J.R.

Thanks for your response, yes its also my understanding that the 110 & 140hp engines are identical aside from the mapping, also that I have a smaller turbo than the 170hp variant. I do however have the 6 speed gearbox which I believe is a stronger version, this garage (the Celtic agent) seem quite reputable, they have excellent reviews, the guy on the phone knew his stuff & was not the typical service receptionist, they sounded quite conservative & were proposing the stage 1 mapping but when he researched my vehicle spec he said it was OK & "within parameters" to use his words, we will see. 98% of the time I wont be using the extra power, just for the occasional overtake & when towing a heavy load uphill. I am hoping that whatever the actual power output having a smaller turbo will be an advantage as I am not looking for a performance vehicle.

I think it was already raised, those wheels were not turning when it was rolling. Not so sure now, some of the time they look to be, some not, my eyesight isn't good enough to be sure.

After a year of trying to get the stars to align which Covid has prevented the Yeti will finally be getting a Celtic Tuning remap on Thursday, stage 2 to allegedly 190hp from 108hp but I reckon (indeed hope) that its the standard 170hp VAG map. Their mobile service could not get to me for 6 weeks which is far longer than any of my UK visits but they have a dealer not far from me, CT cars at West Horsley a VAG independant garage that seem to have a good reputation for normal service & repair work. I finish my 10 days quarantine tomorrow and it will have been worthwhile if the results are what I am hoping for, I will be towing some very heavy laden trailers moving all my garage equipment to France soon I hope and with 108hp any flics sat beside an autoroute incline would believe from my speed that the vehicle is overloaded, just towing the roulottes (a mobile site hut like a van trailer) empty at any speed was too much for the current engine power. I will let you know how it goes, I will be disconnecting the EGR emulator/simulator to avoid any hiccups and will do a lot of miles before reconnecting it to see what difference it makes with the new mapping. Forgot to say they even gave me a £50 discount for some promo that they are running at present, they did not need to I would have been happy for them to have matched the £295 that Celtic tuning charge so £250ish I am very happy about.

I dont think that I need to wait a week to recognise that sort of line I am having a remap on Thursday so I may be joining you!

I bought a 51 plate 2001 Octavia Estate (1.9 tdi) in April 2005 from my chauffeur pal with 188000 miles on the clock, I did not really want it as it was not as convenient as my Alhambra for my move to France but it was so cheap and left me £1500 better off when the Alhambra sold it only had to last me a year for the gamble to have paid off. In fact I got it the night before I moved so had to empty the Alhambra and squeeze it all in the Octavia. 13 years later and at 325000 miles it was still as sweet as a nut, it was only not being able to resolve the problem of all but the drivers door being deadlocked that made me buy an even better value MK2. In hindsight had I invested in VCDS while I owned it then it would not have been scrapped, however it was 17 years old before having any electronic shenanigans, I did not even realise that it had canbus comms, the MK2 needed me to by VCDS within a week, up my skillset and make up for 13 years of not keeping my hand in. I replaced the DMF and one cambelt (none had been done before even though my pal had paid for a couple of replacements) in all that time plus a coolant temp sensor, alternator brushes, fuel sender etc, brake pads and eventually discs because of a hairline ctack on one at 300000 miles, original exhaust & would have still been on the original battery if I hadn't left the lights on & killed it. I also gave the turbo the good news with Lidl oven cleaner once or twice. It never ever broke down or used any oil. Never in my life had I kept a car more than a couple of years, the MK1 Octavia changed all that, you dont give up on a good thing. My only complaint was that it was so reliable it left me to play 15 years of catch up on vehicle electronics & emission controls when I did change it for a 2006 vehicle. The jump to a 2015 was pretty painless because the 2006 Octavia kept me on my toes most of the time.

I took mine from a spare terminal on the busbar on the battery fuseboard (cant recall the name for it) eye terminal directly to a 30 amp in line fuseholder and then on to the towing relay, a little bit further to run but neater and more professional than how many tap into the dashpanel fuseboard. In fact it had been connected by a garage for the previous owner directly to the battery terminal was unfused and looked a real bodge, I disconnected it to find out what it was and everything still worked so was initially a mystery, a long time later when I first towed & tested the lights before leaving I found what it had been for but not until after loats of head scratching. It was at that point I made the proper connection to the busbar which I think might be called terminal 30. As has been said a fuse to protect the wiring at the point of connection is essential, it has a second purpose in that it can be removed when not towing to reduce the parasitic battery drain, the older relays take more current than all the vehicle standby systems 24/7 so reduce the battery autonomy by 50% +, the later ones are better but still not good, if any water gets onto the relay from say the rear washer pipe detaching when frozen then you will have big current draw problems, I prefer to leave the relay unpowered. On the MK2 I removed the fuse, on my Yeti (connected to the rear power socket) can do that and also flip a switch, both are just accessible in the rear recess.

To be fair I am not a VRS afficianado & dont drive lowered vehicles or have large diameater wheels with low profile tyres, I am more use to putting uprated springs on for towing & carrying heavy loads. To me yours looks a little too low at the back for a stock Octavia with good springs so I am guessing its about right for a VRS, by comparison the front looks low but maybe it is the back thats too high, knowing how much they drop with weight in the rear yours looks like it would be on the bump stops with 3 rear passengers and luggage in the rear.

It doesn't look out of place to me, the rake looks correct other than the fronts look to be a little low perhaps increasing it. They will settle.

I did a VCDS scan 5km after the last regen, the oil ash volume is unchanged at 0.09l from what it was 10K miles ago, I confess that the units used by VCDS never make any sense to me. The estimated soot was 5 somethingorevers and the measured was minus 3.88 whatevers, I think the regen is triggered at 25. I also checked the DPF differential pressure and it was 32 whatevers at the 2500rpm max the engine will rev to at standstill and it was 4 whatevers at tickover, I think its the same as last time, I really must start writing them down.

£99 will buy you an emulator/simulator which will make the ECU think you still have an EGR and it is fubctioning correctly. I fitted one just before Christmas and it has made a big difference to drivability and especially to fuel economy. It does seem to be doing more regens though or maybe its just coincidence that I have been aware of the last 2 when I have stopped, its was only say 250 miles between the last two that I was aware of and half of that was done on the autoroutes. Does anyone know if stopping the EGR from operating increases the frequency of regens? I was under the impression that the opposite was true but dont want to recommend an emulator/simulator to the OP if it has a downside.

If only more Youtube car repair videos were like that instead of starting with "HI GUYS!" and wittering on for 15 minutes before showing anything, 1 minute 20 seconds was perfect, that would have been 20 minutes plus with most of the other narcissists. No annoying and overpowering music either.

The weather here has gone above freezing and I have missed the opportunity for a much needed defrost, TBH I was too intimidated by having to get out an axe, hammer & chisel once again and at the thought of what extinct animal species I might find in the permafrost!!!

That is the secondary lock that prevents the bonnet from flying up if the primary catch is not engaged or releases, you need to get access to the cable and pull the outer, it runs along or possibly under the slam panel to the NS inner wing, if you can get the NS headlight out you might have the access you need, you should be able to get to the release lever but not sure about the knurled retaining nut, I no longer own a MK2 to go out and have a look at. Suggestion to access the starter motor or even the alternator is a good idea.

The corroded discs & manky pads will not be helping, the rear calipers on Octavias have lots of problems with the handbrake mechanism, not sure if its resolved on the Yeti. There are 2 checks that you can do, either/or: Put on the handbrake & look to see the angle of the actuating arms on the caliper, they should be equal and not move very far, they should also both return to the positive stop when handbrake released, - dont run yourself over!!! Lifting the rear of the centre console will allow you to check that the compensator is at 90° to the handbrake cables, if they are uneven dont be tempted to adjust the slack one, the problem will be with the self adjuster on that caliper. My MOT handbrake effiiency was also shocking but the discs were in a right two & eight & I have since changed them, handbrake still struggles to do a handbrake turn on snow but holds on a hill.

Was your vehicle recovered directly to the repairer or did it spend any time at a salvage yard awaiting insurance clearance? If the latter then thats where stuff usually goes walkies especially service history books etc (for cloning) not that VAG use them any more

If it has been removed the either there will be a big gap where it once was or the trim has been replaced with a lower level one. Now I am questioning whether I am talking bull***t, the above would be correct on an Octavia but my Yeti does not have a storage bin nor does it have a trim under the front, just a big gap where I have fitted a household plastic storage box clipped to the seat frame. What I was going to suggest if there is a new trim in place is that it will have a manufacturers sticker with the manufacturing date which is unlikely to match any of the other parts in your vehicle. Unless the car was severely damaged its unlikely that the seat would have been removed for the repairs but if someone has been helping themselves to your parts to upgrade their car then I would look carefully everywhere else including under the boot carpet at the toolkit, locking wheelnut key, jack, tyre inflator compressor etc etc.

Do you know what a wacker plate is called in my country? Une dameuse The name comes from where the rotund women were traditionally used for any task where things needed treading down like grape pressing. Une personneuse does not have the same ring to it!

If the spring is compressed slightly on the vehicle then the strut can be removed from the hub carrier with ease, unlikely to be enough room for compressors in the strut tower but ratchet straps work a treat, safest way is to have a couple of heavy guys one sitting in the relevant seat the other on the relevant side of the bonnet slam panel & then attach the straps. For reassembly fit the straps while the spring is still lightly compressed.

They were my downfall I am ashamed to admit A great idea for those that are able to practice moderation but not for me. The local wine "grossiste" would supply re-usable ones as large as the quantum oil boxes, once emptied you could just go and refill them from the huge stainless steel vessels that looked like half size silos. Cheap but not as cheap as abstinence.

A Wino will have no problems with the cube, you could do it with your eyes closed (or bloodshot)

I buy Quantum oil from TPS when they have a promo, the cube packs have a bladder inside and a delivery tap like a winebox, you have to ripe open a perforated flap to tease it out, take your time with it as its easy to rip the cardboard which has to be folded back to retain the tap.

He said electrostatic painted not even powder coated. In any case its the thinnest coat of paint known to man, I reckon its electrostatically applied (this does not mean powder coated) because of the H&S requirements in the Western world and simply that there are far fewer paint losses through overspray. I doubt that either of us could tell the difference between a thin coat of crap paint craply applied from an electrostatic spray gun or a Chinese aerosol, the bacofoil disc backplates would last no longer with one or the other.

Not having the correct homologation paperwork does not make the roof rails any stronger or weaker. I think you are safe though, I doubt that I will wake up tomorrow and decide to become a production vehicle manufacturer. Bikes fall of cars all the time, its usually down to the muppet that tied them on, not always though, in the 80's there was a spate of rear hatch mounted cycle carriers falling off the rear of Citroen BX's taking bits of the tailgate with them.

Its simply a homologation paperwork **** up, not much else they could do really, if it were me I would have just kept quiet about it but no doubt someone would have staged an accident and sued my ar5e.

But there is not a permanent live connection in a standard 12N socket, even using the auxiliary caravan socket I 'm not sure that you can backcharge through the voltage sensing relay, its been years since I did one so cant recall the pinouts but AFAIK you cannot charge the cars battery through a 12N socket.