StevesTruck

I'd like to see ewe do better.

Make sure you get a few quotes for the repairs rather than just going to the nearest body shop. Wouldn't want to get fleeced!

If you're not getting anywhere doing it the technical way, I'd be going basic with the fault finding. Take the outlet pipe off the fuel filter, prime it and see if there's a decent amount of fuel coming out. Pull the plugs out, see what colour and condition they're in. See if they will spark against the head. Do a compression test. Put a test "Noid" light on the injector plugs. Pull the injectors out put them in some test jars and see if they're spraying, and spraying well.

VCDS will do most of what you ever want to do on a VAG and do it well. I've got it, use it quite a bit and it does what I need, but I find it clunky to use and having the cable into a laptop feels a bit old fashioned, especially when you're doing live data. My brother's got about £500 worth of Topdon diagnostic tablet. I don't do anything on VCDS that it doesn't seem to be capable of. It's a little slow but really intuitive and the Bluetooth dongle is great, and it works on all marques. The question really is what do you want to do, on what cars, and how much do you want to spend.

I always get a few extra MPG's in diesels in the summer vs winter, I've always put it down to different formulations being used in the fuel for summer/winter.

Doesn't take much to hurt a fuel pump on a commonrail. Open your diesel filter up and see if there's any metal particles in it.

Did you run it at all on the wrong fuel?

I bought a bag of them off ebay for a few quid. I got them years ago and they still haven't run out.

Impact socket and a lump hammer

I just lit mine with a blowtorch but that's probably not the best of ideas. I fitted the polybushes with some furniture polish for lube, started them in with a press and finished seating them with a slightly comically large nylon mallet.

Mine has an Autoleads adapter on. It's not perfect, but it works.

Reverse the process to reinstall, though I'd personally give it a couple of weeks for this heat to go down before doing so.

There's always an excuse why they won't even have a crack at getting some of it out. My favourite was "Sorry, I normally have the door card off and everything to get the glass out, but the hoover's not working". He didn't look happy when I said "No problem, I totally understand - I'll get you mine"

I'd probably leave it open with a bit of pipe as a funnel if I were going down that route.

Literally just brim the reservoir, sit the cap on top to keep the grime out, open the bleed nipple on the clutch and let it gravity bleed, preferably into a bit of clear pipe so you can watch it. Then go for lunch while it sorts itself out. I'm very much not a fan of the eezi pressure bleeders. I prefer a vac bleeder, either one that goes on the compressor or a handpump. If a gravity bleed won't do it, that's going to be the next course of action. Once you've got fluid there, and the pedal returning - I'd bleed it in the normal manner that I bleed clutches: Press the clutch down and release it about 10 times, hold it down on the last one. Stick a bit of pipe on the bleed nipple, run it into a pot with some brake fluid it. Release the bleed nipple (pedal still down) With the pipe still running into the pot of fluid - Pump the clutch about another 10 times. Hold it down on the last one and close the bleed nipple. Not everyone's going to be a fan, but that's just what works for me.

Unless you reset the Service Reminder Interval via the OBD, the car won't know it's had an oil change, so won't restart the counter.

I'm 2 years in on a Halfords own-brand 096 on my 1.9TDI, it's been fine, potentially the best bit of the car.

Bosch batteries aren't great, if it's still in warranty, dive in quick and get another one. If it's not, give it a slow trickle charge. I've used Tayna twice and not been impressed. When I bought a battery for my Fabia the battery came, really carefully delivered in a box marked "this way up", opened it up and they'd put it in the box upside down. I'd have sent it back, but there was the whole "need to get to work" factor at play.

If you undo the check strap, you should be able to get the door open enough to get in with a long T45 bit. Can I ask what you're trying to achieve though because this hinge won't be easy to get back on or set.

That looks rather sketchy - where do they go?

They're very much not an easy one to take apart and put back together. If you can find a second seat back in the right fabric, that would be a lot easiest.

The starter motor earth's through its casing. It just has a big feed wire and a little one to drop the solenoid. Probably telling you stuff you already know, but bear in mind this circuit is unfused and live all the time, so disconnect the battery before working on it.

12.5 sounds low, but if she's been cranking it over for a while, that might explain it. Suddenly stopped is a weird one, they normally crawl on and die by degrees (mine's been on death's door for 40k miles). Are all the big (battery, starter, alternator) power connectors tight and clean? Will it push start? Is it getting fuel (pop the top of the filter off and make sure there's some in there)?

Probably going up to a mk5 Golf platform (mk2 octy, etc). We've got a Mk1 TT (mk4 golf platform) in at the minute that someone's swapped the clocks on, so that's immob'd out.

They don't have them,they use a magnet in the CV end. The fact it comes up after the car has moved makes me think it's a fault at a wheel, rather than the controller. More often than not, it's going to be a damaged flexi cable. If you can't scan it, go round these, check them for splits, use some contact cleaner in the plugs and check the sensors for dirt and damage. A scan will at least tell you which wheel to look at.