J.R.

It can also happen to the hard of hearing, I recall my uncle saying that my grandad had visited in his Split Screen VW Camper saying the engine was lacking power and struggling to go up hills, it was the clutch slipping but without a revcounter and hearing would any of us know especially with the engine so far behind? My grandfather was a good driver, I'm surprised that he wore out a clutch but it was a 61 vehicle and he did go all over the world in it, he had a high level of mechanical sympathy but was hard of hearing in his later years. My father used to ride the clutch a lot and would often slip the clutch rather than downchange for a short period, I do it myself if I have come to a rolling halt in second gear, see a gap and decide to take it but am concerned if the diesel engine stalled at low revs it would be a hazard, I momentarily slip the clutch. If the garage are telling the truth about the sickly smell of burnt organic friction material then the OP would have been driving some distance with a slipping clutch albeit perhaps unknowingly, the words certainly resonated with me and probably the garage as well.

Self composting brake disc backplate(s).

Certainly on the earlier vehicles, I'm thinking of a circa 2008 Touran when the DMF is failing it can play havoc with the DSG and many an owner paid a fortune to have the DSG replaced only for the garage to have egg on their face, most of course covered their ar5es and filled their pockets by replacing the DMF at the same time as the functional gearbox as a matter of course.

A credible argument against you suggesting that it had a pre-existing fault which they should have picked up? It seems a reasonable response although I would have simply said it was operating normally when sold so were there to have been a fault we would have been unaware like yourself. Othe than taking it elsewhere for dismantling and paying for an independant engineers inspection of the clutch and flywheel and taking legal action if it is favorable there is not a lot you can do, a clutch is a wear and tear item and its life aside from defects is a function of how the vehicle is driven, I have replaced many worn clutches but never ever worn one out myself, yours could have been abused by the previous owner. £2300 sounds like a rip off though, I bet the parts are well under £300, get a quote from a clutch specialist.

You will need to convince lots of other people to do so for VAG to take any notice, they have become over-run by wokery and cat activists!

Even official VAG parts may not be the same as those fitted on the production line especially for an 8 year old vehicle, batteries are a great example, the same VAG part number, the same manufacturer yet the sticker will be different, the battery will be lighter and will likely not last as long.

deleted.

Can 502 be used with a DPF? Is that not the major issue rather than viscosity?

Recently bought from dealer within the last month then throw it back at them, dont go gutting the DPF.

You have confirmed my hypothesis, it happens shortly after the warm up period, that is when the deployed sleeve should retract under the action of the return spring, if it doesn't it overheats before finally coming unstuck, pumping water as it should and the temperature returning to normal. Why would it stick, because they do, the more complicated things become the more potential failure modes, the price you pay to have warm feet quicker on a winter morning. Nothing unusual about a new part failing, aftermarket parts are at best only as good as new, most of the time lesser quality made to a price and they dont have to offer the same guarantee as the manufacturer or worry about their reputation, if you look at the distribution on a MTBF (mean time between failure) graph you will see a very prominent peak in the first few months. You can change the water pump or remove the wiring connector to the actuator, then it will never deploy and stick, downside is slightly longer warm up time. Remove the connector after having done a run where the engine did not overheat, do not remove it with the engine running during warm up. The above is on my assumption that your engine has the sliding sleeve water pump, you can check by looking for the connector.

Does the tensioner not have a 5mm (approx) hole through it for locking it after detensioning (if that is a word!) allowing you to easily fit the serpentine belt? It took many years before I found that out, now I can use both hands to fit the belt and do so in safety!

It sounds exactly like the water pump sliding sleeve impellor shroud sticking after being deployed from a cold start, does the problem occur shortly after the warm up period or the first time the engine is put under additional load after the warm up?

Absolute rubbish! Maybe you meant to say should not be operating at 90°c or should cut out when they have brought the temperature (of an overheating engine) down to 90°c, in fact due to the hysteresis of the thermoswitch it may well cut out at less than 90°c in that scenario. That is not an overheating problem unless the temperature exceeds the indicated 90°c by a significant margin, you do not say what engine your vehicle has but the temperature in both the petrol and diesel is regulated by the thermostat and the cooling fans will only cut in (aside from when the aircon is used) when the temp exceeds the thermostat rating by a significant margin, I've been driving VAG diesel engines for 25 years and dont think the cooling fans have ever once cut in through elevated coolant temperature and that includes towing massive overloaded trailers. They would come on when I used the AC which was rare but now having moved further South the aircon gets a hammering for 9 months of the year so I would no longer have a warning of overheating by the fans cutting in.

Gaz, most of our vehicles have oil level sensors and the warning light is to indicate that, is it maybe coloured yellow? The low (or no!) oil pressure light will be red, possibly the same icon and as you say you should stop the engine immediately. I agree with Ottohere that it is unwise to deliberately wait for the low oil level light to come on, its a fallback measure for those who never do maintenance checks on their fluid levels and also to warn of a sudden leak.

Keep an eye open for repeat related symptoms or better still visually check your repair and the other wires frequently. Why? A soldered repair at a point of failure caused by flexion is very likely to fail in the future through embrittlement and also having a rigid section, other wires may already be on their way out. You can buy repair kits consisting of the connectors and pre-terminated wires very cheaply, I have one on the shelf anticipating future problems, I recommend you do so too. Editted. If you enlarge the photo you can see that in addition to the 3 now repaired broken wires the blue one at the top is already well on its way out with the insulation fractured meaning that all the flexion will be concentrated on the exposed unsupported conductors. Nothing wrong with your repair per sé, its exactly what I would do if I hadn't already bought a repair kit.

Thermostat will not cause pressurisation unless through overheating which you have not mentioned. EGR could do, head gasket leak definitely would however the pressure would be relieved via the expansion tank cap well before any hoses with any integrity would burst. I would have the cooling system pressure tested to make sure someone has not played with the relief valve to hide a water loss problem, I would also do a combustion gas "sniff test" on the coolant.

Thermostats have a small hole usually with a jiggle pin to keep them clear, the purpose is to allow the coolant to flow over the wax element to avoid the engine getting way over temperature before the stat opens, a secondary role is to aid in draining the system. The diameter of the hose to the header tank and air hole in the stat need only be very small compared to that of the lower rad hose being drained because air is far less dense than water.

Of course he is sure, he is the owner, if he believes the vehicle lights can be seen at all times then he is sure in his-self that there is no need.

I doubt somehow that you speak for the rest of the MK1 Fabia community VRS or otherwise in your desire to pleasure yourself by pouring out black smoke.

Soot from incomplete combustion is hardly technical, you might as well light a load of tea candles. Loud I understand, most of us were likely to have been boy racers at some time if we are honest. A diesel sounds so crappy and unperformance like that the quieter the exhaust could be the better, more chance of hearing turbo whistle etc but not the empty head dump valves that sound like a demented owl and cause the owners to drive on and off the throttle all the time or the popcorn rev limiters. I really dont get how pouring out black smoke can be seen as cool, after all it means the engine is not developing the power that it could, would a petrol engine running so rich that it spewed neat fuel out of the exhaust be seen as cool?

And the environment that you choose to pollute because you think black smoke is cool is shared by everybody including those with asthma and breathing difficulties. Why do you want to "compete" with the volume of another halfwit with a sports exhaust on a petrol engined vehicle? Consider taking up motorsport, it will be far more rewarding and worthwhile plus the mods that you make will add value to and not devalue your vehicle.

That compressor does not have a clutch, you can see clearly from the photograph on the listing. They have not been fitted for 20 years now. Therefore you should not expect it to "cut in" or for the revs to drop. VCDS will show a compressor shut down code which will reveal the reason why, low pressure, fans not working, sensor problem etc, if it has none and is showing the compressor as working (ignore the power consumed, that is just a calculated figure) and it is not refrigerating then either the modulating valve (shown in the photo) is stuck, the pulley shear plate has sheared or the alloy splined hub stripped out. The first is unlikely with a new compressor but possible, the second can be checked visually, the third also with difficulty, did the new compressor come complete with pulley and shear plate?

Who knows, it happened to my next door neighbour after work carried out by a mechanic who he has great faith in and has used for 40 years, he helped me out once and I rate him highly. I can't recall how I found the problem a couple of the bolts had departed, the others were loose and one of the linking plates missing a bolt had thrown out with centrifugal force and was chewing the casing, I got new bolts and plates from TPS and did them up proper tight. I remember now, they had repaired his gearbox casing after a Sachs clutch had chewed through it removing the gearbox to drain it to do so, a year later he found spots of oil and asked me to have a look.

😀😀😀