Former

thomasaspin makes a very point, I did include this in my earlier post and the battery and alternator are best checked together but more often it's the use of the modern cars that depletes the battery's store, so I'd not rule out the charging system and if you can borrow a tester then test it but to use the car you want a battery in a good state of charge and health (and good electrical connections) and recharging the battery will only help and not hinder (unless you use a booster/very fast charge it and kill it).. 365 of 550 is 66% (according to Google) and according to my neighbour's Ring charger manual more than 74% is "Good" , 50%-74% is "check" and less than 50% is "bad". But these are just figures and there are lots of variables, so my advice is. If possible don't borrow a high powered fast charger rather one that goes low and slow for as long as possible, 4 amps or if you know the battery the manufacturer may give a higher suggestion. Charging overnight isn't always enough it can take longer. Different chargers can do different things, depends on what you can borrow, let us know. Not vital but preferable, take the battery off the car and charge it somewhere cool - if it's off the car the charger isn't fighting anything that's live/on and you are more able to control the environment it's recharged in and keep an eye on it to see how it's going and how long it takes. Removing the battery or fully disconnecting it also gives you the chance to try a free quick method of clearing some error codes, with the battery disconnect so no power to the car,- [ETA: - carefully bridge/join the positive and negative battery leads post clamps together to complete a circuit ] - turn the ignition on and press and hold the brake pedal down for a few seconds so that if the battery was connected the brake lights would have lit up, then switch the ignition off and remove the key. All being well you may be able to recover the battery but you'll still want to keep an eye on it and possibly recharge it again depending on your car, and its/your electric, use. Car batteries are one of the most oversold car parts and often can be rescued with a bit of proper care but sometimes they can be flogged too much and you have to bite the bullet and replace them. What is vital - the opportunity to prove an engineer wrong (again), it wont harm (or touch) their ego or mental health but will give great satiation to others, including me, so any details or advice you can give or need on charging the battery just ask. 😁

PM me tonight's Euromillions winning number please. Must admit I forgot about communication code but that could have other causes especially on an unseen vehicle, and anyway Doris Stokes might having it talking. I not disputing your knowledge and experience just like to do the quick, easy checks that keep your hands (relatively) clean first and generally saves any manly getting down and dirty, on the ground, or backache leaning over. My neighbour insisted his recharged, 13v, battery was fine and wasn't the reason the car wouldn't start, or for the warning lights, it's still charging now from 7pm last night on my old 4amp charger. In fact I ought to move it to somewhere cooler and put it on my old trickle/maintenance/conditioner charger to top it up for testing with something 12v to see if it's off to meet Doris - though we've not heard from her.

Just torque to what you did before. With two I think I would do them in sequence, I am not sure it makes any difference but for sake of placebo alone. You should really back off first to confirm but you can't with this. I think you saw when I put about my experience with such a gasket. I didn't like the look of the coverage of these gaskets and there rather imprecise cut out both others had found that to be fine so that may give more credence to your theory. Good luck, I find HG and HGF failure so annoying, the HG is such an ancient and agricultural bit of engineering, like so many things on even the most modern of cars, it's from the 19th century or before, whatever's very cheap and very profitable is never progressed from.

A paragraph! Getting all creative where you, no wonder you deleted it. I'm fairly sure it might turn out to be the pump (or its little part) but I'm very much hoping it'll be the battery, cheap and easy to recharge the battery, but if it is the pump I will contended the pump only went because the battery wasn't attended to at the start. Equity of course will be both the pump and battery.

Blimey, you're mellow tonight, next you'll be hugging trees.

I am all for changing the fluid and flush cleaning on a car of this age as it will help a little and is preventative maintenance but it is not the cure for your problem and it's difficult to compare the fluids in a photo especially as they're not the same make and model of oil, or same colour. Even to me, that photo, on my screen, the old fluid doesn't look bad - and remember I am in favour of changing PAS fluid, gearbox oil, axle oil. My thoughts are you have been given good advice in all the posts on this thread (and I include mine in this), the change of oil whilst it might help generally overall probably didn't in this case and the changes were to the battery and charging system responding to the changing use of electrics whilst driving and parked and perhaps how the charging system was able to operate and perhaps battery rested. To cut a long story short only this early evening I proved to a neighbour that the various warnings lights and car not starting was down to the battery despite him recharging it on a (suspect) battery charger and the mulitmeter showing it at 13v. Rather than giving me a chance to see if I could revive the existing battery he made a "distress purchase" from ECP of a well overpriced new battery warning lights disappear, one after a run round the block, airbag light was still on but that may go with more driving but is a known fault anyway on the model and year. I thought I had convinced him about the importance of battery health before but like you he saw 13v and thought that was fine, that's just surface charge, looks good as a multimeter readout but it does not mean the battery has any real power or stamina in it to start the car and power all that is required. - ETA: the story is not just about the importance of the battery but also about not being convinced or taking up good advice and not necessarily mine but that from others. Also be aware that batteries and charging systems are affect by the hot and very hot weather we have just had, it can weaken the battery and if not cared for play up now or hasten the problems that come this autumn and winter, more batteries than usual will be replaced this in this year's later season if they were not checked and charged as required now and before the cold, wet day and nights. ETA: Yes, sorry, I forgot, the pump too.

I didn't know, I usually change tyres at 3mm (if not well before). The Conti were my 4th choice as I bought the tyres last summer when supplies weren't good, either not available or out of stock, and I needed to have them within a few days, a "distress purchase". Though I've only done about 4k-miles on them I've already lost 1mm front and 1.5mm rear and as they're not over grippy I have to consul myself with the fact they do give comfort and not too much noise, being a city car size tyre I have to accept compromises, however the Yoko a-drives years back were great handling and ride. The following are the tyres I've been recommending to others with very old over-priced, over-valued, "classic" cars like mine as you can't go wrong, I've meet the chap at the NEC (a real character) and he told me he stands by his warranty and I believe him. How's this - you take it steady on the radial tyres for the first 30 miles to scrub them in they drive as you like for up to 1,000 miles and if you are not convinced the Blockley are the best tyres you've ever driven on, you can return them for a refund the purchase price of your tyres! https://www.blockleytyre.com/articles/radial-quality-guarantee

Compare that to the other costs with a car and consider that the tyres are part of the braking, steering and suspension systems and the only physical contact with the driving surface. Workout the cost per mile compared to less important expenditure on the car. You can get budget tyres that will do the job (possibly/probably not as well) and are harder wearing. Personally I like more tread for more 'grip' on roads that are not warm and dry, I'd never go down to the legal limit as it's the same as MoT requirements, that of a minimum statutory requirement not necessarily what is best.

I can't remember 9mm depth but I might not have been aware or looking at the time. 8mm was my usual thought but I do know it varies even in the same make, model and size of tyre with width/ratio plus I think has changed over the more recent years with different materials in the compounds, also I guess less 'rubber' on the tyre hlps with manufacturer's profit too. The starting depth is one thing but it does depend on the wear rate too and this seems to vary too depending on the tread depth worn to. I bought some Continental EcoContact 6 for my car and I knew the tread was 6.5mm from new by all the whinging I saw about that (I think it was lower because thread block was soft feeling and loose with road use so less block less wobble until the tyre wears in and the driver gets more used to the tyres, well with me anyway). I find it difficult to get some information about tyres especially from the manufacturers but some give more info than others. Only as an example, Toyo NANOENERGY 3, 13" size the tread depth varies from 6.3 mm to 7.4mm depending on width/ratio (so I'm out of date with 8mm here). - https://www.toyo.co.uk/tire/pattern/nanoenergy-3

Perhaps more information on this or a recording might help but it might also not be relevant but without more information or a recording it cannot be known. Why not rule out the battery and/or charging system being at fault first as this can be done easily and at potentially no or low cost.

Did all or any of these three professional electric garages check the battery and charging system? Codes are not the be all, they are useful but you can have problems before they show up and when they do the codes are not always the answer but just a starting point for diagnosis. The heat and especially higher heat effect the battery and charging system more so if you can check your battery and charging system or get it done in none or any of the three professional electric garages did not give you a report that including test results on the battery and charging system. Anyway, to find an electric fault a battery in good state of charge and condition (and all electric wires and connection in good condition) will help with the solution or often can be the solution. Replacing sensors will not help if it is the wiring or connector to the sensor, or computer or its programs, are at fault. Nor will low quality sensors replacing good quality sensors. When trying to resolve a problem it is best not to assume anything but to test enough to prove. A low battery, or low supply to sensor(s) and/or computer(s) can cause the computers to play up in all sorts of ways and throw up all sorts of unexpected warning and error codes. Sometimes just clearing the codes can help, if there is a problem and it has not been sorted then obviously the code(s) will return. Put up any reports you got from any of the three professional electric garages and some posters on here may be able to interpret them to help more.

I was going to suggest you do this rather than just topping up but you will get a better drain and clean if you get the gear oil hot/warm, and leave to drain as long as reasonable, as it will remove more existing oil and containments and leave less residue of both in the box. This means the new fresh oil and its effects are less diluted by the residue of old oil and containments. Personally I pour some warmed new fresh oil into the box as the hot/warm drain gets to point of just drips for the warmed new fresh oil to act as a mini flush out. You can also check the old oil for any metal bits in it.

ScottB832 (Xhuy10nx) it's as the grumpy one's put, check battery, charging system then pump. The computer's rely on info from the sensors, the computers and (some) sensors work on thin voltage so if your battery and changing system are below par the computers and (some) sensors are the first to suffer as they work on such small rations to have then reduced means they can cry out and struggle to work properly. How do you feel by the end of the working day without two Weetabix for breakfast (sepulchrave of course has four every morning). The 'joy' with a modern car is that not only do you need the electric but also the computer needs to know all and a sensor might be in distress or the computer thinks it is or has a brain-fart of it's own (as if computers or their programs ever play up). So you need good electric supply going through the wires and connectors and also good communications going through other wires and connectors and the computers and their programs satisfied (if never happy). I may have strayed from strict explanations and terminology but I hope you get what I mean. Easiest things to check are battery and its charging - you don't need to wait for an error codes and should never just rely on those alone, but if you have them recognise that they are often not the answer, often merely pointing you to where you start your diagnosis.

I didn't know if the Fabia Mk3 and Fabia Mk2 shared the same fitting so didn't post before but for, er, visual clarity, an M12 Triple Square XZN Spline tool bit similar to the one my neighbour lent me. -

Chiselwizard did you miss my post below. Just to save confusion, forget Dingwall and imagine someone who's location is North Scotland with a scanner perhaps prepared to help and perhaps to travel. I know where Wick is as I've been to the two castles outside of Wick on the coast a couple of times, and been to Thurso but never bothered with John O'Groats. I can't remember the road to (Dingwall) Inverness being particularly bendy, but then I like narrow twisty roads, straight down the A9 coast road as I remember it. With the 'Ultimate Driving Machine' they must have meant for autobahns. 😉

Not for Chiselwizard I hope. It wasn't meant as a red herring, I should have addressed the post to Chiselwizard (edited in now) but I put it to you that all the information was in the post but can see how Ken and yourself were misled. Which brings me to - do Tesco still have shares in Greenenergy (something in the back of my mind says they sold them)?

OK, thanks. I'm not sure if you mean you have once tested (or more than once) and compared (once or more than once) your calculated mpg compare to the car's readout and the car's readout was 1.6 higher? Whichever the figures are very impressive.

Click to see mikear82 post below then see following posts. "Confused, you won't be after this episode of Soap." (Remember that?)

Do you believe the car's (VW) computer consumption figures are that accurate? Makes me think of a (relatively) recent Fleetwood Mac hit single.

Chaps, it's not Chiselwizard that's in Dingwall, well I don't think so as I'd not call that far north of Scotland, a spit away from Inverness as I remember it when we stopped at Dingwall decades back as one of the hotels was one of few places in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide that way back then. Went to Scotland to keep cool and just my luck it was 80f but IIRC we had a great 120-mile oval route from Dingwall that took us through four seasons when we climbed and back down was reverse with warm at the bottom, fabulous trip.

Neil, MAF/Throttle body was a generalisation, cover-all, made-up but you seemed to know what I meant, if it's an actuator then how about cleaning this actuator/latter. 😄 I think it's best to buy and use the proper cleaner rather than a general or other type of cleaner, though I've never seen a can of latter cleaner but I bet someone could post a photo of such now I've put this, beyond my photoshop abilities. 😊 Now can you clarify why your Fabia Mk2 is little, has it shrunk - yer gotta laff else yer might cry. 🤣

Blimey are you off the mainland. If there's no one local then that's it, be interesting to know what the final outcome is and reporting back can help others if they have the same or similar issues. Our neighbour's niece got a job as a midwife on one of the islands and by coincidence a number of years before a friend considered a job as a midwife at somewhere like Thurso but was put off by the x-hours to the nearest main supermarket and other amenities.

Shame. Depends how you view £700 expenditure on a 3-year old car. If it's a permanent fix then £700 spread over the rest of the life of the car doesn't seem as bad. But then I'm used to money pit cars.

What the owner didn't say in that video was his rear windows are clear glass and interior and seats are a light grey colour, or they used to be. I'm very surprised he's not got smoked rear lights and number plate. They must love him where he drives.

[ETA: Chiselwizard,] see also these posts below. If @fabdavrav is prepared to go Dingwall way and also in your sort of area they might be able to help you with the start of diagnostics at least - not that I know the person or if this could be done or is acceptable to the person. I was able to go to someone on here that was local to me and able to help me with coding the battery in for a modest beer token.