rum4mo

First the TPMS sensors, I'd think that there will not be any fitted, the ABS wheel sensors are used for that job. Steel wheels rusting, in my experience, these Alcar wheels do not get much in the way of paint to protect them, so you'd be better buying a set of - maybe used - wheel covers. If you look at the picture of the black Alcar steel wheels, you will see that they have a small hole between each of the pairs of large holes - these small holes are to accommodate the locating spike/pegs on newer wheel covers - what I mean is a long long time ago wheel covers were secured only out at the recess/dip in the rim, then these extra fixing points appeared. When I bought a set of Alcar steel wheels for my wife's 2002 Polo, at that time Polo wheel covers did not have these extra spikes/pegs to locate, so when I bought a suitable looking set of what was Golf 15" wheel covers, I had to cut the spikes/pegs off them so that they fitted the Polo wheels, and that worked well, no wheel cover ever fell off while in use. I've only added that bit in in case you find some much earlier other Skoda 15" wheel covers being sold at a good price - and they don't have these extra spikes/pegs, from my experience don't worry they will still stay on these steel wheels. Edit:- these wheels positioning/locating pegs, yes very useful, I've got a pair in my garage and each of our family's cars have the VW Group black plastic version in with the tool kit in the boot. Another Edit:- my older daughter was getting a pair of new winter tyres fitted to her winter wheels yesterday - due to a curious "hairy" fabric stuff breaking through at a point in one tyre - probably pothole impact had caused that (and caused a slight deformation on the inner rim on the wheel on the other side!), I was helping her "car mad" partner to swop these 2 wheels over, he was amazed just how quickly I could get the plastic caps of the wheel bolts - I was using the proper/correct plastic "tweezers" - he had been used the wire hook that on cars that have a hole in the centre of the wheel bolts, that tool is used on, but on this car, that hook is used maybe to remove some trim pieces. Ah, yes, I forgot to answer the most important question - the wheel bolts - sorry!

Good stuff! I've even wondered some times if VW Group every used T27, but certainly using a T25 instead of a T30 could make things a bit annoying, I've used hex bits accidentally on rusted up components when it should have been Torx - same outcome usually = nightmare! Some of my previous cars, maybe Fords actually had a shield/cover over the top end of the wiper spindle - to avoid or minimise the amount of water getting into that spindle area, SEAT, I remember from my older daughter's early 2002 Ibiza, had the water drain hole running down directly onto the top of the linkage ball joint on the driver's side - that caused that fail annoyingly! I remember attempting to free up the spindles on my wife's previous 2002 Polo when I noticed that the wiper speed had dropped a bit when it was maybe 10 years old, I feed oil down into the spindle area and worked it up and down to encourage the oil to wash "stuff" down and out, that seemed to work, her current 2015 Polo maybe should get that area looked at BEFORE it causes a problem!

Yes, in the distant past I probably used Halfords etc sourced reels of "auto wire" which really did have thick insulation - as well as being "correct for that load" c/s, then maybe 8 years ago I retro fitted front parking sensors to my bought slightly use Audi S4, as part of that job I got wise/lazy and bought in Kufatec cable sets specific to that task, the insulation was extremely thin - but that is standard now on newer cars, so when I needed to "adapt" these prefabricated cable forms to neatly/correctly suit that car, I bought in exactly the same "grade" of wire - certainly it doesn't waste any space! Sigh, unfortunately so! They certainly "did a good job" on SAAB, I remember when my SAAB mate bought his wife her first used SAAB 9-3 and I was frowned on for spotting that the "grab handles" looked exactly the same as the ones on my Cav 2000 16V GSI 4X4 - no surprise there I suppose! My SAAB mate still has that affliction - but currently just a single 96 and two 900 convertibles, ie CC - all the many previou 95s, 96s, 9-3s and 9-5s saloons and estates used as daily drivers have been recycled! VW T-Roc is his present daily driver.

I'd reckon that the only way for VW Group - and others, to stop that happening would be to make sure that the type of wire and its insulation, for the short run from the car to the hatch, was more robust AND flexible - and they and others will not be interested in doing that - there must be a solution for this sort of issue, even some SAABs fell foul of this issue, as did or maybe still do, Ford.

@nta16, if you had access to VCDS or Carista or similar, you could change which lights come on as DRLs, in as much as for certain, maybe Scandic countries the requirement is for rear marker lights being on as well as the front DRLs - and that is not a bad idea, so far in my 24 years of owning VW Group cars, I don't seem to have get round to changing away from just "front DRLs" - though now with both cars having LED DRLs and LED rear marker lights, that is something that makes sense to change to. I tend to be one of these strange/different people that don't normally leave the lights on auto as the point where I consider switching lights on either in poor weather conditions or low light conditions is normally a "bit ahead" of the car's point of doing this - and yes I know that you can alter that as well using VCDS. Typically in UK at least, I'd think that light control should be on auto by default as the average UK driver seems to consider that if they start their journey in daylight then they should not be expected to switch their car lights on before the end of that journey, or when they really can't make out the road a few yards ahead of them - especially if they are driving a dark coloured car!

I think that is where the retaining screw for the lock barrel is located.

Somebody else will get back to you soon with the correct pressure version, what you need to be aware about is, initially VW Group only sold a single fuel fuel element for these cars - the the pressure regulator was different for different applications, then, it seems that common sense prevailed and the filter/regulator was sold as a single part, so that should explain why you are finding a few variations as some aftermarket sources might still be making the fuel filter element available - for you to fit to the regulator section of that lump. I did, way back, find someone selling a regulator at a good price, then I bought a new clip to connect it to a new filter which I bought from VW - I put it all together - then never fitted it as the car continued to run okay until when sold at 13 years old and 105,000miles. Are you replacing this "filter" to try to solve an existing problem or just "good preventative maintenance" ? Edit:- added in a missing word, ie "car"!

Yes, if your lucky, there will be a soft black rubber bung with maybe the outline of a padlock moulded into its outer face, just pick them off, use the key blade or similar shaped implement to flick that "exposed head" over, then close that door - it should now be locked from being able to open it from the outside, from the inside you should still be able to open the door, either directly by pulling the "door opening handle" or by pulling it, release it, it it fully a second time. I was holding back on offering too much info originally just in case it confused you, so was really just trying to force you to read the owner's handbook so that you had that to support you if you ended up being confused - that is all.

Are you sure that that switch on the A3 and most other VW Group cars that have an alarm fitted, is not just for the "interior monitoring function" of the car's alarm. Have you worked out or discovered how you lock up the car after the battery has been removed, it is quite easy to do though the car will be deadlocked, I've done that on a 2009 SEAT Ibiza without having any problems.

Well you got the result that you needed, so all good! I wonder why Autodoc have run out of stock, maybe they are flying out the door, the thing is, maybe the original one fitted to your mum's car came from a production batch or build state that did cause problems, and now, you might be lucky enough to have bought a used one from a production batch or build state that did not suffer many issues - stay lucky. That is just pure speculation from me. There will be a few or many re-manufacturers of items like these, who will charge a fixed price to repair a faulty TB - maybe they will be offering some small money to buy in failed TBs to build up stocks, or maybe they have passed that point and get enough in to repair to keep the flow/demand happy. I've just checked BBA Reman's website, but they don't seem to cover Throttle Body repair, there are others though that might.

I'd guess that the "rolled" sealing washer will form a seal at a lower tightening torque than the flat sealing washers - okay the "rolled" sealing washer should only be used once and if you're careful the flat sealing washer can be reused as many people have found/done. The sumps on many of these TSI engines are alloy, so achieving a good seal at a lower torque is desirable I'd think - though the lower sump pan plate on my 2011 Audi S4 is steel, and it's correct drain plug seal is again, a "rolled" sealing washer so - ?? Either way, a competent DIY "oil changer" should be able to deal with using either without damaging the sump threads.

The correct washer type is a crushable "rolled" washer, and not a flat thick washer, if you need one or some quickly, ECP sell what is a suitable version p/n 333771251, That ECP part number lists the correct dimensions for these washer. The VW and SEAT, at least, plan is, at the first oil change, bin the plug/washer combo and supply and fit a new plug N902 889 01 and fit a new one of these (N 0138157) washers to it. I have, in the distant past, due to lack of local versions outside of VW Group spares dept, which sell the NO138157 at a high price, resorted to buying a pack of 12 or so - from China, they certainly look okay, exactly the same as the pricey genuine item, and for the past maybe 4 oil services, have worked very well on my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI with the CJZD engine - then a mate asked at ECP and they sold him the item I gave the ECP p/n for, they look a bit "copperish" as opposed to the genuine item which might be an aluminium alloy item.

Yes, that age of 1.0TSI seems to get more turbo issues than the slightly younger 1.2TSI, also the previous 1.2TSI "enjoyed" a reasonably high failure rate for turbo associated issues! Really not what you'd hope to encounter in a newish car, as much as many other benefits, fuel injection was meant to get rid of all the wear and tear issues that plagued carbs - another bit of newer is not always more reliable, it could or should be, but where is an accountant making "big" decisions, not much good for the end user will happen - okay brilliant at the point of sale, but very probable bad news further down the line. More of that coming with EVs I'd guess I'd hope that re-manufacturers could revive these throttle bodies - but that means taking the car out of use for a week or so. Edit:- these TBs do make a bit of noise when they are "doing things" after the engine is switched off, but not sounding like crunching plastic gears.

Not just a sheared wire between the car body and the hatch? Ie wire sheared but making when the hatched is open/partly open?

Yes, messing with cars helps keep you fit and active, including your brain! I've just carried out a "suspension refresh" on my wife's August 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 11OPS SEL, my logic being, that car is now 9 years old and run 50,000 miles, so as I've run a 2002 Polo from new and a 2009 Ibiza for a few years, it was also bought new by my older daughter, and it and the Polo disgraced themselves at a busy time by ending up with a broken front spring, AND a broken rear spring, the rear springs were only spotted at MOT time, so I re-claimed the Polo and sorted it out and got it back in the VW garage for retesting that same day, the Ibiza got fixed by the MOT garage - all of that happened well within the 9 years 50,000 miles period, so I just felt the need to not be inconvenienced by that again! Two annoying issues during carrying out that work, first the LHS strut nuts were almost impossible to remove, slivers of metal coming off with the lower threaded sleeve, the top nut was just a fight all the way - VW dealership had changed a top mounting under warranty so rattle gun probably used a lot - that car also suffered a head "dropping off" one of the subframe bolts on that side, again an area visited by that VW dealership workshop during warranty! Professionals my bottom! The second annoying thing was, I was working to a tight time schedule and when I went to refit the front brake pipe into its holder bracket on the new LHS strut - it would not fit, the hole in these new Sachs aftermarket struts are about 0.5mm smaller than the factory fitted ones - I didn't have that issue back in maybe 2017 when I replaced the same struts on the 2009 Ibiza - very annoying, first one took a while to sort out as I was only using a file, the second side I used a Dremel sort of thing on the bracket after cleaning up the brake hose metal sleeve.

The cold start small noises, yes, my wife's August 2015 Polo with 51,000 miles has that - but I think that is just "the way it is" before the oil pressure is up to normal level. They have a timing belt - but a long life timing belt. In general I find this 1.2TSI 110PS engine to be a good choice for this size/weight of car, powerful enough not to make driving a chore and economic enough to be cheap to run, only one issue that I have using a car with an engine that gets lots of miles out of a gallon, and that is, it completely destroys my liking to drive my other car in a spirited manner! Going back to the cruise control retrofit thing, there are at least a couple of companies that provide cabling and if necessary hardware (not that you probably need the hardware) to retrofit cruise control, one being Kufatec and the other being Carsystems, I have not checked if either supply cabling for your car though, I have bought cabling from Kufatec via what was their UK agent for another task on my 2011 Audi S4.

Maybe the windscreen washer fluid is leaking in the hatch - and that is where the "water" is coming from, just a suggestion, if I were you I'd be getting the plastic trim panel off and investigate before rust becomes an issue.

I'm sure that I've read that a few people have ended up with a faulty/failed Throttle Body on any of these VW Group cars with small engines, so don't completely dismiss that it could be that - but reading about that is one thing, ending up in this situation is another. When replacing a Throttle Body, "adaption" sequence/procedure should be run using a suitable scan/diagnostics tool. I'm not sure at which point you should consider handing this car into a proper VW Group specialist for them to find out what the root cause of this - and for them to code in the new battery once you have fitted it. This could end up being a quick fix if/when you replace the Throttle Body with a new CORRECT one, then get a local proper VW Group Indie to run adaption on the new TB and code in the battery - or just be the start of replacing parts when there is another hidden problem. It's maybe okay for people like me who have VCDS (scan/diagnostic tool) to have a good poke around and end up taking a well thought out punt on it actually being the TB and buying a new one etc, so the only cash spend will be on the TB which at this moment I have no idea of the actual cost - and just put up with my parts buying error, but less so for someone hoping to learn/fix as cheaply as possible. Edit:- maybe tempting to grab a used one at the £50 > £70 price band, just avoid the ones that look like they have been submerged in salt water for a while!! That is if you feel lucky, but stick strictly to buying the same VW Group part number as that is still the only version listed for that engine.

Maybe include the engine code, some of these throttle bodies only have a single VW Group part number for the correct one.

That looks okay, that "top cap" is just top prevent the strut from "leaving" its correct location is something extraordinary happens to the car. The car still should be able to rotate these struts with the top bearing allowing for this to happen, and certainly, the springs should not end up "winding up" as the steering is applied. The top of the lower spring platform on the struts has a "pressing" that should assist in locating the springs when they have been fitted correctly - maybe check that the lower end of the springs is located against this "stop", it is located at the "front" of the strut spring platform on the LHS strut and so at the "rear" of the strut spring platform on the RHS strut - and maybe obviously, the lower spring coil should also be getting held within the 2 upturned guides on that lower strut spring platform. I've ended up with a partially seized top bearing on a 2002 VW Polo, and that was obvious to workout after getting it up onto stands and removing the steering from the hubs, I'd think that the front suspension on that car would have been making lots of noises when the steering wheel was turned - too long ago to remember! Edit:- it is never a good idea to place fingers within a car's coil springs, but in your case, as the springs are new, they should not be in danger of suddenly snapping and trapping your fingers. I noticed that one side of my wife's 2015 VW Polo (same car basically) was maybe 6mm lower than the other side - I check the ride height at service time, so I checked in that area, and the gap on the lower side was again maybe 6mm more than on the other side. This lower side is the original top mounting/bearing/spring seat, the higher side got a new top mounting under warranty - even although I think that it had nothing to do with what was the root cause of my complaint - which was VW Group, at that period of manufacture, using the gearbox mounting from the non turbo petrol engined cars on all non GTI petrol engined cars. I'm replacing the springs, mounts, bearings and struts, on that car right now, so I'll be very disappointed if it does not sit "level" after carrying out this work!

So the chain driven cam 8V early version of TSI, have you noticed any oil appearing/wetting the engine under the bonnet - like where the PCV tends to break off? Or oily smells getting into the cabin via the cabin air intake?

One comment about these drive shaft nuts, I've only taken 5 of these nuts off, some come off without damaging the locking tangs, some come off and the tangs have broken off, today's hub nut took a few attempts from my impact wrench, the locking tangs were still there but heavily marked - I'd fitted them a couple of years ago when I replaced the front wheel bearings, I hadn't expected that one today to put up that much of a fight - shows the locking element on that nut was really doing its job!

Yes, if you check up online, the tangs are hidden once the nut is fitted. My original 1/2" sqr drv socket set is all BIHex so good for use on these 12 pointed nuts - though I've been, over the years adding in as many Hex sockets as they should protect the nuts and bolt heads better - I even had to buy/add an extra BiHex socket to that old socket set for when I replace a lower suspension link arm on my 2011 Audi S4 as VW Group thought it a great idea to use a 12 point nut on the TREs! - as 21mm does not seem to have been a popular size of socket when I first added metric sockets to that old 1/2" sqr drv socket set!

Not good(obviously), this should not have happened if the battery change was being done correctly, or is this just another trap that can affect VW Group car ownership!

This sounds a bit different or weird, I've checked for Fabias from at least 2015 build up to 2025 build, and the only item securing the the outer end of the drive shaft to the hub, is the nut that I listed above, and also, this is the nut that has been used since at least 2002 build. One curious thing or anomaly is, for the 2024 build Fabia with an auto trans only, the parts diagram shows that item as being a bolt, but still lists it as being the nut I listed earlier. Edit:- same for VW Polo with 7 speed DSG, for that car the parts diagram even shows the end of the shaft does not had a male threaded section - then shows a nut and it has the same part number as above! This really needs a picture taking to let us see what is in/on there.