J.R.

It's implausible that it is correct after 20 minutes if driving. Great idea! But they might not have the probe in the future, at my recent CT test the guy was running the engine waiting for the oil to get up to emissions test temperature, I remarked that he had not inserted the dipstick probe and he responded that he had plugged into the OBDII port and the test equipment was using the vehicles oil temp measurement. He did have a back up though, presumably in case the oil sender gave an implausible reading, he got fed up with waiting for it to reach temp (I had forgotten to get it stinking hot before the test) ,whipped out a IR temp gun connected to the emissions tester and pointed it at the DRL to fool the machine 🤪

No point using the OBDII device, it will just parrot the lies that the sensor is telling the vehicle ECU.

Its true that engines do become addicted to it 🤪 but that was decades ago on diesel trucks, those in the fleet that were reluctant to start on cold morning without it would develope a thirst for it (lowered compressions) and beg for it more and more!!!! Running an engine for the few seconds that the vapour lasts is not likely to cause any measurable or quantifiable damage, after all the bores are effectively unlubricated on every cold start.

Vacuum related, start with the various solenoid valves for vacuum operated actuators, the brake servo, look to see if there is a vacuum regulating valve that allows air in under high vacuum conditions to prevent the lines collapsing, it will almost certainly have a small filter where the air is drawn in. One of the on line parts diagrams should show all the components. At a certain airflow the thing will be whistling, increasing the vacuum by reducing the throttle will take the airflow above the resonant point, decreasing it by accelerating will drop it beneath.

In theory, well according to my thought process, an EV should never need recharging like an IC engine AC system does and should run forever without losing refrigerant charge as a fridge or home AC system does. Why? Well lets take a look at where regfrigerant loss occurs, other than a perforation of the condensor etc it is through the polymer walls of the flexible hoses and to a lesser extent through the O rings on couplings. A refrigerator has solid non flexible copper lines joined by silver soldering, split AC units used precision flared joints between the copper liason tubes, these done correctly do not leak, the exception being the DIY ones with pre-charged lines and dry break connectors which have O ring seals, they have a design life of 3 years, just beyond any warranty offered and nobody will touch them when they stop working. An EV does not have an engine driven compressor needing flexible hoses, I reckon they have a similar set up to a home AC unit with flared joints in the refrigerant lines. Never having clapped eyes on one I await being disabused of my notion!

Yes, the best way for the lowest reading unless the car has been standing in direct sunlight. On recirc the temperature will continue dropping until either the AC can no longer overcome the radiant heat gain or the evaporator temp drops below IIRC minus 4°c. A couple of minutes should be enough to get a sensible reading, garages dont waste much time waiting.

I dont know your engine but 110° would seem to be an optimum oil temperature, 90° is too low IMO, most engines on short to medium urban runs in anything but summer conditions would never actually reach the optimum temperature especially diesels.

Temperature measured where? At the air vents or the evaporator temp sensor reading from VCDS? Ambient minus 10° c at the vents when we had 43° here in 2002 wont please many! Air vent temps may be corrupted by sticking airflow flaps, when ambient temps have been around 20° C I have observed the evaporator temp drop to 2°c but after 20 minutes or so. I trust the gauge readings and the law of conservation of energy over anything else!

Dont be tempted, I started out that way before investing in the correct kit at considerable expense (manifold gauge set, vacuum pump, R134a cylinder, weight scale) and am still learning 4 years later and still have a lot more to spend. Most of the supposed R134a disposable canisters are in fact "R134a Substitute" if you look carefully and are no more than butane gas, definitely not something to be added to your existing refrigerant and even if it were the right stuff (but how would you know?) you have no way of knowing if you have the correct weight of refrigerant in the system. With my kit I used to judge the correct amount by the high and low side gauge readings corrected for temperature and humidity but it is in no way good enough, I risked having significantly too much or too little refrigerant in the system both of which have bad consequences. Contrary to what I have written in the past the only correct way to refill is a complete system evacuation and refill by weight, the stages and the reasons why are explained below. Test system pressure, if none then proceed to vacuum test and then hold full vacuum for an hour to remove any water vapour which may have got in. If system does not hold vacuum with pump off and valve closed then abandon procedure or go to Nitrogen pressure test and use a spray foam leak detector to find leak. If the system has pressure then remove the refrigerant gas using a transfer pump and transfer cylinder. Then pressure test with Nitrogen to full high side system pressure, a vacuum test will not necessarily reveal pressure leaks and is at minus 1 bar, the nitrogen test will be at 18 bar positive, 26 bar on my home AC system. If pressure test OK (valve closed and no pressure drop over 20 minutes) then pull vacuum again and proceed to gas recharge. Connect R134a cylinder to manifold set and then purge connection pipe of air. Cylinder must be on weigh scale that has no cut out timer (so cheap ones are no good) and set to zero Tare. Open valve and commence charging with cylinder upright, inverted filling risks fluid locking the AC pump (dont ask me how I know 😒) Release valve and allow one third of the charge weight (probably 525g whole charge) to enter the system, initially it will flow quickly due to the vacuum. Start engine and observe high and low side gauges when compressor cuts in. Cease charging when the cylinder has discharged the correct weight. Check high and low side pressures against chart corrected for temperature and humidity. Check temperature of cold air from face vents on maximum cooling.

20 minutes of normal driving in normal conditions with a correct sump oil level will never heat the oil to 140°c even if the oil cooler is blocked or an oil stat etc prevents flow through it so you dont need to panic and I would not stop using the vehicle but its your choice. The first 15 minutes (approx, depends on conditions) of running the oil cooler is acting as a heat exchanger to speed up the warm up of the cooling system. If the oil were really at 140°c then the engine would stink when you opened the bonnet and water vapour would come out if you opened the oil filler cap or removed the dipstick. One of my bike engined race cars that had inadequate oil cooling would reach 140°c at the end of a 20 minute endurance race but only on a tight short circuit like Lydden Hill, synthetic oil is fine at that temp but I ran bearings on a 12 hour race when it reached 170°c. Why dont you just feel the outside of the sump? use a glove initially in case it is over 100°c.

They are gambling that with £1600 for nothing they might by chance stumble across the real reason for non starting, not gambling with their own money. Mind you if they can diagnose not one but three faulty fuel injectors without being able to start the engine then maybe their psychic powers are worth £1600, what do I know!!! It sounds like you have done all the right things using VCDS, I commend you as a new user for having worked out how to do all that, someone with that competence should not be giving in and gifting £1600 to a garage, I would have persisted a little longer with the easi-start, it will tell you a lot about the basic compression ignition capability devoid of any engine control, will show if the timing has slipped or there has been valve damage. It can sound horrific but you are not likely to damage the engine with it running on Easi-start for a few seconds, just make sure you dont drown it because it can hydro-lock and when it happened to me broke the planet gearing on the starter motor. In my defence I was helping a mechanic start his own vehicle and doing exactly what he was telling me forcefully to do, I knew it was becoming flooded but his ego knew better.

Yes if using a dealer level tool like VCDS, it may require more than scanning fault codes and using live data or output tests to highlight the anomalous sensor. Very cheap to DIY, less than €2 including delivery from China, paying a garage? the sky is the limit, someone reported recently a garage wanting £1800 to replace a cambelt on a standard TDi engine, the world has gone crazy!!

Could well be a problem with one of the vent duct temperature sensors, live data or output tests on VCDS will show up any anomolies. From your description of the system working below 25°c it does sound like a low refrigerant charge, once again VCDS used in conjunction with a R134a chart whilst not as good as a manifold set will give you good info, it only measures the high side pressure and the results are incorrect in that it displays absolute and not gauge pressure (might be vice versa) but according to temp and humidity you should see it climbing to the correct pressure when operating, you can only read the low side pressure when AC switched off and the line pressures have equalised, this is of no use, static low side pressure gives a false indication of system charge, you need to see both high and low pressures to decide if the refrigerant level is low or the pump is worn, modulating valve problem etc. The latter is a frequent cause of AC problems on later VAG vehicles and the reason most perfectly functional pumps are needlessly replaced.

A lot of people make that observation about later cars where emissions and fuel consumption requirements together with the change to a supposedly greener refrigerant gas means that they dont have anything like the cooling performance of previous generation vehicles. You said "The AC gets cold at some degree but not enough not even close to what it should be I guess. " Did this vehicle ever cool sufficiently in your ownership? In any case after 9 years there will have been a significant loss of refrigerant through the flexible hose connections to the compressor, a recharge should bring back maximum cooling efficiency, whether that is sufficient for your climate I dont know. My 2016 vehicle does not have the ice cold performance that the previous ones had when working correctly, it was sufficient till I moved to the South West, its been around 30°c in recent weeks and its not really as good as I would like, it hit 43° last year and really struggled.

It has a purpose in that when you refit that bracket (that you didn't need remove in the first place ) if like me the bung is missing than when you try to fit the bolt from inside the engine compartment it pushes out the (not) captive nut 🤪. So yes, definitely over-engineered, at the time I wondered how any human being lacking multi-articulated 6' long robotic arms could ever fit the bracket without help, I think that I glued the captive nut part no 21 in place as they should have done or have moulded it in place. When I rebuilt a burnt out MK1 Galaxy people carrier, one of the very first production models I had a bit left over, a blackened and rusted (through the fire) pressed steel bracket, from the part number it was revealed to be a steering columb support bracket so presumably an essential part, I had the dash and columb out a second time yet no way could I find where it was supposed to go yet clearly it once was there and I probably had removed it myself. Good thinking!!

I knew that I recognised it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thinking hard I (wrongly) surmised that it must have been the part numbered 9 that retains the ball ended plastic master cylinder pushrod, now I recall that the first time I removed the whole pedal assembly including the bracket which was not needed. I reckon I found the part after that and its in the storage cubby amongst other random unidentified parts which regularly reveal themselves. What does it actually do, I cant tell from the diagram or photo, is it a retainer for the threaded top hat insert?

I recognise it but cant be sure from where, I think it was from when I replaced several clutch master cylinders in a short space of time, something from the clutch pedal assembly that dropped out, has this been replaced on your vehicle perhaps? A look at an on line parts diagram for the clutch pedal and master cylinder might be revealing.

I have barely any recollection, it may have been a pull ring handle in front of and to the right of the handbrake. Whilst my current vehicle has AC it is poverty spec without Climatronic, it may have the glovebox cooling system, it's not something I would use but did not have the Big Box armrest so I cannot look for you, hopefully someone else will advise. I believe that the ducting is in place even if the optional equipment is not fitted, it runs in exactly the place you describe the cold air coming from so I reckon the end has not been plugged.

Like petrol or diesel road fuels? Li-ion batteries? Without internal combustion or electro-motive power we are left with bicycles and beasts of burden as modes of transport which are not potential fire risks.

Do you have the "Big Box" type armrest? There is a lever inside which if pulled allows max refrigerated AC air to flow through it to cool drinks etc on higher spec vehicles. Mmm............ now I am beginning to doubt myself, the glovebox definitely has one, I'm sure my previous Octavias had one on the transmission tunnel but was the big box big enough for drinks cans? I cant recall, maybe it cooled the cupholders. In either case it would fit with what you are observing, perhaps the ducting has become disconnected?

Would you raise your tyre pressures when carrying passengers or luggage? Look inside your fuel filler flap and you will see the laden tyre pressures which are for front and rear, if the only excess load is noseweight on the towbar then you should only consider the rear tyre inflation, for 90kg I would not do so.

£1800 😲 I took my MK1 Octavia up to 325000 miles with one cam belt change at 225000 when it started degrading, the belt cost me £8, I did not replace the tensioner, bearings or water pump, my rationale (then) being that the factory fitted ones were better quality than probably anything available on the aftermarket and as they had lasted to 225K miles they would likely carry on longer than replacements, 10 years later when I scrapped the vehicle the belt and ancillaries, pump etc were still perfect. I did the same with my MK2 Octavia but sold it within a few years when the Yeti came up. I will be more circumspect with the Yeti as it is a CR engine, for now I am continuing with 2 yearly belt inspections, at 9 years old and 137K miles its still perfect, when I see the first indications of degradation I will move to annual inspections. I would probably still replace the belt alone but by then will have more knowledge of failures on other vehicles, I dont seem to hear of many even any, just that the dealers chasing the money are pressurising people to have the job done whilst VAG have increased the service interval. £1800 though that is more than half of what I paid for my vehicle when it was less than 4 years old.

I have the same engine, probably the same year but I cant be sure as you have not stated yours. Look inside your fuel filler flap, half the area is taken up by a warning in huge bold capitals to not use Bio-Diesel, the words "Bio-Diesel" are enclosed within a great big red warning symbol like a road sign!!!!!!!!!

Nobody seems to have picked up on this perhaps very relevant point. I assume that you had used the horn successfully prior to the engine stalling problem manifesting, did all of the steering wheel functions work correctly? I am thinking of cruise control, scroll wheels etc if fitted. I would hook it up to VCDS and interrogate the steering controller see if there are any codes and then run output tests while the engine is idling including sounding the horn (via VCDS output test not via the horn button) see if the stalling occurs or not, if it does did it bring up a fault code?

BS. No vacuum to measure on diesel engined vehicles yet they still have the chocolate teapot gear indicator display.