rum4mo

Going forward, when helping on any car that has SRS stuff, like airbags, is to always disconnect the battery before working on these systems, for your own safety and to avoid the system logging a fault. The way to sort this out has been given to you already.

Ah, so no "RECOND" option on your CTEK. Bottom line, as usual "needs must" if you can't get this battery into a useable condition, then you might not have an easy option, running the car for a short period in terms of days, is not going to cause a big issue, but, do prioritise getting this done as it should improve the service life of the new battery.

I used to like/bother to add a "gentle" brew of petrol engine flusher from Comma into the oil a week before changing the oil and filter, I used to do that at every other oil change - but back then our cars were running decent annual mileages and owned for 13 years. Since 2013 when we replaced our cars, I've stopped doing that. Was it beneficial, I can't say, did it make me feel good about doing it, yes. There was a product sold under the Forte name that Ford and Vauxhall used to push when paying a dealership to service cars under warranty, even VW I seem to remember pushed that while paying for a service under warranty - curiously, when prepaying ie buying a service package from a motor group (not a VW Group add on), to support a new VW Polo 1.2TSI for it warranty period, none of that used, hum?

I've only had 2 VW Group cars with wheel bearing issues, first a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion 2.8, I was convinced that it was a front end issue, no swerving Right<>Left changed anything, I asked the VW dealership to investigate and if it was wheel bearings, just replace both sides, got a phone alter saying that they had worked out which side it was - but their advice was to replace both sides, didn't they read my initial request! Either way, that I suppose cut them loose from changing the wrong side, but all good in the end. That was at around the 10 year mark and 65,000 miles. My wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI started making front bearing noises when only 8 year old and maybe 35,000 miles, again no extra clues could be derived from swerving side to side, so I just bought a bearing changing tool cheaply via ebay and a couple F A G replacement bearing kits from auto doc - for not much money - replacing both sides sorted out that problem, which I think, went examining the removed bearings, was due to water getting into the RHS wheel bearing assembly, as I had spotted it early and not run too many thousands of miles, there was no roughness that I could detect from the removed bearing, just an indication of water getting in past the seal. My tip is, do that job once and replace both sides with non VW Group branded bearing kits like F A G for instance, and escape this problem for the foreseeable future.

You say that you left the car locked and it had unlocked itself - maybe the central locking has become faulty, and has been cycling unlock>lock etc due to a wiring problem - that would "sort out" a weak/older battery and maybe even a new one - though that is just a thought/suggestion, nothing more. Do you have enough time to run that CTEK charger on a "restoration" or whatever it is called charging program, if so try that and it might just recover that battery enough for it to survive if "topped up" while not in use. I hardly ever use my old 2010 Audi S4, and so it lives connected to a CTEK in the garage - it has an AGM battery which I replaced at just over 10 year old point, just because I didn't fancy paying a high price for a battery when getting caught out when away from home. My wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI has an EFB by Exide, it is still extremely "fit" after 8.5 years/48,000miles - though it does get a "restoration" recharge once a year and during Covid it was supported with another CTEK in the garage. I think that I've read that Moll have slipped off the supplier's list to at least VW Group as their quality/reliability had dropped off - my 2000 VW Passat 4Motion had a Moll and that lasted 1 years, but that was pre Auto Stop/Start and was maybe a "better quality period" for Moll. Edit:- I'm sure that I've read of this happening to someone in the recent past, ie a lightly used car not getting left with battery support, then used on some long runs - then when back home, let down by state of charge of battery. In case you did not consider this, I have a mini DVM plugged into the "ciggy lighter" socket, and can see that even on a long run, or even just a 10 mile run, if you don't brake a lot etc, the battery charging will drop off to being "just enough" and so at journey end, even at times auto Stop/Start will be disabled, so what I'm suggesting is, don't consider that things are "what they used to be", ie long journey means battery is fully charged, nowadays, that is not the plan.

@nta16, yes, such is "progress" TMD Friction in UK now is just Mintex I think - or were when I last had reason to contact their sales people concerning ECP being silly about some of the "short ranges" of "fit all" brake pads they stocked . My Britool stuff mostly will now be almost 50 years old. Facom seemed to be a brand that people with money bought - but Toolstation sell a model/version of Facom that is/was really cheap for stuff including Facom in the product description - I've bought a few of their brand of sockets to have for specific "service" uses so that I keep my main socket set intact and "in waiting" for other jobs, silly really - maybe. I bought a set of cheap Draper open ended spanners just to have in my nasty old Anglia van to deal with "running repairs", after I had upgraded to a used MK2 Escort 1.6 Ghia, I had a look at this set of Draper spanners - "made in India" - oh! They were bought in a general accessories area in a "good old time honest" all brands local privately owned garage, not good! Also some Indian rascal had not been very observant when the blanks were getting their ends punched out, so some might have been strong enough and some definitely had not much strength, as in, lets say the 12mm/10mm intended blanks had maybe 8mm/6mm openings - and some were the other way round. Anyway, as someone was dipping their hands in, or borrowing some of my tools at work, I swopped my works spanner set for these - and let thieving clowns clear them out of my tool box before asking for a new set, that sorted that problem out!

Bigg Red or Frentech will get the parts to you quicker than autodoc, and maybe if you are a minimalist/gambler, a couple of kits with just the score seal and dust cover could be all you need. Edit:- changed/corrected a word! (deleted "parts" and added "get" really to make sense!)

Have you checked maybe on the ECP website for re-manufactured Pagid front callipers - I'm sure that the piston size is quoted there, I used that and other sites to establish the rear and front calliper piston sizes for my wife's 2015 VW Polo, and at least for the rear callipers, the information was correct. Or, using the ebay shop for Bigg Red,send them a message, I did that as the listing looked a bit vague to me for the front Lucas/TRW callipers - they were listed as FN3 54 somewhere else, the 54 being the piston diameter, though maybe your front callipers are ATE/Teves.

I agree, for most DIYers, there is a Halfords near by and if you are selective, you can end up buying suitable tools, all my 1/2" SQD sockets and spanners - ring and open ended, are Britool, but all my combination spanners and ratchet spanners are Halfords Advanced and surviving well like my Britool ones are. My only concern was once buying a set of Halfords Advanced ratchet spanners - which have a lifetime guarantee - but bought via ebay which out a Halfords receipt - but years of use later they still work well, I saved enough doing that to justify buying them, but took a risk!

The thing, for me, is, any "man and/or his dog" can refurbish or recondition parts and offer them for sale, so prices do vary, for a respected brand like Pagid, to supply re-manufactured callipers with their own packaging, when brake friction parts is their core business - and they do supply as OEM in Europe, does to me suggest that they are to be trusted - remember TRW the company that now probably own the rights to manufacture Lucas callipers also sell re-manufactured brake callipers, as in deed maybe so do VW Group - this all makes sense as if the re-manufacturing is done to the correct standard then material like the body casting can be reused - same for many other items. Where this individual item failed to meet the mark, in my eyes, was in the standard of the threaded hole repair, now if that occurred prior to it passing in to the re-manufacturers then I would have expected that it was either rejected or re-worked in bring it back to as original standard - and it wasn't, and that was my concern. There are some people around, including me, that now and again has considered that they have reason to believe that ECP as the sole importer of Pagid branded items into UK, is willing to take some short cuts. This time I avoided contacting the UK sales team of Pagid and emailed Pagid's European contact and really just asked them if this sort of repair was acceptable as it was a change to another manufacturer's design of a safety related car part - surprise surprise I never got an answer, so I returned it to my supplier who was Halfords, once bitten, twice shy.

One "thing" that could cause it not to work when the weather is warmer is, if it has been over charged with frig gas, these systems, I think, require to be "critically charged" as a maximum charge - which is why the label under the bonnet states the total weight of frig gas to be loaded back in. But, I'd expect a fault code to get logged stating that, ie "high pressure limit reached" - you might find out more or even that when you check the shut off code. My wife's August 2015 VW Polo, when it was new, used to throw out the odd fault code like the first one, but then these Sanden compressors were known to have been shipped out with manufacturing debris inside them, that car's AC eventually stopped throwing out these fault codes, the thing was, at that time that car was in constant use and the fault codes were being "cleared" after a few engine starts automatically(progress?), so any chance of getting that problem resolved within warranty was not really going to happen. Edit:- for the time being, I'd be inclined to refit the original control panel just in case its S/W is different and so not suitable for use with your age of car - at least you know that the original controller allowed the system to operate at lower outside temperatures.

I consider that proper use of swearing only comes with old/older age, it is definitely then as the world seems to be out to get you/me that it is really needed! Flare nut spanners really should be used when connecting up pipes like at the ABS block, nowadays, I always "crack" the bleed nipples using a deep hex socket, and if I feel the need, the same when giving them a final slight "nip up". Really small bleed nipples worry me when I come across them, as said already they are keen to shear off. An aside comment:- I bought a "re-manufactured by Pagid" Lucas/TRW rear RHS brake calliper for my wife's 2015 VW Polo as the original RHS had seized up, bought it via Halfords, it looked well re-manufactured ie back to original condition. So, I had the idea to catch the rear LHS before it started seizing due to moisture ingress, so bought another Pagid one from Halfords - this one, at some time in its life had ended up with a stripped bleed nipple thread, so the M10 hole had been opened up to M12/M13 and a threaded repair insert had been fitted, but its internal thread was M7 or M8 so I was ending up having one small bleed nipple on that car - in the end after a lot of huffing and puffing, I just handed it back to Halfords quoting "not re-manufactured back to original state" and added that I don't think that Pagid, or however Pagid uses to re-manufacture brake callipers are qualified to change any part of a safety related product. Halfords said that they couldn't guarantee that the next one they supplied me would be any better! Plan B is to, when the warmer weather turns up, remove the still okay rear LHS calliper, remove its piston and polish it and fit a new score seal and dust cover. So, thanks Pagid, you've forced me to actually service my own brake callipers to avoid them ending up seized - and I've even bought some new aluminium banjo bolt sealing washers - in case they are needed!

Battery manufacturer tends to be Exide or Varta by JCB now that Moll has gone. EFB versus basic wet-acid batteries, the main difference is in the construction, the EFB is constructed to survive to be able to survive many more engine starts than the basic wet-acid battery, and to tolerate being left at a lower charge level. The actual charging regime takes advantage of that to minimise toping up the battery while the car is being used(saves fuel) and so leaving "charge head room" so that on the over run/braking, the alternator can make "free" use of the rotating but unfuelled engine to pack charge back into the battery. I'd think that if you went into the Skoda workshop and asked that question, you would get what I said at the beginning as I'd doubt if any VW Group service person would give a "****" what the brand is, but the type will be EFB. Ford, I'm told, use EFB+ whatever the "added bonus" of the "+" is, I've not found out yet and probably will not bother to - that is a job for my Ford loving friend!

I'm sure that I noticed this when driving my younger daughter and husband's 2019 SEAT Arona, I was not impressed, but I'm sure that I'd learn to live with it, surely that could have been avoided - and I wonder if that "off centre" positioning of the handbrake handle contributes to the appalling "feel" of the handbrake action. That May 2019 SEAT Arona had been "attended to" during its new car warranty when in the possession of its first owner over "handbrake action" - twice as part of a VW Group workshop action, twice for the same workshop action, did seem a bit strange, I would have thought that VW Group would only have reimbursed only once for that workshop action.

I get the feeling that the finger of blame tends to point, rightly or wrongly at the big plastic coolant "management" lump on all, at least petrol engines, in newer/newish VW Group cars. Maybe due to some economic/silly design, the naughty plastic shapes get compromised and so can cause coolant leaks - but that should end up leaving traces of dried up G13 behind to give a clue.

VW Group tend to use Panasonic batteries to all their key fogs when new, I've always just replaced key fob batteries with Panasonic bought from (hopefully) "safe enough" ebay sellers for not much money, and replace them, on cars without KESSY, every 8 years, so far, from back in 2000, that has worked on 5 VW Group cars without KESSY, our older daughter - a modern minimalist, replaced only one key for her 2019 SEAT Leon Cupra last year - sorry a lie, I replaced the key battery using one of my stock of spares! Hopefully her partner will replace the battery in the other key if it ever gets used. Younger daughter, having an extremely minimalist husband who seems to be in charge of "key fob battery changing" doesn't let that issue bother him, they have a 2019 SEAT Arona with KESSY, so, the flattish key fob battery when taken out of a warm house, works okay for a while, then typically when she - a new driver, is in a tight/tense traffic situation, the dashboard starts firing out warning lights and noises - why they just suffer that, bets me! Maybe something to do with both of them having PHDs!

If you have chosen Pagid, just in case that you don't know, and I didn't until AFTER I bought new rear discs and pads for my wife's 2015 Polo, Halfords prices for Pagid and some other brands of brake parts, are lower than that being charged by ECP even when you order online from ECP. Halfords order in these brake parts from ECP, so order ahead so that you can put up with the 2 hours or 1 or 2 day delay in your order being ready for collection from Halfords. The difference in price between these two places, for Pagid re-manufactured callipers, is quite significant - and for some reason Halfords do not require the old calliper back!

I've used "recon" charging on an EFB and it seemed to improve it.

My wife had a 2002 VW Polo with that engine (and rear disc brakes), its brakes, from new, never felt adequate, then she bought a new VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS and it has 288mm front discs (and rear disc brakes), the brakes in that 2015 Polo feel adequate! Incidentally, my 2000 VW Passat 4Motion had these same 288mm front brakes, and they never felt adequate in that car, the facelifted version of that Passat, I think, got bigger front brakes - not before time!

I always change the brake fluid on our family’s cars, but tend to use the “plastic slave/secondary cylinder” as a good enough reason not to bother with the clutch leg fluid. Obviously there will be a slight equalising of moisture content between the.fresh fluid and the old fluid in the clutch fluid leg - so the clutch leg fluid will very slightly hand over some of its moisture, which is good enough for me. One day/year,I will draw some out of the clutch legs and see what it looks like - maybe.

I think that all the interior lights get switched off when the associated controller "goes to sleep" maybe 20 minutes (or less) after the ignition has been switched off - certainly the normal interior lights get switched off after a short time, even if a door is left open. I would make a lot of sense if the map lights get switched off after the doors are closed and the car gets locked - like the normal interior lights. Just something to nag you while you are away!

One thing to always include in your "looking around" when faced with an electrical issue concerning a issue with the rear hatch, will be the area of wring within the conduit between the body and the rear hatch. I'm still waiting for any of our VW Group cars from 2000 onwards to hit me with that sort of issue, I've had it with Ford Fiestas in the past and my mate's SAAB 900s, hopefully I'll stay lucky!

@FabiaDrive125, now your next task will be to understand or "get to grip" with finding your way around this manual - it will be worth it though. I still get a bit confused and annoyed when I need to use any of the VW Group official workshop manuals, it is their description of the "area" that you need to move across to at times. All good stuff though, it is just the "VW Group" way - maybe the Skoda manuals are easier to use than the Audi or VW or SEAT ones - but I'd doubt it. Edit:- I seem to remember that once I had saved it on an external drive, I then saved another copy and removed as much of the "not for my car" sections including all covering earlier versions of my cars or later versions where relevant.

I'm old enough to have started working on cars at home before these "fancy" brake callipers appeared requiring the user to have a 7mm allen key to remove them, typical "home use" allen key kits had 6mm and 8mm - 7mm did not regularly exist in basic allen key sets. So, it was a case of "it's not a 6mm" grabbed the 8mm "its not an 8mm"! Followed the next day to a lunchtime trip to a very local to my workplace, welding supplies shop, that solved that tool problem. A 7mm allen key or hex bit would fit these bolts perfectly once the car is quite a few years old, but once you had applied a bit of effort the accumulated rust curd would break and the 7mm allen key or hex bit would rotate freely! Edit:- I'll be happy enough if I can get the discs out>in without removing these bolts, I've never found that to be the case in the past on other cars, but many people do find it possible to do - even my mate had to take them out on his son's old 2011 Audi A3 1.6 - and he is not a person to freely remove bolts just to make life easier - so I live in hope for this 2015 Polo!

easymanuals.co.uk works for me, they just probably grab manuals from the VW Group source, ie erWin and sell them on, or you could reg with erWin and buy an hour to download the latest version for your car, a bit more work, but you'd end up with the latest version for your car. From memory, easymanuals sells you a copy in 2 or 3 forms, so that means, a download or a USB stick with the same on it, or maybe even on a DVD - though I'm not sure if the 3rd option exists.