J.R.

Not need but desire. If you are driving economically and the conditions are correct there is no problem with changing up at 1600 rpm or less on a turbo-diesel. I will drive in 6th gear in a camera controlled 50kph zone dependant on the gradient, wind, engine temp etc, around 1200 rpm, I will change down to increase speed. The annoying "change gear" indicator will sometimes want me to drop to 5th, other times not and its not usually agreeing with the feedback I am getting from the vehicle, on the flat with a warm engine & no headwind if it does it then I know a regen is in progress if I havn't already felt or heard the engine note changing.

It sounds like a refractometer which I have just bought thanks to a recommendation on this forum, it may have been Sepulchrave, for some strange reason its a very satisfying instrument to use, maybe because its old school and has no batteries or LED displays, whatever the reason I feel that I can trust it more than my electronic gadgets which would not work with the G whatever eco save the planet coolant that my vehicle should and will soon have after the temporary G whatever cheap stuff that is in there killing my waterpump as we speak 🤣 I can attest that the Silkat which causes so much grief when the teabag bursts does work, not that I have ever found mine so maybe it doesn't even have any, whatever through my memory loss and being seperated from the vehicle by covid restrictions while doing the write off repairs I ended up running it on tap water alone for 20 months, I dodged a bullet with freeze damage during winter 2019/20 and when I recently drained it to put in the temporary cheap G whatever mix the tap water came out clean enough to drink. I am going to refill with the correct G whatever animal friendly stuff but only because it is the colour that would be expected but even tap water let alone distilled water has had no adverse affect nor but for the tales of gloom on the internet would I expect it to, its what I have been using for 45 years. No doubt my water pump will fail on the 1000 mile round trip next week as punishment for my herecy!

My Octavia was scrapped after 17 years and 350000 miles still with the original coolant, every year it had a freezing point check and it had never changed neither had the colour, it was doing a good job of protecting the various metals so why would I change it? I changed the brake fluid after 15 years, it was moisture checked every year and was still fine, new fluid made no difference to the pedal feel, what was bled out was not stained so I knew that the seals had not degraded nor was there any corrosion.

I'm wondering why these coolant pumps allegedly fail through using "cheaper coolant" can you please explain the failure mode?

It has to be to prevent certain things happening, I thought everybody knew that!

Yes!

That is what had happened to mine, I had another inspection today as I have a 1000 mile round trip to make, the front clamp won't last much longer, I have used a Jubilee clip in place of the completely decomposed rear clamp while awaiting a pair of Mikalor clamps for temporary repair number 2 before finally replacing with a new VAG clamp but better design, that will be fitted when the exhaust gets dropped to replace the propshaft Guibo coupling.

You can normally feel when the crankshaft bearings melt and the piston rings seize.................................. 🤣

For auto wipers its not an intermittent/intermediate setting but a sensitivity control for the rain sensor, in steady rainfall it has pretty much the same effect though, the more sensitive that you set it the more frequently it will trigger. My comment above about not working at a standstill relates to my 2015 Yeti with standard intermittent wiper (no rain sensor) control, it could be true for the rain sensor also but I don't know.

I bet that you are testing it at a standstill!!!!!!! Try it while driving. It came as a surprise to me after 2 years of driving the Yeti to find that the wipers stopped working while I was at traffic lights and started again as soon as I moved off. Problem solved?

After reading about the 3 and 4 hose filters I looked at mine today, - a 4 hose filter. I cannot get my head around how one single filter element can operate filtering fuel flowing in 2 different directions, can anybody enlighten me please?

It's a well known problem caused by the invasive software which can only be resolved by a long slow low battery charge followed by a battery disconnect ECU reboot rounded off by a long slow hot oil change. I'll get me coat!...............................

I committed some horrors when I was younger and I reckon you did as well. I was still heavily into cars in my 30's and 40's but had evolved from Kevmobiles to road legal endurance racing cars. I didn't however have a family to consider but now I look back I see how many years I wasted before using my skills on something which would reward me and allow me to stop working for anyone else at 44 - property. Those wise enough to do that while I was still sp*nking away my money on cars, usually the married ones with family are worth far more than me now but OTOH they are stuck on a merry go round that I jumped off of with back then no safety net.

🤣🤣🤣 I like that!

I hadn't considered that the sleeve had moved as the clamps looked intact. I'm hoping that when I inspect mine closely and with sufficient time tomorrow (I only had a few seconds during the CT I will discover that you are right, that the inside is stainless and it's not seized, all I could see under the CT ramp was a mass of rusted metal looking like it would never come apart, if I am lucky then a pair of Mikalor clamps will see it right. Looking at the photo again, the length of the discoloured pipe I'm convinced you are correct, the clamp has displaced rearwards.

Some of that is clearly moving impact damage (photo 4), probably from being beached on a kerb. But yes, definitely sickening. I have bought & repaired several salvage vehicles from breakers yards, they are lifted around onthe forks of a Telehandler and leave only minor witness marks, I cant see that degree of damage being done from a vehicle lift or trolley jack.

No! Your front pipe has fractured where it goes into the sleeve joint to the rear section. Or maybe I the photo is taken towards the rear end in which case its the rear section broken. With a bit of jiggling you might be able to move the clamp rearwards to have half a grip on both pipes or a bit more if the rear pipe can be persuaded forwards. Coincidentally I will be inspecting & hopefully doing temporary repairs to exactly that joint tomorrow, my rear clamp has rusted through completely.

Could you fly and operate your sphincter muscles at the same time? 🤣 That said seagulls have mastered the art and are more proficient at hitting their target than the 633 squadron!

Park the car in a dark garage and only ever drive at night for UV protection with the added advantage of nobody will see if your tyres are shiny, satin or matt. Seriously does anybody actually believe that putting a micro-thin coat of a silicone product will protect tyres from UV degradation? I don't doubt that most products claim to do so, talk is cheap................

It's speculation on my part that there is zero standby consumption, no systems like central locking reciever, burglar alarm etc running when ignition key removed but it does make sense. VCDS does say that the alarm is disabled

The ECU's are set to transit mode which I believe reduces all parasitic losses, the vehicle has to be opened using the key and only when the ignition is switched on will current be drawn. Thats my understanding from reading the VCDS description of the function. When I buy a new battery it may have been standing for 6 months, they never have a full charge as delivered.

No need to do the lock to lock, I just drive normally away from my house which involves one normal right turn and after about 100m all the lights go out, always at the same place before I do the second right turn.

Couplin ordered, offer of €84 inc delivery accepted by the German seller, I hope this info will be of use to FrenchTone when he is feeling up to tacklin the job. It may be some time before I can fit the coupling but I will report back on how it is as a DIY job without a vehicle lift and whether the transmission noise diminishes. The G key and others need cleaning on my keyboard! It may be some time before I can fit the coupling but I will report back on how it is as a DIY job without a vehicle lift and whether the transmission noise diminishes.

That depends on how much you have imbibed.

I had my Yeti CT'd today, it was not by my pal but his employee, I said I wanted to have a gander at the propshaft rear coupling & he said it was fine but I had a good look anyway, the rubber looked good but I could see a perfect geometric wavy line going all round the coupling, when I heaved on the harmonic balancer it moved easily back and forth axially along the fracture line but was rigid circumferentially, it would also ring if you tapped it. It was on my list to change and I'm hoping it will remove some or all of the transmission noise, its not dangerous as it is not weakened in its torque transmission capacity but in time the balance ring will start to oscillate and maybe fall off. No good deed goes unpunished, my reward for educating the tester was a CT fail for défaillance majeure but this being France I got a windscreen vignette valid for 2 months, the time I have to do the repairs and submit for a contra visite. One of the rear anti roll bar drop links had pulled the rubber out of the joint and completely detached, I checked them both very thoroughly not many weeks back when I replaced the front suspension struts and they were in perfect condition then, no play, no deterioration, I ordered front drop links and would have ordered rears had I had any doubt. So I have been driving with no rear anti-roll stiffness, other than hearing and feeling a clonk when it must have detached I could not tell, the handling was unchanged within my driving limits. Also one of the pair of exhaust clamps for the front to rear joint had completely rusted through and was rattling on the pipe, the other was intact and the joint still sealed, probably with rust! The general condition underneath of front & rear cross members, wishbones, drop links etc is very rusty, I think it has been a coastal car, I have already replaced all 4 brake disc backplates.