J.R.

That reminds me to buy some popcorn! I havn't seen the film before but I can already guess the ending!

At charging stations in Scotland, who would have thought it huh! Were you not recently saying that your time was valuable?

Is the aircon still working correctly? Does the noise change when its switched on and off? Does the auxiliary drive belt oscillate back and forth?

You made no mention of this.

Unlikely but it rules out the connector not being refitted following (possible) previous work behind the dashboard. You should find someone to do a VCDS scan they will be able to test all the inputs to the HVAC module including the seemingly non working rotary controls and the outputs like the hot/cold air blending flaps. The Climatronic has an internal temp sensor with a fan that draws air in over it, this can get blocked with fluff causing problems but I'm not sure if Climatic has that, VCDS will reveal any fault codes and test all the inputs and outputs.

Pressure transducer on the left, can be changed without depressurising the system. Modulating valve on the right, refrigerant must be recovered or lost to replace. The compressor is running in the second photo but at a lower output which probably means the modulating valve is doing its job, this would normally happen when the cabin temperature has reached the set point from the rotary control on a Climatic system or the LED temp indication on a Climatronic system. The pump does enough work to maintain the temperature and no more. What temperature did you have the AC set to when it cuts out after 30 minutes and what was the ambient temperature.

Do they illuminate at night?

Re the guage readings, the compressor has not shut off on the second photo, it is running at reduced output to maintain the set temperature already reached, if it was not pumping the high side reading would have reduced and the low side increased with them both equalising at the system gas pressure which is dependant on the ambient temperature. When pumping refrigerant the high side rises and the low side drops.

What was the ambient temperature when the manifold set readings were taken? You say your compressor does not have a clutch and that it is "wall" controlled, this is an error in translation, do you mean the modulating valve? You say you have replaced the high pressure switch, if you have a non clutch compressor there is no high pressure switch, there is a pressure transducer and the aforementioned modulating valve, what exactly did you replace? from the mention of the contaminated refrigerant it sounds like the modulating valve.

I doubt that many contributors will have driven Yetis with all the engine options you list, perhaps it would be better to invite comments from people with experience of engines that they do not recommend? I can both recommend and not recommend the 2.0 TDi, in standard 108hp form its just about peppy enough with a 6 speed box if you use the gears but it can give a false sense of power, it is very lacking in mid speed range overtaking situations, however with a remap to a claimed 180hp which I believe is really the stock 170hp map it is superb, far more torque and also has a much larger usable rev range so the above limitation is no longer an issue even if you are not in the ideal gear. For towing it is unmatched, that is just as much about the vehicle as it is the power plant, they compliment each other.

Ah.......... - well played!

Normal behaviour, its the Haldex pre-emptively engaging and creating transmission wind up in the time it takes to realise that you are pulling away slowly with the steering on lock and not dumping the clutch doing a drag start. I notice mine when reversing out of parking spots in supermarkets, its just a momentary snatch but having owned and driven proper 4x4s for years I recognised it instantly.

In less time than you spent taking, composing and uploading your photos and description you could have cut off the offending piece of plastic.

As an aside the Climatic control knobs on my 2015 Yeti dont have the raised tactile grey plastic indicators that contrast against the chrome, it has a coloured dot which can only be seen if you lie your head flat against the handbrake, a chocolate teapot I have had to put a dab of white paint on the side of each knob.

You have Climatic but it uses most of the same actuators as Climatronic. Can you get heated air out of the system when AC is switched off? Does the temperature control work when AC is off? I realise it wont cool the ambient air. Does the direction control knob work with AC off?

Whilst driving? None of the rules you quote mention driving 😆

Please do. Have you added or changed anything electrical, dashcam, LED bulbs, radio unit etc?

The problem is not the tracking (front axle toe measurement) it is that the front subframe is in the incorrect position, the centre line of the theoretical front axle is no longer normal to the centre line of the vehicle and parallel to the rear axle theoretical centre line after the EGR replacement. It will not have needed any tracking correction in the first place, the axle repositioning will not have affected the relation of the wheels to each other, their toe angle, all the muppets have done is to do what you say in a clumsy attempt to get the steering wheel central when the vehicle is travelling in a straight line ignoring the fact that the driver has to impart a turning moment to the steering wheel to maintain the trajectory and that when the vehicle is parked with the steering wheel central the front wheels are visibly pointing to one side.

Easy way to double check the steering wheel radial position: From the current central position turn it to full left and right hand lock and count the turns and partial turns for left and right, they should be the same. An easier visual confirmation is to look at where one of the spokes is pointing to at left and right hand lock, if you are really lucky it may be straight up or down or a few degrees away, it should be the same but symmetrically opposite on the other lock. I'm pretty sure you will find that your steering wheel is still correctly aligned with the column and steering rack and hence the steering position sensor is correct, if so do not move the wheel (which you have already asserted) the front wheels might be all over the place after the garages fiddling but dont try to correct that before repositioning the subframe correctly, at that stage everything should fall into place although you may have to undo the fiddling done by the garages.

This is not a question of tracking and centralising the steering, its that the front and rear axles are not aligned with each other and the centre line of the vehicle, it is crabbing. All these so called experts have done is play with the tracking and it speaks volumes for their (in)competence that they cannot even do that and keep the steering wheel central which is imperative with electric power steering and a steering angle sensor. @DanielFenech Its not a big job, I did it myself on my driveway during Covid, unless you find a mechanic with a clue about the first principles of steering and suspension you will not have a good outcome, I suggest that you do what I did and take measurements from the wheel rims with the steering in the straight ahead position to the side of the vehicle, you could do it with string but you would need to make a carrier that compensates for the toe in and also spaces the string points out from the vehicle or the string would foul on the wheelarches. Using a laser level makes it easy to do on your own and the thickness of the level spaces the beam away from the bodywork, you dont strictly need to shim to make the wheeltrack parallel to get comparitive readings but its much better to. Armed with your results from that, the measurements which will for example be Front axle straight, wheels parallel projected back to B post (or even rear wheel centres) 60mm left side, 40mm right side you can tell the mechanic to move the subframe sideways or rotate it (dependant on the readings) to get to an even 50mm on each side. Hard to put into words, easy to do once you understand the principle, trying to explain to a stranger on the internet without being able to show them physically and for them to do the same to a mechanic is a tall order.

It does not surprise me, most of them have no conception of the first principles of vehicle steering and suspension geometry. Without a translation of the terms I cant be sure but am fairly confident that your car is crabbing after the subframe was refitted in a different position, I had the same problem myself, I was aware of the huge clearances around the fixing bolts and used spray paint to mark the position but it was not enough, the car pulled to one side and would only go in a straight line with a few degrees of steering input. My saving grace was not taking it to an alignment centre who would have mucked around as yours have done without tackling the root cause, the misaligment of the front subframe and also possibly the rear (mine is) relative to the vehicle centre line. I made a fixture to hold a laser spirit level onto the wheel rims at centre height, basically short bungees and a shim to compensate for the toe in, the laser was aimed at a paper target at the door B posts with the steering centred, the rear axle was slightly misaligned, - different dimension from the laser spot to the door on each side of the vehicle, this remains so as I could not get enough purchase on the rear securing bolts while under the car on my back. The front subframe was way out as I thought, in fact there was not enough clearance on the fixings to centre it (my car had also been accident damaged) without pulling it with a ratchet strap from the rear subframe. Afterwards the steering was straight and the car tracks dead straight without any pull, the rear axle is still very very slightly misaligned but well within the manufacturers tolerances. I got 55000 miles from the last set of tyres that were already part worn when I bought the vehicle and they all wore evenly with rotation when required and optimising the pressures according to the wear across the tread.

Age is irrelevant to clutch wear. No-one ever had to replace a clutch because it was old.

Another 2 years and a total of more than 50K miles on the new clutch and all is still well.

Actually on reflection its probably designed to have a higher hysteresis than a traditional oil pressure switch, that way it would switches on and remain on and not flicker at idle with hot oil.

Yes very familiar, just surprised that it should be so consequent, mind you with electronic thermostats accurate to 1/10 of a degree Celcius having 3 or 4° of hysteresis I should not be surprised. Thanks for pointing it out, I've never seen both numbers quoted (I sourced lots of super low pressure switches for race engines) but agree that must be the case, its good that they show the thresholds.