StevesTruck

Bit of an odd one, it sounds like something else has been interfered with in the process of the other work. Is it a hatchback, estate or saloon? First thing I'd be doing is use something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314027117048 to see if the key's being read and talking back. If it's anything like my caddy, there's three bits to the immobiliser. The collar on the lock barrel reads the code, then passes it to a black box up above the fusebox to decode, then passes the code to the ECU to verify. Worst case, I'd get a chipped ECU with an immobiliser delete in (and have a few more HP with it).

You can use a spanner, I've used a pair of stilsons on other cars with better access. The issue is being able to get in there with it, get enough leverage on it to crack the joint off, then get enough of a turn on to get the spanner on the next face.

Simple stuff first 👍

Check the spare wheel's fastened down then my next suspect would be exhaust.

The easiest way to drain them is to take the hose off the fuel filter and pump the fuel out from there with a separate transfer pump. Run it until it's dry, then put a bit of diesel in the tank, and make sure the pump's pulling clean diesel. The bodge is to do the same, but run the lift pump in the tank either by flicking the key, bridging the relay or using a diagnostic tool to run the pump. As above, the big risk is that the high pressure pump, and to a lesser extent, the injectors, won't be getting lubricated properly, so might fail sooner than expected. There's no real way to say if that's in 10 minutes, 10 days or 10 years.

A VAG one won't fit unfortunately, they're a Skoda box originating back from before Skoda were part of VAG. The driveshafts push into the box on splines rather than bolt onto output cups like a VW.

Leave it at the end of the drive, someone will have it away for scrap metal.

I've had this on a 2002 Ibiza, black wire corrosion pretty much everywhere. I spent two years getting by patching in sections but it was never totally right.

I have a rule with diesels - The worse it looks, the simpler the fault normally is. Any spluttering, smoke from the exhaust or anything when you tried to start it, or literally just churning over? Any indication that you might have upset the immobiliser? Is there fuel in the filter? I don't know if it can happen on PD's, but I've had experience of a Vauxhall where the guy who was on it before me got the pump pulley 360 degrees out of time.

I'd sort of see the argument either way on that one. I've always tested at the reservoir because it should be where the fluid is in its worst state for water content, because deterioration would most normally happen from the fluid pulling in moisture from the air in the reservoir, and no where else should be open to air. But at the same time, I've seen some dirty, nasty brake fluid come out of the other end of the system, when the stuff in the reservoirs looked fine.

Yeah, I've found brembo to be a mixed bag in recent years. Same as @FluffyEyeball - I had one warp on my Octavia as well. I put TRW's on the front of my van a couple of weeks/couple of thousand miles ago and I've been really happy with them. Good price too. Not sure I'd use autodoc again because their delivery times are a lottery, and I've been sent a cheap sensor from them when I paid for a branded one. I far prefer partsinmotion - fast delivery, decent prices and really helpful when you talk to them.

Not as easy on a Fabia because of where the filler is... The fluid in a pas system circulates when you steer. I wouldn't normally look to drain and refill the system because you won't get it all out easily What I normally do is empty the reservoir with a syringe, take the return pipe off and put that into a catch bottle. Fill the reservoir with fresh fluid. Work the steering lock to lock and top the reservoir up until the fluid coming out of the return is clean. Unless the steering is feeling notchy I wouldn't really bother though. I changed the caddys fluid because I had to change the rack due to a fluid leak. The Berlingo felt a bit notchy sometimes when it was cold.

Was alright for what it was. I've had a 900cc MK1 polo, loved it, but the fiesta was a far better car technically

Can't hurt, but I wouldn't be in a rush to do it at 8 years old. Think both my Caddy and my Berlingo were 16 years old when I did a change. The fluid looked nasty n both. Made a marginal difference on the Caddy, but did help the Berlingo on cold mornings.

Love my VAG cars, but there's only been one make and model of car ever made, that there's never been a bad version of, and that was the Fiesta.

It could equally be the alternator pulley. Have a listen which end of the engine it's coming from.

Love Harry's videos, the thing that makes them so different is his delivery. He's not showing the car or his lifestyle off, it's like his inviting you in and sharing his enjoyment of the car with you.

MicMac is spot on with that. It's almost always going to be a poor solder joint in the dash cluster. Don't swap it for another cluster though because it contains the immobiliser data. The other bodge around is to put a chipped ECU on with an immobiliser delete.

There should be two seals that sit in the ends of the pipe, I find these go hard and brittle. The v bands are a compete **** to get on and sat right. What I did was put an airbag from my lockout kit on the other side of the heater matrix and used it to apply some pressure to push the matrix tight onto the hoses while I pushed the pipes the other way, put the v-band on and did it up. That way you only need 3 hands rather than 4.

The other benefit is it lets you transition between brake and accelerator faster, which is why circuit racers use a left foot brake. As said though, a standard vrs doesn't have great throttle response. I use it a bit on twisties if I'm in a car with the throttle response to do it (MK2 caddy SDI is the only vehicle I have on the road that benefits from it, it doesn't seem to cut the throttle, despite having fly by wire and a multipin brake switch). Growing up driving tractors makes braking with either foot easier.

So, by that token, because I live between an offshore windfarm and an onshore windfarm, whatever I will do will be more environmentally friendly than someone who lives in a city?

There's no problem at all with the National Grid, it's a great idea. However, the post was making the point that because the vehicle was being charged up in Scotland, it would not be causing the burning of fossil fuels, whereas in England it would. If you think that's how the National Grid works, I'm going to need to get the crayons out...

Problem with that school of thought is there's this thing called the National Grid...

Fair point. 👍 Same reason people post criticising everytime someone mentions WD, we've all got our own ways of doing things. Personally I start with some 99p a can stuff and if that doesn't work, use something better.

If it's just one, I'd personally leave it alone. The CR's don't seem to need a lot of glow, so the other 3 will get it going easily enough.