J.R.

No puller needed but if the shear plates have broken then the pump is likely to have grenaded, squeeze in with a 13mm spanner and try to turn the pump shaft before ordering the part.

Title says it all really, what is the height of your towball from the ground to the centre of the ball when uncoupled and the vehicle not loaded? Is yours a 4x4 or Outdoor model? Is it a factory towbar or aftermarket? Swan neck or fixed flange? Mine is a 4x4 Outdoor model and I fitted an aftermarket flange fit towbar, the towball was already high but it looked correct and the drop plate I have used for years would have looked really naff, it was also high enough for me not to bark my shins on it, as I only tow one goods trailer now and the mobile site hut which has a variable height drawbar I decided to raise the coupling by 50mm on my trailer, it wasn't actually enough but when both the car and trailer were loaded it would have been level. Today I replaced my rear springs, the ride height looked OK with the driver side slightly lower, sure enough the very end of the coil had broken. Now with the new springs my towball is at 535mm high and above the centre of my knee!!!!!!! I will need to add another 100mm to the trailer coupling to make it level yet the front & rear ride height of the vehicle look just fine, a bit Tonka Toyish but with only a 1/2" rake from front to rear. I get the impression that a removable or retractable towball would be at the correct height, it may look naff but wont be seen when retracted whereas perhaps the flange fit ones are made to look correct and the owner must use a drop plate. Over to you!

Yes I have removed in situ. No I doubt that you would feel a click in situ, even on the bench you can feel the clicks but its difficult to see any difference between a good and a bad valve. Is your flap valve operational again? I would test it using output tests in VCDS. If you have sufficient system pressure, no compressor shut down code, if the N285 valve is being commanded but there is no subsequent rise in the high side pressure then you can suspect the valve as a cheapish try out before having to change the compressor but the costs of regassing does not make it cheap unless it was the valve. A broken shear plate on the pulley or the central nut coming loose and/or the inner bub splines stripping will give the same results as above, best to check them with a mirror and light while the aircon is supposed to be running, the central nut should be rotating at pulley speed.

A wifebeating ex tenant of mine who thought he was the worlds best car mechanic asked me to spray easi-start into the intake of his Vauxhall Insignia while he was cranking it trying to get it to start. Conscious of the risk of a hydraulic lock and knowing how little it need I was using it sparingly but he knew better and told me to spray it continuously from when the engine started cranking until it fired or he stopped cranking. I though this will be fun well its a good opportunity to put my theory to the test and I was not dissapointed, there was a jerk and a hiccup & then the starter was spinning in free air. It was a geared starter and had lunched the epicyclic gear train, they were tiny little gears and I'm surprised they were up to the job of starting it under normal conditions.

Agreed, they also hide how corroded the rear of the discs are, mine had only a 1cm band left on the hidden rear face, the outside was bad enough for me to replace but I was shocked to see how bad the inside was. As has been said replace them when you need to replace the discs, they may even last longer without the protection of work hardened Bacofoil.

I dont know, I simply know on a practical level that everything must be perfect or the power steering will be the first to play up and throw fault codes. Someone else who has resolved the issue will be able to advise what are the likely high resistance points.

It could well be a remaining fuse or oxidised connection problem, the electric power steering is the most current hungry accessory and is the first to throw up fault codes when its supply voltage drops be it through a weak battery or voltage drop across a bad connection like the ECU fuse problem. I would start by checking & cleaning all the supply connections and the earths, then have a VCDS scan before playing parts bingo on the say-so of people that say "its most likely................." like the person who said your ECU was most likely to be the problem. Is the battery old? The car has been standing a while, dependant on how far your return journey was it may need charging.

Are you sure its not simply the O ring leaking? They are very easy to damage when refitting, I have cut through 2 of them and they are not a common size & dont come in the boxes of aircon O rings.

A decade ago when I started fitness I wore a watch with a chest strap sensor, it scared the hell out of me because it was always setting off alarms so I binned it. Now with the garmin watch there are so many other parameters I can look at, overlay graphs etc and gradually get to know my body and have faith in it, things that once scared me I now know when and why they happen so I can ignore them and concentrate on the real anomolies that I should heed. Examples of the above, frequently within 200m of setting out with the group at such a slow jog I could equally walk my heart rate will hit 100%, I now know its like the boiler room getting up steam before the captain orders flank speed and you can clearly see that from the graph I posted, also when its very hot or very cold my heart rate will go up significantly as the heating and cooling systems are working overtime. I can see the afterburn aérobic effect after exercise, after the sesion last night my resting heart rate was 20 higher than normal, through the night and it continues to be 15 higher even now, when I got up I could see that the calories consumed at rest from midnight were significantly higher than normal, thats the weight loss bonus of exercise. I also get advanced warning of going down with a cold and even the CV19 when my RHR rises without any other reason, it nearly always is followed by a bug of some kind. Sometimes I find myself just struggling on a run and I see that my HR has not risen as high as it should or it may drop off after an hour or so and I find i am struggling, both indicators that I have done too much before and am overtired (the thing is always telling me to rest 3 days after a session which I ignore) and then I know either to slow right down or to stop & take a break. Not once under any of thes situations can I feel my heart racing or thumping out of my chest like it would through fright/adrenaline so the watch is a real benefit. One thing that I have found is that vigorous housework like the cleaning and changeovers of my appartements is every bit as aérobic as running or a cardio class and burns as many calories. Editted, the other important measure on the watch is that at the end of an activity it shows me how much my HR has dropped in 2 minutes, that is the most important measure of fitness and health, not some random figure like how many minutes to drop to under 100bpm which is pretty irrelevant if you were at 206 bpm.

If you are lucky enough like me to have TPS deal with you as a non trader then that will soon change if you ask Mr Ploppy questions like I want a service kit.

I have some Scotchlok type connectors but they are for telecoms terminations, similar to the Molex "nibs" in that they are glycerine filled, much much better quality, still a bodge but infinitely better than Scotchloks and I have not had one fail yet.

Ok, if you take them off then I approve Not that you or anyone needs my approval It was 30 years ago but the memory of driving a vehicle (not towing) fitted with them has lingered with me, it was like the transit blocks not having been removed on a PDI!!

NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not the rubber bodge jobs 🙁 they destroy a well designed compliant suspension set-up. However the assister springs shown in the photo on the link are excellent & I cannot recommend them enough. Used them on my MK1 Octavia but since then have always found the OE part number for the uprated "rough road" springs and sourced the equivalent from Lesjofors, I have a pair for the Yeti on their way as we speak, €22 each. Are there not stiffer springs specified for the Superb, do they not fit them when a factory fit towbar is specified like on the Octavia?

You can also get someone to depress the clutch while the engine is running with you viewing the crank pulley with a light and mirror if necessary. If you can see visible movement the wear is excessive, if you can hear the engine sound change its pretty bad. fitting the thrust bearing(s) backwards will soon cause huge end float and destroy the crankshaft I've only ever done it once but it did have to be a race engine for a mate 🥴

Registered it in France and sold it on a Facebook group for English speakers, well my pal who is admin for the group and others put it on for me, I dont do the Facebook thing. Still a lot less than a LHD one would sell for. Second hand cars sell for stupid money here in France, just like when they sell things at rédéries (car boot sales) people think that their 20 year old neglected & driven into the ground car is still worth what they paid for it. @Sticky Mickey recently bought a much nicer better specced 4wd Scout version needing a couple of minor repairs for far less than I paid, lower mileage, one owner from new and much better condition.

My training session tonight would have freaked you out Colin and it was the beginners group, it was a 4km warm up jog then fractionné which is running as fast as you can sustain for 30 seconds then 30 seconds at a slower recovery pace, 2 x 10 minute sessions with a minutes pause between and after and then a short run back to the clubhouse. My heart rate was already over 100% on the warm up so I knew that it was going to be an impressive graph. My theoretical 100% maximum heart rate for my age is 159 bpm, my average for the 45 minute session was 168 bpm and the maximum was 206 bpm a personal best. At no point was I out of breath or exceeding myself it was not that hot at 23° but humid.

The OP asked for opinion on the repair bill........................ Does it not exceed the value of the vehicle? It only takes a minor amount of garage work like the above which is in the main replacement of cosumables for people to decide to buy a newer car. It does leave good bargains for people like myself though. I bought a mint 2006 Elegance Estate 2 years ago for £750 (and I probably paid too much!) because the garage that had been bleeding the retired couples money for years failed it at MOT saying that the cylinder block was broken at the engine mounting and to use their words "needs new bottom end" all it was was the alternator/aircon bracket which cost £25 delivered from a breaker. I have driven it for 2 years, put 20K miles on it and yesterday sold it for €2200 (£2000) within 5 minutes of a Fessbook advert appearing and had 4 people wanting first refusal within hours, I had underpriced it but nonetheless am still very happy. If it had the steering wheel on the other side it would have sold for a lot lot more, my French pal just paid €3900 for a Toyota (Camry?) estate of the same year with higher mileage but LHD and he is as shrewd as they come.

Understood, it was the mention of the wire holding the shock absorber in the transport position that swung me.

Labour will be around the £75 mark in Surrey and when you usually have to wait a couple of weeks you realise its the correct price, supply and demand dictating the market rate. They will almost certainly be getting their parts from TPS unless they really know the marque and have deals elsewhere.

On both my 2006 Octavia and the 2015 Yeti I had to make facia adaptors because there were very few units that would fit and really overpriced, indeed the first one that I bought was supposed to fit and didnt. You can find OE facias for I think its the Columbus radio which might fit but they are very expensive. You need to look for one with dedicated fitment for VAG vehicles and with the same style of connector that you have (cant recall the terminology) even the first one is not necessary, all they will have done is made a change in the configuration menu to choose the VAG canbus protocole, something you can do yourself with the factory access code. The cheapest are the double DIN units, you would need to make an adaptor but they tend to have smaller screens and not the buttons down either side like the OE unit, mine being for a VAG fascia has the right shape and angle but not the correct width.

I am fully conversant with Hookes law thankyou and have been for 45 years and as a design engineer regularly used it. But even without that knowledge, simply common sense and having had oily hands working on cars for even longer than that I would know that a vehicle shock absorber has no influence on the ride height, laden or unladen. Heck I knew it at 14 and by 16 fully understood it and could have explained it to anyone without needing to quote Hookes law which by then I could have, but if you want to carry on believing it then its no skin off my nose, I was more concerned that others might read what you said amongst a very good and informative posting and believe it because clearly you had done lots of research. You are getting confused with the instantaneous transient spring rate which can be infinitely high with very stiff dampers during turn in and will cause very high transient roll stiffness but will have absolutely no effect on ride height in steady state conditions, when not resisting vertical motion the dampers have no effect to the spring mass system and carry none of the weight of the vehicle, 100% of it is supported by the road springs.

NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Replace it and the other side, they are cheap and easy to fit, they are the bump stops for your rear suspension, its doing nothing now meaning the springs are overcompressing which will not only mean you will be grounding out when loaded but their life will be significantly reduced, they will either compress making the grounding even worse or the ends of the coils will break off. They do the above efficiently enough anyway with functioning bump stops.

They will have no effect on the static ride height. Dampers are measured by their ability to limit oscillation not by a spring rate.

I just wanted to add to this the correction that a damper will not change or affect a vehicles ride height unless its the wrong one for the vehicle and has no bump travel. The 10mm difference must be an error or different wheels/tyres if the dimension is from the ground and not the wheel centre. Something I have recently learned on the Octavia and Yeti, not sure if it applys to the Superb, if a towbar is specified as a factory option then they fit stiffer rear springs.

Yes, what do you want to know specifically?