Alasdair1

If the 1.2 is anything like my sons then the headlights could be needing polished. His were going a bit yellow and slightly cloudy. I changed for new standard H7 bulbs and cleaned/polished them as it was an advise on the previous MOT and it made a big difference. I also find that over time halogen bulbs seem to lose their brightness with age. I have tried 150% and 200% brighter bulbs in the past and yes there brighter but don't seem to last as long. Worth keeping a standard spare in Gbox. Might be worth getting the alignment checked as well. His were very low and the friendly guy at MOT tweeked them up a bit. Still not the best but a lot better. Was thinking of fitting some driving lamps where the front fogs should be. Alasdair

Not sure but it looks very like a vaccum pipe or perhaps evap? if it smells of fuel.

Not on a skoda but old volvo 940 used to randomly stop and then not start especially when hot. Ran great 99% of time but sometimes just would not turn over. All lights on but nothing. Usually started after a few attempts but eventually nothing. Had to call out garage as it happened in fourcourt after filling up They traced it to wiring either to the alternator or startermotor etc. I can't remember exactly but it was a small cable that I assume ran from ignition switch. Cleaned spade connector and it was fine for years after that. Car electrics are a nightmare. Have a seat altea that the radio comes on by itself, doors lock and unlock for no reason and interior light comes on randomly when driving but only at night and rear wiper randomly starts and stops half way and if I use the spare key it locks itself in engine imobilsed mode and won't come out of it. No idea what the problem or maybe multiple problems are. I think it may be a bad connector behind dash/fusebox area. Car is a bit damp inside from lack of use so I was thinking maybe some corrosion in a connector somewhere. Alasdair

The size difference is a lot. We bought the car for my son to learn to drive. The guy who had it before was into mountain biking so I reckon he put bigger tyres on for extra clearance. The car handled terribly. Sort of bounced along the road and steering was not what you would call positive. Tended to follow dips etc in road. I put a cheap set of part worn tyres on it to see and it made a huge difference then as winter was coming got GT radial all season. The car runs great now and the grip in the wet for all season is excellent. Guy at the tyre service said that he had never seen a car with such daft tyres. Alasdair Alasdair

I run mine at 2 bar for front and 2.1 at rear. I check them regularly as its an old car and the alloys tend to leak slightly at bead seal. Never haad a problem with steel rims but all my alloys seam to leak after time. Resealed one with black sealant the other day as it was reccomended for rusty corroded rims by the tyre service I use and so far its worked well. I run 195/50R15 GT radial all season and prefer them to the 185/55 r15 part worn that were fitted as a temp measure as when we bought the car it had rediculous large tyres on it 195/70 r15. May have been from a Golf but the car was like driving a space hopper plus they are about 3" bigger diameter which confused the hell out of the speedo They just fitted but not by much. Alasdair

Could be. My dad always washed bird droppings off as he said it was caustic and would damage the paint. A friend has a car similar. She rarely washes it and its usually either covered in bird droppings or sticky mess from greenfly from the trees she parks it under, Its a standing joke. We reckon if she leaves it any longer it will become part of nature. Her previous car even had a tree seedling growing in the gap for the sunroof. Alasdair

I know what you mean. Mine had 4 listed with upto and from dates and vin numbers. Even ended up contacting LUK but in the end I removed old one first and then ordered parts after measuring old one. Reckon leaving it to the garage is the way to go. They or their parts supplier should be able to work out what parts are needed. If they order the wrong part then its down to them. Hopefully they will sort it out for you. Alasdair

Have similar marks on my doors but it was due to sunscreen from the kids. Never did get rid of them. Yours may be from a vehicle in front leaking hydraulic fluid/antifreeze etc thats soaked into the paint. I read that meths or a car cleaning wax polish/colour restorer might help. Try on a hidden place first. Alasdair

Had similar emissions problems on my 1.2. There was a slight leak from the middle section join on the exhaust and that was enough. Mechanic sealed it with black paste and it passed after that. He was surprised that such a slight leak made the affected the emissions. He only noticed it as there was some black soot there. Alasdair

Had a look and as usual multiple options. Try https://vehiclelifetimesolutions.schaeffler.co.uk/en-gb/catalog Scroll down to where it says numberplate. Click and change to VIN then enter VIN in the next box and it should tell you which clutch you need or at least some options. From looking there seems to be 10-2010 and after 11-2010 when using numberplate. As far as I know DMF clutch disks dont have springs. Hope this helps. I used it to find the clutch for my MK1 1.2

I had a quick look and I see what you mean. Is yours a MK2 or a MK3 as they changed in 2014 also seems to be a few 1.6td engines with different power output. Whats the reg and I will have a look or try puting the reg into www.PartsInMotion.co.uk and see what comes up. Had a 1.9tdi that clutch went but the DMF was still fine. Garage checked dmf and replaced clutch and it ran for another 50000 miles until our postie totalled it. There are solid flywheel conversions for around £200 but not sure which one for your car. If you get the master cylinder done it might work for a while but I reckon at the mileage a new clutch may be needed in the future. Alasdair

I had problems with my EGR. kept coming up with insufficient air flown error codes. I cleaned it as it was pretty bad and checked valve and replaced. Still kept going into limp. On my 1.9tdi pd engine I found there is an EGR cooler at the rear of engine with another valve attached. This was sticking and I assume affecting the EGR circulation. Not the easiest to replace but cheaper than a new EGR cooler I picked one up off Amazon for about £25-00 Alasdair

I put my reg into parts in motion website and found that my 1.2 was solid. I think the DMF clutch discs have no springs in them . Not sure of the 1.6td. I know the 1.9tdi had a DMF. Your garage will need one or perhaps two new hub nuts as well. The ones on my MK1 can only be used once. I also had to cut the bottom ball joint off mine as the retaining nuts were turning when trying to remove them from the wishbone. Alasdair

If the compression test comes back as ok I would remove plugs and have a look at them to see if any are black etc then get it scanned again. It could be a bad new plug or new coil pack if it ran ok for 2 weeks. I have had random plugs fail within a few weeks before. From experience I now use Bosch or NGK if I can. If the scan comes up with misfire on no1 again you could swap coil pack and plug from number no2 to check. If its still scans as number one after that then I doubt its the plugs or coil pack. Could be a wiring fault to coil pack no1 or perhaps HT leads? Alasdair

Not sure but if its the small pipe that you are pointing at and it needs to be removed then I would just remove it. If its oil then its high up so shouldn't lose much if any. If its coolant then be prepared to top up afterwards. As its high up on the engine I doubt you would lose much of either. Replace with a decent stainless jubilee clip or similar. You could try a small pry bar and see if you could move it enough to remove cover. Be careful not to use to much pressure as the last thing you want is to break it or kink the metal pipe. Can you see where the metal pipe goes? Alasdair

Thats the range. As said RP90 is my go to for rusty nuts/bolts

I get AC90 and RP90 from toolstation. Works well and slightly cheaper. I have been using the RP90 a lot and is great for soaking rusty nuts/bolts overnight. The RP90 is a fine penatrating oil. AC90 is like wd40 .hey also do silicone and white grease etc. Prefer the can design to wd40 as well. Alasdair

Probem with wd40 etc is they dont last long. Great for unseizing etc but not long term protection and lubrication. I had to get some 00 semi liquid grease for an industrial gearbox and have some left so started to use on bonnet latches etc. It soaks in well and protects the mechanism and so far has lasted. I just use a paint brush to apply it.

Even if he has to replace master cylinder its an extra £150 which would't cover an hours labour in fraanchise garage. Friends pay £200 per hour labour!! See if he could do the whole lot at the same time for £600? I reckon thats a good price. Alasdair

If the pedal is gong to the floor its either air or a bad master/slave cylinder but at 100,000 the clutch will be pretty near past it. I changed my slave on a 1.2 without removing box. I removed gear selector to get more room. Its only two bolts on mine. Main problem was pushing and holding slave in to get the bolts back in but if he is offering a new clutch etc for £500 all in then I would go for it. I ended up changing my sons clutch and it was not that easy without garage lift. If he is doing the clutch make sure he uses LUK / Sachs. They are about £30-40 more expensive but they are decent and I find they last. The LUK kit I got had a new pressure plate,clutch disk,release bearing and fork. It was £86-00 from parts in motion. Slave was around £30. I was quoted £600 from a mobile mechanic. Most garages are a good bit more. I did mine for aprox £160 when changing my sons. I wouldn't have gone for it at £600 but after doing it myself I reckon its a pretty good price plus if there are any problems he will have to sort it. Alasdair

Think some vehicles need a trigger code to get the car to start learning that theres a new sensor fitted or you can have the battery disconnected for a while which sometimes works. Most do it automaticaly but mates landrover needed to be plugged in to clear certain ecu codes especially ABS and laamda etc if new sensors are fitted. Just clearing the fault codes didn't work. The ECU had to be told they were new so it could start learning. Glad you got to the bottom of it and it was a rrelatively simple fix Alasdair

Thinking back if theres a bit of blackish soot on back of car and the airfilter is ok then maybe injectors(bad pattern) or intercooler full of oil. I once tried filling fuel filter with injector cleaner, It supposedly cleans injectors a lot better than an in tank additive. This was years ago on an old toyota people carrier as a last resort and it worked well but not sure if its a good or bad idea on a more modern skoda?? Have you had it read for fault codes? I(appologies if I missed it previously). Alasdair

One of mine is an 08 1.9tdi with the pd BXE engine. It has a cat but no DPF something about the pd engine not liking them or so i've heard. It confused me as the DPF light came on on mine but didn't have one. Tracked that one down to the dash connector.

I agree my octavia was absolutely disgusting. Full of black tar like gunge. The EGR valve was even worse. How it was operating I don't know. I think you can get a cleaner for in fuel but I just removed mine and soaked in kerosene and then cleaned. Made a big difference. Revs when idling were all over the place before cleaning plus got much better MPG afterwards.

My old octavia had high emissions and just passed a few years back. Mot tester noticed oil at intercooler pipe which on checking was partly blocked. It might be worth a check. I had a worn turbo and also one of the pipes wasn't sealing properly. There was a fair bit of oil and gunge in there. I took it off and flushed it out and fitted a second hand turbo. Next time emissions were ok. Alasdair