J.R.

Just take them some eggs to suck instead. The only way the paint code could affect an estimate is if it is a metallic & only Ray & Stevies Motown Resprays could fail to recognise it.

I interpreted your post as you spending a week to service your car, I am interpreting this one as you believing that its impossible for anybody to do a full service in less than 7.5 hours and nobody is going to convince you otherwise so I wont try. Regarding employers and business, the last time I worked for an employer was 1984, the last time I worked for customers was 2004, now I work for nobody but myself and my interests, I work hard, usually 7 days a week because I thrive on the physical exertion and mental stimulation, I have taken 2 weeks holiday since 2005 and precious little before that with the exception of my adult gap year backpacking and working around the world in 2004. There is zero stress in my life and I do not overwork, the confinement was like an enforced retirement and was very bad for me, that how I know I am far from ready to retire. If ever it takes me more than 7.5 hours let alone a week to do a full service on mine or someone elses vehicle I pray someone will do me the kindness of taking me to the pasture with a shotgun. The bricklayer working on my building plot is 68 years old and looks and acts no more than 50, he has 2.5 labourers working hard to keep up with him, the half is because one is his son who does the straight runs of brickwork between the corners that his father lays 50% of the time labouring the other 50%.

Not required unless you are going to be driving on prescribed roads at prescribed times, ski-ers might want to check the situation but usually chains.socks are only required to drive higher than the ski stations or if there is exceptional snowfall that hasn't been cleared, most ski-ers would be equipped anyway. And as for the Brexit BS...............................

Only on certain roads where it is indicated, whilst the legislation does list 48 departements where it could be applied to individual roads many of them have not implemented it anywhere.

Most judder issues can be resolved by cleaning the the rubbers scrupulously with a light solvent like meths, the screen should also be cleaned but has less effect, if it persists then stage 2 which works in almost all cases is to twist the whole wiper arm so that the angle of attack on the forward/return stroke is altered. It takes a lot of force to make a permanent deformation an adjustable spanner is the ideal implement, if it gets worse then twist the blade(s) to deform it in the other direction.

It's so that it can carry sponsored adverts. Cheaper for them than getting people to sponsor the roundabouts and having to plant flowers, shrubs etc and maintain them, if they dont pay their bill someone elses ad will be put up. Nowhere is sacrosanct now, even staring at the wall of a motorway services urinal contemplating the meaning of life while discharging I was assaulted by advertising. Those of you with your infotainment displays are on borrowed time, you will have to pay for an adblock.

Oops, I must have misread Kens post and decided that the OP had a 110TDi MK1 Octavia.

Thanks, I had brain fade.

Your reasoning and all the things you have done so far make sense to me, like you I believe that the cylinder piston is not able to return fully. Could a spacer or shim of some description have slipped down behind the carpet on removal of the master cylinder or servo. I note that you have loosened the retaining bolts to give some extra clearance. Have you compared the pattern part cylinder with the original? I have only removed the clutch cylinder (far too many times ) on my vehicle and the pushrod ball end is retained in the pedal by a plastic clip which is hard to fully push home when assembled, is there something similar on the brake cylinder? It really sounds like you need to create some clearance somehow to prove our joint belief and then set about finding what is longer or missing. I have had the same on a couple of cars over the years with my bodging/experimentation, a MK1 Escort with a failed direct acting servo which I dismantled to remove the control loading spring so it could be driven as unservoed and a MK1 Scirocco where I was trying to remove the slack from the awfull RHD converted brakes which left the cylinder & servo on the LHS, in both cases I left not enough slack on the pushrod, the brakes released on test but not when everything was at operating temperature.

Good advice for a general emissions failure at all revs but unlikely to help with the tickover emissions problem, I would suspect either the remap, the EGR valve or whatever valve or flap that engine has fitted to stop the engine over-running on shut down, I should know what it is having owned the same vehicle & engine & having declagged all these components but the detail has gone from my memory.

Mesmerising, I had already watched another one of his on a 1.6 TDi Octavia I think which gave me the confidence to tackle the clutch/DMF on my 6 speed 4x4 gearbox. It was also after watching him that I invested in a 1/2" drive Bosch cordless impact wrench although unfortunately it did not arrive in time for the clutch job. I used to be as confident and as competent as him removing FWD and RWD gearboxes on my back, the workshop attached to the house I have just bought will have a 2 post vehicle lift, I think that I have earned it. I borrowed a friends workshop with a pit to do my clutch and asked an equally competent (in his day) friend to be my wing man for the job, poor eyesight and general aged incompetence meant I valued the help and looking over my shoulder.

I would say that you have skipped or rushed through a couple of the flatting & polishing stages especially where you have touched in, it can't really be seen in the photo & won't show when its shiny but as the surface sheen is removed it will look flat, describes most of the scratches etc I had to deal with on mine. I have been meaning to redo mine for the last couple of summers. You should ideally wait until the touch in paint has fully hardened.

I am retirement age in France, approaching the UK retirement age, what you wrote above has further strengthened my resolve not to retire and bears out what I see all around me.

Mine is the basic poverty spec and I did miss a few things from my Octavia Elegances, it was mainly storage compartments which were cheaply resolved, I modified a MK1 Octavia boot variofloor as I had done to my MK2 Octavia, on the Yeti you remove one of the 3 sections & DIY the side supports. A good quality centre armrest storage unit came from Ali-Express, not as rigid as a Jumbo box but very good for the price, the upper console spectacle holder was a genuine VAG part again from Ali-Express as was a rigid battery box and cover, Yetis dont have these but the Octavia one fits. I hated the open storage bins on the dashtop and in front of the gear lever, they look a mess if you actually keep anything in them, a higher spec vehicle dashtop spectacle box from Ebay will go straight if you cut the hole after taking a deep breath, I modified an Octavia ashtray assembly to give me a perfect fitting hinged lid over the storage hole in front of the gear lever. I created underseat storage lockers by modifying the clear plastic lidded storage boxes sold by the homeware shops, these sit above and clip onto the lower seat cross rails are invisible and move with all the seat adjustments without obstructing them. I also fitted a Chinese head unit with Satnav, a returned unit for only £80 and a reversing camera. Photos of all of these mods are on the forum but somehow I have deleted my followed content so can't give a link. I will at some time enable cruise control, this will require a new columb stalk and higher revision clockspring. With the above additions that cost very little I miss nothing from a higher spec vehicle, mine had the factory bluetooth module but I dont use a phone when driving and it works with the standard stereo that I have replaced, it could easily be retrofitted if your vehicle lacked it. The trim parts are very rugged on the Yeti, the only difference could be the seat materials. I would not say no to leather seats if they were on offer.

You are contemplating exactly the route I took, 108hp to allegedly 180hp and I have no regrets, for me with the eco taxes on first registration in France it also saved a huge whack of money. None of it was planned, I naively thought that a 108 or 110hp (dependant on what fairy tale they were telling at the time of sale) CR TDi would have been as nippy as my 110hp MK1 Octavia, it was appalling by comparison and frankly dangerous regarding "oomph for overtaking" to use your words, the extra gear made it feel nippy at lower speeds and after being caught out several times I had to decide to no longer overtake anything not displaying a flashing girophare or voitures sans permis. Post remap it is more than I could have dreamed of, I don't know or care what BHP its actually making (I never believe the figures) because it has the punch when I need it and the same or better economy. Things to look out for? - Zinc corrosion on the door bottoms, dual mass flywheel, clutch hydraulics entraining air. - thats probably not a word in English (drawing in)

The most effective way to climb a hill is to miss gears if required, I will have to remember that one, shame they can't put it on the road signs.

Its just the clear coat that is scratched aside from on the top corner, the giveaway is the white colour. OK it could have been sideswiped by a white car but I know where I would put my money!

99.9% of that would dissapear with flatting, compounding and polishing leaving just a tiny touch up job to do, once dried & hardened that could be made almost invisible by the same process but in minutes not hours.

Another example of well meaning but totally out of date (as in at least 30 years) advice. Completely incorrect as well although understandable when dragging back memories from that far back, when valve clearances closed up which in the main was in a narrow period of a few years around 1987 with the removal of leaded petrol, compression loss and valve seat burning occurred on a hot engine and not when cold where a clearance would be present, the temperature coefficient of linear expansion of the valve train components closing up the reduced clearance, much worse on pushrod engines than OHC ones. I was not referring to your advice Wino, I'm sure you realise that but someone else reading may not. To the OP it is inconcievable that 4 glowplugs would have all failed in such a short time, it's a safe bet that the ones that were replaced (if they were actually replaced) were not faulty or not the cause of your problem.

Mild steel brake discs will rust, its not a manufacturing fault or an indication of poor quality, its simply chemistry. A new vehicle at a dealership that has not been driven will have rusty discs and it will be all the more apparent and deeper through not being removed by the normal braking action of being driven, it is not a stonewall case that they supplied a product that was faulty at the time of sale. The less brakes are used heavily the more the chance of the surface rust becoming pitting, rear brakes get very little use, rusting pitting and scoring are the physical manifestations of that, the situation has been aggravated I believe by the modern asbestos free brake pad composition.

£99 for an EGR emulator/simulator. Blank off the existing pipes using the shim plates supplied, remove wiring plug from EGR and connect via the 2 matching plugs on the emulator, - job done, about 15 minutes labour ideally suited to a gynaecologist with small hands & forearms, partially sighted and used to working by feel (ooh-err missus!!!). If there is any possibility of the water cooling part being failed or failing in the future then block that off as well, the kit gives instructions & possibly the bits required. Not only will you have saved £900 you will not have future EGR failures and the inlet tract will not get clogged, it would be worth cleaning the throttle valve plate while you are working on it, if the EGR mechanism has become seized that will be in an equally bad if not worth state, my engine was much more responsive and with far better fuel economy after cleaning. I do second what Sepulchrave says though, if it is the EGR then I would always fit an emulator, replacing the EGR is a long, difficult and expensive job and the new one may not last as long as the original.

I do not have a "better" although I do have the advantage of knowing exactly what your idea regarding the holes would look like in practice. I think some of the base model Estates or Combis may not have been fitted with roof rails, seeing your photo I realised that I have definitely seen them without.

I am guessing you removed them because you think the car looks better without them, - chacun à son gout. Different does not always equal better. What have you done to hide the fixing holes?

Thanks, yes I know how they should work from previous Skodas, the last 18 months since I got it have been anything but normal so they have not been needed and any lack of performance has not yet been seen. Good to know that I need to manually select them, I will experiment to see if they come on with the heated rear screen. 30 years ago in the days of pay per word small ads in Expand & Fart etc I could have written HRS and everyone would have known what I meant, not these days!

It will definitely not be "just a question of bleeding", that is simply to prove beyond doubt my diagnosis if I am correct & will require you to do it again and again if you drive the car just as the garage have been doing. The cure is to replace the cylinder or the O ring in the joint but as the gearbox has to be removed to do that we would all replace the cylinder, I would go further and support the pipe where it exits the bellhousing to prevent any recurrence or better still fit an early one piece aluminium one which I did indeed do. On a positive note if you end up bleeding the clutch as often as I did then you can leave the bleed tube attached (needs a thin clamp or lockwire) and do the job by feel in seconds at the side of the road without removing the air filter housing, I removed the single attachment bolt and would lift the assembly upwards off the retaining rubbers to get enough room for my forearms. I even had a second tube with a tapered adaptor from an airbed pump which I would put in the bleed tube and suck the other end to really make the job take seconds to do. I also became very good at looking for escape routes up grass verges etc when slowing for roundabouts especially when leaving an autoroute as I never knew if I would still have a clutch pedal, trying it beforehand would just waste one declutch action from the few possibly remaining. Needless to say I never used the clutch for gearchanges once under way.