Alasdair1

Cars should eventually warm up to normal temp when idling unless the thermostat is jammed. If theres no coolant in cylinders or exhaust gas in coolant and the bubbles are air then I would think it might be the waterpump. I would check and replace it and see if it helps. It may be that the pump seal is drawing in air or the impeller has failed. Cant think of anywhere else air could be getting into the system unless the pump isn't strong enough to purge it but where did the air come from?? Check the drive belt for the pump as well. Alasdair

Hi there, I got the switch from amazon. https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiQoq3AzNqEAxXdiFAGHXcrDZ4YABAKGgJkZw&ase=2&gclid=CjwKCAiA_5WvBhBAEiwAZtCU7-fUuGIqEA970bsf6t_BV8Pj-7XrQSN02ER_X3r69_BJvt1FE8GzQxoC9HUQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVuD2ODbQw4voiM65vAWa3YbiVYXjf6CNCjND_0Px7LktYK2qwuOO13_G4GEsn1R_VcWo1rn53PMj1kqyQZz5MjZzZYEgWdlEG3cIXDP20dmuXwCY88Iq&sig=AOD64_2flMrsUwPrEOmTgNnPFhm2FvQavA&ctype=5&q=&nis=4&ved=2ahUKEwjL6aLAzNqEAxXlQkEAHdD_AwYQ9aACKAB6BAgJEBI&adurl= Hope the link works. It was £12-99 delivered. I use amazon prime so came next day. Alasdair

Just about to do exactly the same on the same model myself as got silly quote from local garages as my friendly one retired last year. Bought a cheap bush puller off amazon. Parts arent that expensive. Was going to reuse the wishbones but they look pretty rusty and as everything else on the car is mint just ordered a new pair for £50-00. Got Febi ones as MOT advise reckoned pin might be worn on arms as well as bush. Got new track rod ends plus ball joints and bushes etc for £60-00 so £110 in total plus puller set (cant rember but around £40-00 which hopefully will get used again. Doesn't look too difficult a job. I reckon local garages looked at the age of car and reckoned everything would be seized or rusted solid and quoted accordingly. I reckon if I can do it for £150 in total its not bad plus I get another puller set to add to my collection. Got the parts I needed from Parts in Motion. Dealt with them a few times and so far delivery is good and everything is correct plus prices seem pretty good as well. Might be worth trying it yourself if theres no-one up for the job. Alasdair

Same here, I sprayed it with WD40 and spent ages pushing it in and out. It was pretty stiff to begin and seemed to stick at a certain point but eventually freed off and no trouble since. Alasdair

If I remember the wipers dont work if the bonnet is open on my 58plate mk2. There is a switch somewhere which may have failed or jammed?? I think mine is under the latch mechanism. Its not easy to get to but perhaps a spray of wd40 might solve it Alasdair

Could also be a weak battery. Mine did similar. Random no start with loads of beeps and warning lights. Battery was failing and down on voltage. Would start the car when weather was warm but on cold mornings no hope. New battery and problems solved. Would still check earth points and get battery checked. Alasdair

Thanks, Had a look at the new ones and cant see any marks. Wll mark up old ones first and compare them if I can get them off. Alasdair

Ah never thought of that. May have to try and remove bolts before cutting to check they hopefully match with the new ones. Have sprayed bolts/nuts etc in a mixture of kerosene and oil for now. Will keep spraying for a few days and try again. May have to use the old blow torch as they are very rusty and seized solid. Tyres on rear are not bad but front are getting a bit worn and needing replaced in the near future so will swap front to rear and monitor until I get the alignment checked. Got to do the front track rod ends and probably anti roll bar bushes as well as bottom ball joints so an alignment check would be advisable considering the price of tyres these days. Thanks Alasdair

Hi there finally getting around to replacing rear swing arms on my 58plate 1.9tdi estate. They are in a very sorry state although still passd the MOT but swing arm bushes do look as though they are just holding on and no more and arms look slightly twisted at the top bushing. Looks fairly straight forward but i cant budge the rear ofset adjusting bolts. Plan is to mark them on the old ones and then cut/grind them off and try to drive them back though the bush then replace with new bolts and new arms. If I replace them in the exact postion that they are in will that be ok or should I get alignment done plus is there any other adjustment on the rear suspension apart from the two top bolts? Thanks Alasdair

I had an old toyota lucida with air bag light on. It was the spiral cable that was faulty but the horn still worked. To get it through an MOT I managed to disconnect the crash sensor unit which turned the light off during ignition and afterwards. I disconnected it as mine was going to be very expensive as it was a Japanese import vehicle. If its the cable I think they are £50-£80 for a fabia. I think they are called clock spring cables. The airbag part of the cable probably failed before the horn and whoever had it before may have disabled the airbag system hence why the light doesnt come on Alasdair

Mine did the same. The small screws that held the switch together had failed. I glued it back together but bought a replacement off amazon which wasn't expensive. Think it was around a tenner.

Not sure but the horn power supply might come from a spiral cable spring in steering wheel that does the airbag as well. If its failing the horn stops or the airbag light comes on. This might explain lack of power to relay and horn etc. Not sure how to check it but if messing about disconnect battery and leave for a while so theres no chance the airbag goes off. Alasdair.

I have an 58 1.9tdi and it did the same as well as an old Volvo940. They both started doing it randomly. Foot would go to the floor but pedal wouldn't return. Pulled it up with my foot and seemed to get better especially if I pumped it. Eventually the master cylinder started leaking fluid which I didnt notice as it was been collected on the undertray and then clutch went completely due to low fluid. It was only when it got winched onto the recovery truck the fluid trickled out from underneath. I reckon that the seals were failing and the fluid was pushing past them. Changed it myself which isn't that easy. Its one of those parts that you can see but can't quite reach. If I remeber correctly its a push on snap fitting for the pipe from the reservoir. I am pretty sure there was a rubber sealing grommet that normally sticks in the old one so you don't notice it and the new one didn't come with a replacement. Make sure the grommet is there before you fit it otherwise it will leak. It could also be the slave but mine was the master. Hope it helps Alasdair

Cheers for the info. A quick update. Havent got it apart yet as need the car. Hope to wedge window up tomorrow to keep me going till parts arrive. By the looks of it looking down from above one of the cables came free from the plastic clip and wrapped itself round the cog that the motor fits into which then snapped off the plastic bits the motor fixes to allowing everything in the door to get tangled and drop to the bottom. Motor fell out when I removed the outer door panel. I managed to free the window eventually and got it to slide up the door but reckon need either a complete unit or repair kit. Might just buy one complete for ease as the old one is in such a mess I dont think it would be easy to repair plus not sure if there is anything else damaged and if I drill out all the rivets I reckon it will come out in bits. Any reccomendation on a replacement. There are a few on ebay but not sure re quality. Alasdair

Might be the connection at the back of the dash. Mine kept displaying weird warning lights so removed dash and the connector was slightly loose. Cleaned it up and reconnected it and it was fine. Noticed the dash had been repaired before which I think is a common fault. Mines an 08 1.9tdi You have to disconnect battery etc before the dash is disconnected or it can activate imobilser as the dash I think is coded to car. Yours may have disconnected itself enough to activate imobilser. If this happens then I think you need VCDS to reset it.?? I would remove dash and check connector. If that doesn;t work then it may be the dash that has failed. There are a few companies that can check and repair them but again may need VCDS to reset once refitted Alasdair

Quick question? As the glass has dropped completely I assume I have lost the original position re up or down or somewhere inbetween. Does it matter when I replace the mechanism on the position of the glass in the door or will the motor work it out? Might sound like a daft question but don't want to put it all back together an then find the window doesnt go all the way up or down. Alasdair

Nothing wrong with that picture. Gives you everything you need to know plus a lot better than I would do. Mines normally a sketch that a 5 year old would do.

Found some OEM ones on ebay for 7-95 for 10 so ordered them. They are the proper ones with the cut outs if you know what I mean. Read online that standard 6.4mm x 1mm dont seem to be as tight. Will see who makes my riveters and get a new nose to fit . Reckon its the cable thats snapped so tomorrow will strip down the door and see. 3.65mm is pretty heavy duty. Must be something to do with strengthing up the door to stop it flexing. Why they changed from bolts I don't know. Not looking forward to it but at least I have it undercover at the moment until my old Octavia breaks down again. Brakes on it this morning but thankfully simple fix. One of these weeks I wont have to work on a car. Cheers Alasdair

On my toyota I used to get a small amount of coolant leaking back into the cylinder once the engine was stopped but once cool the crack would seal itself. To begin with there was a little white smoke but very noticeable. When cold it looked like normal exhaust on a cold day. Eventually it got so bad it hydraulicked the engine. The extra pressure from the exhaust gases may be forcing the coolant out of the expansion hose past the cap and leaving air/exhaust airlock behind. It may even cause a slight vaccum? My coolant did this but the level remained fairly constant. Is the oil cap clean and not emulsified? Mine was always fine as the coolant was leaking into the cylinder and not the oil ways.I would see if a local garage can check if the bubbles are exhaust gases or just air. Hope you get it sorted Alasdair

Thanks for the reply. I was assuming it was the plastic clips but the cable makes sense. Havent had a look yet as its freezing here. Did notice that some mornings the window was down slightly. Same today but when I tried to put it up it went down. Tried pulling it up at the same time as hitting up button and it still went downwards and now seems jammed. Will remove card etc and drill out rivets tomorrow and get a proper look. Just done the window motor on that side which is still grumbling away when I press up or down so I assume its the mechanism.

A blocked rad wouldnt create bubbles. Could be a crack in the head. Had similar symptoms in an old Toyota. Tiny crack between exhaust valve and inlet valve but because the combustion pressure is higher it forces exhaust gas into the coolant and eventually causes air lock in heater matrix or elsewhere and temp would rise. If you revved it it seemed to clear the airlock and was ok for a while. Eventually airlock gets so bad that it first heater stopped working and then would overheat. Could also be the water pump thats drawing in air as thats a lot of bubbles in the coolant. I would have thought you would have seen a leak from the pump though but nothing surprises me anymore with cars. The coolant may be being forced out via the expansion cap and being replaced with air/exhaust which is trapped in the system somewhere. If its a cracked head I used K seal and it cured it for a while. Theres also steelhead? which I think may be better.

Does look a bit old due to the rust starting but could be a really cheap aftermarket one. My local garage stopped fitting cheap ones as they only lasted about six months and customers would come back and complain. Cheap ones are fine to get it through an MOT if your selling the car on but fit decent quality if your keeping it. If they said they replaced it then pop back in and get them to check it. It does look like the rubber has been damaged

Hi there. I have a 06 plate fabia 1.2 and the drivers window just dropped into the door. (damn cold drive home with wet salty slush hitting me in the side of the head). Did some research on here and going to order either a window reg repair kit or just the replacement plastic clips plus OEM rivets once I take it apart to see what the problem is. Got the part number for the correct rivets N91078801 (6.4mm x 10mm) and also have three of old Lazy tong riveters but only one size nose on each which are all too small (probably for 4.8mm rivets or smaller. Need to know the nose size for these rivets or do I just look for 6.4mm nose. Dont want to buy another one. Also anyone know how to raise the window to get to the fixings holding the glass as it seems to be jammed in the down position. Had a look on a couple of youtube vids and looks like a nightmare of a job but our local Skoda/VW dealer is pretty expensive. Labour is around £100 per hour!!! Any help or advice welcome Alasdair

Hi there, Both mine are the same size and larger but the driver side had a dotted line and then more of a wide angle. There both manual and not heated. Thanks for the part number info. I will get in touch with a few scrap yards in the uk and see what they come up with. There used to be a few near me but now down to one that sells parts. Everything else is crushed on arrival. I assume the after market one I bought is for a LHD vehicle passenger side as it was listed as equivalent to 6y1 I got the part number off 7zap but must have looked up a LHD vehicle by mistake.Managed to repair the old one for now to keep me going. Many thanks again Alasdair

Hi there, Sorry for not getting back. Something came up. I'm ok at the moment as managed to get a new glass and stik it back together. Will check out my local scrap yard. As said the one they sent was smaller and I am waiting to hear baack from them. I reckon there were two sizes available or perhaps they changed the design? The one I got was only £38 new so not the end of the world. I could always order another for the passenger side so they match Thanks Alasdair