J.R.

I doubt that the problem was caused when they changed the propshaft Guibo coupling unless you asked them to service the Haldex at the same time. The problem is as Xman points out and the guilty party will be the last person to have (made a mess of) changed the Haldex oil. It will not get better, the most that you can hope for is that it does not get any worse, mine hasn't but the noise would only be noticable to someone like me with a sympathetic mechanical ear and who had driven the car before, yours sounds terminal I'm afraid to say. Second hand diffs on ebay start at £240 delivered.

The odds were with you, I have been using them for 30 years and have yet to come across a caliper needing a LH tool.

Right handed. I never knew a left handed one existed until a friend told me he had bought a kit with both LH & RH so he could work on all his vehicles including a 2014 Transit which he said was LH.

The belt will be tensioned whatever the temperature.

You would have to go back 30 years to the old days of V belts and adjustment by swinging the alternator for that to be the case. Nothing since then with poly V auxiliary drive belts & sprung tensioners will ever slip unless the shaft has seized on the item being driven, because the tensioner acts on the outside of the belt pushing it inwards it drives the pulley through about 180° rather than a max of 120° on the old style, add to that the multiple vee groove contact & slippage is a thing of the past.

Things have changed a bit since the 70's when every vehicle would have had one of very few standardised Lockheed master cylinders under the bonnet with critically the Lockheed (or other OEM) part number on. The specification will be a VAG one and the assembly lines will be supplied by OEM's like Luk, Valeo etc. No way could they change the design without the full collaboration of the vehicle manufacturer, its usually the latter driving the change through the constant quest to reduce costs.

A great repair, you are a man after my heart. Thankyou for solving the mystery of what goes on inside a clockspring, I would not have taken mine apart unless it broke, now I know what awaits me, like you I would prefer to repair than replace. Good on you!!!!

Not exactly integrated is it? Looks like most new cars that have a tea tray stuck to the dashboard, was there not one available with a VAG faceplate to replace the stock unit? I am on my second Chinese head unit (proper flush OE mounting) but it would appear that I am the only person in the world that just wants a radio/CD player/Satnav and does not want to have an extension to a mobile phone, its got Bluetooth but I dont make or recieve calls while driving and only carry an old school phone with me when out and about. My experience of cheap Chinese head units for use as standalone & not with a phone has been good. I see that you call it a floating display so presumably you chose it for that reason, please forgive the pun but whatever floats your boat

The reason that the pedal may go half way to the floor first thing in the morning is that when the engine cools & the system would want to draw fluid from the reservoir the piston is not far enough back to allow the flow so the partial vacuum instead pulls the piston further down the bore.

Having spent an evening stripping and modifying a pair of clutch master cylinders I am now 100% certain of what the problem is and how to overcome it. Editted, 100% wrong!!! - following the wrong direction. It is 100% definitely due to the plastic master cylinder pushrod pulling out of the piston and then becoming a sliding fit in its location, unless the two are firmly locked together the piston will not return properly and new fluid will not be drawn into the system when required. It will first occur when the cylinder is heated from the DPF, its more apparent on the higher powered engines, and will be aggravated by the piston returning slowly due to the clutch torque limiter, the heavy pedal return spring will pull the pushrod partially out of the piston, from that point on the problem will be progressively get worse. If the pedal fails to return the first thing to do is clean and open up the bore of the clutch torque limiter, do not pull the pedal up you will make things worse. If the problem persists you need to then replace the master cylinder but you must modify it before fitting, you will probably find that the pushrod can easily be pulled from the piston by hand, the retaining collet has to be glued in with a strong adhesive, I am using PU gel construction adhesive, a trial with Loctite was not successfull. Getting the cylinder apart needs a magician and its taken me a month to finally find how to do so, there is a plastic bush that needs a dozen internal spring loaded lugs compressing, it can be done with a 2.5mm or smaller tywrap or lockwire, I doubt that a VAG dealer will have ever done so. Thats a very simplistic explanation and the real problem is that it has to be assembled blind, too much glue will mean the collet does not seat properly & its scrap or will gum up the works. To test if a cylinder is working and fit for service you must pull hard on the pushrod and it should not detach, with it fully withdrawn you should be able to blow through the reservoir fill port and there be no restriction. I have had 2 new cylinders (aftermarket) fail when I tested them by hand and the expensive VAG cylinder failed under high temperature operation, when I remove it I expect to find that like the aftermarket cylinders the pushrod collet is not mechanically retained. If VAG had simply fitted an internal return spring like any other master cylinder has this problem would never have occurred, old school Girling cylinders dont have the pushrod connected to the piston, its an open ball and socket, if a vehicle is laid up & the piston rusts & does not return fully you get the same problem.

The reason that the pedal may go half way to the floor first thing in the morning is that when the engine cools & the system would want to draw fluid from the reservoir the piston is not far enough back to allow the flow so the partial vacuum instead pulls the piston further down the bore.

Having spent an evening stripping and modifying a pair of clutch master cylinders I am now 100% certain of what the problem is and how to overcome it. It is 100% definitely due to the plastic master cylinder pushrod pulling out of the piston and then becoming a sliding fit in its location, unless the two are firmly locked together the piston will not return properly and new fluid will not be drawn into the system when required. It will first occur when the cylinder is heated from the DPF, its more apparent on the higher powered engines, and will be aggravated by the piston returning slowly due to the clutch torque limiter, the heavy pedal return spring will pull the pushrod partially out of the piston, from that point on the problem will be progressively get worse. If the pedal fails to return the first thing to do is clean and open up the bore of the clutch torque limiter, do not pull the pedal up you will make things worse. If the problem persists you need to then replace the master cylinder but you must modify it before fitting, you will probably find that the pushrod can easily be pulled from the piston by hand, the retaining collet has to be glued in with a strong adhesive, I am using PU gel construction adhesive, a trial with Loctite was not successfull. Getting the cylinder apart needs a magician and its taken me a month to finally find how to do so, there is a plastic bush that needs a dozen internal spring loaded lugs compressing, it can be done with a 2.5mm or smaller tywrap or lockwire, I doubt that a VAG dealer will have ever done so. Thats a very simplistic explanation and the real problem is that it has to be assembled blind, too much glue will mean the collet does not seat properly & its scrap or will gum up the works. To test if a cylinder is working and fit for service you must pull hard on the pushrod and it should not detach, with it fully withdrawn you should be able to blow through the reservoir fill port and there be no restriction. I have had 2 new cylinders (aftermarket) fail when I tested them by hand and the expensive VAG cylinder failed under high temperature operation, when I remove it I expect to find that like the aftermarket cylinders the pushrod collet is not mechanically retained. If VAG had simply fitted an internal return spring like any other master cylinder has this problem would never have occurred, old school Girling cylinders dont have the pushrod connected to the piston, its an open ball and socket, if a vehicle is laid up & the piston rusts & does not return fully you get the same problem.

No to the question in the title, yes then no to the question in the posting. You dont even need to use the aircon, the pump always circulates some fluid even when the A/C is switched off.

You are correct, my eyesight again I have set 4mm steel rivets by hand but you need to be Popeye, 6mm would definitely need my pneumatic rivetter.

Its the underside of the belt that should be scrutinised, preferably where it takes a reverse curvature around the tensioner, any cracking at the root of the teeth is more apparent that way.

All the ones linked to have been.

Cant help you re the cleaning but its my understanding that a non working EGR valve (not taking the smoke as you put it) will extend the life of the DPF, or more correctly not reduce its life as is the case with all the VAG vehicles that have had the emissions fix where the EGR works overtime. If I am incorrect then I should not have fitted an EGR emulator/simulator.

No good for me, the video supposedly 21 seconds long takes about 2 minutes and manages to show 5 or 6 still frames during that time.

Like your smartphone but even more of a chocolate teapot!

Your opinion is totally irrelevant and patently wrong. Trying both is not necessary to establish that. That’s the point!

A very wise decision it turns out, I am now following your lead.

How can you say that what he says is patently wrong when you did not see the car he drove? My comments miss what point? - That you consider he is patently wrong? - That is exactly what my comments were about. "What he experienced during the test drive is totally irrelevant" - yes you are right, I must be missing your point, why did you ask me if I had been in one if you consider it irrelevant?

Unless you took the test drive with Xman I dont know how you can say that what he related from his test drive were not facts, unless you believe he did not test drive a Kamiq or is making the whole thing up. I am not here to answer your questions and whether I have been in a Kamiq is irrelevant, you accused someone of making a pointless and misleading posting because what ticks your boxes in a vehicle does not tick his, that was what I was commenting on, I could not care less whether a Kamiq is good bad or indifferent or whether one person loves it and another is not impressed.

Xman did add their experience, and unless he is making it all up then it is based on fact. I dont see anything that he said which is pointless or misleading, he simply has a different opinion of the vehicle he drove than you do. Remember that many people are currently buying vehicles sight unseen.

Thanks, I had forgotten about the Scout, they were exactly what I wanted so I was very pleased with them & the towball height only a minor inconvenience, 3 of my trailers have articulated drawbars so can be set to any height, I put a spacer on the coupling of my goods trailer, my 4 wheeled car trailer will be a problem but its been locked away for 15 years with the Elan on it and wont be going anywhere. I would imagine if a Scout owner fitted a standard aftermarket towbar they would have the same height issue. The Yeti towball is also too high but thats fine for the goods trailer now!