J.R.

I didn't flush and the 2nd new valve worked fine for several years and was still working when I sold the car. The first one didn't work I have my own filling facilities but the cost of the gas if you waste 2 charges due to a non functioning new valve means that I would now buy a cheap Chinese compressor from Maxpeedingrods and have the old one, the pulley, shear plate etc as a spare.

Have a look elsewhere on the forum, I don't have Adblue so dont pay much attention but your words " topped up to over flowing" rang a bell. I'm fairly sure that I read if the tank is overfilled it will damage the sensor or something causing the problem that you have. Maybe someone else will recall or have the details. I replied to your PM regarding my VCDS.

I had one which for may years tyre fitters could not find the leak in the water trough, they kept removing the tyre, rotary brushing the bead contact area and refitting the tyre with loads of schmoo and it would still go down. I was at the point of having the alloy wheel refurbished when a knowledgable guy did the same water bath test but tweaked the valve from side to side, the brass core was no longer bonded into the rubber outer but it would only leak when twisted, the centrifugal force from high speed running was pushing the valve stem outwards. I had a similar thing on my removal trailer, it had very old inner tubes under not so oldish tyres, when it was parked up fully (over)loaded for the journey next day I heard a pop and a whoosh of air, the brass core had shot out and lande some 50m away, had it not happened then I would have been on the M23 and at cruising speed within 2 miles of my home for it to have caused a major accident.

Can't help you regarding the MK3 but I'm glad to read that you have found a suitable replacement for your old L&K. Did the insurers eventually pay you the correct amount to buy a similar age & condition vehicle? I realise you may have chosen to buy a newer one which cost more but did they leave you out of pocket? I assume you will also have lost the remainder of your insurance year with the total loss and will have to reinsure, did they up the premium?

Before you get too excited double check using a brim to brim calculation, I hope you also have one from before the remap. The tuners rather than tell you that the cars fuel consumption figures will be optimistic because their map puts more fuel into the engine than the ECU thinks has been delivered they spin it as more power plus greater economy which aside from the flattering untruths shown on the dash display is not likely to be the case? 68 or 74mpg is superb economy from a petrol engine though!

Not a chance with a poly-V serpentine belt and the automatic tensioner, belt slip is something from the last century, all cars have had this system for more than 30 years now.

Clown!

What makes you think yours is faulty? AFAIK recirculation is switched on with reverse gear and a couple of other scenarios I cant recall, I have never seen any of mine switch in other situations, a fault code from the sensor will usually result in the compressor not pumping with a matching shut down code in the Measuring Blocks on VCDS.

Surely that should be please pay less attention to your screens be they Shatnav or whatever, and look at the road, traffic & the world around you? Your Freudien slip speaks volumes for what peoples preoccupations are in this day and age.

Its a pendulum that swings. Cars from my youth, those built in the 60's and 70's would rarely reach over 80k miles, the engines would need decoking from about 25K and either need a full rebuild or be rattling like a pig at 60K. They would usually fail the first MOT on rust and need more welding every year, I put myself through college and got on the property ladder by investing in a trolley jack and BOc portapak when I was 17. The lacquer on metallic finishes would often peel off completely within a few years, particular the Fords with Silver Fox and Saluki Bronze metallics. Compared to then most cars of the 90's were a million times better despite never being garaged, the above rusting etc happened when most cars were garaged but would still not see their 10th anniversary. I reckon for VAG the pinnacle was about 2000/2002 around the time of the MK1 Octavia, the MK2 may have had more toys & features to sell it but the underbody protection and especially the protective finishes on suspension & brake components, cross members, suspension arms etc was seriously lacking and the later models just got worse, the toys & features were also an Achilles heel. I will never buy a newer vehicle than the one I have, if it gets scrapped or written off I will search long and hard to find an older model in good condition. In 10 or more years time from now there will still be very good condition vehicles around from the late 90's to early 2000's but very few of vehicles later than that. I can only hope that the pendulum will swing back at some time in the future on EV's but from what I have seen the underbody protection is very poor at present, probably no worse than an IC engined vehicle but still very poor.

Can you please confirm what end of the car you are working on, front or back? Haldex fluid is made for the Haldex coupling on the rear differential and is absolutely not suitable for the 6 speed transmission at the front of the car.

It's simply 9 years of rust on a thin tin plate with only a dusting of unprimed electrostatic paint on it offering no protection, no different to the bacofoil brake disc dust covers which I'm sure will have already been replaced on your vehicle. If you think that is shocking then best not to look at your rear suspension! The basic problem is that these cars are too oil tight and hence thess parts don't get coated in schmoo to protect them, you no longer have that problem 🤣

Are you talking about draining and refilling the Haldex coupling which is attached to the rear differential or the 6 speed transmission coupled to the engine? The oil you have shown is for the Haldex coupling. If the above is correct are you 100% sure that you did not drain down the differential oil by mistake (very easily done) and then put in 1.6l of 75/90 gear oil on top of the Haldex fluid thus overfilling it? I have been there done that and got the T shirt 🥴 If so that would explain the leak but more importantly you will be driving around with a bone dry differential which will quickly turn into a nightmare massive repair bill. My apologies if I have misunderstood, I appreciate that you are communicating in a second language.

BTW the bit about accepting the hire car was nothing to do with that you might end up paying for it but everything to do with handing over your car before the decision of whether it will be repaired or sold on through Copart, driving around in a car that they are paying for while they hold your vehicle and act as if it is their own puts you in the weakest position for any negotiations. Hopefully it will be repaired and you can ignore my alarmism.

So you have nothing whatsoever at present to indicate that your vehicle is going to be repaired and not declared a write off? I hope for your sake that it wont be as it looks like you have voluntarily and willingly gone down the path they have set out for you. It's up to you whether you bear in mind any of the advice given above, once you have handed over the keys and accepted the hire car then you might as well be a bystander, the vehicle will still belong to you for the little comfort that is worth as the actions of the insurer and their agents may well bely that.

The cover should be clipped back on but likely one or more of the clips are broken because the inlet elbow is not correctly inserted into the casing (it needs to go further in and engage 2 grooves further back) meaning the person will have forced it breaking at least one clip and hence it fell off. - There should be 3 clips IIRC. This is incorrect, the engine will still be able to draw the correct volume of filtered air, with the cover missing there is less restriction but miniscule. It's function is to get the coolest possible air into the combustion chamber for the maximum efficiency, its secondary function is for vapour to condense and drain out before reaching the air filter reducing its efficiency, there is also a snorkel port so the engine cannot ingest water if the vehicle is driven through a flood higher than the inlet in the lower grill. Janet, you should ask what work has been done to the car as that inlet pipe has been recently removed and misfitted, it could be clutch or transmission work. The smell of fuel should be investigated as an urgency given the slap dash nature of whatever work was carried out, the absence of that cover would not result in a smell of fuel.

Yes too late, remove them and put the old ones back in 🤣 On second thoughts remove them and dont put any spark plugs back in 🤣 Being serious now, you could overtorque the spark plugs and strip the threads and ther would still be zero risk of them hitting the piston crown.

The same unit is used in the Octavia and Yeti but should carry different names. Padded armrest for the Octavia Padded storage unit for the Yeti. My cheap Ali-Express one will slide forward enough to be used as an armrest but makes it impossible to use the handbrake.

Drain plug? 🥴 Was I supposed to drain the old oil? 🤣

Or get penalised for abusing it!

As long as it doesn't come back to you via Copart Do not relinquish the vehicle. Do not allow it to be taken away for assessment. Do not accept a hire car. Maybe the above is unecessary as you have a provisional date, maybe it has already been assessed. Only hand over the vehicle when you have agreed the repairs and the repairer, only hand it over to them, remove all your personal effects and the vehicle documents.

There is no such thing as resetting the ECU. You have recieved sensible advice finally regarding the clutch and brake sensors, disregard any Bravo Sugar that the dealer may have trotted out about resetting the ECU. It has already allegedly had a "a specific software version / update" (which I don't believe for one second) but were that to be the case it would be the closest that you could get to a reset. Losing the car for yet another day with all the inconvenience that it entails for a ficticious"specific software version / update" or "ECU reset" is just part of the wearing you down process hoping that you will go away.

There is a sensor in the Climatronic control panel, it might be the cabin air temp one, it has a fan which draws air over it and if dust builds up it can cause your problem, the solution is to blow it through with an airline. Googling should give you more details and will probably lead you back to the info on this forum. A nice simple fix if it isindeed that!

Bonne Route!

I would not count on that, its only a small part that breaks off and not easy to see. Your rear ride height is low compared to the front, there should be a rake from front to back, the rear springs are minimally settled. As Chimaera says: