J.R.

Peace be with you Brother.

Glowplugs would not cause that smoke working or otherwise under any circumstances. Had the engine just been started? From cold or restarted from hot? Or was it up to full operating temperature? I think it could be the result of an active DPF regen but could you please confirm what engine and fuel type your vehicle is? I am assuming diesel from your mention of glowplugs being replaced but some people confuse them with glowplugs and they are often those who fail to specify their engine type. Blue smoke can often look like white on a video, steam can resemble smoke, I had the Pompiers attend when I had an electric boiler venting superheated steam, to a neighbour it was smoke.

Perhaps I misread that, did you buy the car new from the dealer? If not then completely knackered shock absorbers are a possibility, the fronts a strong possibility, the rears unlikely at that age.

No need for the sarcasm, amongst what you wrote I think I can pick out that you are repeating and perhaps embellishing what others have wrote with no understanding. If you are unable to analyse what is being presented to you then please dont perpetuate the misinformation by presenting it as gospel without preceeding it with something along the lines of "I have read", others have said" etc and please don't get angry if what you write is challenged.

"That is implausible" is the polite version of what I thought when I read that. Ask yourself why would there be a fatigue loading when the bolt is loose but not when correctly tightened, how would your cyclical load induce more stress on a loose fastener than a tensioned one and how would a stress raiser appear when a bolt loosens?

Instead of typing with your finger stick it in the reservoir!!!!!!!!!!!!

You chose too big a hammer!

And even when something is mandatory like a Gilet Jaune and warning triangle there is no obligation on the manufacturers or dealers to supply them with a new or second hand vehicle, its the responsibility of the individual, a concept many have difficulty in comprehending. There is no requirement in France to carry a first aid kit in a vehicle.

All too common a story of main dealers playing parts bingo depleting the customers Magic Money Tree. It's a shame you do not have laws like we have in France where a garagiste has an obligation to provide a result. In the following example the law perhaps is too far in the customers favour but this is France, businesses or landlords are seen as enemies of the state. The garage did fix the fault but the warning light reappeared 5 months later: Cass. civ. 1, 27 September 2017, appeal no. 16-24739 Garage owner - inadequate repairs - breach of the obligation of result A consumer questioned the repairs carried out by the garage owner on his commercial vehicle, as the malfunctions persisted. He sued the garage on the basis of the obligation of result, seeking reimbursement of the invoices he had paid. The judges of the Court of Cassation upheld the decision of the Douai Court of Appeal. The appeal judges had taken the view that the garage owner had carried out insufficient work to remedy the defects. This was confirmed by expert reports. In these circumstances, it did not matter, as the garage argued, that the origin of the pollution in the circuit was undetermined and that there was no basis for automatically presuming that the malfunctions that occurred 5 months later were due to the garage's work. The Court of Appeal was not required to carry out a search that its findings rendered inoperative. The successive breakdowns were linked to the garage's work. The garage owner must reimburse his customer for repairs carried out unnecessarily. In this case, the mere fact that the garage owner had carried out insufficient work was sufficient to establish that he had breached his obligation of result. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Now that would be a really good idea! Not just potentially lighter either, my winter wheels are way lighter than the fragile leaky OE alloys. How times have changed, in the 70's alloy wheels were highly desired for their weight saving, its not just the reduction in weight but a huge reduction in rotational kinetic energy. Now we have dustbin lids shod with rubber bands whose combined weight is beyond most peoples ability to lift onto the wheel hub at a roadside tyre change without risking injury and which require bigger brakes just for the increase in rotational kinetic energy. As an engineer I understood this but as a Chancer I disregarded it when having changed from a Shogun to a Suzuki SJ410 I was left with a set of off road wheels & tyres from the Shogun, I machined up & welded hub adaptors to the rims and fitted them to the Suzuki making it look like a Tonka Toy. Obviously the gearing was trashed but they were for off road trials and road posing, the dramatic effect was on the braking which was excellent on the stock Suzuki wheels but downright dangerous at the same speed on the Shogun wheels. The difference in mass was probably 1/4 of that of carrying an extra passenger but the difference in rotational inertia was enormous and beyond the capability of the brakes.

If you pull on the shaft and there is the stub of one bolt in the flange then it will jam, they are fitted bolts in close tolerance reamed holes. Refit the bolt opposite or better still all the other bolts but leave them loose, then pull away and/or give it the good news with your hammer of choice, that way it will withdraw in alignment without jamming, once it has moved a little it will come off easily with the bolts removed.

You could secure and seal the joint using stainless steel lockwire or maybe even a tywrap. The sealing is done by the O ring seal, the clips just hold the joint together against axial pressure loading which is minimal on such a small cross sectional area.

100% the transport blocks have not been removed. This is criminal negligence, the dealers who not only neglect to remove the blocks but then do the "nothing wrong with the vehicle" BS this should serve a prison sentence.

You sure did choose a good title for this thread!

Well as you have successfully claimed from the TP insurers it is now a no fault claim it shouldn't make any difference but as you have seen that is not the case, they practically give away this protected NCB because after a claim they have you by the ghoulies, they won't reduce your NCB so they stuff the policy up to the level that other insurers would quote you for having a potential claim against you. You and I both know that there will not be a claim against you and that your "no fault claim" has been settled in full by the TP's insurer but they game the system by taking up to 18 months to update the shared data system. So you get quotes elsewhere and have to answer "Yes" to "have you had any claims in the last..........", in any case they can see that a claim was submitted, your quote from them will then have no NCD other than perhaps an introductory one. As much as I hope it not to be true but I suspect any quotes you get from other insurers will be higher than your renewal one. It's the second shafting you get after allowing the insurers to take away your vehicle allegedly to their repairers. I got burned some 40 years ago with protected NCB and will never have it now even if its free, I will go to another insurer and pay more! I also only have TPO insurance to avoid all the grief of dealing with the sharks other than directly with a TP's insurer if they are at fault and through a solicitor that they end up paying for. Luckily nobody has crashed into me in the last 15 years.

My thought is I would be surprised that someone went to a cycling race to watch Octavia Estates get hammered but then many if not most seem to go for the sponsored goodies that are thrown to the crowd from the support wagon, tat worth less than a centime usually.

Let me guess, you had protected NCB?

8.6kg per disc 🤯 thats nearly 3 stone a pair 😒 And the calipers were really really heavy as well, no wonder I cannot lift the box. I'm used to Triumph Spitfire discs with Willwood alloy 4 pot calipers!

I cant believe how much prices of used UK vehicles have gone up. 5 years ago I bought a UK registered RHD 2006 Octavia Elegance TDi estate with just over 100k miles for £750 in great condition from a private seller, I was the highest bidder.

Did that very thing today with one of the 6 screws holding the front cover on one of the fuseboards in my house. Yes 6 screws and one of the fuseboards, French electrics are very overcomplicated hence why I end up using cheap fuseboards that wont put up with the covers being repeatedly removed.

Please note that an administration fee of £249 applies to all our responses to the OP's request for ideas! 🤣

Sister to Isaac Hunt.

Mine has the 280mm discs I think, it was the lowest powered Yeti, it does not have caliper carriers, the calipers bolt directly to the steering knuckle = wheel bearing carrier. You can use the large discs and calipers from an earlier Golf GTi, I bought a set from Ebay quite some while back but they are in storage following my move and the job wont be done for a very long time. You have to use the corresponding steering knuckle, that brings its own problem in that the knuckle is for a 50mm strut body IIRC and mine has the smaller diameter struts, 45mm I think, so I have to either change the struts which I only fitted last year or use adaptors which are available. A long post to explain that if you have the smallest brakes you can upgrade to the decent ones but its more complicated. The other thing putting me off doing the upgrade is aside from having to refurbish the calipers I cannot believe the weight of the set up, it is by far the heaviest of my removal cases heavier even than the ones with all the lathe tooling and bar stock. Granted I have not weighed my current set up but these are astonishingly heavy, the car will need a brake upgrade to cope with the extra weight 😄

50 profile is a rubber band to someone of my generation and a 17" wheel huge to someone accustomed to 13" wheels at a maximum, my Minis were all 10" wheels, the Vauxhalls and Fiats usually 12" rims, having a 13" 5.5J rim with 185/60 tyres was the height of sportiness. In all my race cars I never went above 13" rims (by far the greatest choice of compounds back then) never lower nor higher than 60 series profile and it was only the last 24 hour racer that had wider tyres than 185.

I used to buy a lot of products from Bulgin Knobs 🤣 I googled them recently, they still exist but have changed the second part to something like "products" or "Components"