J.R.

That will be because there are no rules against it and I thought you were either deluded or deluding yourself The delusion is your rational of "Using the air conditioning regularly is well worth doing to keep it working efficiently. With manual air con, I'd use it every time you start the engine for 5-10 minutes while the car warms up." There is no need to do this because the pump is always running at a low level even when you think it is switched off, now I have no problem with you doing whatever you want because of whatever beliefs you have, I speak out when you encourage others to do the same for delusional reasons.

So "could" reduce economy 10% becomes "typically" reduces economy 10% Either of those phrases automatically makes me dig further. Like Wino it only usually takes a skim read with an open but suspicious mind to see that its hogwash, have people really lost the ability to think for themselves and to verify what they have been fed? Or is it social media that makes it so easy for those lacking the skill to repeat the duff info?

Well they wouldn't have any commercial benefit in saying that would they! You are deluding yourself, "manual aircon" is a misnomer, it is the exact same system as Climatronic simply lacking the system making decisions for you, individual heat settings each side etc, the sensors and actuators are identical for the control of temperature. As has been said when it is turned "off" it remains operative in the same way that Climatronic does when switched off although I reckon the circulation is a lot less than 6%, I will check the next time I have my guages on the system. It will even switch on automatically when the airflow control is moved to the screen demist position.

Are you sure about that? It is contrary to the handbook advice where it says to drive above 65kph? and above 1800rpm? - both those figures are guesses from memory. And also contrary to the VAG documentation that I downloaded but dont have with me here in the UK to quote the details and the source. Because of that if I arrive home and hear the radiator fans running I go for a drive on the rocade (by pass) until the idle revs drop again to 800rpm. I would dearly love to just leave it ticking over if it would really work and really work faster than me driving it, however the only time I have had the DPF warning light was when I was doing the accident repairs & the vehicle was being started & stopped, moved a few feet each time etc, I heard the fans once and left it idling for another 30 minutes, the next time I started it I had the DPF light and had to take it for a drive except it was not yet roadworthy.

I have translated the dealer B.S. for you!

You only have to remove the starter motor to be able to do a definitive DMF test by hand. A Skoda main dealer will tell you that you have to pay to have the gearbox removed for them to diagnosis a DMF fault despite it being completely apparent to their experienced ears.

I hate it when I find that I have spent money unnecessarily in the past. Mind you it was 30 years ago! Other than an engine in a written off vehicle that had water ingress I have never had lifter problems since using decent oils and regular oil changes.

I doubt that they will give a Four X as the Fosters adverts would have use believe you Aussies say! One part number for a filter that will (physically) all vehicles regardless of the steering wheel position is to be desired, the cost of tooling, manufacture and inventory for 2 different yet practically identical filters would be significant, reduce their margins and increase the sales price driving customers to suppliers who would have taken the wise choice had Repco not done so. They could of course have printed a double ended airflow arrow but that would have resulted in even more messages to them. I doubt that either VAG, Skoda or Repco will be unaware of what you think is their mistake, it will have been a sound commercial decision. But hey it could be the next opportunity for the Ambulance chasing lawyers on behalf of people with breathing difficulties, on behalf of = to line their own pockets.

Is that on behalf of yourself and the rest of the 1%?

The only credible part of that article/statement is the bit about sacrificing Octavias for other models. If you substitute "unstarted" for "unfinished" then its probably truthfull. They might produce & store cars that cannot be shipped or sold to keep the production & supply lines running but they sure dont push even one let alone 400000 immobile vehicles off the line to put them in storage & then have someone pull them apart either in a muddy field or transport them back to the factory to pull apart & fit all the missing electronic modules then feed them back into the line for the testing regime. The whole manufacturing process is designed around a "Just in Time" suppy chain, when something runs out the line stops. Complete fantasy & doesn't say much for the journalist.

Are you an Automotive Industry expert in value or reverse engineering? Do you even know what different processes, materials and components are used to make your auto dimming mirror glass? Do you know what percentage of vehicles sold are fitted with that option? (makes a big difference in inventory costs if a low volume option) Whilst it is a safe bet that there will be profiteering going on without the above info you cannot say it is just because it costs more than the "a bit more" that you say you appreciated.

On reflection if the throttle valve is sticking or the plastic gears have stripped then it could explain your other 2 oddities.

Dual mass flywheel I'm afraid. If the fault only manifested itself at shutdown & its a CR engine then it could be the throttle valve (as they are called on those vehicles) coked up & not able to shut properly, mine had that problem & I was very relieved to find that it was not the DMF. I did a clutch & DMF change a year later, at 95K miles it was worn but still reasonably serviceable, after the remap the engine would pull much higher revs but was very clattery in that higher range, the new DMF silenced it.

Isn't that simply a passive regeneration? I'm not sure that the ECU does anything when that happens, it certainly wont add post combustion fuelling as it would in normal regen mode, the exhaust gases are hot enough to burn the soot on their own. Maybe it runs some EGR to keep the temperature of the fire within safe limits. Its a very good thing and not something to be wary of. I hope that someone will prove me wrong but I dont think the ECU takes into account passive regens when doing its calculation of soot loading, I can drive 200 miles towing a seriously overloaded removals trailer with a frontal area like a barn door at motorway speeds, full throttle up the very long autoroute inclines in Northern France, the oil temperature is high so the DPF must be above passive regen temps yet 30 miles after arriving at my destination its doing an active regen once again. I have scanned the VCDS DPF data before and after one of these runs and the calculated soot load kept going up the same as if I were bimbling around town.

The pump primes as soon as you turn on the ignition. Low fluid will not cause any problems other than clutch plates not engaging if it is significantly low. If the correct procedure was carried out when changing the fluid it will not be low. Why would your percieved dangers not equally be a concern (to you) in summer?

What is this "heat soak" that an intercooler is supposed to suffer from? Surely heat soak (transfer) is its raison d'être? Unless I have misunderstood or the wrong terminology is being used then a FMIC far from suffering from increased heat soak would benefit from it.

I couldn't agree more although it's a bit last century thinking that the parrots swallow their rubbish while down the pub, they have this new feeding station called the interweb now Same junk different shop! You are not alone, I for sure am stuck in the last century, a better place and the best place for me.

No need for insults, everyones opinion is as worthy as someone elses, its how we learn. Can you describe what this "heatsoak" is and how it reduces power for my knowledge please. I am very late to the party with diesels having spent most of my life trying to squeeze more power out of petrol engines, with them its a fight against voluletric efficiency, the more air you can get in to the cylinders the more fuel you can add, the more power you will get, turbocharging gets more air in but its less dense and contains less oxygen when the pressurisation increases the charge temperature following the gas laws plus the heatsoak (maybe its that you were speaking of) from the exhaust gases on the turbine impellor, an intercooler will increase the density of that charge and hence increase power. Thats for a petrol engine but as you point out in most of a diesels operating range there is no shortage of oxygen and its only by limiting the fuelling that the engine does not run away, I think the forced induction increases the rev range beyond which the engine would struggle for air, I can see that a better intercooler, assuming that the standard one is lacking could increase power at the highest revs or increase the point at which the power falls off, I doubt that it would make any difference in normal driving conditions.

Mesmerising, I want one too! Does the tracked unit remain on the flatbed in that position with the car at an angle or does it release the car and go into some kind of docking station underneath? Narrow drive too small for the recovery truck, I am guessing rear wheel(s) locked up requiring dollies, dangerous to use on a sloping drive without the vehicle handbrake. If it was just a simple mechanical breakdown then the tracked unit was a bit of overkill but probably Elf & Safety says the operators cannot push vehicles any more.

Did he ever say that?

Thanks for that, I could not see the image clearly yesterday but can today now the sun is not reflecting on the screen. I can make out the ball in the cup now and reckon that the orientation when fitted in the car would be either exactly as photographed or perhaps rotated minus 90°, I cant see the small detail clearly enough to decide. Thanks to your photos I am 100% confident now that its worth the trouble of releasing the reel knowing that I can access the parts that are locking and decide if the mounting angle is wrong. Finding the time? - Now that is something else entirely, I'm in the middle of a house and garage between countries and two property sales, the rare passengers I have will just have to poke up with it.

Thanks, I will give it a try, nothing to lose. On the flat the belt unwinds as it should and also locks as it should when pulled sharply which is how the MOT guys test them. There is also I believe the "inertia" mechanism that is something along the lines of an upturned saucer with a round weight inside, it if rolls up the side of the saucer through its inertia be it heavy braking or a shunt from any angle it will lock the reel, these mechanisms by their nature are affected by the inclination of the vehicle but should not behave like yours and mine at shallow angles.

I'm sure there are plenty that have been installed onto floors your thickness, I bet many times their installation engineers have arrived on site to find something much less than they have specified despite the client signing to say that their floor complies. In your shoes knowing that the floor is thinner I would have some steel spreader plates made up drilled to suit the ramp fixings and other fixing holes around the periphery for chemical resin anchors, they need to spread the load longitudinally and not from side to side, that is where the forces will be with an unbalanced lift.

Value Added Tax. Not mythical but a game they have all been playing for at least 3 decades. And yet people still buy into the line that the nearly new car they are buying for more than 83.3% of what the dealer paid including VAT is an ex demonstrator/sales managers car blah blah blah, I read several on here alone every month. If you dont believe me ask yourself why every person with even the most tenuous family relationship to someone working for a car company gets 4 new cars a year that they must drive for 3 months putting no more than Xmiles on them before exchanging for the next one, even 18 year olds at university who have only just past their test. Also ask yourself why major fleet customers like car hire companies, fire & intruder alarm installers etc who drive estate cars instead of vans (which would be much more tax efficient) again have them exchanged every 3 months. And if the penny still hasn't dropped ask yourself if VAT is payable on second hand vehicles and under what conditions the full amount of VAT can be reclaimed when a company (big clue here, a car company or dealership) buys a new vehicle.

You can achieve the same with a 4mm drill bit, one of the rare occasions where it is worth getting out the old hand drill so allow 30 seconds instead of 15 (and 30 minutes to find the hand drill last used in the last century ) If you end up with an uprated clutch that does not feel any heavier and they end up with a heavier wallet then everyone is a winner. A modified bleed block be it a hand drilled standard one or an expensive shiny alu one is a worthwhile modification but it wont affect the pedal pressure, that is simply a function of the clutch diaphragm force, the ratio of master to slave cylinder diameter and the clutch pedal length, if you have a severely restricted hydraulic line then pedal pressure will be higher when depressing the clutch if you try to do it very quickly, I had that on a Mini with an internally corroded line, the poppet valve opens on the OE bleed block to allow more than enough flow even for a tap dancer!