Entertwainer

I'm purely asking this as i think i know the score, but if there is even the slightest chance its another issue that's not so dire, i'd maybe look into it to save my Fabia... about 5 days ago, the engine lost a lot of power - juddering, but limped home. I suspected it was an ignition coil failure. i removed all 3, but found the middle one (its the 3 cylinder chain cam engine) had oil on the end of the coil and a little pool of it round the spark plug (probably a thimble amount if that). This had happened before (about 5-6months ago, but less oil. i was suspicious, but thought it could have been spillage/residue from the oil service i did previously. I suspected a potential gasket fail as a possibility, but couldn't quite see where the leak was coming from, so I cleaned it all up, replaced all the coils and she was purring like a kitten. didn't use the car for a couple of days, but i then started it up and the engine sounded rough and was a bit juddery. i left it for a few mins and it sounded better, but after revving, when the revs got back down to 1K, it dipped like it was gonna stall - and white smoke started coming from the exhaust (not plumes of thick white smoke, but more noticeable and there was a distinct fumey smell) - i lt it get to temp, but it still came out and was getting a bit worse. i'm pretty sure this is a blown head gasket (valve cover gasket?) and after speaking to a couple of garages, its a bitch to replace - and often disturbs other parts that make the job spenny (one garage said at least 4 hours of work), other people said it also requires chain to come off and injectors coming out, all which add levels of peril to the job i think? its had 155K miles (of relatively trouble free running) and has been serviced and nutured its whole life since i took it on at 35K miles from one owner. i wanted to get 200K out of this little machine, but i think this might be the end of it.... if there are any thoughts on this that could maybe help me eeek some more miles out of this car or fix it, then id appreciate it, otherwise, my next question is, how much more would i get breaking it myself compared to WBAC or local garage to collect it for scrap money???

thanks for the info - its super confusing trying to find one that doesnt have this massive pitfall of component protection - is there a 'date stamp' that can help identify when this component protection came in so i can avoid this? ive ended up buying myself an aftermarket Sony headunit for £30. although i'm dubious as i hear a lot of issues with batteries being drained as the 'permanent live' seems to be an issue. All i was after was reliable bluetooth connection and bit of an upgrade on sound quality....it was such an easy job back in the late 90s/early noughties.....

thank you dude!

My car is poverty spec, so all I really was after was Bluetooth connectivity and a CD player. That's all....I've got a janky set up that is unreliable when it comes to Bluetooth.

well apart from not understanding 99% of what those people are talking about, i get the feeling this radio probably wont work. so that's great. this 'component protection' seems a lot like proprietary bullsh*t from manufacturers who don't want people to own anything. i wish i'd looked into this more. i'll see if i can return the radio to the seller, this sounds like too much trouble for what i thought (and i think quite rightly should be) a straight swap.... its a shame because aftermarket radios have ZERO user interface design and horrible menus. i like the simplicity of these radio systems.

Yeah it's got a CD slot and an SD slot at the lower left of the fascia. I've messaged the guy about the radio code, so I could at least get the Car VIN to confirm it and gets code that way.

Hi all - i recently bought a VW head unit that has bluetooth functionality to swap for my Swing. However, since receiving it i have had the odd discovery that it doesn't appear to have a serial number on it anywhere - the label that usually carries it doesn't seem to show it, and its not stamped anywhere else on the unit... serial numbers start with VW, but this doesn't have any numbers like that, so i am wondering how am i supposed to get the radio code? unless this is a straight plug and play (i havent installed it yet). ive contacted the ebay seller to ask for it on the off chance, but don't hold out any hope. Would local VW dealers be able to help? any help would be appreciated.

i've no idea how these even got damaged. it might be worth converting if the latest one i bought suffers the same fate. i'll investigate - thanks for the suggestion.

update: too tricky to glue the cable ends in and have a working mirror that still functions so i've removed the cables and taped it up around the bevel/swivel bit. this is an attempt to keep the mirror in place (so when you shut the door or go over a bump it doesnt flop around or fall out) but also, it does allow a small amount of wiggle to adjust. but i doubt it will last long (especially wet/humid weather)... glorious.

hey all, long time lurker here, but this is the 3rd time ive experienced the EXACT same issue with these poxy wing mirrors. i have a 2010 MK2 fabs with manual wing mirrors. the repeated issue i'm having is that the plastic swivel/base that the mirror sits on, breaks where the cables are resting - i.e. where the cable stops are, the plastic surrounding it snaps off (coz its super brittle cheap ******* plastic) thus, the cable outer is no longer trapped and then pushes the mirror into an awkward and unusable position. the culprit to this issue is highlighted in the images - however, this isn't my biggest gripe. my gripe is that i cannot seem to find a source for just this part and at £45 a pop for a whole new fecking mirror, i'm not interested in buying any more....so im reaching out to see if anyone has bodged this part successfully so that i can just fix it and move on (permanently).... not sure how i can bodge it so that i can still feed the cable through and slot the inner cable end into the slot - unless i just glue the bladdy things in place maybe??? im thinking epoxy resin would do it - since i need to anchor the metal in place.... anyways, i guess this is probably the solution that would sort me out best and i could just apply it to all three cable stops to ensure it doesn't happen again. Once ive glued it, i'll post some more images up and hopefully if someone else is having this issue, they can try it out too and not fork out 50snids BTW - this bodge will only mean you need to remove the door card and unscrew the adjustment knob housing to slacken the cables in order to get the cables in position before gluing it all in place. Hopefully the pics i upload will show this in enough detail

Hi all, long time observer here, but I thought I'd give this a thread as it seems it's not spoken of at all. Basically I've noticed over the past few months/maybe more, that the drivers side door latch is fouling the latch bracket when closing. A mechanic doing some other work on the car recently commented that the door has dropped slightly. While this makes sense, I cannot see how? I've checked and compared the hinges on both sides and it's showing no signs of misalignment anywhere. However, the door latch is a bit effed. The micro switch is damaged, meaning the courtesy light doesn't come on, so when the drivers door is open, the car thinks it isn't, I know this because when I unlock it and only open the drivers door, it will lock itself again after about 30 seconds-ish. What I can't figure out is why the latch is fouling the bracket. Everything looks normal, no signs of wear or being knocked/moved out of alignment. I can see the latch is damaged where the micro switch is housed. I'm going to replace it, but just thought I'd post this so anyone else experiencing it can see how this pans out or if anyone has solved it before can exchange their remedies!