J.R.

"No damage to the bore!" My ar5e! Even with my poor eyesight I can see the vertical grooving from the broken rings. With a hone it will give some compression but it will be a case up especially with the shonky pistons.

Where did you find the quoted text which you claim is law as it is absolutely not within RTA 1988 sect 42 or CUR reg 32. No offences are listed under section 42, it says that a failure to comply with a regulation in section 41 is an offence. No regulations under section 41 regarding tyre pressures being inflated to spec for the load being carried, it does say " The Secretary of State may make regulations generally as to the use of motor vehicles and trailers on roads, their construction and equipment and the conditions under which they may be so used. Subsections (2) to (4) below do not affect the generality of this subsection. (2)In particular, the regulations may make provision with respect to any of the following matters— (a)the width, height and length of motor vehicles and trailers and the load carried by them, the diameter of wheels, and the width, nature and condition of tyres, of motor vehicles and trailers. Construction and use regulations are not laws, regulation 32 is specifications for vehicle glazing.

I'm still confusing myself, now I see that mechanic and breakdown operator are the same person, have it towed to a VAG specialist, breakdown graages are often highway robbers. Oh and get all your personal effects out of the vehicle ASAP if it is staying there including the service book if it has one, anything that is not screwed down!

Apologies, I had read but not taken in that the mechanic confirmed what the breakdown guy said about "no oil" so should not have asked if you had checked. Nonetheless I endorse everything that Aperture S has said, they should have furnished you with the answers to these questions in their diagnosis or at least said "unknown at this stage" rather than seized, no oil. I guarantee there will be some oil, perhaps insufficient but with no consumption over 6 months and no leaks I reckon the oil is probably at the correct level.

Based on what? When laden its the rears that carry the bulk of the extra load, I kept mine at the higher limit for most of the 45K that the tyres have already done because of my frequent laden and overladen journeys, the ride is more uncomfortable when unladen. My reward has been that the tyres are all equally worn and all worn equally so I will get at least another 10K miles out of them probably more before they reach the legal limit, thats also because of my wheel rotation, I measure the wear gradient and will adjust the tyre pressures accordingly, the manufacturers ones are pretty much dead right.

No warning? You had an oil warning light last year from a low oil level so you were aware that the engine consumes oil, it sounds like the low oil level sensor is no longer working but to be fair until recently cars never had these and checking the oil level and topping up was a weekly obligation especially on an oil burner. Always double check for yourself what anyone tells you, have you checked the actual oil level now yourself? If the oil level had not dropped 6 months after the service something must have changed for it to have ran out of oil in 2 months, even if the low oil sensor was not working you should have had low oil pressure warnings, is your wife the type to ignore warning lights and/or not report them to you?

A mechanic familiar with that engine and who has already encountered several with slipped timing would know in an instant. Most owners would recognise the faster cranking but as the engines normally fire in 1/2 a turn they may never have heard the actual against compression cranking speed unless they had run out of fuel or had another engine problem.

The round ones. Well at least when at operating temperature.

If it is not sending the correct "hand off" signal (I just made that up!) to the canbus gateway it in turn will not shut down and I reckon that is what actually is draining your battery, it happens on that age of vehicle when fitting aftermarket stereos, it shouldnt with a factory Bolero unit but we both think yours is faulty, I think though the drain will be from the Can Gateway controller. If I am correct then wiring it directly to the ignition will not resolve the problem but it costs you nothing but time to try and it will help track down the fault.

Garage is under no obligation to carry out work, even if in this case they sold the vehicle to you. The engine will have turned over during your attempts to start it, if the slippage is enough to bend the valves it will have happened then, it does not need to be running. They probably heard that the cranking speed was abnormally high and correctly IMO deduced that at a minimum valves were bent on all cylinders. In your position if I were happy with the car I would pay the money, better the devil you know and all that but everyones circumstances, external influences and decision making are different.

I'm pretty sure that I use an imperial 15/16" AF open ended spanner against a 24mm socket on M16 towball bolts and not 1" AF. 25mm will likely work on a low torque application like a sensor but will risk rounding off the bolt head, 1" AF even more risky.

I share your frustration, often the warning lights go out very quickly or do not remain when you next switch on the ignition in daylight and/or wearing close vision glasses, I had a weird light and whilst like you I knew where it was displayed and what colour nothing like it came up on the start-up self test, nothing even remotely like it in the manual and I had to do loads of googling to find what the symbol was which even when clear on the computer screen nobody would have made the connection to the fault it was supposed to show. Glad you found the problem 👍

OK, old school tried & tested atmospheric pressure overflow tank, the rad cap will have a small reverse flow valve built in, usually a small brass disc under the main pressure relief valve, they also have to have a rubber seal against the filler neck, any degradation in that and it wont draw back expelled coolant when the engine cools. Pressurised expansion tank systems on most othr vehicles are intended to be "no loss" if working correctly, there must be a reason why proper 4x4's retain the 80's/90's system, perhaps related to wading?

On the radiator itself or on an expansion vessel?

No, he wasn't shouting enough, it needed to be in capitals and bold text!

I think if you sell and buy a newer vehicle then any parts you may need are likely to cost significantly more, the manufacturers prices for some things are astronomical, it takes several years for the aftermarket to provide cheaper offerings and then several years of competition between multiple aftermarket suppliers for those prices to fall to the correct market rate when the customer has a choice.

Indeed but the question that you asked was "is it time to sell" which only you can decide, were you talking about investments I could understand. Your second question asked if your vehicle was difficult to source reasonably priced parts for which I responded to at length as did others. I agree with Petrolcan, if you are a happy owner you have answered your own question, the consensus here seems to be that parts can be found at very reasonable prices but if you use a mechanic their getting discounted parts and selling them at retail price (which can often be higher than the main dealer price) is part of their profit. I wonder if like me you have not had to replace an exhaust in decades or indeed have had many parts fail since choosing Skoda, and like me become stuck in the past regarding parts prices, every time I buy building materials I am shocked but the reality is I spent 12 years on a project and then 5 years running it (no building work) then 3 years of effective confinement, the stuff I am buying today I may have last bought in 2015 and back then there was close to zero inflation, if the price of something had gone up I would look elsewhere and find it for what I had always paid.

I removed the one from my 70's 3 cylinder diesel micro-tractor yesterday to see if there was any fluid in the system, aside from my kit cars I think its the first time in over 30 years I have had a vehicle with a radiator cap. The last car I owned with one was a 1984 Mitsubishi Shogun and I may even be wrong about that, it may well have been a traditional pressure cap but on an overflow tank. It shows how reliable cars have become when we look for something that used to be a weekly ritual and find they have not existed for 30 + years!

Thats quite amazing, taller gearing than many modern diesels, most of the vehicles of my youth had 3.9:1 or higher final drive ratios, 1:1 top gear and 165/13 tyres or worse, 5000rpm at 80mph was very common, to do 20mph/1K RPM was the domain of very powerful executive cruisers I dont think even the Tincorner 1600E with its 3.77:1 final drive managed 20mph/1K RPM.

Is this during the heatwave? Is it more noticeable during hot weather?

I believe it does do what he says if the shunt resistor cable is disconnected, but probably with a lower charging voltage, something like 13.7v max and not 14.4v. Charging voltage reduces when the battery approaches full charge anyway, if it mimics the operation of the normal alternator regulator it will do the same.

I'll have to Google Factious!!!

Can you really not make that decision yourself without asking strangers on the internet to tell you what to do? Exhausts rarely need replacing on modern vehicles which is why you never see any Fast Fit Exhaust centres like you once did on what seemed like every corner, nonetheless there are many aftermarket exhaust manufacturers, perhaps the Rapid Spaceback one is special and because it was a niche low volume vehicle they did not tool up for it. TBH £300 for a genuine Skoda full exhaust system sounds like a bargain to me and its very good that they are still stocking them for an 8 year old vehicle, compared to the prices for plastic body parts, differentials etc its very correct. Your wheel bearing would have been available cheaply but many garages wont take the risk using cheap parts, they fit OE ones sourced from TPS and get a good discount. Did your exhaust really need replacing or was it the garage that said so? At the age your vehicle is the clamp between the front and rear sections usually fails through rust but the system is usually in superb condition on a TDi engine.

I made no negative comments about you. You said yourself you did not divulge details of your vehicle fleet because it would have gotten verbal from someone else and then did exactly that. My comment was maybe you should have remained tight lipped i.e. not given those details which you believed would leave you open to recieving "verbal" I wont respond to your remarks but will answer the questions asked of me: 1. - No, I have had no income since Covid and am living on my savings until I will recieve only a partial UK pension in 3 years time, I also have the expenses of renovating my new property and maintaining the Hôtel with 7 electricity supplies until the conditions are right to sell, I did all the work on that myself over 12 years after purchasing it as an abandoned delapidated wreck. 2. Yes, I bought it last Autumn with severe damp, I replaced the entire rotted front wooden framework and internal paneling, I also made repairs to both the front and rear of the roof that was leaking, one of these leaked again this spring and I had to make a better repair to both of them and replace all the rotten panelling in the bedroom whilst still sleeping in there. I am currently repairing the roof of the house, initially removing fractured chimneys, broken tiles which involved having to replace the entire ridge and the first row of tiles which were damaged from covering over the chimney or replacing tiles in the second and 3rd row, this was done in the last few weeks when the temperature rarely got below 35° Last week I had to break through the beam and block concrete ceiling cutting through 2 reinforced concrete beams in the process and having to shore up and cast around the new access hatch, nobody has been inside the roof for 50 years. 2 days ago I was able to inspect for the first time the roof timbers, many are eaten away by Capricorn Beetle (long horn stag beetle?) and with the limited time I had due to the massive heat I could identify 4 rafters and 4 purlins that I have to replace, it will probably be many more maybe even a complete reroof as the larvae are deep inside the wood and continue to much only exitting when they change state to then lay their eggs in any cracks or holes in adjacent timbers. Today is much cooler and I can do a proper inventory, then I will start work in replacing the timbers, alone as I do not have the means even to pay someone to help me. Mine is not a static caravan but a twin axle touring caravan which I have to live in while renovating the completely uninhabitable house I purchased to give me something positive to do after losing my occupation and income (the Apparthôtel) during Covid.

I wouldn't!