J.R.

That you cant see them does not mean they dont exist, if they didn't low cars would not have pop up headlights. It could be that auxiliary lamps are exempt from the max/min height requirements, certainly I see a lot of articulated lorry tractor units with very bright lights across the top of the cab that come on with main beam, they certainly get the message across if I have not levelled my dipped beam lights correctly for the load I am carrying/towing.

Interesting video, I had not appreciated the existence of and hence the difference of the 3rd decoupling type, if you look at the video at the end of the engine running you can see exactly what has been happening to your tensioner and earlier on there is a photo montage of many failed ones.

Camshaft timing, check the torsion value if it is a measurable parameter in VCDS, mine was on the PD engine but not on my current car with a Common Rail TDi. If the torsion value can be checked and it is zero then make sure it is not a false zero through being outside of measurable limits, it should vary when the engine is revved.

I get the impression that you are not recieving (information), you don't seem to want to consider the very good advice given based on experience of exactly the problem that you have and have convinced ourself that two bolts have sheared in service because they were overtightened.

They can and they would. Commercially and reputation wise its a situation that they would avoid if at all possible so I doubt it will happen without them offering an alternative deal.

It's a good thing in my view, a shame that they have not blocked access to all the "display functions" from the driver when the vehicle is in motion, most of them should never have been put there in the first place, 100 years of research and development of orgonomics and driver safety through well placed tactile controls thrown away in order to tempt those who want a car to be an extension of their phone.

10mm of end float! 😲 Surely not!

Replace the whole tensioner and not just the bolt and above all replace the alternator pulley sprag clutch, it is this that is causing the problem. Well that is not actually true, the problem is the acceleration/decellerations at idling speed and the inertia of the heavy alternator, without the one way clutch the belt will be snapping backwards and on the tensioner. It sounds like either the bearing was not checked/replaced with the alternator or my money is that an alternator has been fitted which does not have the sprag clutch. I'm surprised you have not complained of a chirping noise.

Usually in situations like that which require concentration the last place that you will be looking is a small area of the instrument binnacle to see a momentary flash of an orange symbol. Perhaps those of you with 2 working eyes and better pereipheral vision can see it but I can't, I have to actively look for it.

Was the cambelt changed or any other work done before the MPG dropped?

A true zero and not a false zero through being outside of limits. I dont know about that engine but on the PD diesel you had to be absolutely obsessive and have the touch of a surgeon and the patience of a saint to actually achieve a true zero reading, in fact you have to be very adept just to get it within the measured range. When anyone tells me their Torsion Value is zero I suggest they check it is a true reading by looking for a variation when the engine is revved, it should go negative (retarded) but I think as usual VCDS has it backwards, all that is important is that it changes by a small amount, if it doesn't then it will be a false zero.

Those two statements are contradictory and the superb photo that you have posted (worth a million words) would indicate that the Combi/Estate is longer than the hatchback which I assume you meant when you spoke of the saloon. Yes it looks much more stylish on that photograph to my admittedly biased eyes.

It could be a combination of the traction control braking the spinning wheel, removing the fuelling the and the lack of torque causing the stall when the wheel gained traction. Often it is hard to replicate these things.

Can you confirm where you are looking from? 😆 The convention is that number one cylinder is the one nearest the crankshaft pulley and furthest from the flywheel, the latter should actually be "furthest from where the drive is transmitted" to avoid confusion on oddball engines like the FWD Triumph 1300 with its starter ring gear carrier on the front pulley.

You see that vital piece of missing information (your engine type) would have avoided the confusion, the small turbocharged petrol engined vehicles need to be revved a lot more for a hill start than a diesel but those revs need to be modulated in conjunction with the clutch, not easy especially with a surface lacking traction. As has been said they are limited to 4K RPM until the vehicle is in motion, the diesels are limited to 2.5K rpm which shows the difference in torque. At low revs you are effectively doing a hillstart in a very underpowered small engined but very heavy car, a Mini 850 would have a far easier job, using all the revs available means full boost and more power than the small flywheel and clutch can cope with under hillstart conditions, I'm sure the torque limiting did come into play. You say the engine stopped, do you mean stalled or gave reduced power?

If you are wanting to use 4k revs + on a hillstart your clutch will need all the protection that it can get. You have not said what engine or fuel your vehicle is, most diesels will not rev above 2.5k rpm until the vehicle is moving, it is done for good reason.

Nobody that bought and fitted a Sachs clutch as a replacement had it tear it's way through their gearbox or bellhousing to my knowledge, it was all factory fitments and may not even have been limited to Sachs clutches if my neighbours mechanic is to be believed and I have a lot of faith in him. As such there will still be vehicles out there with the original clutch time bomb ticking away and Sachs may still be getting an unfair rep (IMO) in many years to come. As VAG used several clutch suppliers for the factory assembly line all making identical parts embossed with the same VAG part numbers it's possible that the deficiency was the revision zero design and not faulty manufacture if indeed it was both Sachs and Luk clutches exhibiting the same failures, the later revision parts will have eliminated the fault.

The alarm will not go off when you disconnect the vehicle battery unless you have locked the vehicle, to do which you have to fool it that the bonnet was closed, I can't recall exactly how but by trial and error I was able to disconnect the battery without setting off the alarm and then lock the vehicle when I left it unattended for a couple of months. Probably just by manually locking the door but IIRC it wasn't as simple as I expected but I found a way. The internal alarm battery is only to power the siren for a timed period if the power is removed while the car is locked and alarmed, if you disconnect the main battery as above it will not discharge or damage the alarm battery, there is no need to disconnect it.

Use VCDS or another high level dedicated diagnostic device.

A hollow crankshaft 😲 where did you hear that gem?

It will have been out before then, nothing you did during the strut replacement could change anything within any measurable limits. I have my own old school Dunlop tracking guages so have regularly checked all my vehicles plus friends for decades, the steering and suspension on VAG vehicles since the 90's has been incredibly robust, wear of components aside the only time I have ever knocked the tracking out any measurable amount was when driving at night after an eye operation I drove over a chicane kerb, the impact launched the vehicle into the air and the rear wheel followed suit, I was convinced that at the minimum I had wrecked 2 tyres, 2 alloy rims, front wishbone, crossmember and the wheel would have been dragging at the back of the wheelarch. In fact only the front tyre was blown, even the rim was salvageable, the track rod end and steering arm were bent but not massively, a tracking adjustment sufficed until I could replace them, so I know through experience just how robust these vehicles are and what it takes to knock the tracking out. When I use the tracking guages I calibrate them against each other every time before putting them on the vehicle, they are delicate instruments and I take great care of them, I only ever have to adjust the calibration after people have borrowed them & to whom I will never lend another tool ever. Contrast that to the garages and tyre fitting centres where they are dragged and thrown around and where not one single time in over 40 years have I ever seen any of them check the zero calibration of the guages before using them. More than half of the vehicles whose tracking I have double checked despite the owners protests that they have just paid for the tracking to be done after a free check have been set incorrectly, sometimes massively so and usually on one track rod only leaving the steering uncentred which is why I had offered.

You had it done because you knew it was miles out or is that what the garage doing a free tracking check told you? The job you did would not change the tracking whatsoever, no doubt this will generate a barrage of contrary comments.

Thats a very good point! I mean we can't expect the current generation of drivers who value this tech to look up from whatever app they have running on the infotainment to see the weather conditions and make allowances for them.

Very out of date scaremongering, certainly Sachs clutches supplied to the factory within a certain time period were breaking up in service due to incorrect heat treatment of the diaphragm release fingers, long since resolved. A mechanic in France told me that I must absolutely only ever fit a Sachs clutch to mine as he had had a problem with a Luk one, one single clutch! - I bought and fitted a Luk assembly with DMF. My neighbour in the UK with a 2012 Octavia 2.0 CR TDi had the clutch plate fracture and chew its way through the gearbox casing, it was replaced and the casing repaired by his long term trusted garage, they said they had fitted a new Sachs clutch because the Luk ones like he (allegedly) had were well known for the breakage. You pays your money you takes your choice.