J.R.

Yes, rear seat passengers often kick the troublesome vulnerable connector.

Whatever you do dont mention the war................

The maximum vacuum that can ever be pulled is one bar, the water pump generates a negative pressure many many magnitudes beneath that. The OP has no doubt been misinformed probably by the mechanics repairing the vehicle, he has come on here like most of us to become informed and often that involves being disabused of certain notions, I would suggest as a new member he be spared the ridicule. I get where you are coming from ApertureS and agree that Silkat contamination may well be causing all sorts of problems and that the sliding sleeve on the waterpumps great though it is when it works is a liability, when mine goes if its through a sticking sleeve it will be replaced with a non sleeve one and that is all that I would put on a taxi that usually only gets warmed up once per shift.

Not a very nice welcome for a new member. Your question is unneccesary, the OP said that they wanted to talk about the water pump and cooling system issues which is exactly what this forum is for. He was very shrewd and showed great foresight by choosing Skoda for his taxi fleet in 2002, they really have let down fleet customers like him since 2015. I have always used tap water mixed with the recommended concentrated coolant as it is intended, people with their own vehicles can indulge themselves with whatever fuel, oils, distilled water, snake oil they choose but someone running a fleet of taxis works too hard for their money to throw it away for zero benefit.

I preferred your version to the EP one.

Dont press the clutch.

Why would the injectors seize if it has more lubricity (is that a word?) and moreover why do you think the engine would seize?

These specific clutch problems are becoming more and more frequent, I can't be responding to them all nor can I ask them to use the search function as I can never find what I have previously written using it. In hindsight I see now the wisdom of adding tags but I think most of what I have written on the subject has been responding to others questions. Perhaps its worthwhile creating a sticky but that would entail finding the postings which is beyond me. Fat finger problems meant that I can no longer find threads that I had marked to follow includin the one I started about my clutch, a real shame as I used that as my bookmark/search facility.

On the contrary, they have made it remarkably uncomplicated, one piston, one seal, all plastic including perhaps the piston now I come to think of it. I also totally hate having to depress the clutch to allow the starter motor to operate, especially when I am working on the engine in oily overalls. My master cylinders were £110 for the first one from TPS (needed urgently) and €18 each for the subsequent ones. Try the bleeding, it may save you from the difficult (first time) master cylinder replacement. Good luck, don't know why I am saying that as you are already blessed with it!!!!!!!!!!

Removable ski bag This one’s a bit niche, especially in the UK, but the removable ski bag protects your skis from being scratched. Written by a person who has never ski'd, I mean its not as if skis would get scratched while using them for their intended purpose is it? Nor would they ever be wet and dirty and stain your car interior would they?

Remove it heat it up with a hot air gun and close the angle a few degrees so that it pinches tight against the windscreen when refitted. Or do what someone else on here did giving themselves an ulcer in a crusade against the windscreen fitting company insisting that they change his new screen for a second time as it must be a different shape!!!

I'm afraid that none of the above is appropriate. No boot to remove. No clevis pin. If you manage to remove the plastic pushrod from the piston you will break the retainer, these barely retain the pushrod in the piston against the force of the control loading spring as it is and is another reason why you should never lift the pedal manually as it is likely to dislodge, even just testing the action of a new cylinder by hand and pulling the pushrod back (there is no internal return spring) can dislodge it and stop the retention, I broke a new cylinder before even fitting it. The piston does not carry the seals, the seal, or any seals, the cylinder has but one O ring in a retaining groove in the outer bore like a brake caliper piston. The cylinder is clipped together in the factory and will only come apart for a man on a mission willing to make his own special tooling (me!) The bore can be as worn as it cares to be as it does not form a seal, the fluid is deplaced (displaced, sorry for the Franglais) by the volume of the piston intruding into the cylinder, fluid is intended to pass between the piston & bore to lubricate it, it will not be worn in any case assuming that anybody is as stubborn as me to get the thing apart to see. Whatever you do do not follow the misguided advice on the video, luckily he had a system full of air, otherwise he would either have broken the plastic pushrod even by hand pressure or detached it from the piston by lifting it up as he did. Don't ask me how I know both these things or how many new master cylinders I got through trying to avoid biting the bullet A question for the OP, when your clutch did not take up the drive & remained disengaged did the pedal rise up on its own? As you have found how easy it is to remove the airbox for the photo I suggest you bleed the clutch, it is dead simple due to the unorthodox master cylinder, no pumping, pressuring and no tools needed, simply put 6" of clear hose on the nipple standing vertically, open the bleed valve 180° using your fingers (assuming its a plastic knurled knob like mine, if not use a spanner) watch a stream of micro-bubbles come out with the fluid, it will stabilise after about 2 or 3" and just wait till no more air comes out then close the nipple, so little fluid is lost that you dont really need to top up. If air comes out it will at least buy you some time and indicate that the problem is the slave cylinder, it probably wont be leaking but will instead be drawing in air, if all good at that end then change the master cylinder, a tricky job the first time but gets easier after many repetitions which should not be advised!!!!! You are dead lucky to have an external slave cylinder!!!!

I think your logic is sound & you will be proved right, I have forgotten more than I learned about my MK1 Octavia but I have some recollection that these modules are exposed to the elements and can play up or fail. Or it might have been another dream, so could this in fact!

It won't, I am protected, I am on a mission from Dog! I am where I need to be and where I want to be, 3 days away from signing the act de vente (completion) of my next property and what will be keeping my idle hands from doing the devils works for a good many years. It's just to replace the coupling I have to be somewhere else where it has been delivered & where I have tools & basic facilities, but somewhere I no longer want to be. I will probably still be driving on it until the next CT test in 2 years time, I'm assuming my pal will pass it as it is on the retest in 2 months after I have done the failure that does warrant attention, the detached rear ARB drop link. I paid €84 = £70 for my Guibo coupling: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284687827024 Ignore the hilarious auto-translation of the title!

I don't think on these vehicles breaking up of the coupling (knocking/clunking when you take up the drive) is a particular problem but decoupling of the outer metal annular ring is common meaning that the harmonic damper cannot function. Mine is detached but stubbornly remaining in position, for now at least, in terms of torque transfer the coupling is not compromised at all, if my outer annulus looks like it might make a bid for freedom before I can return to either Northern France or Sussex to replace it then I will simply get the angle grinder out and remove it. The noise probably wont go away but if it does or if it gets noisier then my diagnosis will be confirmed.

You did not allow enough time for the alarm to set before trying to trigger it, the LED on the drivers door will tell you when its ready. Your interior sensors may also have been disabled by the button on the B post, would not affect the bonnet though. Another bad VAG translation, the alarm module has its own independant back up power source so it will continue to sound even if someone disconnects the car battery. If your alarm back up battery has failed, and it will indeed in time the alarm will still work from the main battery if you allow it to do its job, eventually after losing the back up source the leaking PCB mounted button cells will leak acid onto the tracks and give the module the coup de grace. Read other topics about how to replace the non replaceable batteries should you be so minded and the wisdom of doing so, but I reckon your alarm is actually working, you will have to disconnect the main battery while it is sounding to see if the secondary one within the module has any life left, dont hang around as the siren cuts off after the reglementary time, cant recall what it is in the UK market, 5 minutes perhaps, its 20 minutes for a house alarm.

I reckon it will be the Guibo coupling, I will soon be replacing mine (part has arrived but I am away) which I hope will resolve my own transmission noise issue. I looked very carefully at it while on the ramp for the French CT test, the tester thought it was in perfect condition but there was a minute circumferential crack running all the way around the rubber effectively seperating the outer balance ring harmonically from the inner coupling, it looked like a mould line as it was a prefect set of intersecting involute curves (probably the wrong term), something that you could construct geometrically with compasses and dividers, the stuff I learned training to be a draughtsman before comuters took over. My advice is to check it very very carefully with a strong light, try and push the annular ring back and forth, hit it with a hammer, it should not "ring" whatsoever, mine did and I think that is what is happening at speed making the transmission noise.

I will bear that in mind next time I think about using my dilator, assuming I can find it after the workshop move & set up in the new one still years ahead, its probably 20 years since I used it already. And yes, they probably were special stretchy gaiters in hindsight.

My vehicle like yours was supplied with G13 coolant, it got drained when I removed the radiator to replace the crash bar and I forgot to add anti-freeze when I refilled it, I had none and intended to do it straight away but due to the initial covid confinement I did not see the car again for 3 months. I only discovered recently that it had been running on plain water for 2 winters 😳 I could not buy G13 locally in France so put the minimum amount of G12 in it, I now have a gallon of concentrated G13 so will soon drain and refll it. There have never been any leaks to date, if they start after using the G13 again I will be very surprised but will post on this thread. I'm pretty sure that its Mannol that I have bought, I have issues with them as I bought 20 litres of oil advertised as low SAPS but the specifications on it say different, I'm not too concerned that it doesn't have the right VAG code if it is a low ash SAPS oil but their marketting and technical blurb is very evasive using terms like "suitable for diesel engines with post combustion filtration systems" but no mention of low ash or SAPS. I think that they may make their money by passing off lower grade products as higher grades and meeting manufacturers specs that they may not. In that respect and following your experience I have my suspicions about my Mannol G13 coolant but I absolutely do not believe that G13 coolant, or any other for that matter will cause an engine to leak coolant, if they did then it was a leak waiting to happen anyway and requiring attention, if my engine subsequently leaks I absolutely will not be using a powder, liquid or turd type "leak sealer" I will find what gasket or hose joint is leaking and repair it.

Why did you buy it? I think that I may know the answer, I probably would have bought it too!

The pleasure of seeing an LCD display change in microseconds really does not justify the anticipation, it is a hang up from earlier times and a younger person would need to have the reason for it explained to them or they would simply think that you are weird. As many if not most on this forum are now younger than me I will explain that on an old style speedometer all the wheels would turn over together like a slot machine but very very slowly unless you were driving at warp speed, it put a much bigger strain on the cable and drive mechanism and often the wheels to the left would remain misaligned and look like someone had clocked the vehicle so you would anxiously keep looking down to see them gradually line up, having to wait for 10 miles to pass, then 100 miles finally 1000 miles to finally be relieved that the odometer no longer looks like Arfur Daily has been at it and that the speedo drive, cable and speedo head worm gear have survived the latest attack on their vulnerabilities. These days other than it being a milestone the whole thing is a non event yet we are all, myself included, drawn to it by magnetism.

Any seller of the split CV boots will tell you that they are brilliant, and indeed they are from their standpoint as they sell loads of them, like Jars once they have sold one to a new customer he will soon be back for more, what better proof of a brilliant product could you ask for? 🤣

A funnel type dilator to stretch a good quality CV boot right over the joint is a very time & frustration saving investment.

Your "new" engine had green coolant, so not a new engine then but a new to you (extremely nice and smooth new diesel engine) second hand one with unknown history having had a head gasket replaced that they subsequently decided to sell................

My first vehicle with the fiddled water temperature guage was my 2001 Octavia, my chauffeur pal I bought it from commented on how rock steady the coolant temp was, I was used to seeing the minor variations according to engine loading, ambient temp, radiator airflow and the hysteresis of the thermostat, I saw none of that on the Octavia. I'm ashamed to say that it took 5 years for the penny to drop, I don't feel too bad now seeing that after 2 decades it still hasn't dropped for many on here!!!!