TheClient

Not sure if you are able to disassemble the led array and replace. You'll have to either do some more extensive googling or try and disassemble yourself. These are the led day running led in the headlight itself? Not separate right? Sounds like they have worn out. Remember these would be running 100% of the time the car is. You could remove both headlights and swap the faulty one onto the other connector, where the leds are presently working properly, to make sure it is not a wiring / voltage drop issue. I doubt it though.....

Mmm. That all sounds reasonable. Maybe try a new fine oil separator / pcv. Get a genuine latest edition. Around £90. Still sounds like a lot for that but some report high usage with that failure and they definitely do not last for life.

The VAG threshold which should be in you manual somewhere is 1Litre per 1000km (600miles) but no one believes that is a good threshold. 1 litre per 1000 miles in your case is a lot irrespective. Funny how you've just noticed that. Had you never ever topped up before, as that seems weird. If there are no leaks and no cross contamination in coolant, your really only left with pistons rings or turbo with that amount. What has your oil change frequency been like through the 100k miles? VW 502.00 is the fixed interval 12 months / 10k miles max regime. I prefer this, there are a lot of oils that will meet VW 502.00 almost all being 0-40w and 5w-40w. I try not to run to 10k miles, depending on driving duty cycle I'd say 6 to 8k is better but it is a subjective opinion to some extent. Your car, it's well out of warranty, you do what you like. If it is an internal engine burning issue it will be hard to resolve regardless of the oil spec or change interval now. As it is you'll be more than changing the whole oil capacity inside 5,000 miles anyway! Eventually, not immediately though, this will kill the engine I'm afraid.

There is a lock detent. So you should feel it rotates slightly easy in that but requires force, anti clockwise to get past that. Usually two hands or two hands with non slip gloves is more than enough..

You need the wiring diagrams for the two different spec seats. But failing that colour wire maybe enough to depin and repin on new seat. If big black plug is heat only, ignore that for now. Is it thicker gauge wire?

15 degrees is normal at idle for intake cam timing. How does it respond to revving? Does the actual follow specified closely. Was this capture at idle? Exhaust I think on my engine is zero at idle. But perhaps your variant is slightly different. Has it been remapped?

Dont know what to make of it. Put up until it gets worse? It's not always the best advice but fault finding if you've ruled out all the obvious can be very hard to pin down on something like this. Is it your feeling that the engine is misfiring. On live data you should see it if it is..

It’s rough idle but no misfire counters at all? Normally even a smooth idle will produce a few especially when cold? If that’s really the case I’m thinking more a physical issue, like engine mounts, dog bone mount, dmf, maybe v belt issue with crank pulley or tensioner. I think there was a tpi on the harmonic balancer/ crank pulley re vibrations if my recall is operating correctly!! Re v belt, carefully observe when engine idling maybe remove belt. Care With hands and running engine required. Don’t wear a tie either when checking!

Best practice is to renew as you are aware, they are torqued up a lot TTY bolts. I have re used before though.

Yes. Done it myself. Use the bolt on the tensioner to release. A second pair of hands can make life easier but can be done on your own.

It sounds like the coolant system is getting pressurised and leaking out the expansion bottle overflow. It does sound like a HG cause as likely. You could replace the coolant bottle cap if it is a design that has a pressure relief valve in it to see if it resolves..

Have you tried to top up ad blue to see if it has used any at all in 3500miles circa 5000kms?

How did you realise? Did you query the itemised oil in tye receipt? You may want to flush it again by draining a second time after a decent drive so warmed up. The thing is the haldex oil has friction modifiers in it to aid with the clutch pack operation. Your lucky I guess that the haldex clutch is generally decoupled so if it wasn't called for in the day you had the wrong oil in, probably hasn't burnt the clutch packs. But I'd probably do a second drain and refill but that's just me. How much did you drain / refill about 800ml if I remember. If you remove the pump, a good idea to recheck level after starting car as pump will reprime and lower level slightly...

If it is the slave it's annoying to say the least that a pretty cheap part requires removal of trans. A story of the modern vehicle world. I remember driving home In my 73 240z with a failed slave. No clutch at all. Fluid all over ground. Had to anticipate traffic lights or start car in gear. Changed gear minimally by releasing throttle and moving gear with drive pressure off! Luckily, I was in a remote part of the world and it wasn't too busy. Next day, replaced it with just a car jack, coouple of ring spanners, the wheel off and a block of wood for secondary fall protection!!

Pretty sure it's 45mm the cap supplied with the sealey pressure bleeder fits every vw group I've had in last 10 years. https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637206325/brake-clutch-bleeding-system-25l

Sounds like an abs sensor or abs wire.

What is definitely the case with gen 3 water pumps, they definitely have a finite life due to all the plastic, plastic bushings, lack of replaceable seals etc. Also due to the amount of active management the servo movement is used a lot, even after warm up... A replacement thermostat only gives you a new lifetime which on these, I'd say 5 or 6 years, 60 to 70k miles is it. It will be interesting to hear what the op fault is, considering it has already been replaced.

Obd eleven, vcds will for sure. Something simpler like torque pro would probably allow you to log at least one of the senders not sure if both though. Yes, you'd want to log when the spike occurs and compare to data in the log to indicate if the temp is really high on either sensor. They do run hot by design, the thermostat regulates to about 103C to 105C from memory. The rad outlet should be a noticeable amount cooler.

The electromechanical thermostat in the gen3 does not use return spring AFAIK. It uses a servo and gears and the exact position of the restriction valve can be monitored and logged. If it was to say get stuck, gears strip etc, they do "usually" log a fault. As the thermostat would not be responding to position changes as requested. Or the coolant temp differential was not as expected. If you log both temp sensor value when this spike happens with the temp guage you should be able to determine if it is genuine temp overheating or not.

It will have component protection.

I've had faulty speakers before. If they've been overdriven they can perform as you describe. Equally, it could be the headunit / amplifier. But less likely in my opinion - possible though. You need to start with the cheapest and easiest fix first. You'll know if it is a speaker with one card off and one speaker unit replaced. The other option which sounds a lot more complicated to me would be to access the media unit main harness for speaker outputs, de pin the left and right speaker outputs, front and rear, so likely 8 pins, reverse the left to the right, refit, retest. If the problem as changed sides, it is the HU or amplifier. If the same side is faulty it is speakers or wiring to.

The rivets need to be carefully drilled just so the cap of the rivet comes away… you can re rivet or use speed nuts and screws or something similar. The speakers come with a gasket but you may want to seal in place with silicon mastic to prevent water ingress into carpets. if you can’t re-attach the slide control you will have to try and by a vent grill complete. there will be you tube vids on the card removal. There will likely be a couple of torx bolts usually hidden by trim on handle or along bottom of card or both. Plus the plastic rivet things on the card itself…

Mmm. Well. Sounds like usual thermostat failure maybe the senders were faulty as well. Why it is still doing it, that I don’t know…. The coolant management is quite complicated in the engine, with two senders on on engine one at rad outlet and the ecu expects a certain differential otherwise will trigger a code. but yours is just the gauge display. And to be honest they are usually only directionally correct anyway and show 90c for anything up to 105c plus…. maybe there is a cluster fault or a wiring fault shorting out the temp sender wiring? What if you disconnect one or both senders? It will probably trigger an eml but what does the gauge do….

Yeah until you're doing it one handed, alone, on the drive, on your back and the bolts are all rusted tight. Good luck though. Hoping for an easy ride!!