EnterName

Hello and welcome!

I checked mine yesterday and it was remarkably clean. In fact the only evidence of soiling I could find on it were grubby paw prints left by the mechanic who fitted it. I removed it, tapped out any accumulated particles that it had trapped, vacuumed out the bottom of the air filter box (what a weird slatted set-up that is) and replaced it. Quick and easy job, and I don't know why something so cheap and quick would be omitted from a service plan. EDIT: Come to think of it, I probably need to add some more silicone spray to the torx bolt heads to ensure they don't rust.

Could be a CR2025 or CR2032 battery. (20mm wide, 25mm thick or 32mm thick.) Open it up and see what you've got. It's not difficult to open the fob and you can then buy the battery you need. Personally, I'd replace it with whatever is inside at the moment, but if you want a long life battery, fitting a CR2032 would give you a longer battery life. Have a look at the 50 second video here and you'll see how to open it up.

He takes a new approach to "drifting". 😋

Excluding the air filter as a service item is shameless penny-pinching, IMO.

Hello and welcome!

Here you go!

Hi Miki! 👋

I honestly can't remember the last time my start-stop decided it was going to get out of bed and do something, but I can't say I miss it in the least. My stop-start seems to be very dependent on the battery being fully topped up by a long drive. My car was sat on a dealer forecourt doing nowt for 6 months during lockdown, and I don't think it did the AGM battery any good. My commute is 9-11 miles, depending on the route, and while the majority of it is motorway driving, it doesn't seem to be enough to get the stop-start system to activate by the end of the commute. I've got one of those plug-in 12v solar battery chargers that I leave connected to the car, but it seems to do nowt. Maybe it will be better in summer? (Or maybe my battery isn't the cause of the failure to work.) It works so rarely, I've got out of the habit of switching the stop-start off, so I dare say when it does kick in, it will catch me by surprise.

If the tyre fitters recommended the tyres as a replacement for the Bridgestone's, then it would have been helpful if they'd let you know about the lack of rim protection. But if you just rocked up to a tyre fitting place and asked for a set of Continental Eco Contacts, you got what you asked for, and it would be a bit unfair to expect the tyre fitter to second-guess your choice.

It would seem that, for whatever reason, you are a driver who ends up in accidents more than the average driver, and sadly the insurers adjust your premium based on the risk they rather crudely determine you to be. It might be possible to get a better quote from a particular broker who may take into account the fact that the accidents were not your fault. (It'd be nice to see the dashcam footage of them to be honest, but I'm a nosey so and so.) What grinds my gears, is that my wife, who is not the best driver and in her worst year managed to write off two cars in the space of 12 months, still has a reducing impact on my premium if I add her as a named driver to my policy.

Just renewed my car insurance which has increased by just over 55%. Ouch! Interestingly, the renewal was still cheaper than the best the site scrapers could come up with, so that's nice I suppose.

So long, and I hope you enjoy your new car.

Hello and welcome, friend! 🤝 Please note posts to Briskoda are expected to be in English.

No worries, let us know how you get on. With that in mind, might be worth checking the fuel filter too. Also, and bear in mind I'm not a mechanic, there's a possibility that some sort of air leak might be causing you problems, so if your fuel and filter are fine, that might be something to look into. (Either air leaking in or out.) Can't explain why, but a memory has been triggered. Might be worth having a search around on Brisky for issues with rough running and air ingress/leaking.

Sorry, you didn't tag me in so I had no idea you'd asked me a question. (Still not 100% sure, but will answer anyway.) The Gummi Pflege (actually German for "Rubber Care") does just that. It seems to keep your rubbers soft and flexible. I love it, but it's really not a cosmetic treatment. The 303 Protectant is mainly a UV protectant and has a slight "Back to Black(TM)" effect. It can be used on rubbers but is best on plastics, IMO. Spray on, wipe off to a dry sheen. It's a penetrating oil, not a lubricant and certainly not good for rubber, though it will make your rubber look dark and shiny. For a while at least. I wouldn't use the stuff, but I keep my cars for ages. However there are plenty of videos on YouTube of people advocating you use WD40 to revitalise the rubbers on your car and it's your car, so if that works for you, go for it. You could probably use actual vegetable oil and give your rubbers that "just new look". (I expect there're some TikToK videos showing just that.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40

Is your fuel contaminated?

Apply a logical sequential approach. The first thing to establish is whether the engine is actually overheating, regardless of what the warning light is saying. Have you an OBD2 scanner that will allow you to monitor fluid temperatures while you're driving?

I had an online search for octane testing, but all I could find are overpriced tubes for ethanol content testing. Does anyone know how the octane rating of petrol is tested?

Are they still a thing? A kit car based on the EA888 and AWD system would be quite a lively thing. I can't remember seeing them mentioned for ages.

Maybe have premium priced chargers accessible via a "Priority Queue" system, for those in a rush? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19712847 Then owners of flash German EVS could avoid having to queue with all the plebs in their Zoes and the like. 😋

I suspect this will come back to bite OBDeleven on the backside, particularly if a decent alternative appears on the market.

Can the issue be mitigated against and prevented, or is it just an inevitability people just have to accept as a risk associated with owning a car with that gearbox?

I am in this camp. I would rather have a more efficient & longer-lasting quieter exhaust, than anything that made the exhaust sound "better" louder. Which reminds me, I really need to get my act together and switch that silly fake engine noise off.

And so it begins... 🥶