J.R.

I didn't talk *******s, I never said that I had lost out, just that if there is free money to be had I want to be at the front of the queue. I say this at a time when all around me are being paid to remain closed, employees on furlough, the business recieving the fonds de solidarité, no taxes, charges, rates or interest payments to make and for 3 months I get nothing, have nothing coming in and €1000 going out before I can even buy food.

Wallet. Rivet on jeans. Zip on rear pocket.

Twenty twelve according to Diane who knows about these things.

Looks like it, either a stubby spanner and slim forearms or a crowsfoot spanner. 17mm IIRC. Confirmed, just checked a couple of spare ones.

Heater/ventilator fan (if working) will function normally regardless of whether the aircon is working or not, without refrigeration if temp set to minimum on climatronic then it would run at full speed and not reduce because the temperature would not reduce. From what you have described your problem is with the fan, does not mean that the aircon is functioning or otherwise.

Nothing physical to hide and the lines of code were hiding in plain sight waiting to be found when the authorities eventually twigged what was going on. I doubt that it would have taken a lot of time to write the new code, remember this was done in a deniable manner with the very minimum of people involved, no months of commitees and reporting etc.

Strange that you should say that, after posting I did some Googling and there were loads of threads on this and other forums about the problem. Seemingly its the handle from the Octavia 2 minus the chrome plating which was used and is very weak, the chrome ones dont break, must be a different plastic as I cant see the decorative chrome making it stronger. Agreed, it feels like the pivot.

The drivers door internal release lever seems to be partially broken, it still operates but flops around a bit and can be pushed in and out, it feels like the plastic around the pivot point has broken but it can still bear against the pivot to release. I am using the passenger handle as a reference and its solid and does not move Is this a common fault? Does it need prompt action to prevent the door becoming locked and/or inoperable? Or are they all like that sir! and just put up with it because a new one will soon go the same way? Thanks in advance.

For connecting the breakaway brake cable?

No. I am saying that all the gears are in constant mesh, the solid laygear cluster rotates at crankshaft RPM, the intermediate gears are in constant mesh with their compatriots on the laygear so in neutral they are all rotating around the mainshaft albeit at different RPM, every one of them creating drag. Dependant on the contact of the brake pads with the discs on the driven wheels said drag is enough to turn both wheels if jacked up off the ground, if one brake has more drag than the other then the differential planet gears may rotate and drive to the other wheel.

There is also the slight possibility that the gear linkage is not free moving and when in neutral is actually putting a small force on the selector fork & synchroniser hub of one of the gears, this would eventually cause wear of both items leading to synchro failure and/or gear selection problems. Worth a check.

Not clutch drag as the clutch would be completely engaged. Simply viscous oil drag in the gearbox, all of the intermediate forward gears would have been free rotating on the mainshaft, every one of them imparting a little bit of drag, enough to turn the mainshaft, diff crown wheel and the planet wheels if only one wheel turned, its possible both of them would have turned with it up in the air but that depends on the drag of the pads on the discs. Editted, at idle in neutral the first motion shaft turns at engine RPM, the layshaft is driven from it which is in constant mesh with the intermediate gears which free rotate on the mainshaft until one is engaged via the synchro hub locking the drive to the mainshaft at that given gear ratio.

Very little difference from the concept car, production side mouldings more stylish and removal of the indented tailgate letters very wise. How cool were the original roof rails though!!!!

The problem with either a cheap OBD fault code reader or a multi-vehicle one is that often they will only pick up a high level generic OBD11 fault code but wont be able to interrogate the various sub controllers like power steering or ABS and bring up the manufacturer specific lower level codes, thats where VCDS comes into its own. If you can find someone in your area to do a scan I would before putting it in the hands of a garage. Both my vehicles are fault code city when I do a VCDS scan yet my generic OBD reader always says that there are no faults. However you are correct that any fault that brings up a MIL should generate a generic OBDII code, perhaps not all warning lights are considered MIL's (multi function indicator) I know all the emission and safety specific stuff brings up a generic code.

There have been no arguments so "constant" is superflous, only discussion with, I hope, mutual respect.

Is it the engine cooling fan or the aircon condensor fan(s)?

If overloaded fuses fuse (melt) hence the name. The cracking of the fusible links on VAG is well documented for causing problems with heavy current items like electric PAS and is probably a fatigue failure due to vibration acceterated or initiated by corrosion but thats simply my speculation. You clearly have first hand relevant experience and I am not saying your daignosis is not correct but the OP has not said that the fault remains after replacing the fuse, only the fault code. So I maintain that in the first instance he should have the code read and removed and to keep a close eye on things.

Having bought the car last year in full knowledge of the affair I have not suffered any loss nor do I deserve any compo payout but will be quick off the line towards the feeding through when the starters pistol is fired!

I appreciate your direct experience which I dont have, however my relevant experience is with safety related fault codes (which may well have been generated by no safety related faults) and I believe that the fault code will remain until it is deleted, the cracked fuse is a very plausible reason for the code being generated, the fault code will probably be intermittent communication with the control module If it returns immediately or after a while then there is clearly some fault remaining. I was concerned that the OP would spend a huge amount of money instructing a garage to replace a perfectly good power steering unit, they would do a scan & delete the fault code first, if they were less than honest they might replace the power steering anyway having ordered the part or even just clean the old one and claim to have replaced it. Checking the fault code must always be the first step.

Only in fantasyland does disconnecting the battery remove safety related fault codes like ABS, Airbags, TCS, Power steering etc. I read the thread and nowhere did I see that the intermittent fault remains after the fuse was replaced, perhaps I am wrong, the cracked fuse could definitely cause the intermittent problems and the fault code which will need to be removed with VCDS or a suitable fault code reader, that was and is my suggestion, not another solution but the solution.

Rather extreme to replace the pump when the fault, the cracked fuse has already been resolved and all it now needs is the fault code clearing.

They went there and after a few seconds the screen went blank, then to add to the mystery the same thing happened on a link to another article from another website and when I looked it turned out to be another Jalopnik one! Editted, today the first link worked, an interesting read but the second one whites out as both did yesterday, in the meantime I had already found & watched the videos yesterday.

Bend the rods. I am same height as you and agree about the bad location for correct posture. They take a lot of bending though, I had to do some for a neighbours sons car, cant recall what it was but it was a recognised fix to a known problem, I used my 12 tonne hydraulic press & they took quite a bit of persuading.

My property in the UK was an estate built in 1958, photos from the early 60's show one car and a three wheeler microcar being the only vehicles parked outside the 12 houses, so definitely not planned for vehicles. Nonetheless even with one house being massively over-extended and housing a family with 6 cars and the woman being a childminder so selfish 4x4 yummie mummies coming and going at all hours of the day to date people do not park on the kerbs, it may be something to do with the proliferation of sidewall punctures. That said having been in lockdown here in France for 3 months and not being able to return the situation may have changed a bit, the last time I returned here within 24 hours that particular neighbour was parking 2 of their cars on my drive, it cost me a bit but I had them both towed away by wheelclamper types that I know would not have released them from their secure premises without extracting a lot of money. I dont anticipate that problem re-occuring. The road is a dead end hammerhead and the footpaths either side lead to a cut trough to the infants school & local shops, when cars are parked on the kerbs children whose parents take great care making them wait, cross when its safe etc, teaching them good road sense have no choice but to step out into the road as do my elderly neighbours in their mobility scooters who have to bump up & down kerbs. The worse culprits are parents and grandparents picking up young children from the childminder, the very people who should be sensitive to footpaths being obstructed.

For some reason both of those links open for about 15 seconds and then become a blank white screen, tried multiple times, refreshed etc, always the same.