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Right. I’d had enough, so I had to clean it today. Bit better than it was a couple of days ago….

I read an Audi TPI not long ago that stated something along the lines of “The wiper arms should not be used as an earth when attempting to jump start the vehicle”, I mean, why would you do that anyway but someone must have.

I know this may not be a popular opinion, but maybe people should periodically check there own cars. when I service my car I take the time to go around underneath it and perform my own inspection to make sure there is nothing overtly wrong. I think this is something more people should do as the MOT is really an absolute bear minimum, where things are very often missed. My car had a fair bit of rust around the rear spring mounts which was not mentioned in the MOT for example. If you can't inspect the car yourself maybe pay a mechanic you trust to do it for you. Maybe this is a misconception but I feel like a some people don't take responsibility for the condition of their own cars, never even checking the basics like the oil, tyres screenwash.

A few from yesterday's visit to Yorkshire sculpture park - a few Damien Hurst exhibits on display 🎨😚

And quite literally a pile of stone 🤷‍♂️

Yes it is very simple to change WHEN COLD! Make sure you use G12Evo coolant. A nasty side effect of this is water can be forced into the wires and travel all along them to the next plug/socket and cause a lot of damage.

Wow, this thread has gotten pretty dark pretty quick, the breakage is nobodies fault, just chuck another axle beam on it and carry on, old cars rust, it happens.

That is actually tantamount to blackmail, they didn’t cause the failure so what you are saying is “fix it for free or I will shop you”, they missed it so should be reported anyway as it is unforgivable but not blackmailed.

And I have done this for 50+ years. In the old days of vented batteries, removing a charging cable could cause a spark which theoretically could ignite the Hydrogen being vented but a flat battery isn't giving off gas and modern batteries do very little venting. The idea of connecting the charging earth cable remote from the battery was you could remove it first and any spark was nowhere near the gas then when you removed the positive cable there was no circuit so no chance of a spark.

Picked up this lovely Monte Carlo for my girlfriend. Two previous Brisky owners and absolutely fantastic condition with under 40k miles. Great little cars

You can tell if it is plane or warped by sighting along a pair of machinists parallel bars like proper old school carpenters would do with winding sticks. Also lapping with machinists blue on a surface plate.

The only way to check it's straight is to get a truth skim done, the machine shop will tell you if it's straight or not, if it's straight then it'll be clean and skimmed, ready to bolt back on. If not they'll tell you you need a new head casting, either way you'll know.

Dunno. What I do know is that, if the head is flat, you must have had head lift. You can reuse that head, but it would be advisable to obtain and use a set of PD150 head bolts to prevent recurrence of the lift.

Thanks 👍

If the A/C isn't working well enough to trigger any such activity, this image should help you to test instead by linking contacts of the radiator thermoswitch connector (daylight job, and not that easy to access, approx 100mm above radiator bottom hose connection):

If it has A/C that does work it gives a quick way of checking the radiator fan(s). Within a minute or so of switching on A/C the fan should start up at low speed (relatively quiet). If instead it does nothing for a longer time then comes on at full speed (loud!), you probably have a failed low speed function on the fan. It's triggered via the refrigerant pressure when A/C is on, so no need to have hot engine to try this.

When I was backpacking around the world I always carried earplugs in my wallet for rides with taxi drivers in some countries who thought it was obligatory to show you how loud their stereo was. I still carry them now and they were used for ferry trips where there were expressive children with disconnected parents. Thankfully I no longer travel across the channel.

Stick with the same gasket, the thickness is dictated by piston and block height, nothing to do with the head. Don't worry about where it's blown, make sure you use a quality MLS gasket and upgrade to PD150 head bolts.

Good idea. Just find a trusted local place, decide who's map and have the car up to date with servicing, plugs, filter, oil & filter and go for it, maybe the engine & DQ200 DSG. http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/496005-octavia-mk3-14-tsi-remap

Thanks for all the replies and comments folks: very helpful. I should be driving to Bournemouth next week a few days after the oil change so I can fill up with the more expensive fuel down there for the journey back. It's a definite No on the fuel treatment!

PM will be sent in a moment.

Came accross a rattle that turned out to be the eye level vent at the front it was cracked behind the slats due to someone using one of those clip type holders for the phone, as you said didn't appear all the time but when it did rather annoying, had to remove the whole vent and replaced it with a good used unit from a breakers yard cost £20 if i remember managed to pry it out think it was 2 clis ontop 2 on bottom and 1 on each side replacement just clipped it and the rattle stopped

I completely agree and sadly its a frequent occurrence and suggestion on social media, often by one particular gender using the words "I carry my children in that car.........."

I got the PS5 to replace OEM Pirellis that were cracking on the sidewalls. So far so good. My mileage is so low annually it will last me the time I will own this car. But look at tyre reviews website, it's one of the better ones for wear but assymetric 6 beats it.

@UrbanPanzer has given the only info the OP wanted. It's a really good place to earth the recipient car for best chance of good cranking speed 🙂

The clamp on that positive post looks really loose? Trick of the pic? Looks like massive gap on the left. Whose car?

UK Tyres & Exhaust Centre employees commonly plug tyres if they can be plugged. KwikFit plugged a Michelin All Season tyre a few weeks back for me on my car from Motability that can get Free repairs or replacement tyres. This was after the car was in at a Main Dealers for work and the Technician spotted a screw in the tyre, marked the sidewall with chalk but failed to put on the work sheet or tell the reception or me that the screw was there. PS No idea when KwikFit stopped doing free puncture repairs for OAP's on a Wednesday.

I have been repairing my punctures with tyre plugs for 18 years now, never had one fail, all the tyres have continued to wear to the legal limit like the others before replacement and have never been an issue at the CT tests. They do stick out a bit or at least become more visible as the tyre wears, the only time it was ever a problem was when I sold a car and the new owner, a Brit who knew nothing of the regulations or life in France after 2 decades was outraged to find it. I would say conservatively I have avoided replacing 10 tyres because most tyre fitting garages here come out with the nonsense that they are not allowed to do puncture repairs and that they have to replace both tyres on the same axle. The Yeti not having a spare wheel my tyre plug kit is even more important to me than ever, I also have a mushroom plug insertion tool kit but have yet to use it, unless the puncture is on the outside edge of a front wheel giving enough room on full lock to use the tool the wheel will have to be removed, the tyre plugs can be used with the wheel in place, my intention is to use them on the road then remove the wheel and make a repair with the mushroom plug. I started using plugs after paying a garagiste friend for a tyre repair, it took him all of 30 seconds and he only lost a tiny amount of air from the tyre in doing so. If you prepare the plug on the skewer needle and fit the rasp in a battery drill in advance you can then swiftly pull out the screw or nail, insert the rasp and prepare the hole then pull out with one hand while inserting the plug with the other then pull the skewer out which cuts through the doubled up plug sealing the hole, you lose only a tiny bit of air it does not even register on the pressure guage. Easier to do swiftly with the wheel off the vehicle. Did you know that tubeless tyres were originally sold as self sealing for punctures? I read the claims in a 1960's Readers Digest, the problem then as now with tubed tyres is that when they puncture there is an instantaneous total deflation which at speed causes loss of control and often the tyre to come off the rim, a puncture on a tubeless tyre is much slower and controlled, they demonstrated it by driving 2 vehicles with tubed and tubeless tyres over planks with 6" nails sticking out, the car on tubed tyres spun and rolled over , the other came to a controlled halt like you see on footage of a Police Stinger deployment but much slower and with full control.

So what exactly have you done? Have you swopped or replaced both rear light (lenses) units (to Monte Carlo style)? Did you keep the original wire connectors, bulb holders and bulbs or replaced the connectors, holders and bulbs? I cannot think that replacing standard like for like rear light units would require any 'coding'. Is your model a Spaceback? What is a new backplate? Just for your information, no criticism at all, these are not headlights, headlights are the main lights on the front, these are rear lights (or tail lights).

Well, if we're going that way (which I do know a little about) Weber 40DCOE, correct jets (don't know these) and an "up and over" intake manifold (puts the carb on the cold side of the engine) with a 3:1 exhaust manifold (presumes Siamese centre port head) and you'll be looking at 110bhp with a "safe" limit at 6_800rpm. You can get more with twin 40s, but that's heading for a "grenade engine".

@davepope Welcome. When was the Air Filter last looked at to be sure that clean and dry, & when were the spark plugs last replaced or checked?

Experience tells me that plugs are perfectly safe at UK/Aus speed limits although I'd balk at continental speeds. Their main issue is that they can make their presence felt over time with different wear rates. We visited the UK last September and noted all the new housing developments and their characteristics.

Just pop the engine cover off and connect onto either of the engine lifting eyes in the image below.

Town driving 40ish mpg, long motorway type run I've got up to 56/57mpg

Probably easier for you to take and paste a pic of what you can see on your car, so AS can comment on that?

Thanks AGFalco: more or less what I was thinking thankfully. Definitely registered 2020 (bio must be wrong: that's when I joined the forum) and 9400 since I got it: my mum is in and out of hospital in Dorset (noticed your location!) so done more mileage than usual. Thanks for the prompt response.

I’m on my second set of ps4 and so far I’ve been really impressed with them. Got 15k out of the fronts and 23k out of the rears which I thought was very good considering the power and crap roads they have to put up with. I was almost tempted to try the ps5 when replacing the rears recently but ultimately opted to stick with what I know especially as there was an offer on the 4’s and not the 5’s so they would’ve cost me an extra £30 or so to try out. Guess next time might be 5’s going on the front though.

Buy a larger spare and sell your space saver?

Sod's Law. I've had it happen a couple of times over the decades with new and recent tyres. Only good side is once the replacement new tyre has lost its "grease" being only a couple of thousands of kilometres of wear newer it should be close enough to the other three as a set of four so just one tyre needed. I've no idea if it's allowed where you are but you could perhaps(?) plug that tyre and it be fine(?).

Update for future ref…. Fixed under warranty cost would have been £200 but don’t know if that’s all in or exclusive of vat and labour. Either way a decent chunk out of my Warranty cost for this year. Edit : Final non warranty price would have been £230-250

@SkOmk4, My answer in line: 1. All the Release Active DTCs will be present only on the SFD locked modules. The reason why the DTC is still present on that module is that you forgot cu SFD Lock the module after coding. The correct "procedure" to do some coding is: a. Open the Hood (to bypass car firewall) b.Check for previous DTCs before do any coding c.SFD Unlock the module you what to code d. Do the coding d. SFD Lock the module back e. Check for DTCs 2. Backup of whole cars/modules is a MANADATORY step (prerequisites) before start playing around with OBD11 dongle. The saved backup is the only one that can save you if something goes wrong, apart from a visit to your dealer. 3. Like I mentioned in my previous message, try to forget about the built-in OCA, and do the coding manually. If you mess something up(sometimes it can happened due to some parameters in German), just check the History section on that module and revert/rollback your changes. Hopefully this is useful for others too!

The other day I coded the foglights to come up with the DRL during daytime (looks like this), and I think it looks quite neat

I would weld it because I am tight and my time has no value. However the whole beam is very corroded and the eaten away lug is very concerning, at the very least that bracket will need refabrication, that and the necessary reinforcing gussets for the crack repairs make it uneconomical paying someone for a welded repair. My big concern is that it is a torsion beam axle and as such will already be considerably weakened, welding will create additional stresses, the next crack which has probably already started will end up being a catastrophic failure. For that reason alone I would definitely not weld it were the car to be involved in a fatal accident caused by failure of the beam then my actions would be seen as criminal negligence. I bet if it was shotblasted and dye penetrant crack tested you would get a real shock.

I'm suprised it's metal. I think they're a shared platform with a Peugeot 208, so I expected plastic wings. I had to drive one of these on an assessment drive for a job I was going for, and it was terrible. I'm just under 6foot and I couldn't get the seat in any kind of position where it was low enough for me to see forwards without a massive obstruction in my view where the rear view mirror was. It'd got no feel of connection to the road, at one point I was doing commentary and I said "I'm aware I'm doing 10mph under the speed limit, that's because I don't trust the car. I would feel comfortable doing 70mph in another vehicle." passed the assessment though.

This is what you are after: Plug: 03L 971 785A superseeded to 04L 971 785A superseeded to 04L 971 785C Terminals cant be purchased separate for this so you are best with a pigtailed harness and splice it further back.

Finally got around to installing a Whiteline adjustable Rear Sway Bar a few days ago. The standard sway bar on the AWD is 22mm, this is 24mm solid steel and I had it set to the hardest of the two settings (so equivalent to 25mm). I kept the factory end links (I'm not going to track this vehicle!). Definitely worth doing, and transforms the cornering response - it now has a much sharper turn-in, very flat, smooth and precise and a great addition to the Eibach springs. Happily, it's removed much of the inherent understeer and greatly reduced the sense of bulk and weight of the Superb when it's cornering. Ride comfort is unaffected.

Are these Rieger sideskirts? Where did you get these:

Christmas clean! It was absolutely filthy before!

Hi all. This is my new (to me) business bus soon to be branded up with some discreet orange racing stripes and branding. But loved how it looked on these Audi TTs forged 20" wheels I found on marketplace, thought I'd share. Thanks for the immense info sharing on this forum, keen to do some tasteful mods to finish it off as my perfect daily. Watch this space. Thanks, Ash

So I fitted the 034 insert yesterday. I'm happy to report it has exceeded my expectarions. The Powerflex (red) insert transmitted an unbearable.about of noise and vibration into the cabin, particularly on starting, idle, low revs and reverse. By comparison, the 034 is honestly barely noticeable. It doesn't plug the voids in the stock mount, thus allowing it to isolate the vibration of the engine, but it does limit the allowable movement or slop of the mount during heavy engine torque. This results in reduced engine rocking, lift and therefore better traction, response and gear change feel, without loads of noise. Under heavy load you can definitely feel vibration feedback from the engine, but it's very much damped and doesn't reverberate like the PU inserts do. This is on a diesel (so would be even better on a petrol), and I caveat that I did also fit a fresh new stock mount. It feels great, I'd highly recommend for about 90 quid. Note, that he upper part is optional an purported to increase NVH, but if it does at all it's minimal and entirely bearable.