Billy Balthorpe

Did you do the HG yourself? If not, how much did it cost to get it done? I suppose that while the head is off a new Cam belt and tensioner need to be done too!

To tell the truth, I've always been suspicious that there isn't a thermostat in it at all, it takes ages to warm up in winter. It's not tuned, just a standard 105bhp 1.9pd. I've never seen the temp gauge go above half way. I've never heard of a vw diesel engine suffering from head gasket failure either. Until now obvs.

Both of my front windows squeak, but only when it's really warm.

My 2010 mk2 157k 1.9 pd Octavia has started blowing it's coolant out of the expansion tank, through the little plastic moulded in thing that goes from the top near to the cap, down to the ridge that joins the two halves of the tank together. There is no sludge in the oil filler cap, no sign of oil in the water, no water in the oil, and if you drive it at less than 2000rpm it doesn't lose any coolant at all. It has never overheated, every time it has happened I have stopped and filled it up. To test it, I warmed up the car, took off the tank cap (it was holding pressure) and revved it a good few times up to about 4k, then water came bubbling out of the open tank. Am I right assuming that the HG has failed? Or is there a common thing like a blocked coolant hose which could cause this? Thanks.

I think it's a common problem. When I bought mine, half of the speedo leds weren't working, then they came on for a minute, then went off. I have been gradually losing the leds on the whole binnacle since then. They still flash on and off occasionally, but mainly off. There are companies out there who specialise in repairing the binnacle, fitting new LEDS etc. I found one about an hour and a half away in Leicester, they repair the binnacle for about £185. Not going to bother with it now because I'm selling the car.

I was going to replace the brake lines myself, we have the kit to do it, but after having a look at the state of the connection to the brake hose, I decided to let my local garage do it. It only needed a small piece putting in where it had corroded, they tried to flare the original pipe but it kept splitting so they ended up replacing the whole pipe and hose. It cost £140 but it was worth it for not having the hassle, plus he lent me a car for the Day!

All done, I figured the spool/reel window mechanism out, put it all together minus the little spring/clip on the door lock, and re attached the external door pull cable which had never been connected since i bought the car, and now it all works perfectly. The door opens from the inside, outside, locks, unlocks, the window goes up and down. Pleased with myself!!

Ive fitted clinchnuts with very short screws. But now I have another problem. The window winder "reel" that the winder cable goes around has fallen off and unwound. I didnt even see where it came from, so now I'm doing detective work on how to re wind it and fit it back on. I can find anything on youtube which shows how to rewind it and re fit.

Just a quick one. The picture shows my offside rear door on my 2010 Octavia with the door panel removed. I'm trying to get at the door lock so I can take off the little clip that prevents the door opening sometimes. The question is, is the plate you can see with the winder motor bolted to it supposed to be pop riveted on? Or do you think that someone has been in before and lost the screws? Either way it seems I've got to drill them out.

Isn't there a little microswitch which is activated when the boot is closed? If so, couldn't you "fool" the car into thanking that the boot is closed if you hold the switch in the "Boot closed" position? I'd go and have a look on mine, but I'm in the garage waiting for an MOT test on my Dads Ibiza FR.

Sorry, binnacle not pinnacle.

My dials illumination has disappeared except for the temp, fuel gauge and the left hand side of the rev counter and the needles. I am suspicious that it is water ingress that is the problem. When I bought the car in December it was as I described above, then as we had a bit of a dry spell, the rest of the dash lights seemed to flicker and illuminate for a short while, but they were definitely getting to be more on than off. Then after the deluge we had a couple of weeks ago, I was back to the start again, except that I also lost the fuel gauge light too. This has since come back on. I think I'm going to see if I can get my hand up behind the pinnacle and feel for a connector, or just see if I can find a path through so I can get a tube with a hair dryer on the end to see if I can dry the area out. If it works and the dial lights come on, I know it's water ingress and the nightmare of finding where it's coming in can begin.

Thanks guys!!

Would this be it? BXE? Its on the chassis plate, didn't notice it before.🙄

Thanks Gaz, that seems a lot easier than taking off the exhaust from the turbo as I've seen in the You tube vids. Still wondering how to find out what my engine code is though.

My 2009 77kw Octavia 1.9 pd TDI lost turbo power while overtaking yesterday, and for the rest of the journey I could tell that the turbo just wasn't kicking in as it should. There was no noise or smoke when it happened, nor has there been since. There is no engine management light on the dash illuminated, and I'm too far away from my OBD II reader to see if there are any codes stored. I don't know what the actual engine code is because, despite having searched this forum using "Engine code find" or just "Engine code", all I can see are various engine management code questions, not how to find the actual engine code. Any pointers to help me find the location of the engine code would be appreciated. So I've done some research on here and on Youtube and see that Mr Muscle oven cleaner can clean out the exhaust side of the turbo (If you are very careful obviously). Is this right? Would it work on a 1.9 pd engine? I got the impression from Youtube and this forum, that the variable vanes on the turbo were sticking probably due to a build up of contaminants and causing an overboost problem. Does the 2009 1.9 77kw PD engine even have variable vanes to stick? I'm quite happy to do the work myself, I just thought that before I go swapping the turbo, I'd better try to clean it. Any help would be really appreciated.

The only problem I can see is that you HAVE to remove the outer door pull cable from the outer handle to be able to push the lever inside back so it re sets. If I were you, I would get some fishing line braid and tie it around the cable before you pull the nipple out of the handle, so that once you get the door open you can re connect it by pulling on the braid and re attaching the nipple to the handle.

OK, now its stopped raining and ive got some daylight I've had a bit of a mess around with the door. I've figured out that no matter how many times i pull the outside handle it was never going to open. Mainly because, the "Mechanic" who owned the car before me had disconnected the cable from the door handle. So I removed the little plastic cover next to the handle and was able to get a very stiff coat hanger wire through the gap between the pulled open handle and the part of the handle assembly that stays still when you pull it. There is a useful video here showing what the problem actually is. It explains why the lock is not re setting, because the lever shown in the video is not returning all the way back. So I got in with my thick coat hanger and generally pushed everything back that I could get it planted on. Then opened the window so I could yank away at the inside door handle whilst double pressing the key unlock and hey presto, it popped open! I closed it, locked it and tried again but it failed. So i poked and pressed a bit more and did the same thing with the door handle/key, and it worked again. Ive since given the door some serious slams and now it seems to work every time or thereabouts. At least now I know I can get the door open so I can strip it down and sort it, probably by removing the spring as shown in the video and re connecting the external door pull cable. Hope this helps you out simontaylor.

I just hope someone comes up with some advice. Maybe the middle of the door card can be undone and pulled back exposing a hole or something so a bent coat hanger can be inserted to pull or push on the locking arm, which presumably has stuck in the lock position. But I'm just guessing.

As the title says, the drivers side rear door on my 2009 Octavia will not unlock, either via the central locking, inside, or outside, or a combination of yanking away at the outside and inside while my Lad tries to unlock via the key. Ive also tried thumping the area where (I think) the mechanism is while pressing the unlock button and using the handles. Ive put my ear against the door and I can hear the "thunk" of the mechanism trying to open the door when I press the unlock function on the key, but it just wont open. So it cant be the "Damaged wiring" theory because the unlock mechanism is getting the signal to open and actuating the unlock solenoid. My question is, how the hell am i going to take off the inner panels to be able to get at the unlock mechanism (If i will be able to, from the inside of a locked door) and figure out what is wrong, from the inside of a locked door? From what i've seen on Youtube, removing the door panels requires the door to be open? Can anyone offer any advice?

Found them now its daylight.

I don't seem to have any sidelights on my newly purchased 2009 Octavia. When I switch them on from the toggle switch on the dash, the main headlights go off, but the rear lights stay on suggesting that the sidelights at the front should be on. Are the sidelights contained in the main front light assembly, or are they separate units? Thanks.

Hello all you lovely people! Well its been a while! But I'm back at the wheel of my own 2009 Octavia purchased this very night. Company cars have kept me away, then a divorce and various other things. But I'm back now, and hungry for info! Billy.