J.R.

My sister had one of those (Herald convertible), a complete shed with the soft top in tatters with opaque yellowed split windows but drop the hood on a sunny day and it felt like the coolest car in the world. When my Honda SS50 mopeds engine siezed we carried wedged into the tiny space behind the front seats intended for small children, well part of it, the rest was hanging outside!

There is no such thing as a summer tyre, or at least there wasn't until the tyre companies realised that by doing nothing more than creating the false term sheeples would invest in a second set of tyres despite living in areas with mild or non existant winters. I was at the point a few days ago of fitting my winter wheels especially as my normal (not summer!) tyres are now at the legal limit but the cold snap stopped after only a couple of days, it was 12° during the night and will be 15° this afternoon, I had to remove several layers of bedclothing during the night. It appears that Picardie where I was living is having the same cold weather as the UK, maybe I should rename the winter wheels "Les Hauts de France and UK wheels"!

The boot lock microswitch is not recognising the boot being opened and it is timing out. Or does it lock all the doors at precisely the time that you close the boot? Does it do the same when you get into the drivers seat and close the door?

I probably would never have stumped up the money for them but they were already on my Yeti, I dont know for how long but I have used them for a further 3 years and 50K miles and they are still in great shape so worth the extra investment. For when they do wear out I bought a length of Bosch Aérotwin profile rubber from an Ebay seller to recon them, I'm not expecting it to be as good as the original but who knows?

Make sure they are Bosch Aérotwin because they also sell Bosch branded standard Chinese tat wiper blades for those who think the Aérotwins are too expensive, they are as sh1te as any other cheap wiper blade. Smart move by Bosch though and something that many other premium brands also do, rather than lose a sale they make even more money selling tat for an inflated price because of their name.

I read through the attached thread about the 2007 Roomsters where there was a TPI for synchro issues, the OP spoke of "grumbling" and not "crunching" and also it was on upshifts, worn synchros manifest far more on downshifts. I believe that the change of oil was to a thinner oil which means there is less drag opposing the synchro trying to accelerate or decelerate the layshaft.

I didn't for a second think that, I did however consider that what you describe as a crunch might be different to where I would use it to describe when a synchro ring is worn and the gearchange has been subsequently forced past the baulk function rounding off the castellations (best word I could find to describe them) allowing non synchronised gearchanges where the crunch is the castellations on the gear and synchro hub clacking against each other at different rotational speeds, not the actual gears as commonly believed because they are in constant mesh. Synchromesh relies on friction to function and the ability of the ridges on the unworn synchro tapered cone being able to cut through the shear resistance of the gear oil hence a newer oil making things worse for worn synchromesh. On the modern dual synchro cone gearboxes you would have to really abuse the gearbox over a very long period of time before the syncromesh would start to fail, like driving with a non releasing clutch for a couple of months.

Tat shops! One was B&M trading I think, the other may have been The Range or maybe I used a box I had bought from a Tat shop in France. It was between 2 and 3 years ago, at the time most Tat shops had shedloads of plastic storage Tat boxes, the next time you go in they have moved on to other Tat and there is hardly shelf space given to the previous Tat. So even if I could recall with any certainty its not likely to be of any help to you. Pipe clips were probably 15mm ones.

If you understand how synchromesh works and specifically the interaction of the baulk ring, synchroniser cone and synchro hub then would you explain how you believe that replacing old gearbox oil with fresh would prevent "crunching" (your word), if not then perhaps a more detailed description of what said crunching is, sound, feel etc, at what point it happens, up or downshifts and does it prevent gear selection.

And with the original factory fitted oil. My MK1 Octavia did with 325000 miles on the clock, those since 188K when I got the car were very abusive at times towing several times the vehicles towing limit. One time with a load that even exceeded my lack of prudence and which gave me the biggest every brown trouser moment on the M25/M20 junction I carried on from Calais on the empty back roads after midnight, now the hills there are not exactly the alps but with the load I had it was like driving a loaded artic through the alps, max throttle and lots of gearshifting, at one point the gearbox started whining and groaning nastily, I said to myself I would have to replace the oil ASAP and dependent on what came out probably have to rebuild the gearbox. Once on the level again the noise diminished but was still present, back home and uncoupled doing its normal semi abusive trips for building materials it was quiet once again and I never ever did change the gearbox oil. I intend keeping the Yeti for ever, I am all for sensible preventative maintenance but I will not be changing the gearbox oil unless I hear bearing noise, I am gentle on syncromesh with my gearchanges, the gearbox like most other VAG ones has double synchros, if ever there is baulking or crunching of gearchanges no oil in the world is going to remedy it. In fact draining out all the oil would increase the friction between the synchroniser cones and the gear taper which would decrease the crunching at the cost of the rest of the gearbox.

Amazing and inspiring. Having spent several hours again tinkering with my Chinese diesel heater that original Webasto unit looks really really well engineered and is worth a lot of money I would bet.

I'm sure 25 was and probably still is the age when the premiums finally stop being loaded due to age but in 1980 at the age of 21 I drove a Triumph Stag which cost £120 to insure, petrol was £1.60 per gallon and it did 16mpg with my showboating driving style so cost me 10p per mile which was a lot back then. Its only in very recent years probably during the pandemic that fuel has once again cost me 10p per mile!!!! My insurance now costs me around £130 a year I reckon, I dont know the exact figure or have it to hand but allowing for the exchange rate its around that figure.

That will be because the correct term in English is gear lever knob or gear lever, you have not put your location and I am assuming that English is your second language, my apologies if that is not so.

I have used a couple of the plastic storage boxes with lids sold by most of the tat shops, there are various sizes available and I have a shallower one under the drivers seat because of the now unused Bluetooth module. I fitted 22mm plastic pipe clips to the rear faces (the snap in type) screwed into a small reinforcing batten inside, I simply slide the box under the seat then push harder and it clips to the round seat frame, then it will slide forwards, backwards and up & down with the seat adjustments. They both hold a huge amount of stuff, there is a big unused volume under there and the factory storage drawers are tiny by comparison, the boxes cannot be seen by a thief looking in from outside or from the seating position but they can be withdrawn by feel when in the seat. One of the best mods I have done made necessary by having a Yeti after the previous spacious Octavia Estates.

I was more intrigued by the sneaking views of your Georgian (I think) house, nice to see that it is generally original and unmolested 👍 I bet the Superb would not pass through those garage doors, maybe a Morris 8 would!

Hear-hear! I have just been showing the love to my 60 year (at least) old Villiers MK15 engined plate compactor after the person who borrowed it for a decade committed some terrible bodges to it like welding the pulley to the vibrator shaft when the pulley bolt went AWOL and the keyway opened out not even realising that the 100mm bearing inside had broken up and the shaft was spinning inside the inner race and probably has for decades. Anyway it took a lot of remedial work & finally some carburettor work, tappets and tuning by ear. I ran out of monograde SAE30 oil years ago so just top it up with whatever multigrade is around, it drinks like a Pole! It has no oil pump, just splash lubrication, the OHV valvegear is lubricated by oil vapour condensing by the breather and dripping down 2 inverted cones cast in the valve cover above the rockers. Today I thought about draining the 60 year old Triggers Broom oil and giving it its first ever oil change but decided against it, like a gearbox as Sep said any contaminants drop to the bottom, no different to the unfiltered but crystal clear well water that I drink every day.

It is the control loading spring and plunger, spray grease will stop the noise

A dead animal that has died? Not much luck even in the afterlife!

B.O. ? 😁 You did say it was only during recirculation mode!

No worries about whiplash scams if you were hit from behind, it will be him or his parents with that worry. You have already now sought bodyshop advice, I did not see Mikes request for info till now, but for anyone else in the same situation the first thing to do is remove the boot carpet and spare wheel, if it won't come out then it speaks for itself 😃if it does then look at the boot floor to either side of it and the inside of the rear panel. There is a very substantial impact beam behind the bumper, if the plastic bumper is removed it can be inspected but if the outer cover is only scuffed and the bootfloor straight then its likely to be fine, its very cheap to replace if it isn't, lots of good second hand ones available from towbar fitters. I'm glad to hear that you are extending the option to the young man to not go through insurance, if you really cannot see any visible damage without careful scrutiny then why not make him an offer to recieve a reduced sum? A new bumper with prep, paint and fitting will be a lot of money, if he cannot afford it and has to go through insurance it will end up costing him many times that and your insurance will go up also, I know it shouldn't, you probably have protected NCB and its not your fault but just read around for what has happened to everybody else in that situation. Your insurer like most others may hit you with a huge increase at renewal even without any knowledge of this accrochage but if no claim has been made or accident reported you will at least be free to shop around for a better quote.

I do my own tyre fitting now, one on my MK1 Octavia I had used several aerosols over the years and when I removed the tyre there was a large amount of liquid in it that looked and smelt like what you remove from a blocked sink U bend. It ain't nice stuff if not removed ASAP.

I stand corrected, thankyou to you both for the information. Clearly things have changed on later vehicles, my bad

0.55 amps would be what you would see if you measured the current draw at the battery terminal with an in line current meter or clamp meter unless you took the correct precautions to allow the systems to shut down. You need to engage the bonnet lock catch with a screwdriver or similar to fool the vehicle that the bonnet is closed after setting up your current tester, then lock the vehicle with the remote and take current readings straight away whch will be the 0.55 amps, then after 5 minutes and 20 minutes, it should drop to a lower current within 5 minutes and to the proper standby current of around 30-45 mA within the 20 minutes, my car does it within 5 minutes but many say its longer. It sounds like you have a battery drain but I did not want you chasing a false trail, equally the warning lights were normal until the car had been driven; it should not have happened with the back up battery but something must have disconnected. I would suspect what you did to "register" the battery, do you have a print out of what coding the battery management module has?

Posted yesterday at 20.38 Yes, the vehicle is repairable salvage with no structural damage, no different to flood damage or door lock and steering lock broken from theft or cambelt failure.

You have totally confused me and that is far too much for my head to take today. I answered your question regarding Copart in the affirmative, I cannot answer your questions regarding the insurance companies as you would have to address them to the companies and not me, I am not a mind reader. Now you may not have been asking me, they could have been general questions to the forum but once again nobody but the insurers could answer them.