J.R.

Anybody?

On FWD braking the spinning wheel transfers the torque to the wheel with traction, that is if there is any torque left after the system has cut the power, it's a very crude electronic diff. My MK1 Octavia had it, it worked well but made the most horrible graunching noise that anyone with mechanical sympathy would choose to avoid, I always modulated the throttle at the point of wheelspin and could get away sharply across the junctions where traction and fast moving traffic was a problem. The MK2 just cut the gas leaving me staring at the oncoming vehicle with goggle eyes, it would have been far safer with no intervention even with the most panicky and heavy right footed driver. My Yeti should have XDS but I have never found it, probably due to not enabling brake assist, being 4wd it never loses traction anyway so I would prefer not to have a driven wheel being braked. But what does Brake Assist do or supposed to do? I'm sure I have enabled it and noticed no difference.

Your premium is not protected, in fact I can almost guarantee that it will rise, maybe significantly, your percentage NCB wont change but they will have you as a captive audience for further premium hikes, when you get quotes elsewhere you will find that you no longer have full or even any NCB with other companies. Its a shame as you could have got a mirror glass cheaply enough to fit yourself (the price sounds like a whole new unit) and if the scratched window were to "accidentally" become shattered that would be replaced under your insurance without affecting your premium, NCB or rates from other insurers. Which would leave you with a small chip on a decorative strip

Many accidents would have been preventable had the driver accepted their responsability for the safe pilotage of a 1.5 tonne battering ram and not abdicated the responsability to electronic gizmos. How many of those would have been so that they could stare at their phone screens or the same images cast to the infotainment screen?

If it keeps happening you should have a word with yourself about concentration on the task of looking at your intended trajectory before moving the vehicle.

You want to to flat the paint through to the bare metal on various high spots then go up through the wet n dry grades finishing with fine compound then clear coat over those areas. After waxing it will then look like a vehicle that has been cherished by its elderly owner and polished so often at weekends that he has gone through the paint! A few decades ago that was a sign of a superbly reliable vehicle in tip-top condition. Adding patina! Oh and dont forget the tartan rug over the rear seat!

Have another close look at the coupling in the areas where you consider the rubber is starting to fail, preferably against a new coupling but don't spend any money on one yet. Are the splits a regular wavy geometric line? If so then your coupling is not failing at all, I drew the same conclusion on the CT (French MOT) ramp and drew it to the attention of the tester, I got a fail for my troubles although there were other things to do like a rusting exhaust sleeve. When I recieved the new coupling I had ordered I found the exact same manufactured in fault line and the rigidity between the outer and inner annuli was the same as my old coupling, I had wasted my money, and like you wasted many hours researching how to get the propshaft out to do the job.

Drain the Haldex oil and inspect it, then put a magnetic probe tool into the reservoir, if you do not find any significant metallic particles or swarf in either then you are worrying about nothing and the garage is taking you for a pigeon. You can only do the best you can regarding flushing, anything that remains will not get through the gauze filter anyway. Before changing the pump I would connect it to VCDS and look at the commanded and measured Haldex engagement figures, I may have invented the latter, if the pump is running, producing the correct pressure and the clutch pack engagement commanded at 100% but you have no drive to the rear wheels then there will be a problem with the hydraulic actuator. Or someone has removed your propshaft!!!!

Politeness costs nothing. Sometimes a first posting of a question is asked in a way that overcomes my natural desire to help anybody and everybody. I try to make allowances if people might be writing in another language to their mother tongue, politeness is usually universal.

I like polishing old faded red paintwork, it always comes up so much better but faded from the original, it gives it a hue and a patina that cannot be replicated with new paintwork. That engine started after about 3 cranks and on 12 year old petrol and plugs!

I am far more jealous of you with that than anyone buying a new SUV app connected tea tray for a dashboard driver aid system filled Bag 'O' Shoîte. Amazing to think that it would otherwise have gone to scrap, in my first 2 decades of driving I would be fighting off other buyers offering more than the asking price and having to up the offer several times to bag something so sought after (back then) as that. That era was the pinnacle of vehicle simplicity and reliability and the Japanese at the top of the pile and at the top of their game, so rare to find a protected example, it should be worth more than any classic barn find, its something that you can use straight away with minimal preventative maintenance and drive for decades. I would have it in a heartbeat.

There is a known problem on Yetis and Roomsters where the rear view mirror on the basic models sits too far down the screen and is in direct line of sight of the driver creating a considerable blind spot. This is exacerbated for me as having only sight in one eye and being light sensitive through glaucoma medication. The blind spot combined with the massive screen pillar has caused a number of near misses, driving through a long LH bend or simply looking ahead at the horizon requires me to lean my head forward and to peer up under the rear view mirror and in doing so looking over the top of my glasses meaning what I can now see is blurred. Night time driving is now a problem with more and more cars behind having LED matrix lights which flash very bright when the car goes over any bumps, I am having to dip the mirror constantly whereas if it were where it should be higher up I would not be dazzled by the lights except when I look up to use the rear mirror. It was only through reading past threads that I realise I am not alone and the mirror is fitted far too low beneath the shaded area. I would like to do 2 things, upgrade to an auto-dimming rear view mirror, I really liked the one on my MK2 Octavia, and to fit it higher up the screen, I realise that if it has a rain sensor it would be obscured by the shaded area printed on the screen but I am not intending activating that function. The main problem is that the mirror base is attached to the screen in the glass factory, mine can remain where it is, I will not see it behind the new mirror in its new position. My question is are the bayonet fitting bases available seperately to be glued on? If not where can I find an auto-dipping mirror complete with base? Or any other suggestions please.

Have you actually seen with your own eyes this alleged swarf in the Haldex oil or on the filter guaze? Even if it does exist I have zero confidence in a garage that concludes it is evidence of the clutch pack having failed, it would take millions of miles of wear (the clutch pack only wears when partially engaged and the vehicle making a turn) and the filter would have been clogged stopping the system from working literally hundreds of times before there could be any metal to metal contact. Any swarf will almost certainly be from failure of the pump and the debris will have been contained witin the filter. I would change the pump alone flushing through the oil reservoir before fitting then inspect the filter after 1000 miles. The garage should have given this as a diagnosis if there is in fact metal swarf but then it would not have brought them a £6K payday.

It depends entirely on the mileage you have covered in that time, the post emissions fix ECU software takes no account of active regens from high speed runs, it triggers on calculated soot mass and not measured, mine was regenning every 120 miles despite the measured soot being very low or even zero after an 800 mile autoroute journey towing a 3 tonne barn door trailer. I eventually paid to have a software "emissions rollback" and now it is extremely rare that I am aware of any regens.

I have been scratching my head over this for ages before the penny finally dropped, you said parallel and not in line as in how I am used to checking most twin cams at TDC. For some reason I had not visualised that they would always be parallel as you say. Sorry for my confusion and muddying the waters with my posting. If there is any doubt about the crank being one tooth out of phase then a check at TDC would be in order on the assumption that the slots should be aligned at TDC.

The light will not come on during a regen, nor a failed regen, only after a succession (dont know how many) of failed attempts at a regen. Could it be that you are smelling the stink created by a hot DPF during the regen cycle?

Amen to that! 👍

The engine will have to be turned to TDC for the slots to be aligned, its unlikely to be at that position when you remove the covers. You dont need to be too concerned about exact TDC, if they never align at the centre line of the cams (45° and 315°) then the timing has slipped. I'm not sure if it applies to this engine but with some of the other turning the engine backwards is the kiss of death so if in doubt continue turning forwards for another revolution rather than trying to back up a tad.

I could never bring myself to use an extender 😆 Plus gas used to give me a real buzz as a youngster when I sniffed it, it could probably have put me into an ethylic coma, like all the modern substitutes what is sold now is probably not a patch on the real deal and they really should stop them selling it under the brand name and just label all stuff like that "ineffective shoîte" 😆

Incorrect. Everything expands but at different rates according to their coefficient of linear expansion,a steel glowplug thread into an alloy cylinder head thread should get more clearance & hence loosen the more heat is applied but I am talking about local heating with an oxy-acetylene torch, 90° engine temperature isn't going to make much difference. If the cylinder head has helicoil inserts for the glowplugs then heating might even be counterproductive. I like the idea of an impact wrench, they can normally loosen stuck things but rarely have enough actual torque to shear a fastener. It could be used alternatively clockwise and anti-clockwise. I've had air ones for decades but have only recently acquired a battery one, I have yet to use it on a rusted fastener so the proceeding was my gut feeling and not experience, perhaps someone experienced with them can confirm or deny?

That is very bad news, definitely worth trying a new timing belt, if you have access to a USB camera with a mirror if the valves are really bent you might just be able to see from through the spark plug hole or down the intake tract. It sounds like the axle tramp shook the engine about causing either the belt to jump or a frayed part to catch. In recet years I have known of more cam belt failures caused by auxiliary belt failures than from the belts themselves failing, most owners replace the cam belts religiously, I dont but I regularly inspect it, maybe we should be paying more attention to the more exposed auxiliary drive belt which ironically is both easier to inspect and to change.

I remember seeing a photo of some in the past. All credit to VAG that they should still be available for a discontinued model. Or if not VAG then whoever has kepth them in stock all this time.

It absolutely does, it's like saying my wheels are out of balance but surely I can just stick a balance weight on anywhere on the wheel rim! Good for you for having made them sort out the mess they made, I hope that you will be able to stick it to them in other ways. Even with the balance shaft they are bad by comparison to any other engine but without one or worse still with one in the wrong position they would be diabolical

Do you get any more than the 4 bits of sticky-back plastic for your £140? Finished job looks great, I always feel these cars (Estates & MPV's) look wrong without them. The only justification I could see for removing the headlining would be to remove the drilling swarf but as its moulded I cant see it getting rust stains like a fabric roof lining would.

Ken o N's 2 possibilities are unlikely but possible. KenM's experience is 40 years out of date and not relevant to a pre-engaged starter. What I believe it to be (and have had experience of several instances of) is failure of the one way sprag clutch between the motor shaft and the pinion gear, it resembles a needle roller bearing but is in fact a roller ramp bearing. When the starter turns the pinion is locked to the motor shaft and cranks the engine, when the engine fires and the revs increase beyond the starter cranking speed the pinion revolve freely on the shaft preventing the starter motor from doing 50000 rpm if the key is not released! My only slight concern is the mention of axle tramp (presumably high revving and maybe traction control intervention) and then stalling, that should not have any effect on the starter motor but when a diesel stalls there are huge inertia forces on the flywheel and crankshaft, maybe the ring gear has jumped, hopefully nothing worse.