JamieH86

Thanks all. The bugger is working from home and not going out due to lockdown the car is doing 0 miles per week at the moment!

The MOT is due soon and last two times it failed for emissions (1.9 tdi). I wasn't there for the first one; they put something through the system and took it for a spin then it passed. Most recent MOT they told me to drive it in 2nd at 40 for 5 minutes (4 times) which worked. I have seen a bottle of Redex "MOT pass" stuff in Tesco. Put it in when refuelling. Is it worth it or just a load of rubbish?

Hi all - this bit (with the black tape on) has been loose since I bought my car 2 years ago (mkii 1.9 estate). I say as a novice, what is it?

I had a similar weird issue a year ago; came out of nowhere. The dash lights started dying, and whenever I turned left the wipers and windows died. Made sure all the fuses and relays were fully pressed in and the problem disappeared.

Thanks for the suggestions. Would these pictures be what you mean? The first is "as is". The second is with me holding up a loose part (the dust cover?)

Meant to add - I have tried the basic test of bouncing the front and back of the car by hand and seeing how long it takes to settle. It doesn't bounce that much anyway, and when I stop pushing it stops moving almost immediately.

Hi all; I think I know the answer to this, but I appreciate the expertise on here. I am talking about a 1.9 TDI Octavia mk ii estate here. When I am going down local roads (i.e. residential streets etc), which round here are fairly shocking, there's a sort of clunk when I go over holes and bumps. Smooth, speedy roads (such as the M4) have no problems like this. It's not very loud or anything but I did notice it so it is "new". A bit of background; the rear shock absorbers were advised as worn on the MOT at the start of the year, but with the lockdown I never got round to replacing them or looking any further into it. I have never replaced them do they've done at least 40,000 miles. The coil springs were replaced 20 months ago. We were in France in September and returned with a laden (and low-sitting) car, which then rose up again when emptied. However it then spent 2 weeks on the drive unused as we had to quarantine. Then when I drove it again about 10 days ago, I noticed the new noise. Luckily I am working from home so don't really need to use it much at the moment. So my guess is knackered shock absorbers. I think the bump stops have deteriorated too; when you look in the wheel arch, you can see the rod (technical name?). There aren't any issues with steering or stability with corners or roundabouts; perhaps a tiny rightward drift though when driving straight, which I have to compensate for by turning left a fraction. I am going to take it for a free Halfords suspension check anwyway (unless anyone says, 'no!") Over to you...

I agree with the WD40 suggestion We once had so jammed only two pairs of pliers, one held by me on the plug, the other by the wife on the plug housing, coaxed it loose by slowly wiggling it.

Hello all. About a year ago I, or to be more precise my strimmer, put a stone through a rear window which was replaced. It worked fine after but now only winds down around 2cm then stops. Any ideas?

Thanks to everyone on this thread - I had never heard of a 'bump stop' but now I know what those bits are that look like the ones in the picture above! Will get them replaced.

Hi again all. The CD player in my 2005 mk II will not eject the disc; when I press eject, it waits for a few seconds then says 'CD ERROR' on the display. It's Queen's Greatest Hits, so it could be worse, but all the same it'd make a change to have something different on. This happened when I first bought the car a few years ago, but after a month I tried it and it ejected fine. Then it was fine for two years. But this time, it has been stuck since March! Any ideas?