Alasdair1

Does it make the noise in neutral when you press the accelerator. Alasdair

If the belt has just been done it could be the timing is slightly out? You said it tends to overheat when uphill/under load. Does the car sound and drive ok and has the MPG changed. Alasdair

I know the problem re mice. We are out in country at an old farm. Advantage is I get to keep my old cars for spares or repair if I ever get the time. I have over the years saved a fortune in paarts but under pressure now to reduce the number. Have nine at the last count plus two on the road. Bad point is the number of mice. They can destroy a car if they get into it. Got loads of traps permanently set in and around them. Numbers seem to be reducing now its got warmer but over winter I caught dozens. Hope the sound proofing helps. Alasdair

I replaced mine with an aftermarket one that didn't quite fit so used black silicone sealant. Worked perfectly. Alasdairr

Good news plus get some mouse traps. Folks old fabia 1.9tdi had a major diesel leak under waranty. Skoda garage said very unusual but maaybe rubber seal to tank gone hard. When they removed tank it was mice nest on top of tank and in there boredom had eaten one of the stub return pipes. No surprise that waranty didn;t cover it. Expensive repair as tank had to be replaced. I now have mouse traps set around where I park up the cars. Alasdair

Hope a quick scan will help pinpoint it or hopefully its a one of. Alasdair

Difficult to describe Similar to subaru impressa/ mitsi evo but much much quieter. Almost sounds like a quick puff noise from exhaust. Alasdair

Used to make a slight blow off noise. Hardly noticeable then limp mode with sometimes EM light on other times not. My actuator was sticking. I sprayed with oil and manually operated it until it became free again. The lights would go off and limp mode cancelled if I pulled over and stopped then started engine again. If your lights coming on randomly and going off when car is restarted I assume its not a consistant fault. Alasdair

Mine uses to do the same due to sticking turbo. EM light on but when I stopped and started it it went off. I did a quick scan for codes and it was randomly overboosting. I would get it scanned to see if its stored anything. Alasdair

Check the servo hoses again. My sons brakes were poor and the hoses were split at every join. If there is a new master cylinder to be fitted it could also be the seals have failed and fluid is pushing past them? I used a pressure bleeding kit. (gunsons from memory) and I discovered some air in the front brake line after replacing flexi,s I did bleed it manually but the pressure kit cleared the air and sorted the problem out. If its got drums on the rear it could also be a leaking brake cylinder. Alasdair

I had similar problems on my old 08 octavia. Over time the switches wear out plus they tend to get wet if the window is left open. Tried dismantling switch to clean contacts but found the retaining screws were loose and wouldn't tighten properly. I bought a cheap copy off amazon for about £15 and it cured it. In my case it randomly worked but most of the time the window went either all the way down or all the way up when trying to open it slightly. Alasdair

Years ago my friend painted his old Bedford van with a small roller and used Dulux exterior gloss paint. Damn thing was shiny for years and never needed polished and paint lasted as well. It wasn;t perfect but looked tidy. Alasdair

£50 off is no where near it either. I reckon its worth £50 for scrap. Try https://www.trents.co.uk/ Might be worth an email as they seem to have a fair range of skoda/vw engines. Meant to add why a new engine? Is yours not repairable? Alasdair

Its either been removed badly or been in a fair crash. I doubt thats repairable and I personally wouldn't risk it. There may well be hairline cracks that you can't see. Alasdair

My old Octavia had a few replaced with nuts and bolts instead of the screws. They were a pain as trying to get to the nuts on the underside was tricky. You might be able to get a set of mole grips/small stilson or perhaps a stud extractor onto the damaged screws. Alasdair

Or do as I do. Run it till body too bad for MOT and then keep it for spares. Problem is my place is turning into a bit of a scrap yard but it saves me a fortune on spare parts.

Might as said be worth trying some of the smaller body shops or car restoration guys that don't do insurance claims. Know someone with a cleaning business and it recently cost nearly £8000 to replace and repaint the rear doors on his VW transporter after the handbrake failed and it rolled away and hit a wall. The only damage was the rear doors and the bumper. It was done through his insurance but how it cost that much ??? Alasdair

Looked into getting my old volvo resprayed but the cost was huge. Most of the decent car body shops in my area are doing insurance jobs so charge a lot. There are a few that do smaller touch up like wings etc but won't do a full car. I think from memory it was about £2500 plus vat and that was a few years ago. It wasn't too bad upper body and laquer was peeling on roof but the sills and wings were poor so decided not to bother. They all said its the preperation work etc that puts the price up plus they said they never know what they will find when rubbing it down like previous repairs and cover ups. You might get a smaller independant shop to tidy it up? Alasdair

I was also told by a mechanic friend to fill up once a month with premium diesel. He reckons it helps clean things up and improves MPG/performance. Being doing it for the last couple of months and have noticed a slight improvement. The 1.6tdi is supposedly the same horsepower as the 1.9tdi but I found the 1.9tdi had a lot more torque/low rev power and you didn't need to change down as nearly as much. Hopefully a good service will help. My 1.6tdi is a 12 plate so not the greenline as far as I know. Alasdair

There are a few online services but I got mine from the dealership although it was a few years ago. I gave them the reg and vin and they managed to find the code. At that time it was a small independant dealership and as the car had come from them they didn't charge me anything Alasdair

I have a 1.6tdi octavia and was only getting 50-52 mpg on long steady runs. Was also getting just less than 45mpg around town. It seems to have improved since I serviced it and reset the service interval message. It now does aprox 70mpg on long runs and 50mpg around town. I was wondering if the car was in some sort of limp/limited mode due to the service light being on? I also put a couple of bottles of wynns injector cleaner through a couple of tanks which also seemed to make a difference. Just wondering if the turbo/actuator is working properly on yours. The 1.6tdi is a bit gutless compared to the 1.9tdi I had previously and does seem to need more revs to get up to speed. The 1.9tdi used to accelerate fine in 4th and fifth but I find the 1.6tdi needs to change down to get the power for overtaking etc. Could also be a clogged air filter etc. Alasdair

Holy crap thats well blocked. I thought mine was bad. I hate EGR. I blanked mine on my old toyota lucida as it was the same and very prone to blocking. Who ever thought of recirculating exhaust gases was a good idea was obviously not a mechanic . Glad you got to the bottom of it. Aladdair

I am no expert but I think you will have to check the different sections. As far as I know 0010 is telling you that there is a fault and there will be fault codes stored under Auto trans section. Alasdair

I have an old seat that does the same. Its I think got an auto door lock feature when you go above a certain speed doors lock. On mine i am pretty certain its a fault in the drivers door lock/switch. Never did get round to fixing it. Just lived with the click clunk while driving at lower speeds. Alasdair

Personally I always use Gates timing belts and kits. Not sure who makes this one. Never had any problems with them but there are a few out there that are not worth the risk. Does it have a belt or chain? I thought the 1.4 was a timing chain. Someone on here will confirm. Alasdair