pcspinheiro

It shows perfectly, thanks. But that's a petrol, right? My very old astra petrol also doesnt blow the cap off, but I wonder how TDIs compare...

Thanks Pete_Ex_Wino! It does sound like nonsense aimed at the gullible... Yes, I was sort of hoping someone (not afraid to doom their engine..) would just briefly see if they get the same as me on a similar 2.0 diesel. It's enough to unscrew the cap and screw it back on. I was curiously just going over the manual and nowhere does it say to !!!NEVER REMOVE THE OIL CAP WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING!!! If it was such a big deal to do it I'm sure there would be a warning in red in the manual. As there is for so many things

So, back to this after contacting what is supposed to be a knowledgeable ex VAG tech... I sent him the video showing the oil filler cap almost being blow off and all the smoke coming out. As a reply he LITERALLY called me stupid for opening the filler cap with the engine running, said this causes a massive pressure loss in the engine and turbocharging pressure and could even have caused loss of engine timing if this was chain-driven...? I don't know if he's being serious or just telling me off from touching the engine. Surely the oil filler cap cannot be such a crucial player in a engine's functioning, otherwise it would be inaccessible to the common user, OR have a big red flag "don't remove while in operation!" So, again, I don't know what to believe regarding crankcase pressure. Is this normal or not? Seems excessive, if coming only from piston ring blow by... Unrelated or not, I also started having some coolant loss, after 4 years of not touching it. Had to top it up once (took it to the dealer to let them know it was under the minimum. They topped it up and it has lowered a little already, in a couple of weeks... I refilled the oil to the top mark on the dipstick and took note of the Kms on the car. Will be keeping a close eye on theis. Hopefully, none of this is a problem, but if it is I want to catch while the car is still in the warranty extension period. Just yesterday I marveled at the simplicity of older cars: Did a full service on my 21 yo, 380.000 km petrol Opel Astra and that thing really just needs oils, filters and fuel. Starts first time every time, drives fine. Most repairs it ever needed i did myself, some harder than others, but no fuss.

Thanks for this, it's very thorough and good to know!

XThanks for the replies. The car is still under a warranty extension plan, there's no way I'll get them to look at anything. The head mechanic will just put on his guessing hat and dismiss everything, as usual. What I need is to see other similar engines running to see if this is the norm or not for these 2.0L TDI...

I don't know what to believe in anymore. I also read that, if everything is working well, there should even be a slight suction at the oil filler opening...

I'm not sure anymore it went to max level when I topped it up.... When the oil warning light came on the oil wasn't touching the dipstick at all, IIRC. I checked the bottle and I actually added about 600 mL. It's almost down to the minimum mark again in under 5k km, so while the oil consumption may not be excessive it's definitely, possibly, maybe there.... I think I drove about 12.000 km from the last service until it asked for oil. Car is now clocking 74k km. Regarding the blow by, to me it looks excessive, you can see the oil cap wanting to jump off and a lot of smoke. If anyone else that owns a 2.0 TDI superb would be kind enough to to the same simple teste to see if it's a thing or not, I'd really appreciate it. One thing's for sure, my 21 yo, almost 400k km petrol Opel Astra has a LOT less blowby as tested like this. I'd say nothing comparable even. Car runs like s clock still, always starts right away. My superb has, on occasions, krancked the engine quite a lot to get it to start, and then does it a little "violently". What got me worried was this mechanic specialized in old mercedes, that said that this test was a simple way to see if the Merc was in need of an engine overhaul due to worn piston rings. Why would a modern, relatively new car with - I reckon - much smaller tolerances, have so much pressure coming out of the engine top? Doesn't this seem off, or am I worrying for nothing? As I said, I'm a car hypochondriac, I like my machines running flawlessly 😅

Always at the dealer, yes. I can't say how many Kms it did since the service but I could find out, and I know how many it had when it asked for oil. Still, it never consumed any oil between services before... Maybe it is within spec, but specs seem like an unrealistic figure, right? I mean, manufacturers often say that 0.5l/1000km is normal 😒 What worries me is this enormous pressure coming out of the oil filler opening...

Ok, got home and took a video with a hit engine. Now, I'm only a DIYer that learns things from forums like this, service manuals and, obviously, YouTube, but this seems like an awful lot of blow by... https://photos.app.goo.gl/HTCT8iZqDHJ67Rpi9

Thanks, this was quite useful to see how different size rims will fit in the car. I suppose, using wider rims, one wants to have equal distribution of the extra width, or have the extra width offset to the outside and not toward the suspension.

Me again... So, my car has never needed any oil top up between services, but recently I got the low oil warning light and had to add over 0.5L to bring it to the top mark on the dipstick... I know some oil consumption is OK/normal, and a call to the dealership told me that for the amount of Km travelled since the last service it was within range. Fine. But I checked a couple of weeks later and it seemed to be lower again... I also had the coolant level drop to below minimum in the reservoir around the same time, was topped up at the dealership but seems to be down a little again. In the previous years of ownership it also never needed a coolant top up... I'm very hypochondriac when it comes to my cars, so today I started it and remembered this simple test for excessive blowby that I saw being done on old mercedes W123, which is basically to unscrew the oil filler cap and see if it dances around with the pressure or if it stays put. Well, mine was dancing violently and on the verge of being blown away, and there was quite a lot of smokey air coming out of there. Sadly I didn't remember filming it, but I can do it some other time. Is this a bona fide indication of excessive blowby? If so, how should I approach the stealership about it? The head mechanic there is a fu****g wizard, he guesses that nothing is wrong without even looking at the possible causes and dismisses any of my suggestions immediately... For example, my car keeps pulling to the right after they aligned it, and it gets worse under throttle load (as he himself observed). When I suggested some play/wear on suspension bushes, causing the arm fall back under load, he immediately dismissed this without even looking at the car... This is what I have to deal with here: him and the lady at the reception that cannot stop herself from rolling her eyes right to my face when I complain about things, even when they are sooo obvious. Any input?

Thanks for the reply! Ideally I would like to keep the same specs, but it seems impossible (assuming the originals are 6.5j x 16" ET41. I'm yet to see a rimI like with ET41 (I'm in Portugal, less options online for sure). I also have to check if existing tires can be mounted on 7j rims, but they are quite "fat" in current original rims, don't think going from 6.5 to 7 will be a deal breaker here.

I suspect as much, but since they went twice for "repair" which, as far as I can tell, consisted in adding paint over paint over pain, It may be gone. My doubt was not so much about the originals being ET41 but whether (if they are) it's OK to use another offset distance. I suppose smaller will be OK as it will bring the spokes away from the callipers AND look nicer in the wheel arches?

OK, thanks! The oil I got is up to the VW 504 00 / 507 00, Porsche C30 o MB-Approval 229.31/229.53 specs, so I should be good. But, within oils with that spec, what am I best served with then? I got a sticker on the car saying Skoda recommends Catrol, but then I know for a fact they use cheaper oil (hopefully within spec!)

Hi guys, So, in a recent tire swap a garage from a known french franchise ruined my 4 rims (sad face here...). they admitted guilt and sent them for repair, but after 2 of these "repairs" they still look like crap. Basically they were (badly) painted and that's it. I started having an annoying rumble from about 40 km/h and some vibration when braking at higher speeds. At speeds of 130-140km/h+ the car vibrates badly, and I recently discovered at the dealership that one rim is also proper warped... Wonder what kind of repair shop they use to make things worse every time... Anyway, it's up to the courts to decide this matter now, but I feel uneasy driving the car like this and may need to slap new wheels on it (I don't particularly fancy the orions anyway..). If I win the case they will have been prepaid by me. If I don't, well I need them anyway. I've been looking online for options and I see that the original Orion ones are probably 6,5J x 16“ ET 41, but I can hardly ever find rims with the same ET. I know this is the offset to the center, I'm just wondering if it NEEDS to be the same or if a smaller ET is acceptable (to get the rim a little more out of the arches). Also, original are 6.5J but most I find are 7j, will this cause issues, or limit the kind of tire? Looking at online stores for the car make/model it gives all these options as suitable, so it's confusing... Thanks for any help! PS, larger 17" ones would be my choice for aesthetics, but I recently slapped over €500 of tires on the car and these are still almost new... plus, I'm a smooth driver and the 16" are probably more comfortable. I personally prefer comfort to performance...

Sorry to "steal" this thread but I have a question about oil for the 2.0 TDI 150. I recently needed to top up my oil during a trip (I hope this is not an issue, never asked before between services, but Skoda says it's normal consumption...) and bought the Castrol Edge 5W30 Long life, which has the correct specifications. However, I see that Skoda recommends the castrol Edge Professional Long life III. Should I just return this one or is this fine? Any real advantages in using the Pro LL III? I was told that in Portugal, Skoda dealerships use oil from our national refinery brand "galp", which probably costs a fraction of the castrol (same specs, hopefully). Cheers!

Thanks for the replies. I was just trying to understand possible causes to avoid future problems. I've had windshields break on other cars but with known reasons (usually a rock projected from a another car while driving). But this just appeared and I can't say "maybe this or that caused it". Anyway, booked the car to have them look at the stupid vibration at high speed that I've been complaining about for a long while and asked them to inspect this too. In the meantime, I'll contact the insurance company to sort it out. I have insurance against own damages, including isolated broken glass.

Hi (again ...), Yesterday during a motorway drive my daughter pointed to me that the windshield had a large crack on the top, by the rearview mirror that seemed to party contour the black dotted part of the glass. I could not feel it from the inside with my fingernails, only the outside. There were no apparent impact marks that could explain this... what could cause this? I'm taking it to the dealership to have it inspected and my insurance covers damage to the glass, by unsure about this one without apparent cause... Cheers!

This week I decided to attack a small shudder when braking, likely caused by slight disc warping (the back was doing it for a little while but did not bother me that much; then I started getting some steering vibration after a wheel service where they left some nuts super loose other super tight.... sad...). All 4 discs were almost new, despite the 73k Km, so I went with resurfacing. Took out rears and had them machined at a specialist shop, all back with no problems. Yesterday did the fronts and them nuts holding the calliper carriers were tight as hell, but my trusty breaker bar did it's job. Reassembled last night (all nuts torqued to spec) and took it for a spin. Other than some initial scraping noise from the pads against the rougher metal, it seems good. The pads were also almost like new, so I just ran them a couple of times over fine sandpaper and refitted them. Let's see how it drives after they bed in completely. I hope I don't have problems in the wheel hubs themselves in the front, the idiocy done when tightening those wheels was nothing short of epic.

Sorry for "stealing" this topic but, as I understood from the skoda dealership when my factory compressor failed, the ones fitted to the MKIII superb do not use a clutch but a valve system. So, in principle, the compressor is always running but only "working" when solicited. Does this mean it would be best (or at least not harmful) to leave the A/C on auto all the time and let it do what it needs when it needs it? I've always heard that A/C compressors should be used regularly, to prevent seals from drying/leaking. Cheers!

Here it is, in Portuguese though (but I guess most of it is understandable). Direita = right, esquerda = left.

I get what you're saying, some things can be hard to diagnose. But they are even harder when dismissed from the start... I complained from what seems excessive play/vibration from the engine, did they bother to even look?... Anyway, I'm busy getting the discs out to have them machined (even thought they have 73k km on them, both discs and pads are almost new, I drive carefully and defensively), do I'll see if I can spot a bad bush. I'll try to find some tutorial on how to do it.

Mine doesn't have lane assist, AFAIK. And if it was LA, it would be doing a very poor job trying to get me off the road. It's really just pulling to the right. As soon as I let got of the steering, off it goes.

Nothing like that has been done, no. At least not that I know of, I owned the car since it was only a few hundred kms old (it was a demo car). It got a 4 wheel alignment twice, the last at the dealership. I even got a report. Nothing was wrong to begin with, all within specs. I suppose they just tweaked it a little to justify charging me their ridiculous fee.

I can't swap the front wheels because of the thread. That would make the tires run backwards... I'm the first owner, so to speak. It was a test car and came with very few kilometers, like a couple hundred. This issue came to be more recently, I've put over 70k km on the car myself. Could it be a worn shock making it "lean" more to the right? I also seem to have the rear right bearing on it's way out, I hear a drone noise when driving over 40 km/h and today I removed the rear discs to have them resurfaced (slight warp to at least one) and it makes more noise than the left one, though does not feels loose (yet). The front right also may be a little noisier and I recently started getting some brake pedal judder. But the car drifting right predates these other issues. The other cars are a 2018 Nissan leaf and a 2001 Opel Astra. Since I did the alignment at the dealership I will go there and complain that something is still off. Someone told me that the steering box has like a "zero" position (or something like that), and that it may be off, so it wants to go there?