J.R.

Whatever you do don't follow that advice, I did and was on the loo for 24 hours!

For coded read cloned, at the Timsons price if you have any doubts about the missing key falling into the wrong hands then its worth paying the VAG price for the security of the missing key no longer being able to start the vehicle which you will not get with a cloned key.

Try changing gear a little bit slower and coming back on the power a little bit progressively and if the slippage stops then the problem is the clutch bleed block AKA clutch peak torque limiter. VAG in their wisdom decided that it was better for you to burn out the clutch than put too much torque through the drivetrain There is a restrictor valve in the bleed block that allows you to disengage the clutch (depress pedal) as fast as you want but not engage (release pedal), it throttles the return of fluid from the clutch slave cylinder and is akin to you riding the clutch while you get back on the gas. The restrictor can easily be drilled out or rip off merchants will sell you a shiny alloy one for silly money, TBH once you understand what is going on you initially counteract by modulating the throttle and in time you subconsciously slow down the gearchanges to avoid it, we are only talking a fraction of a second.

I have one of those but my compressor is not usually switched on, a spray bottle is so much more convenient and I use it for multiple DIY jobs, I am a recent convert to brake cleaner and did not realise how versatile it is and how it does not seem to damage delicate components unless they are swimming in it like the pump guns, on the cleaning job it seems to evaporate faster than it can dissolve plastics. You are right about an external pump, the one way valve on the pressure pot would be exposed to the vapour all the time and also if it was knocked on its side.

Thanks, you have saved me getting angry with myself after paying out big money for a brand name to find it's as vulnerable as any other. I don't mind changing seals if the piston chamber does not turn into a banana, I will give a Chinese knock off of a Wurth one a try and then start experimenting with different seals. I'm surprised nobody has made one with an external non wet air pump.

Good to know, I had seen them on Ebay France but they didn't look any different to a Chinese one that I bought which self destructed as quickly as the €1.99 ones. I will buy one now.

What are you taking issue with? I was stating that you were wise to ask for a torque figure for the crankshaft belt.

If the engine was running OK before shutdown then no way will a partially blocked DPF prevent it from restarting despite your claims of it being a "Classic" symptom. An engine will start with a potato blocking the tailpipe!

Having to adjust one cable at all let alone significantly is usually an indication of a sticking handbrake mechanism on the MK2, often accompanied by dragging brakes and red hot discs. The first thing to do before any adjustment is to compare the angles of the handbrake actuating lever on both rear calipers with the handbrake not engaged, they should both be resting against their stops. If one isn't do not adjust the cable to compensate, you need to rebuild the calipers, I did mine twice without resolving the problem or working out what I was doing wrong so gave up and fitted cheap Chinese ones which worked fine.

Is it a manual gearbox or a DSG? Do these vehicles have driving modes on a manual gearbox?

I presume you mean driving modes, are these not for the DSG transmission?

Does it happen when you are accelerating hard through the gears and you have just changed up a gear? If so then a clutch hydraulic "feature" and one that wont cost you any money if you adapt to it or very little to adapt the vehicle to you!

As the title suggests I am looking for a hand operated pressure sprayer for brake cleaner, I have been using cheapo plans sprayers but the pump mechanism is within the fluid container and the solvent soon swells the O ring seals and usually bends the pump chamber like a banana. I would like to buy a decent long term one, preferably metal bodied and with the pump to pressurise the pot external, the only ones I have seen have a schrader valve and need pressurising with a footpump or bicycle pump, I cant be doing with all that faffing around when I want to squirt some cleaner on something and need one that is hand operated but not going to self destruct like the ones I have used till now. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Reluctance to start yes, but misfiring driving up a hill will not be a result of a glowplug failure/problem. I'm sorry that I dont have a solution to your problem Flatjack but I can tell you what it isn't!

I very much doubt anyone would do that repair with a new door skin for £700/£800. They would also be creating grief for themselves in regards of panel gaps and alignment. It's repairable as is, an insurance assessor might price a complete new door with loads of labour for paint & prep and swapping parts over.

That will be your fault, one conductor was shorting to 0v via the clip. Make sure it is well insulated and mechanically protected if you are going to put it back in the clip.

CR 110 4x4. DMF plus 3 piece clutch kit €308 inc delivery, labour just cost me some more grey hairs!

I wish that I didn't 😳 Not just garages that make the mistake although they have far less excuse with good visibility and access under a ramp. I even had a second opinion from the eyes (twice as many as I have) of a Briskoda member on hand when I chose the wrong hole.

Apologies for my memory failure, my mental arithmatic is still good when I use it. What does CBA mean please?

50 kph = +/- 35 mph. But yes, 30mph in 6th if that is the speed limit or the speed of the traffic or speed I wish to cruise at. I did not say that I took notice of or obeyed the maxidot gear indications, I find them patronising but they are usually quite correct for the conditions, what they cant do is anticipate like a good driver can, they certainly are a million times better than your speed and gear rule book and take into account the engine load, accelerator position etc. Using your logic I would only use direct top gear once in a blue moon when there is a 90kph limit instead of the national 80kph limit or when I use an autoroute, not much point having a diesel for economy if you are going to use the intermediate gears like that. You remind me of a girlfriend who had a drivers license but who had never owned a car, she would say "is this a 3rd gear or a 4th gear hill?" and could not understand that there was no fixed answer and it depends on the speed you were going at/want to maintain, how laden you are, what vehicle you are driving. Do you drive downhill at 50 mph in 5th gear? I would not take my eye (singular) off the road to look at an app on a phone.

This is one of the few requests for a torque figure where I have not thought to myself "just feckin tighten it!" Cylinder head bolts, main and big end bearing caps, flywheel bolts, crankshaft pulley nuts, driveshaft retaining bolts (or nuts) and the like are the only times I use any of my 3 torque wrenches. I appreciate that technical manuals have to assume that a fastener might be tightened by a Muppet with no sense of force using a scaffold pole on the knuckle bar but just because they show a torque figure for every fastener does not mean that you have to ask what it is or use a torque wrench when you are replacing something.

That logic is valid for vehicles made in Japan and Korea but not anywhere else.

I dont think there is a coolant flow through the expansion tank, it is what its name suggests and nothing more. I would have to read one of my self study guides to be sure but they are 800kms away!

Check that both butterflys are held closed and that you dont have the throttle screw holding open the primary one, if they are both closed or as near as dammit for the primary one then you have an air leak downstream, check the carb to manifold gasket and all the vacuum tappings, clamp the brake servo pipe to eliminate that. I reckon its connected to whatever you assembled wrong in regards to the secondary choke actuator, my belief is that vacuum will close the butterfly and a spring will open it under absence of vacuum - mid to full throttle, something else must hold it closed for starting though. So on reflection I reckon the secondary choke is opening slightly when it should be firmly closed, look down the venturi while it is (fast) idling using a torch, try forcing it closed by hand.

I actually understood that! It must be time for me to put a stop to this Teetotal nonsense 🤣