wiredsoftware

Funny enough I was watching that just the other day - if you search for wheeler dealers xr2 on YouTube you'll probably turn up a dodgy copy. Not sure it's much use for this project though, the XR2 design is quite a bit different. He does give a good explanation of the principles behind what you're trying to achieve, but reckon the OP has that covered

All sorted now, guess the regular bulb I tried must have been broken, and the LED one didn't work I guess. Anyway, once I put another bulb in, removed the key and left it for a few minutes, it started working again...

Yeah sorry got my N/S and O/S reversed in the post, you're correct! That's what happens when you work on the car parked on the wrong side of the road Interesting about the pulses, will check again when I buy some fresh bulbs - tested with an old standard bulb I had lying around and a LED one, so will try a new bulb to be 100% sure and check the pulses are present. Are the pulses long long enough to pick up on a digital multimeter? Don't have access to an analogue one at the moment.

Hi all, I got a warning light on the dash the other day for bulbs. The front O/S side light turned out to be the problem. However, replacing the bulb hasn't fixed it, and after checking the wiring diagram there appears to be no power to the grey/black wire that supplies the bulb at the connector. I don't suppose this is a known issue, but if anyone can point me at any obvious places to check before I take out the battery, airbox and everything else in that side of the engine to chase the wire? Apparently it comes from the "on-board power supply control unit" (any idea where that is?), and the N/S light is fed on a separate wire from there (which presumably is why the N/S is working fine). Car is a 2005 Octavia 1.9 TDI. If I can't find the control unit, or the unit turns out to be defective, presumably I can just run power from the N/S? Not sure how the warning light knows that it is gone though, would a bulb warning on the dash be an MOT failure if all lights worked?

The oil cap will get rid of the smell, fixed the smell for me anyway. The idle is "rough" on these, but assuming everything is in order, that just means it should wander up and down about 50 RPM in each direction, and do so relatively smoothly. If it's jumping harshly, something's not 100%.

Thanks - that's the one! Forgot to mention mine's a 2001, engine AQW. Judging by that, I just need the seal so I've ordered that.

Anyone got any idea what size bolt (or part number) you need for the oil drain plug on the 8V MPI? All the ones I've tried so far that claim to fit "all Fabias" don't fit, probably because the 8v is pre-VAG. Not keen to measure my existing one as it's holding the oil in (mostly, it's weeping a little). It's also a different design, the one on there is flat with an Allen key design rather than the simple bolts that I've tried. The wrong one I got was M14x1.5mm, the one I need seems to be bigger, not sure of pitch. Really I guess I probably just need the washer, but guessing they are integral? Any help appreciated. The one I need looks a lot like this:

Switch cleaner on the pot seems to have sorted it for now, wonder if it will last!

Try harder Seriously though, it got tangled because it got forced through the gap while folded, so it must go back again. They always do, just needs a lot of brute force and swearing. If you fold the strap at an angle it helps, as does adding some non-destructive lubrication. Furniture polish is good for this, it doesn't stain, but makes it slippier/shinier which helps a little. The fold will need to be really tight, so you may need to encourage it with a butter knife or something.

Number 11 in pic below.

To fit aftermarket ones you'll need to cut the existing wires and add new spade connectors. You can buy these very cheaply and simply crimp them on, no soldering. Off the top of my head, there should be three wires to the existing connector. Two will be chunky, with one thinner one. The thinner one is the positive feed for the ring of light that comes on/off when you turn the car lights on. The two thicker ones are the positive and negative. The positive is permanent live so that you can use the lighter with the car off. Main positive: black/white Main negative: brown Lights positive: grey/blue for the aftermarket ones, most likely they will use red for positive, black or brown for negative. The lights one if they support it could be any colour. If you only need a lighter socket to power USB devices, there are aftermarket options that replace the socket with 2x USB instead. These usually contain the bits needed to step down the voltage, but often have a light in them that is permanently on, in which case you'd need to run a switched live to the area instead so it doesn't gradually drain your battery.

Could be a number of things, I could list them all but you could spend a lot of money replacing parts that don't need to be replaced, could you get a scan of fault codes and post them up?

Washer fluid container is easy to remove, however to get it out you need to remove the bumper and the battery. It's just held in with a couple of bolts, and the water connections are just push-fit. If you're taking the bumper off anyway, then you cold attempt a DIY patch of that crack by doing some at-home plastic welding using a soldering iron on the back side. The video below shows how it's done, but please do this outdoors unlike the guy in the video, the fumes are bad for you! It should make the split much less obvious if done carefully and will stop the crack from growing.

Don't think I mentioned, but in case it's helpful for someone in the future: Removing the engine cover and replacing it with a simple cap from the Felicia (as mentioned above) completely stopped the fumes in the cabin. Problem solved.

Could be. I'm not convinced that flap is a good design, when closed the air is forced to come from the manifold, up a relatively narrow pipe, and then completely double back on itself to get to the air box. When open, it's always partially obstructing the inlet tract. Probably a triumph of efficiency over engineering.

Quick guide, no pics I'm afraid, of how I fixed the stutter that I was experiencing when pulling off in my MPI. Basically, I've cleared out the internals of the air box snorkel. - remove the air box snorkel, its attached to the air box with a single + head screw. There is a tube underneath it that goes to the manifold to feed warm air, pull this off (easiest to do at manifold end). - using a screwdriver, prise the snorkel apart into two halves along its length, at the lugs. - Once inside, you'll find lots of plastic obstructions, and a primitive valve which is supposed to ensure warm air is fed when the engine is cold, and cold when it's up to temperature. Unfortunately, it seems to mostly get in the way, and mine was quite stiff. - Pull out the flap/spring - Using a dremel, cut out any remaining plastics that used to house the flap so that the tube is empty. Finish by sanding it smooth, and optionally coat with a suitable plastic paint to smooth out any imperfections. - put the two halves back together by pushing them back into each other. - refit using the screw, and plug in the warm air hose (you could always run a cold air hose from the front of the car, if that's your thing). Result: much smoother pulling off, the slight bogging down is gone, both when hot and cold (was always worse when cold). Power is the same, no change to MPG. I suspect the flap inside was not functioning to its full potential, so restricting airflow. I've left mine now sucking both warm and cold air, working fine for me, although others have removed the snorkel altogether and attempted a cold air intake. I'm dubious of the benefits of this - because MPI not race car. This also has the advantage of looking 100% stock. Incidentally, I tested that this might have been the problem by first running the car without the snorkel altogether. This fixed the issue, but this car is not made to go bwarp, so this solution has made it sound stock again. This is may not be suitable in extreme low or high temperature climates, but we get neither in the UK. Comments welcome.

No luck finding a supplier for the potentiometer, tried various part numbers and V68/potentiometer/G92 combinations...

There's the number 162H 2479 on the side (or that H might be a K). The blue one on the Polo forum showed D04104 172, but havn't found anything on either of those numbers. Also saw the number C03523 172 on a very similar blue one, again nothing found. To get access, I've cut off most of the black part (except the arrow bit). I figure there's not much to lose at this stage. The track looks intact but dull, so it might clean up alright.

Some info in case anyone needs to strip down the motor in future. The poster in the link above mentioned having to break off various bits to get the potentiometer out. There's a better way - first, pull out the motor element, then pull the whole plug socket upwards with the potentiometer still attached (it just slots in). Pic attached. Also, the arrow on the top of the potentiometer indicates the extent of travel - if correctly installed, the potentiometer should be able to travel from the arrow at the left edge of the gap in the potentiometer's white plastic to the right of it, when you turn the big black cog on the rear of the unit from stop-to-stop. Waiting on contact cleaner at the moment which will hopefully breathe some more live into it. I've confirmed that the motor works when in the car with the potentiometer removed, so it's definitely the pot that's at fault.

Thanks all, will strip it down at some point and see if it can be repaired.

I'm beginning to suspect this... http://www.uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=52145&sid=b67e60a75abc881380ac82ee7df60e5b

Couldn't find a previous thread on this, but I'm sure there is one. My heater varies in temperature while driving, usually suddenly turning very hot even though I usually keep the dial in the middle. - Often, turning the dial all the way to cold and then back up again seems to reset it - All speed settings work (no resistor problems) - I do not have climate control (I do have aircon, but not turned on at the moment). - Engine coolant temperature is dead centre as it should be at all times - Engine coolant level is fine and has been replaced ~18mths ago (problem started last 3 months, so not related to that servicing) - Turning the temp knob to hot gives you hot air, to cold gives you cold air, in between works some of the time, but sometimes goes screwy. Any ideas? Thanks.

Linkage adjustment info and YouTube video link in this thread:

Got an aftermarket radio in it? Lots of those incorrectly wired up to perm live (either the head unit red/yellow wires the wrong way round, or an aerial booster on the wrong one). Worth disconnecting it if so and measuring. I'd consider any piece of aftermarket kit in the car guilty until proven innocent. Fusebox layout is here (images are broken, but click on the broken images and they will open OK): The internal lights fuse might be worth removing to check, in case glovebox or boot lights are on that you can't see!

Have you got the results of a scan that we can have a look at, even if just the codes? I'd be surprised if any of the sensors you mentioned were the cause, they would all cause some loss of MPG/power, but not THAT much. I'd agree timing sounds more likely, unless it's obviously leaking compression or not running on all cylinders... I have a vague recollection about a batch of timing kits and incorrect alignment marks, can't remember if that was the MPI though, perhaps someone else might remember that better than me?