J.R.

That would leak oil to the outside of the engine, oil on the electrode is 99% sure to be coming up from the crankcase past the piston rings on the induction stroke during light throttle openings. If it were the turbo or crankcase ventilation it would affect all 4 spark plugs equally. A compression test may reveal low compression on that cylinder which will be more than just stuck rings but broken ones and bore damage. The auto parts shop did not want you leaving without buying something.

I think you have missed their point Graham and if you pause for thought you will realise that Paws4Thot (see what I did there!) makes a good point, he was picking up on your speaking of "proper to (sic) use of mirrors effectively"

What O ring or gasket were you thinking of?

There is no such thing as "Summer tyres", its marketting Bravo Sugar for "tyres". How many days of snow have you experienced in the last 2 decades in Surrey and Wiltshire? Drivers should be capable of adapting to the weather conditions, unfortunately that has not been the case for the majority since ABS and ESP became mandatory. A driver that knows the limits of his vehicle and drives within them according to the weather and road conditions will always feel secure. I speak as someone who spent most of their life trying to drive right on the limit and beyond both on road and on track, tyres were very important to me, they still are but adapting to the conditions more so. I have had zero benefit from my winter tyres in recent years, now I am set up to change them very quickly I am going to remain all year on the standard tyres which you call summer tyres and only swap them if we get snow and ice and a forecast that it will hang around for a long time.

I thought the title was a statement and not a question, there was nothing else written, I hear a noise when my engine is ticking over and also when a plane flys overhead! Many of the topics on this forum are better than any crossword puzzle.

4WD 81kw engine. What does the second question mark signify, are you questioning your statement? It was very sluggish when the power was needed, otherwise on part throttle it zipped through the gears with ease but that was because of low and close ratios, a 2WD version would have to be slightly quicker.

Bird or impact damage, there is material missing on the edge fillet as well. Why do you think a bird attack would be random?

They both will have expired through long term self discharge, the replacements probably wont last anywhere near as long but since you have fitted larger capacity ones perhaps they will. Your keyfob will operate with a slightly lower voltage than the spare one.

If it is then it will be the garage which did the alignment. You watched them so what did they actually adjust ?

When tensioners have a ratchet mechanism there it still allows some degree of fore and aft movement for chain oscillation and to reduce wear on the chain guide pads, the one shown would work but should be carefully set to allow clearance and would need adjustment throughout the life of the vehicle to remain effective. But I do agree its a good idea and applaud the guy!

No question about it, in soon to be 20 years of driving skoda diesels the cooling fans have never been commanded other than for the aircon. But you are kidding yourself that the engine and oil warm up quicker than they already do in any measurable or observable manner.

I commend you to read the VAG self study guide on the cooling system for your generation of engine specifically the shrouded water pump and auxiliary coolant pump and their operation in conjunction with the thermostat during the warm up period. Also the oil to water heat exchanger circuit. Then you will realise that your grill blanking plates are a vanity purchase and not a sanity purchase. They look good though! These vehicles are massively overcooled but if the day ever comes that you need the full cooling capacity you will no longer have it. That said the bulk of the airflow through the 3 heat exchangers comes through the lower grille aperture when in motion. The aircon radiator needs the airflow through the upper grille both in motion and at standstill. The warm up time of the engine is massively reduced compared to previous generations but even they would not have benefitted from your blanking of the grille, radiator blinds used to be sold in the 60's and they did indeed have something to offer then.

But for a 25 year old he shows remarkable self awareness dont you think!

I looked closely at mine today to see if the diff side cover can be removed in situ, it will be very tight if it does come out and access to the upper bolts is very restricted, I have decided that its better for me to remove the whole cradle as others have said. As can be seen by Fr1nklyns experience the more a garage has to remove to do a job the greater the chance of them getting something wrong. That goes for us DIY'ers as well but its easier, for me at least, to cope with my failings than to pay to find those of others and all the grief and denial that follows.

If you Google you will find the zone of the windscreen where no stone chips or visual obstructions are allowed, I'm pretty sure that its higher up than where your guages will be.

So half full not no "hydraulic in the reserve" it did what it was supposed to do and maintained the level for the braking system hence no warning light. The diagnosis of a slave cylinder leak is the most plausible but there is also a flexible hose and a plastic bleed block/peak torque limiter both with O ring seals that could also be the cause and a much easier cheaper repair, if the fluid is on the bellhousing then its one of the external components, if its dripping out of the join between bellhousing and engine then its the internal concentric slave cylinder. You have not confirmed what engine and gearbox combination your car has, it could be an external slave cylinder.

I love the styling, 50's aérodynamics with a bit of Soviet bling to make it stand out! Not forgetting the tractor wheels!

Another poster resolved the same problem, it was IIRC the clutch sensor but he was thrown off balance by having replaced the sensor and then the master cylinder to find that the sensor on the new cylinder was faulty & he had to refit either the original one or maybe the first replacement, I cant recall the details but he then got back the cruise control and gear indications, search the forum via Google for the details. You should have the clutch switch actuation checked using VCDS, the brake one as well while you are at it. Just because a sensor has been replaced does not mean that the new one will be working correctly as yours seemigly isn't, when I cut apart my original master cylinder the toroidal magnet was covered in an unidentifiable magnetic Schmoo from where I have no idea but it would have reduced the magnetic field seen by the hall sensor.

Is it the garage telling you that or what you saw yourself with your own eyes? I am making 2 assumptions, please advise if they are wrong: 1. That you meant to say "no hydraulic fluid in the reservoir 2. Your vehicle has the combined brake and clucth fluid reservoir. If so then you have a serious loss of fluid in the braking system and should not drive the vehicle, the pipe that feeds the clutch master cylinder is half way up the combined reservoir to prevent a clutch leakage as you report from compromising the braking system, therefore the reservoir should be (approx) half full if the leak was from the clutch hydraulics. Did you not see a low hydraulic fluid warning light?

Mine was sluggish because of a clagged up intake tract from the EGR post Emissions Fix but it really struggled to overtake even after, having the close spaced ratios of the extra gear compared to my previous PD engine made it feel very nippy through the gears but that gave a false impression, you woul think you had the power for a 3rd gear or 4th gear overtake but end up with brown trousers. It has been transformed by a remap to an alleged 184hp, I reckon its the standard VAG 170 map.

Ah, silly me, that makes complete sense, my MK1 Octavia had a red i in the badge, maybe the reason I did not connect was the use of the upper case I. Frenchtones vehicle is a 4x4 I think so why does his have the red letter on the TDi? Is it that prefacelifts had both the TDi and the 4x4 badges and facelift models only the 4x4 badge? Maybe before getting caught out on Dieselgate VAG thought it prudent not to identify the fuel used in their vehicles!

I do now, I didn't then!!! A red l ? Where the ell is the l in 4x4? Mine was a 110hp and felt like about 80, the badge says 4x4

Did you forget the colour code?

While waiting the 2 days for it to set you could while away the hours on this puzzle: Rearrange the following words to make a sentence. Are Wind In Pi55ing The You.

Yes but the labour charge will be but a tiny fraction if he is able to do it in situ, with his ramp it will be even easier. Also many less things to be disturbed and removed which might cause problems or break like the exhaust, propshaft centre bearing, drive coupling, engine mounts, subframe mounts, brake pipes etc etc.