J.R.

If it returns but slowly it could be a partial blockage in the return restrictor of the bleed block AKA clutch peak torque limiter but I would expect that to be constant, bleeding may not expel the particle but replacement is very cheap and easy, removing the guts even cheaper and then you get a car that does what you command it to do via the controls rather than its own thing. With the daft thing operational (mine currently is) I dare not make a quick exit across a junction using anything but a light throttle for fear of unpredicatbla end uncontrollable clutch slip. Spray grease to the clutch pedal control loading cam actuator will aid the pedal return and also give you some assistance on the way down, it works after about 60% travel in both directions. Anything like that is worth a try in the hope of avoiding what might be the inevitable gearbox out job.

My RHD 2006 Octavia which was first registered then imported from Cyprus by one of the car wholesalers of the day (anyone recall those days?) never had a dashboard light to show the cruise control was activated, TBH its pretty obvious that it is working and I have never seen the need for a dashboard indication.

Take note. The report button now works!

You say it more politely!

There is your answer then 💡 Take it back to the garage or if you don't trust them then correct the cam timing yourself.

How I wish that I had your problem, two of the three things that I hate about this car is having to depress the clutch to start the engine and the gearchange indicator, the other is the "Warning! Safelock, see user manual for details" that is shown when you switch off th ignition and of course the user manual makes you even more confused!

My fluid was also a horrible colour and there was schmoo all around the toroidal magnet, replacing the master cylinder and flushing/bleeding made no difference to losing the clutch frequently neither did replacing or removing the innards of the peak torque limiter, fault is always air drawn in via the O ring joint between the concentric slave cylinder and the pipe that leads out through the bellhousing. Air rises and lodges in the void designed for that purpose in the T branch under the bleed thumbscrew, very easy to bleed but wont last long.

Its known as the clutch peak torque limiter, in operation it slows down the speed at which the clutch is released, if you change gear too quickly or sidestep the clutch to spin the wheels the clutch will slip protecting the transmission, it has no metallic parts and cannot rust. The master cylinder has no metallic parts either, it has a plastic piston in a plastic bore, even the pushrod is plastic, there is a sintered toroidal magnetic ring to actuate the clutch position hall sensor, any metallic residue from the brake/clutch reservoir will become attached to and held by this. The problem with the intermittent sticking clutch pedal which will soon develop to failure requiring more and more frequent bleeding is air drawn into the system through the O ring joining the two plastic parts of the concentric slave cylinder without leaking any fluid.

You were on the money with your desire to change the oil but shot yourself in the foot by using the even thinner engine flush. A modern thin synthetic detergent oil changed at twice the scheduled interval will not have left deposits requiring an engine flush, I would go as far as to say on modern engines with modern oils there is never a case for their use unless you have bought a vehicle with no service history and the old oil drained out is gellified or contaminated. The damage might have been done on initial start up with the flushing oil where the tensioner will not have been extended until oil pressure built up and the chain jumped during that time, if that is the case it would have been even more likely to happen had you gone straight to the refill with the new oil being a bit thicker and also having drained the filter housing.

Been shunted out by someone fed up with doing the Hokey-Cokey nonsense to start the engine? I did the same with the brake pedal to ECU switch on my Alhambra, I was in the habit of left foot braking with some throttle when laden going over speedbumps to stop the suspension crashing (I would slow down now!!!) and it allowed me to do so (before it was cutting the power) but after a few months it brought up a fault code of "brake switch operation implausible, actually I think it was the Galaxy before the Alhambra. It could be the same sort of deal where it will ignore that the switch is reporting that the driver is riding the pedal for quite some period of time so the previous owner may have done it some while back. Does the Citigo have the gear indicator display telling you to change up or down? Is it working? Shunting out the switch would also stop that nonsense.

Petes suggestion is the best, try and have the old and new battery charged before making the journey. Regulator/brushpack replacement is nearly always easier than alternator removal although can be fiddly, no question that is easier once off the car but its entirely doable especially if you only have basic tools and the car can continue to be driven with a charged battery, insulate very carefully the removed min cable and tie it into a safe position. Definitely check for broken sensing wire first of all.

Did the fault manifest before or after the cam belt replacement? The crankshaft sensor is working as there is no fault code, its output is the reference for the other sensors, by its nature it will report TDC (maybe BDC) precisely, MTWRALLYE is speaking of an incoherence between the reported positions of the crankshaft and camshaft suggesting that it has been mistimed, I would expect that to show a fault code if the engine is not starting because of it. Its very difficult to make any sensible suggestions when you have not said what engine your vehicle has or even if it is petrol or diesel, also what fault diagnostic equipment is being used.

I didn't and I had realised it had been copied.

That blindingly obvious (to most people) and badly composed statement seems out of place with the rest of the information.

That would be a very good resolution! You still need to attend to the blending of hot air to the left side problem though.

Point taken, I agree.

Exactly, which is why in my country the hire companies have their own fuel filling facilities, I've been away from the UK for 2 decades but back then all the major car hire operations at Gatwick and Heathrow had their own fuelling facilities for exactly the reason you describe, cake and eat it!

Yes, probably more than 50% of the vehicle rentals in France. In fact probably way more than 50% by numbers of rentals. Most short term rentals are from the Hypermarkets and done in store, when the big chains open a new Hypermarket they build a huge shopping centre and trading estate to have everything in one place, it kills all the existing competition and forces those who survive or replace them to be their tenants under their conditions. Everyone of the Hypermarché ZAC's (zone d'aménagent concerté) will have a fuel station run by the Hypermarché (Leclerc, Intermarché Carrefour Système U), they charge you a forfait if you dont refuel the vehicle and spend the money within their own enterprise with the drivers only taking a couple of minutes to do so. One in the Somme that rented box vans by the hour like most do had a sign in the cab saying that it should be refuelled at their adjacent fuel station before returning, what they dont tell you is that the height barrier is 4cm lower than the cab roof height and in the small print there is a forfait of €1000 payable for roof damage. They get really riled if you insist they come out with you and note any defects, damage etc on the rental agreement before you sign it, spare wheels are usually missing, one I had had low brake fluid and the warning light was on, they expected me to buy some in their shop 🥸 I picked it up and walked straight out with it in front of the security guy, I had taken a stepladder and showed them the roof which had been beaten and scratched to pieces repeatedly by their barrier and never once repaired, got them to make a note of it and all the other panel damage and I photographed it before signing, they subsequently out of spite held the pre-autorisation of €1500 on my bank account for a couple of weeks, I think they found a way of repeating it until I made contact with the directeur through a mutual friend. All the plant hitre companies who also hire vans etc have their own diesel tanks, not often petrol because other than lawn mowers, disc cutters etc they dont have petrol vehicles on their fleet, the small petrol stuff must be returned empty, the diesel vehicles full, same deal, they charge to fill up otherwise from their own fuel.

I have removed several of them and never encountered any significant resistance, I did not give it a second thought and just got on with it, what thousands of mechanics do instinctively every day when faced with a new situation thousands of others debate for hours on how to go about it or to shy away from the job. Someone with experience making their living is not going to waste time like that or walk away. The worst that could happen is you break off one lug and you then have several others to attack knowing the maximum force, even if it did fracture it would still tighten down and seal the joint to a degree and you can buy replacements. In this instance I am going to disagree with Sepulchrave, but that is based on my successful experience but he may well have encountered more resistant or inaccessible ones.

I believe its their way of expressing, perhaps speaking out load without thinking/reading/reflecting what they post, I have unwittingly fallen foul of it several times. Once I responded to a question directed to me with words to the effect of "how can I possibly answer a daft question like that" they said it was not intended for me (yet they had directly quoted me) but for the forum in general, not that anyone could have had an answer to it. Amusing that you were accused of picking a fight when you were being polite by replying and trying to defuse the situation, reminds me of the blokes in pubs that used to say aggressively "You looking at my bird?" and if you say no then they give an even more aggressive "why not? whats wrong wiv er then!"

Boxed unused smoke detector stored somewhere in the vehicle?

I have always released them with a hammer/mallet and hardwood drift. Petes dual approach would be much better but I am always working on my own. I have never found the removal difficult.

Yes, all too familiar with it! It's failure mode is it sticks or fails and stops working = no refrigeration, - not your case. With your high side pressure the system is definitely pumping, without putting a manifold set on it and seeing the ralationship between high and low side we cant deduce any more like a partial blockage, freezing of the gas at the evaporator nozzle etc. A regas is very expensive for the new gas and many garages are not equipped for it, I think you have already invested in VCDS, you should consider buying an AC manifold test set.

Re recirculation mode. I now live in a very hot place compared to before, it was 33° today and the temperature sensors that saw any sunlight were over 50°c. I never manage to find a shaded spot, other wiser more experienced people have always bagged them, I keep the windows closed for security so when I get in the parked vehicle even if it has been just 10 minutes in a shop then the inside temp is way hotter than the outside ambient. First thing I do is open the windows to let some heat out, start the car, AC on full but not recirc, the outside air is far cooler, today would have been at least 17°c cooler, I drive off as quickly as I can, I can close the windows very quickly and then judge when the time will be right to switch to recirculated air, it will usually be between 3 and 5 minutes, the hotter the day, the longer the car has been exposed to direct sunlight the longer will be the delay before I can switch to recirc. Once I feel comfortable inside I switch back to ambient air, during a journey it might get warmer inside, and I can see from the dash that the ambient air temp has increased, often in slow traffic, if I am uncomfortable I will switch back to recirculated air. This is all with an R134a system in hot weather, I would need to be even more obsessive with the new chocolate teapot refrigerant gas.

You have a mixing flap problem (or duct sensor) which is mixing hot air with the cold(er) air from the evaporator, that will not be helping. Now I know you have the new "greener" and far less efficient cooling gas which is always combined with an underpowered AC system (to minimise the amount of greenhouse gas) I know that your expectations that the system should work as well as the previous R134a (which aint up to much itself compared to R410 and freon) are way off the mark, you are comparing apples with tonsils. It will get a little better when the mixing flap problem is resolved, it might get a little better if recharged but with 40° ambient temperatures you are going to have to learn to work with its limitations and not push so much airflow through when at idle and when moving off after getting into the vehicle that has been stood in the sun, you need to consider it to not have AC, to choose shaded areas to park, use sunblinds, leave windows open etc. You should see the condensor fans commanded at more than 38% when at idle using the AC to the max (high ambient temp, high blower speed, min temp selected, it may take a couple of minutes to ramp up to it, I have no knowledge of the new gas and its operating characteristics other than everyone unfortunate to have an AC system with it considers it barely capable in frigid UK summer temperatures.