comes on with the sidelights. Is my car meant to have a light under the bonnet? There isn't one, but some wiring diagrams have shown this item.

Ahh.... You're in the wrong forum lol ! Mods !

So you will require to pay for brake fluid change and mot over and above 3rd service and spark plugs, mot and air con service over and above what your plan covers for 4th service.

I found that out when I had a courtesy car. The MIB3 system is NOT good. It will eventually be improved but it is a huge step back from the MIB2 and MIB2.5 system of the MK3's

Yeah all good in Shy Land trying to decide what gets a stage 1 map the petrol Karoq (upto 200PS) or my diesel (185PS) with all the savings we are currently making under Lockdown. I have the itch to spend something. Also considering some Gold 19" alloys for my diesel for the next 6 months use during the warmer weather because I purchased 4 nearly new Michelin PS4S 235/40R19 tyres last July which would have gone on the 272 but are collecting dust now. Decisions, decisions......drives you mad.

How's things mate you keeping OK ?

@cheezemonkhai Sorry but now you have lost me. How could an original etron drive like anything other than an original etron if an original etron.

Others will confirm if its correct or otherwise, I dont have much confidence on the systems that use the registration number but there can only be one or two possibilitys for reversing lights.

Thanks for your advice. Mechanic did state it might just be the controller and not the rack. A new controller and fitting about £350-400. Rack was the expensive bit at £600. Never had a new battery in 6-7 years so will try that. Will let you know.

Oh yes ! They even had a little squirt of WD40 .... Reheat like an F15 for the first few miles !

Only because the errors showing are extremely random. I do think an electrical short is probably your culprit and I suspect it will probably be in a location where there is movement in the cable loom (think the interface between chassis and doors) and a lot of these faults are probably spurious and will clear themselves up when the electrical short is discovered.

March 2015. Started failing about 18 months ago. Was put off by the £350 + VAT plus fitting. I wouldn't be surprised if Stabilus are OEM part manufacturers for many car makers.

Sometimes would open but not close. Sometimes open part way. Finally when opened it only rises about 6 inches (excuse the pun). A VW specialist and local garage have diagnosed faulty struts. Am looking at Stabilus https://www.stabilus.com/products/electric-motor-drives. They supply Daimler and VW. £260 inc VAT per pair 2 year warranty. I think I will give them a try.

If it's a lovely example, those tend to be kept. I suspect it's more the "It's a VRS, innit" crowd that rag it to feck and knacker it to the point where it's no longer a lovely example. My own Octy is worth maybe £500-1,000 in current condition, but it's treasured and so it gets parts bought for it. OEM parts pricing often makes no sense anyway. For example, Yamaha charge £15 for a left wing mirror but £78 for the right one, which is more confusing when neither are the ones with reverse threading. They also charge way more for Vmax indicators, even though they're the exact same part numbers as those used on other bikes.

I do all of my own routine maintenance, you can download any manuals you need from Skoda https://erwin.skoda-auto.cz/erwin/showHome.do You have to pay for time to access Erwin. I think when I did it was €7 for an hour, in which time you can download and save as much as you like. You can get the factory service schedule and workshop manuals for engine, gearbox, electrics, whatever you need. With regards to oil I have used 5w30 and use Opie oils for oil and filter supply https://www.opieoils.co.uk/ I personally have used Castrol Edge Titanium 5w30 LL Fully synthetic and change it approx every 9000 miles (which is every 7 months for me) and it costs about £50 for 5 litres and an oil filter from Opie.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/e-tron-gt/first-drives/audi-e-tron-gt-2021-uk-review https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/rs-e-tron-gt/first-drives/audi-rs-e-tron-gt-2021-uk-review

I regret to this day PX mine for a mk2 vRs My First Fabia vRs was in Silver the demo car of my old local dealership at Turners of Erlstoke in Wiltshire.

Brought complete new panel and issue all fixed now thanks for all the advice guys

I can't believe this, just because the OP didn't see the dwarf with a portapak hiding in the engine bay doesn't mean they weren't there, I thought that people kept an open mind on here, next you'll be telling me that father Christmas isn't real either!

At the end of the day, if I declare it, they cannot accuse me of being dishonest and cannot penalise for that. Yes, I know that in all likelihood that my insurance will go up, I accept that fact. My insurance policy is fully comprehensive and covers accidental damage, so it's covered. What I object to is people saying that I knew that my car was significantly damaged and I drove it knowingly so. I DID NOT. Also if the car's management system is so bloody clever why did it not flag up the fault immediately? Instead it only told me that my engine oil system was seriously compromised when I reached a hill when I was almost home, where, when I parked it, it continued to drop a good 1½ litres of oil on my drive? It has to be asked why are they using a plastic sump? It should be metal as it's exposed to all sorts of conditions, stone chips etc. 💩 design.

Your Skoda is effectively an Audi or Volkswagen. The main components are shared across all VAG vehicles. The only way to justify charging you many thousands of pounds less than the equivalent model with a posher badge is to leave a few piddly little bits off. Prop the boot floor up with a stick or something, and when Covid allows book yourself a nice holiday somewhere overlooking the Mediterranean with the money you have saved and as you sit there in the evening with a carafe of wine watching the sun go down you can contemplate whether the trade off was worth it....... ......... .

Ok. Do do a follow up post once the mechanic does the adjustments, as it will be helpful for others to know if this could be a fix for their boot rattles. Seems rattles do crop up from time to time!

So sorry to hear of it, nasty thing to have happen. Roomster laid down it's life for you, can't ask anymore of it! Good car.

Yep, the VW version works fine but that's not the point. It's the same software as the Skoda one but Skoda have somehow stuffed it up again. Why should any Skoda owner have to use a sister companies app just because Skoda can't get their act together? Skoda customer service is appalling :( It's becoming more about principal now.

At last and after a long break - here's the latest update of my customised version of EUR Speedcams ( February, 2021). They consist of the full EUROPE speed cameras which I've split up into four consolidated poi categories i.e. Fixed Speedcams, Average Speedcams, Variable Speedcams and Redlight Speedcams. They come supplied with my own preferred personal choice of icons, shown below, to match each of the categories. Remember to Install them as I explained in the first post in this thread i.e. after extracting the zip file remember to open the newly extracted folder and place only the PersonalPOI folder and metainfo2.txt file onto your sd card ( Please Note: a usb stick will not work! ). Also, please remember to select/tick the relevant newly added poi categories and the poi audible warning alert in your infotainment map menu settings after performing the update or they will not display on your map or audibly alert you. Hope you all enjoy them! EUR Speedcams February, 2021.zip

Aldi had a code reader on specials this weekend. If you're quick you may still find one. It is a simple combined reader and decoder aimed at people who do not have dedicated software to do the decoding. [Suggest you buy some food when you are in there to avoid breaking lockdown rules]

A small selection of photos: Front of car off, ready to extract old engine Replacement bolted in, lots of connecting up still to do at end of Thursday