Warrior193

In my defence, I thought that the OP was asking about suspension. It is my understanding that Koni actives are self-contained and are a straight swap for standard units.

If the OPs measurement is correct, we are only talking a fraction of a millimetre difference. I'd suspect that sort of difference could very well be within spec. considering that the ride height has been substantially reduced - presumably with aftermarket springs.

That will be caused by the voltage drop while starting the engine, my Nextbase camera does the same. Possibly your battery SOC is a little lower now with the lower temperatures than it was during the warmer months.

Hello @doughobbs I found what might possibly be useful information on the Ross-Tech forum - try a search on www.partslink24.com. It seems that, apart from the roof and rear quarters, a lot of the panels are identical.

To me, the 'siren' noise would suggest a failing bearing - or badly damaged gear teeth - but I would have thought the noise would always be there in that gear - not just during the shift. I was thinking the noise was from the hub itself, as it was trying (and failing) to match gears, but I don't recall ever hearing anything as loud as OP describes.

I just checked SHMBOs Fabia rear hatch with my Octavia combi - they are a lot more similar than I thought - if there isn't someone on here with a definite answer, are you able to get accurate measurements to check if they match?

Good morning Doug, unfortunately, I think the two hatches are completely different size.

Wow, I bet that was fun getting the plug screwed back in while the engine was running! I had to do something similar (but in reverse) when I blew the side out a piston in my Mk2 Cooper S - the engine wouldn't turn over (hydro-locked) until I removed no. 3 plug, relieving the pressure to allow a start and for me to limp the car to the next town.

No real reason for serious damage provided you were careful with de-clutching - gearboxes were around long before synchromesh became common - but every time the gears 'crunch/clash' there will be a bit of chipping to the gear teeth. Too much damage can start throwing the box out of gear while driving, which is a pain.

Almost certainly worn syncro hubs. These hubs are cone-shaped and act as a clutch to match the speeds of the gear clusters before they mesh together. By double-declutching, you are matching the cluster speeds without relying on the synchromesh. I assume you know that the de-clutching technique is different, depending on whether you are changing up or down gears.

Possibly the prolonged cranking before start, caused by the faulty sensor, was pulling the battery voltage low enough to trigger the other fault indications. Glad you got it solved.

The fact that the charger is cycling in the way you say suggests 1 of 3 things to me - 1 - The self-discharge rate is high - I.e. battery has an internal fault. or 2- There is some connected load that is triggering the cycling. or 3 - Something you are doing when you check the charger is waking up control modules on the vehicle With a good battery and no electrical load, I'd expect the charge rate to go to zero once the battery reached full charge, then perhaps up to 100 milliamps maintenance charge.

Take a look at Koni active, they should be a simple swap.

What I am seeing is a flatter discharge curve after the battery was changed - which looks to be the gap in the trace around midday on the 13th. I'm estimating a difference of approx. 0.2 volt, see how it goes I guess.

Because front drums were usually twin leading shoe for extra braking assistance.

I can recall when it was usual (in competition cars) to put a very bright, red 'idiot' light somewhere in the line of vision for warning of oil pressure failure, as the driver was normally too busy with what's going on outside to worry too much about gauges. The same reason applies to having the rev-counter max. tell-tale at vertical. I shouldn't worry too much about the few seconds that oil pressure takes to build before the light goes off - it's an unavoidable feature of oil draining out of the feed galleries while the engine is stopped. The only way to prevent this would be to have an auxiliary electric oil pump (like a modern, EFI system fuel pump) to pre-charge the galleries before engine start. AFAIK, only F1 engines do this. Obviously, as wear occurs in an engine and tolerances increase, it may take a little longer for the oil pressure to build - but this is likely to be balanced by the cooler oil having a higher viscosity. I recall that when synthetic oils started to be introduced, it was not recommended to mix them with petroleum-based oils - it was considered important to ensure all old oil was flushed out of the engine. I could well be wrong, but I don't recall any advice that engines from the 70s were unsuitable for semi-synthetics or synthetics, apart from (I think) that it was ok to mix oil types with the semi-synthetics.

Is it me - or do parts of that battery look a little too dirty for a brand new one? E.g.. around the negative post and above the clamp-bar - that clamp bolt doesn't look like it's been moved for a while either.

Hello Mark, for reference, did you change the battery before Dec 9?

I'm sure that one of those is a camera.

Hello, welcome to the forum. Are you sure there is no camera fitted at all? If you take a close look, from the front at the masked area at the top of the screen, (directly in front of the rear-view mirror) can you see a small lens?

Why not try putting it on charge with the hood closed? There is often a gap sufficient to pass a charger mains supply cable to outside the vehicle. This is what I do with the Octavia and Fabia.

Thanks, SHMBOs Fabia is CHZC so possibly not affected - but I will keep an eye on it for this issue.

@DR79 Are you sure your Fabia is a Mk IV and not a facelift Mk 3? Your title section has the year as 2020.

Do the new tyre sizes moulded into the sidewalls exactly match the fronts? Do you know if your TPMS is direct or indirect type? - To explain, the indirect type operates by calculating the tyre rotational speed through the ABS system, while the direct system reads actual tyre pressures via wireless sensors fitted to the wheels.

While not ideal, the lower capacity battery maintainer (charger?) will still keep the battery in better condition than without - it would only affect the length of time it takes to attain a full charge - and possibly any test function your Optimate maintainer has. Re. why your using a smart charger was setting off your wife's Kia - could it have been because the alarm was sensing the hood was open while charging?