J.R.

Was it too difficult or did you change your mind?

Ridiculous on what basis? Are you capable of DIY'ing a replacement? If it has not already failed you could avoid the expense by investing now in an emulator/simulator (was £99) which will stop the corrosive EGR gases from passing through the cooler on their way to clagging up the intake tract. It can also be fitted after failure (leakage of coolant) but is a little more involved as pipes have to be blanked off. Mine is still doing its job of fooling the ECU faultlessly after 50k miles.

Must be true then 😃 I bet there were no verifiable details.

If it refuses to crank and can be persuaded to by pumping the clutch pedal it points to the pedal position sensor, start with checking the connector.

The rear bump stops are always decomposed in my experience by the time the dampers need replacing, usually the units will have already figuratively dropped their skirts so its clear that the parts will be needed. Someone who has not done them before will find out on disassembly that they should have ordered them, if they are in a rush to get the car out or off of the ramp they are going to refit the old ones which will result in crashing suspension and rubbing or dropped dust covers, I've owned a couple of vehicles where previous bodging garages had simply left both the decomposed bump stops and the damper covers off, I can see their warped logic now, you may not have noticed the absence.

Yeah that can happen despite being very patient and cautious but you were knowledgable enough to recognise it. On my MK1 Octavia I showed my neighbour (even more of a Mr Maghoo than me!) where the TDC marks were on the flywheel and left him to guide me to that point while I turned the crank and watched the cam pulley timing marks, even though I had tippexed the pointer he was looking at something else so I got the cam timing wrong and it wouldn't start, we checked it several times, eventually I used some easi-start to prove that it was close, there was no valve damage and that the injection system was working albeit mistimed. When I then did what I should have done straight away, checked the flywheel marks after he had confirmed TDC it was obvious it was not at TDC, to this day I don't know how he got it wrong. When I do the belt on mine I'm going to use the belt cutting procedure as I am pretty much all on my own here, no support around me. Coming back to my saying there must be a TDC mark on the crank pulley, relating this has made me recall that of course it is on the flywheel and much more accurate at that radius more accurate than the locking pin if you are in the situation of having the cam timing falling between 2 pulley teeth and you have to judge which is the closest.

This!

I didn't know that John Deere had bought VAG!

Was that or would that have been visible during a belt inspection Pete? I might have to rethink my stance on preventative replacement 😔

Another nail in the coffin for new vehicles.

Yes possibly, maybe even probably. Does the gear indicator on the dashboard work at all times when the clutch is released and the vehicle in motion? Edit, having read your posting again I get the impression that the engine cranks but refuses to start, can you please confirm? If that is the case then ignore the above and take notice of the preceeding post by Kenny R.

Your car like 99.9%of others is gear and shaft driven.

If the damp traps dont collect moisture then there is not water leaking into the cabin, what has been described sounds like the film that can build up on glass after a car has been valeted for sale, there wont be condensation as in drips but a foggy haze that builds up as soon as you breathe in the car or if wearing damp clothing or if said clothing has been left in the car. A thorough solvent cleaning of all the glass will probably yield a marked improvement.

Marking up pictures is beyond my skill set! On the photo without the locking tool there is a rounded bit sticking down from the bracket behind where the tool would go, to the left and right of it there are triangular nibs that are more pointed, its hard to tell but the right hand one might be aligned with the pointer on the crank pulley but I cant see because the locking tool hides it. I too have a locking tool set which I still ahve yet to use, sods law says it wont be compatible with my CR engine.

You should not need a law to tell you to stop rather than run over a pedestrian even if they should not be crossing where they are, - not you personally Nick, people in general. For anyone driving in France read up on and understand (aint easy!) the Priorité à Droite laws, it could save your life and those of others. Also be aware than any Zone 30 (30kph) speed restriction which are springing up everywhere makes it by default a pedestrianised zone and people may cross the road wherever they choose without any warning, indeed any pedestrian crossings will have been removed. The reason for the latter is that a pedestrian can be fined if they cross the road less than 25m from a passage piéton without using it, some drivers think that gives them the right to run them over

Nice photos given the lack of access When you remove the locking plate have a look to see if the pulley timing mark lines up with the right hand pointer thing on the bracket thing behind it and if there are any similar reference points on the camshaft pulley. It would be nice if there were something that could be used for others to establish whether their cam belt has been replaced one tooth out. A tip for replacing the cam belt, valid for any engine, no locking or timing tools needed: Cut the old belt along its length through the middle with a Stanley knife (engine will need to be rotated) and pull off the outer part, loosen the tensioner slightly and lock off, slide the new belt on till it butts up against the old, then cut through and remove the old belt, slide the new one fully back while rotating the engine if necessary, retension the belt using the correct procedure. And in your case with the PD engine check the torsion value and adjust if necessary.

If that is really true then IMO it is wrong to hold the manufacturers and not the driver responsible and sends out a very wrong message, its why you get idiots in the USA suing the car manufacturers because they chose to go to sleep with the vehicle in self driving mode or go to the back of an RV to make a drink leavig it under cruise control.

Do you mean program the Can gateway controller to accept an aftermarket towing module on the Installation List?

Dual identity created 5 hours ago, 8 posts of which only 4 remain so I would say the ones you reported were taken down, some that I did read have already gone.

Thanks for that and once again sorry to the moderators who have to action these things.

Its been reported, its a second identity created by someone that was displaying very weird behaviour on a thread about decreased fuel economy, it has been deleted (I made no complaint) so I guess he went even further. Then I got a very abusive PM with a photograph of a gravestone from the new identity, that was reported as well. To the moderators I apologise that you should have to be dealing with stuff like this, you are certainly appreciated.

That'll T-cut out!

My vehicle was like that when I bought it but I did not know any different. I cleaned out all the clag and schmoo from the throttle body because the engine was shaking on shutdown, I was fearful it might be the DMF so started with the easier cheaper possibilities, the throttle venturi was severely restricted and the car was far more responsive afterwards and the fuel economy increased significantly. I have since stopped all EGR by fitting an emulator/simulator, I've done 60K miles since and no drop in performance or economy, one day I will look with a borescope, I dont expect to see any schmoo. As yours is a gradual drop in MPG it would be my first port of call.

I don't, they all rely on data produced from that sensor so cannot function without it, the warnings are far from irrelevant, would you prefer to not know that your ABS is inoperative and to find out how frighteningly overservoed the braking system is without ABS when you skid into the obstacle that caused you to do an emergency stop?