J.R.

MK1 & MK2 Octavias are very poor in this respect, the MK1 was abysmal, its better with fuel with more defoaming agent, I cant recall if the UK or Europe is better (its been a couple of years) but there is a marked difference. You just have to adapt the pump position and the discharge (big hint the trigger is not an on/off switch you can modulate the flow) to get the minimum of back pressure which triggers the cut off, I found the best was the nozzle maybe 2" withdrawn from fully in (phnaar phnaar!) with the tip elevated and about 3/4 flow rate whilst keeping an eye on the volume delivered to know when to slow down. You will either work out what I am saying and find your best way or not, some people, usually the impatient ones are incapapable of the fine control & feedback required & get nowhere or simply can't comprehend the mechanics of what is going on without being to see. The problem was finally resolved 100% with the Yeti, I don't know what the difference is but it fills as it should.

The momentary feeling of cutting out, its almost like an instantaneous reboot, happens very rarely, I will make a note of the next place it happens & see if I can get it to repeat. I think I have a better description if you are of an age to recall a carburetted vehicle, its like the initial stage of fuel starvation when the float chamber level drops, you accelerate and there is not even a noticeable lag but the throttle goes a tiny bit further down before you get the expected response.

I am really pleased to know that I am not alone I abused my diff by being a meathead male (any hole will do ) and since refilling the dry carbonised differential have been on tenterhooks waiting for failure, every whine etc makes me paranoid, the lurching I get sometimes when driving out of a supermarket parking spot on lock, it can be forward or backwards, it feels like transmission wind up in a pure 4x4 without centre differential and the same as when I had the diff planet wheels breaking up on a Ford live rear axle, I can be a little less paranoid now but like you would like to know what it is. My theory is that it is transmission wind up and a snatching as the haldex clutch releases under the load rather than from an ECU command, whatever the reason is the controller incorrectly decides to put too much pressure on the clutch pack for the actual situation. Re the cresting of a hill, that has really freaked me out, every time it feels like the engine has died and for a split second there is a non linear throttle response, it has taken you to make me realise that it is when lifting off while cresting a rise. Its the price i pay for being so attuned to my vehicles and noticing the slightest hiccup.

Thanks for the explanation re clay bar, I had often wondered exactly how they do what they do, I sort of knew the end result. Are they ever used in paint preparation, before spraying a clear coat etc? - thats more my sphere of interest, in that regard I have the same end goal as you guys, the best finish possible, I am just far more relaxed about maintaining it than I once was, priorities change over the course of life.

When and if you have the benefit of hindsight and wisdom and can read or hear people saying outrageous things and reflect "thats exactly what I would have once said" I know in many areas where I said "I will never become like that" or worse I have indeed and can look back and appreciate that the changes in the main have been positive ones.

But they didn't brag they simply asked a question that you in future years will understand and almost certainly agree with, what followed was judgemental and very impolite personal comments.

Remove the silver foil from your chocolate before driving and use it to make safety gilets for rabbits, possums and birds

Spin the wheel whilst holding a fingertip to the inside of the stub axle/hub carrier to feel any vibration that you probably wont hear, then compare it to the other side. Having drum brakes helps as with discs the drag is too much & the wheel has stopped before you can get to touch the axle, standing under a 4 post ramp is the only way with disc brakes as you can spin repeatedly with one hand whilst feeling with the other.

It was a petrol, I should have mentioned that, thanks for picking it up. I would expect the same back pressure problems if a diesel cat became blocked but on reflection the overfuelling is irrelevant on a diesel.

A blocked catastrophic convertor will result in a huge drop in power, an inability to rev or boost, you can often hear the gases straining to escape like a potato stuffed up an exhaust pipe, often it will blow a pipe off the EGR circuit or a pressure sensor which would make a hissing noise, white smoke? I very much doubt it. I had one block on a Galaxy due to an incompetent warranty repair where on removing the gearbox they managed to stretch & break several cables including the Lambda sensor, it was running on a default map and back then (95) did not go into limp mode or bring up EML lights but the default over-rich fuelling instead of Lambda 1.0 blocked the catastrophic convertor. So whilst when operating correctly they normally outlast the life of a vehicle these days a fault can quickly see them off.

Yes I have met with them on numerous occasions. You refer to "this change", nothing has changed in Europe, even if they did give a four X about country identifier plates on foreign registered vehicles, which they don't because in 40 years or driving UK reg vehicles in Europe I have never once had a GB plate, a GB or whatever plate that was legal yesterday will still be legal tomorrow, next year and ad infinitum no matter what political message the UK government is trying to convince you to display. It is a non story, there really are better things to worry yourself over if worry is your comfort.

As a (now ex) scuba diver used to working in very poor visibility and now with less than perfect vision I know for sure that an analogue display that you are familiar with is far better in challenging conditions and dangerous situations. I have lost the use of my left eye which had an intraocular lens implant for close work, reading etc (monovision) I now need bifocals or reading glasses to be able to read my Garmin runners watch despite it having a bright 1cm LED display, without them, say waking up at night or when swimming I simply cannot read the time (unless my arms were double the length!) but if I had an analogue watch I would know exactly what time it was.

I am very impressed with the seating platform and the roof bars. If they did one without the 3rd row of seats and a varifloor I would be up for one when they are a few years old. I like the driving position in the Yeti but miss the loading length of the Octavia, the Yeti makes poor use of space. The Galaxy and Alhambra were good for what I did back then, I thought about a Touran as a good compromise between Octavia and Galaxy but no variofloor which is something I can no longer live without.

Now I look really carefully at the photo I can just see the line between the two rear sections that I thought were one. The earlier versions were very DIYish by comparison which means they can be adapted easily, I repurposed MK1 ones for my MK2 Octavia and Yeti, it was in doing that and then subsequently measuring other vehicles I found how standardised the dimensions of the luggage compartments are on all the vehicles. I could not live without the boot floor storage compartment & all the stuff that has gradually found its way into there I now would not want to live without, granted with good luck most is never needed but all have been priceless at one time or another. Going from MK2 Octavia to Yeti I had to get rid of 1/3 of the stuff I had been carrying around which was a very difficult task.

No problem if its translating from French into English, I can do it the other way but ideally one should translate into and not from ones mother tongue.

Yes versatile, certainly slick looking, perhaps not as versatile as the earlier versions that had 3 sections, having seen the evolution from the MK1 to the MK2 and now seeing photos of the MK3 I would bet my house that both of those sections can be removed and without the need for tools.

They deflect wind thus increasing the pressure drop at the rear of the vehicle to produce a satisfying booming sound when a rear window is opened. Cheaper for Kevins than big **** off speakers.

Perhaps it is different on the MK3, I have never seen one, MK1 & MK2 Variofloors don't do what they say on the tin! They probably justified the Variofloor name by the fact that the rear sections could be folded forward on top of the fixed one leaving the rear section of boot at full depth.

Or the dash display was talking crap, or the fuel sender is sticky, I had the former on my MK1 Octavia and ran out a few times. Set the trip meter next time you fill up, keep an eye on the miles travelled and the indicated fuel level, you should see if there is a discrepancy.

Variofloor is a misnomer, its a raised floor that can be removed, its not variable.

Keep a close eye on it, brake fluid does degrade over time but that is a very gradual absorption of moisture and would only manifest under severe sustained heavy braking, whichever seal allowed air to enter during one 900km journey can do so again. I'm glad that you had such a good experience during the busy holiday season.

Lico is correct regarding the servo and what you observed, my apologies, had I thought it through I would have said that you should have the engine running. Good luck with the Skoda dealer, please let us know the outcome.

Have a £99 EGR emulator fitted instead and you will never have any problems again, you will also get a proper blanking plate to replace the coke can. It should only be 30 minutes labour if they have done one before, 45 tops if they havn't. Much cheaper than replacing something which is going to fail again given your journey profile.

Water is not going to be absorbed into the brake lines during a motorway run, in any case water is incompressible and would only manifest as a spongy pedal when the fluid boils under heavy braking. If air has entered the system then the cause of the leak should be found as a priority, bleeding the brakes without fixing the fault is negligent. My suggestion would be that the handbrake was dragging during the journey and the self adjust mechanism is not working, same fault effectively. I would suggest that the OP pulls the handbrake up really hard whilst simultaneously pressing hard on the brake pedal, release the footbrake leaving the handbrake on, if the footbrake is now firm you have found your problem. If that does not work try clamping off each brake hose in turn and check the pedal, that should tell you if air is in any of the calipers. If no joy with any of the above I would suspect the master cylinder, it may be close to the DPF on your model and have suffered from the heat.

One of the benefits of running with the pack and ceding to their pressure that you must have fully integrated coded towing electrics.