J.R.

No such thing as precharging a card (OK there is for prepaid debit cards) and the money is not debited from the account so anyone saying they got them to return it in 24 hours or whatever has misunderstood, your account balance does not change through a préautorisation it is only debitted for the value of the fuel pumped. But they might as well have taken the préautorisation amount as it is set aside and you can no longer spend it during the period it is effective. Good merchants will cancel the préautorisation as soon as the debit or credit card payment has cleared, others do nothing and you have to wait for the time-out, maybe 4 or 5 working days?

Good luck in living another 100 years to have any chance of ever seeing a roadside emissions test, the Police and the DOT are all still (not) working from home, the only things doing any working are the speed and ULEZ cameras and the AI chatbots! 🤣

He makes a valid point, EV's can only become mainstream when a recharge is as simple as paying for petrol or diesel, you should not need a phone, different apps, different chargecards you should simply be able to pay with a bank or credit card and if its a manned station also by cheque. I know very few people myself included use cheques but they are the ultimate back up, this time last year I lost my wallet and bank cards in the middle of the night during a rest stop at a French aire de service I had no means of paying my current toll charge and ones further on the journey also I needed to refuel within a couple of hours. The péages were resolved quite easily, they have a very good system handled by the person responding to the "call for help" button, for fuel I waited for a non motorway (fuel is expensive there) attended fuel station, a truck stop and paid by cheque. I continued doing this for a couple of weeks until I could get new bank cards (another story in itself). The person saying they had just driven to France in their EV got me thinking, if they lost their payment cards like I did they would be completely stuffed and a UK cheque will not "do very nicely sir"!!!

How old is your fridge freezer? I was susrprised how little power is consumed by a newer one, I treated myself to a new one 2 years ago which was largely paid for by selling the previous Samsung, it was the cheapest model and the only one available from stock that would fit under the gas boiler, at the time I was getting free leccy and gas in the UK so did not measure its consumption. It had an average energy rating, many others were allegedly much better. Here in France I have it on a smartplug, first surprise was how little the compressor cut in (but it was autumn) and that it was only pulling 50 watts when it did, the monthly consumption was between 4 and 5kwh from November to Feb then started climbing as the temperatures rose, it was up to 19 kwh in July by which time I had it switched to the highest setting, July and August were 24 and 25kwh. The last few days readings in the heatwave have been between 0.84 and 0.97 kwh, highest evr consumption was 1.15kwh in August when the temperatures were over 40°c and on those days the door is opened multiple times to drink from or refill the 2 chilled bottles of water I keep in there. So I reckon you could reduce your consumption by at least a third if you buy a newer freezer assuming yours are older, I reckon mine will cost €25-30 per year to run so your claim to save a hundred quid a year using a battery tells me you are consuming far more than you need be.

Thats what I thought as well but the others look so sparkly perhaps it is there. The seal has the filler strip in place. Neither the Anglia 105E's or the Consul Classics needed the rear windows defrosting on icy mornings, if you were late you could drive to work in reverse until the front screen cleared.

A Michael Moore TV episode (might have been one of his films) had him doorstepping the CEO's of multi-national companies to see if they were actually familiar with their products, some were a joke like asking the CEO of Phillip Morris to smoke a Marlboro, the more serious was challenging the CEO's of car companies to do an oil change on one of their vehicles. The CEO of Ford who I believe had risen through the ranks from an Engineering apprentice took it completely in his stride and set to straight away with a Ford Explorer I think on a 4 poster ramp, it was clear that he knew exactly what he was doing, had done it all his life and could have done it blindfold, you could in tell an instant from the way he held a spanner that he was the real deal. You know the legend about Harrison Ford being a carpenter on set when he was discovered ? Total BS, there was a scene in a film where he and 2 other homesteaders were nailing up joists to the ridge pole on a barn, it was clear that not one of them had ever held a hammer before in their life and nobody on the set either or they would have told them how to hold the bloomin things!

It was a joke years back, "have you heard about the new Ford Pubic? - It's made out of old Corsairs! (course hairs).

Best ever car for maintenance (Spitfire equally) flip up bonnet giving full access to everything on engine and also steering and suspension, you could also sit on the front wheel while servicing it! Gearbox removed from within the vehicle also.

Consul Classic and Consul Capri were both overengineered and Ford lost money on every one produced, great to own though and my favorite Fords. Their range at the time was ridiculous, they had the 105E Anglia that sold like hot cakes, the MK1 Tincorner equally a best seller, higher up the range were the Zephyrs and Zodiacs so what drugs were they on to have designed and sold the Consul Classic, Consul Capri and Consul Corsair (AKA the Ford Pubic) all 4 seater Cortina competitors at the same time? I could see some logic with the 2 door Coupé styled Consul Capri but it was ahead of its time, a few years later they did indeed create a new niche market with the MK1 Capri.

Oops, sorry about that, I thought it was a Yeti. - Brain fade!

I cant recall if VAG supply a replacement ignition barrel with tumblers set to the original key, whilst possible I reckon its unlikely so it will probably be a different key or they supplied a door lock as well.

Do you realise that you will have to partially remove the front wing in order to fit the seal? Is there any evidence of body repairs and paintwork on the side missing the seal?

That was a misjudgement. Nice work if you can get it!!!!!!!!! As others have said you will most likely have a problem with an ABS sensor and also a problem with one of the light bulbs which could well still be functioning but have an intermittent contact. Actually on reflection since replacing a faulty LHR ABS sensor I have not had one single reoccurrence of what were frequent warnings for a rear tail light, coincidence?

What country are you in? You say the mechanic ordered a key, from whom? If it was from Skoda then it will need the vehicle taken to them to have it activated on the vehicle. From Skoda the ignition barrel key will be the same cut as the existing one so the new key should open the doors and the old one operate the ignition. The easiest and quickest would be to swap the RFID chip from the old key to the new one. I may have missed something and be wrong in the above, hopefully others can confirm or correct me.

Apologies, I had not seen the title, its customary to look at someones profile signature which is to the left of every posting they make to find details like whether their vehicle is petrol or diesel, I had scrolled up to your first posting, seen the section it was in but not the title.

Wait a few days and see if the battery discharges, you can check the voltage frequently so as not to overdischarge it or not be able to start the car again. If it doesn't then you need to consider how you have been taking the readings, you have given zero details about your vehicle, age, engine type etc, does it by any chance have a start-stop system? Fabia 2 2007-2014 would suggest not but you may even have posted in the wrong section, please give vehicle details. Something else you could do is measure the battery voltage at idle and then with a full electrical load, lights, heater fan, heated rear screen etc, if the voltage does not drop your vehicle is charging. I dont want to hear you have paid out for a new alternator for nothing.

For short term silence buy a serpentine belt for a non AC equipped version of your vehicle, its good to keep as a spare.

You wont have any problem, the vast majority of the oil remains in the compressor and the compressor will not be operating with low refrigerant. That said the belt from a non AC equipped vehicle is a very usefull thing to carry in the event of a problem with the shear plate or pulley bearing, I have one in my breakdown kit.

Oil floats on water, I wont give you a lecture on Archimedes in the hope that you will lay off with the Ohms law ones 😀

I sold my oscilloscope 15 years ago because I was no longer creating electronics, looks like it was a mistake 😒 Although the lad who bought it was just starting out and as enthusiastic as I was initially so it went to a good home. I could probably buy one to connect to the phone now.

I hope the problems remain in the past, it does all sound too much to be coincidental, scary that the lead up to a misfire could cause such problems on a modern vehicle, with the protection built into all the circuits these days they ought be EMP (electro-magnetic pulse from a nuclear explosion) proof and not be disabled by a stray spark. Its good that you have binned off the garage as well, with the money you have saved you should consider the investment in VCDS, a moody clone is capable of bringing you more grief than stray sparks.

Come back NTA16 please! Someone is squatting in your shoes 😄

Is this not the vehicle type that had the problem of a fractured wire in the alternator excitor circuit? Does the ignition warning light come on when you switch on the ignition?

I cant see the logic of the first option so would discount it.

Please Lord, protect us from more lectures on Ohms law 😒