Alasdair1

On the front caliper the fact that when you tapped it it released it may be that the piston is sticking in your front caliper or the slider pins are seizing/seized. Too many garages use copper grease instead of silicone grease on the slider pins and copper grease eventually dries and seizes them plus wrecks rubber gators. If its was ABS related then I would have thought both front calipers would be affected. If you have discs on the rear the lever that operates the handbrake on mine is prone to seizing on. Have had two now that the rear brake was binding due to handbrake not releasing properly. If it was a problem with ABS I reckon it would have shown ABS warning light or at least stored a fault code. I would get someone to scan with vcds to check. If its going to a garage I would get them to strip down and check/clean and relubricate calipers. Alasdair

Read that if someone puts pressure on tailgate from outside and try to open it with button either on fob or inside car it can work. Alasdair

I would see if the local garage could scan it if possible and it might ping something up. If its sitting for long periods then as its an older car I would expect some smoke due perhaps to condensation or oil leaking down into pistons while sitting. All my cars are fairly old and create a bit of smoke if I haven't run them for a while which clears once driven a few miles plus unleaded petrol if it is a petrol car will absorb moisture over time due to the ethanol being hygroscopic. I wouldn't bother replacing anything until the local garage has scanned it. There are too many folks out there that spend money on a fault without knowing exactly where the fault is. From memory to reset ECU on older cars you can disconnect battery touch terminals together and leave for an hour or so,reconnect battery and it should reboot the system. Wether it would clear codes I am not sure.

Whish mine was still on the road. Have an Octavia and a Seat with same engine and both around 140k I bought them at around 80k and never had any problem with them. Alas rust killed both cars but mechanicaly they are still spot on Keeping them for parts. Excellent MPG (60-70plus) and go like a train when you want them to plus no DPF to worry about and plenty torque for towing. I did around 8000 miles a year so just serviced annually. Alasdair

Reckon Sachs will be good. From experience there master cylinders and clutches etc are excellent and generally sachs get a good name for aftermarket parts. Alasdair

I used a small cold chisel to open strut base to remove from knuckle. I also did the spring replacement myself. Its a job I hate doing and might be worth asking local garage to swap top mounts if you remove struts they will have a safe! spring compressor and probably wouldnt charge you too much. Check condition of struts as well as last thing you want to do is to repeat job if one starts leaking etc. Alasdair

Yes don,t do anything before speaking to them. I would tell them that the keys were stolen/cloned and someone is accessing car. They will probably have an approved auto locksmith that they use and if you do anything yourself will probably not pay out. Might be worth explaining situation to them. As far as I know cloning keys and accessing a vehicle without permission and causing damage are all criminal offences and the police should do something. Hope you get it sorted. Alasdair

Not sure but in the side compartments on my estate I have a couple of hiviz vests, can of tyre seal and a length of pipe that fits onto stupidly short wheel wrench to make it easier to remove nuts plus a length of decent tow rope, a pack of cable ties and a couple of rolls of insulating tape,12v air pump and a decent torch. A fire extinguisher is next on list plus I have to replace my first aid kit as its well out of date. On my old octavia there was a multi cd changer unit in the left hand one. Reckon put whatever you think will be useful. I reccomend the hi-viz, cable ties and insulating tape. Alasdair

Clutch pedal went to floor and master cylinder leaking. Had already done one on my old 1.9tdi so thought no problem. I was wrong. Access is a nightmare due to DPF and pipes. You can see it but not get to it easily at all either from above or below. Inside car half lower dash to be removed to get to pedal including door threshhold etc. Inside engine bay had to remove heat shield from DPF to get a few more mm space and then work round what looks like a fire blanket clipped to pipes. Eventually got to master cylinder and managed eventually to remove clutch line. Putting it back is another thing altogether. You cant drop pipe low enough to get it back into master. Tried pushing and lost the rubber seal into engine bay. Replaced seal and had to loosen pedal again to get enough play to get the pipe in. As for the sensor wiring it was a nightmare to get plug out and back in again. Then battery/air box etc removed to bleed system which took a while to get all air out. Whoever design it this way has obviously never worked on a car and should be out of a job. Anyway rant over. Car back together and have a clutch again and so far no leaks . As said in title get a garage to do it. Alasdair

All sorted. Raided my old Fiat van and cut out a section of vac hose. Alasdair

Definitley a job for the Police. I would inform them of what is going on ASAP if you havent already and see if you can set up some cctv to catch whoever is doing it in the act. An autolocksmith will be able to recode keys etc but as said if the person has had one cut/cloned they can access manually. You could see if any local scrapyards can supply you with locks and key so you can change them. Still going to cost you which isn't fair. Might be worth contacting your insurance as one of my policies a few years back covered replacement keys/locks if they were stolen/lost. Alasdair

Will try to once I finished the most awkward clutch master cylinder in the world I reckon. Its one of those you can see it but with hands like shovels cant get to it. Who ever decided to put a dpf in the way should be looking for a new job or if I find them worse. If you ever need to do one on a 1.6tdi mk2 octavia let a garage do it. Hope you get it sorted Alasdair

You may find one at https://www.lllparts.co.uk/ Go to browse original manufacturer diagram and enter vin or model. Think the alternator/belt etc is under electronics and timing belt under engine. Not sure if on the age of yours but worth a look Alasdair

If the drop links are tight have a look at ARB bushes etc. It could be them that have failed or other suspension bush. On the rear of my mk2 octavia there are different diameters of ARB so check size. Have also heard that there is a plastic liner in ARB bush bracket that can disintegrate so new bushes are too slack. Alasdair

You would get away with changing one but I personally would do both. It could be the rubber but also perhaps the bearing is failing. I always do anything suspension/steering in pairs but in the past have had to change one side and do the other later due to needing car all the time. Last ones I did on a mk2 octavia the small bolts that secure top mount to turret wouldnt come out as the encapsulated nuts were just turning. I managed to get a few extension bars from strut side to hold them while undoing bolts. Ended up replacing front shocks and new springs while I was at it as one was starting to go and springs looked pretty rusty. Used KYB parts and have had no problems for a few years now. From memory you are supposed to renew bolt that holds strut to steering knuckle. The top mounts are marked on the originals with arrows and have a specific direction for fitting. Not my favourite job but fairly straight forward as long as everything comes off. The ARB bushes look worn but if solid on bar cant see them being the culprit. Alasdair

Many thanks. Thought it might be a filter but non return valve makes more sense. Alasdair

Meant to add anyone know what the larger diameter filter looking part is? Alasdair

Hi have a 1.6tdi cayc and need a small part of the vacuum hose that's part of the egr system. It connects to air box. Left hand side of picture. Rest of hose is fine but can only seem to buy complete hose at £43 which seems excessive as I only need the small part. Its split and not enough to cut and reuse. I tried a straight pipe but due to lack of space and angle it kinks. Have to get clutch fluid tomorrow so will check if halfords have anything that would do in the meantime. Alasdair

Could be antiroll bar bushes or perhaps a bad cv joint/propshaft as its more noticeable when turning. Check the top mount again and also the top strut bolt. Had an annoying tack tack noise on mine and discovered the top strut nut needed tightening. Why it came loose I don't know. It started soon after I got the car so I assume at some point strut had been removed/broken spring and not torqued up properly. Alasdair

I would check and clean all earths. It may be that under normal load the battery is fine showing 12.6v but when cranking under extra load a poor earth can cause voltage to drop for enough time to trigger codes. Check the earth/terminals at starter motor etc as well. Does the car turn over at a decent speed? Alasdair

If its losing coolant it may be filling a piston and partially hydraulicking hence difficulty in turnover. Remove spark plugs or injectors if diesel and turn over after being parked for a while. If coolant comes out of either then it may be a HG or cracked head/block(hopefully not) as for the pulley Is it a tensioner or idle pulley. I came up with febi 30990 for idler and febi 30989 for tensioner. If its the timing tensioner febi 11556. That was from febi parts finder via the reg of car so would need checked. Havent seen one for years. Used to be a couple of white ones around but alas salt on roads up here killed them. That looks in pretty good condition and yes nice colour. Alasdair

First I would do a compression test to rule out piston wear etc. If it comes back fairly equal and above spec then as said PCV etc and finally valve stem seals. Not sure if they can be done with head in place. On a very old Fiat my local garage fed soft string into chamber and compressed it to hold valve to replace broken spring so may be possible to do stem seals the same way. Check as well that the coolant isnt dropping and theres no oil in coolant. If its a diesel then it may be poor pattern/worn injectors that's causing smoke. Alasdair

Reckon if you go for a well known aftermarket like febi,pierburg etc should be ok. I would avoid any manufacturer that you haven't heard of e.g ridex,maxgear Alasdair

Meant to add keep a very close eye on fluid reservoir to see if its dropping. Alasdair

Think there is a small plastic cover inside that when removed you push a plastic lever to open manually. On my Mk2 octavia theres a small slit that you slide a screwdriver left/right. Maybe some foreign object has jammed locking system. Alasdair