Former

You are only happy about that additive because it's from the same folk that make that deep black engine old that looks wrong from new, how can you tell if its dirty, er, contaminated, does it go a brown or green colour - or purple if they do a deluxe version. 😄

Yes check the gap and adjust if required but then it can wait until the next annual service. I would not change the plugs if they can be adjusted and still have good life in them before optimum replacement time, just for the waste of resources. IIRC a mate gets his plugs so cheap he never adjusts just replaces. I once got a good number of NOS (New Old Stock) Champion plugs at a good low price, enough to last me years but when one was found with cracked insulator I gave the rest away and went over to NGK as many others had with similar cars.

OK as long as he is not a 'lazy mechanic' and knows what he is talking about and doing. Your previous posts of mechanics had me a bit concerned. With old British cars you worry if they do not leak as it could mean they have run out of oil. 😄

I'm still using a car where some additives are actually useful and K&N filters give more performance (if you measure to decimal places). 😁 My older mates tell me about things like the days of squirts of Redex.

Yeap and some oils have better base oil and better additive packages - all on very diminishing returns but not all oils are the same. And some oil blenders sell things like cough, cough, engine flush. 😁 Tell us about the man with the red flag . . .

Fabulous period photo. I bought my father-in-law's Triumph Toledo 1300 (RWD) when I got a job that needed a car and I'd not had a car for 6 years, I only kept it a few weeks as the seat gave me backache, and I was young and fit then, IIRC the seat rake was non-adjustable. I particularly didn't like the gear shift offset shift, wished I'd remembered this before I got my GT6. The Toledo was what lead me on to my first Skoda Estelle 2.

In the second photo is that you giving a sultry look to the camera or you trying to work out where you are and why you are standing on the bonnet of your car.

I was wrong looks like it might have caused hyperventilating.

Even I wouldn't have used an additive in this case !! 🙂 A good thorough oil change (hot and long) and filter change using a good (or better still better) oil should do the job - with perhaps a flush included if things look bad enough for its use. But it's a free country (depending on your news sources) and each to their own. Perhaps it was just put to help exercise sepulchrave's heart, an act of kindness.

I would do more investigation and take more advice on this, especially if tighten the bolts is a good idea or not in case it could make matters worse. Also you need to check the if leak is from the block (head gasket?) and not from higher up and just running down from perhaps a pipe connection or valve cover gasket. You can get a leak finding kit, dye and yellow glass (as per Scotty Kilmer videos) or clean everywhere thoroughly and see where it originates on clean areas. You can also use other methods but probably not to your liking.

See my previous post about gapping the plugs. The coin is fine but not perhaps over accurate which may explain some of the gap variation on your plugs and best not judged with the use of a more precise measuring tool (all based on accuracy too of course). Again absolute precision on the plug gap is not crucially important on our cars but bear in mind the coin is best not used on fine tips.

Yeap sealed beam as I recall. I've had seam beams on cars including my present one until about 10 years ago. I've never followed this Lucas Prince of Darkness stuff as I know vehicle owners with many Lucas parts that are still in use 40, 50, 60+ years from new. I'm sure there would have been some badly made parts but I think a lot of the problems might have been down to users and garages use/abuse and bodges. I see and hear about this a lot with those that buy "classics" (over-priced and over-valued old cars), sometimes I wonder how anything electric on the car works or that there aren't small or large fires. Lucas brand is now over two (or perhaps more) companies and these modern products can be very poor and not long lasting.

Fair enough, it's just that batteries are very often replaced when they could be revived, one of the most oversold car parts. In that case it probably was a low and slow, if not long. Makes my 90s Bradex 4 amp seem very modern. You might find your 60s charger is a 'collectors' or wanted by concours fanatics to have something extra the other fanatics don't have. I'm always amazed what some old stuff ('vintage', 'antiques') sell for, I wanted an old cylinder vacuum cleaner as I thought it'd be a cheap way of getting a powerful blower using its exhaust and was surprised to find the two I found were at £70 at the time.

I suppose I was just used to the lights at the time, many on the BMC/BL cars would be underserved as the electric connections could be furred up from the battery posts on but particularly the bullet connectors, and the stalk and IIRC(?) foot button(?), cleaning them can make a noticeable difference to the amount of light they give out. Cleaning the outside lenses also helps but seems to be beyond many including modern drivers, if there's not a button in the car for it it doesn't get done. 🙂

Ken you've done what I often do and misread the post, ageingjedi wants a printed paper copy of the Driver's Handbook (whatever VW are calling it for that model and year) to keep in the glovebox so that it can reliably referred to without having to rely on the battery power or screen size or contrast of a mobile device or perhaps radio reception know as wi-fi. All hail the Driver's Handbook. 😁 Mind you, when ageingjedi reads some of it there may be some regret as the explanations can be as unclear as some of my posts.

@danilob sorry I have only just seen your post. - Yes I perhaps should have included clean the drain plug, and add now that after cleaning you might be able to dress up (off) any metal burr on the hex edges. Use the correct, or best fit, socket or ring spanner always, if you have one for this first time at least use a six-sided socket for removal, start with as shorter a handle/bar/lever as possible to release the plug and only try longer leverage in stages until the plugs moves as you want to remove the plug as smoothly as possible and in case someone has cross-threaded it. Always check you can fully remove any fill plug before starting on ta drain plugs, easy for the engine of course. When you put the drain pug back in use the correct sized socket and length of lever to not overtighten or ring spanner of the correct length, the washer should do the sealing so you just do not want the drain plug vibrating loose. Just imagine the over-complicated intertwined and invasive programs problems in my wife's 2015 Fabia let alone a 2022 car. The car battery has just about always been very important in cars but now in modern cars, I can't seem to get over to most how the low state of the battery will have the computers making the owners/drivers suffer with weird warnings and faults. You may know if this is so? - chips in cars are low tech hence why the chip manufacturers were not in a rush to make them and get paid late by the car manufacturers when the modern chips made more profit and were paid for quicker. I would not want a car made during Covid for any sort of build quality issues. Yes I well remember the badge on the side. My mate never kept a car long enough to see too much trouble from it - even a Fiat. 😉 I always like the shape and cut styling of the Coupé. I liked the colour coded dash but was surprised to find it was plastic (like another mate's bosses BX 16v, and plastic bonnet). All about or over 25 years ago so they are "classics" now. In that case you can forget about it for now. Doing the engine flush and when you get to better quality oil will probably help to quieten it a little, anything that has the engine running smoother helps but do not expect too much difference. I am also a big believer in cleaning the gearbox oil and using better quality oil as this helps particularly in extremes of weather or car faults or mechanical use (and abuse). Also timely changes of other fluids and clean if required, particular brake fluid of course but also (clutch), coolant as D.FYLAKTOS - and power steering, as D.FYLAKTOS is about to do. I know you have done a lot of coolant changes but I have simple and unoriginal but thorough system(s) for cooling/heating system cleaning, best done in warmer weather unless you like all year round wild swimming, let me know before you do yours and I can send it to you, or a long-ish post. The old British cars like mine have mechanical 'water' temperature gauges so the very few other owners with cars like mine than have actually done the full system can really see the difference on the gauge as well as the crud that it gets out.

Hi, you'd be better asking in the Superb section. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/171-škoda-superb/

@danilob definitely checking the valves before every so and if they really need adjusting doing so before checking, and adjusting if required the ignition, plugs, timing and mixture in that order - but do not get too carried away with checking the valves too regularly especially once you have the engine running well. I used to chase the valve clearances at every annual service and if I did other work, you could be adjusting them almost non-stop if you check too often. I have a mate that works for an engineering company that works on and sets up classic car and other engines including those for the race track and he said not to worry too much about exact specification figures because as soon as the engine starts they could be out from the exact settings you have just spent ages setting, checking, resetting again and checking again. When he set mine he had them a lot tighter than me and locked the nuts a lot tighter than me and only quickly checked them once. I am now only going to adjust mine if they get a lot nosier than normal, and they are always noisy as the rocker cover is only thin metal and there is no under bonnet insulation. These old engines did not work to close tolerances when they were first built so do not expect them to decades of use later.

@danilob try NGK LPG1 they are also for CNG as well as LPG. - https://www.ngkpartfinder.co.uk/assets/catalogue/info/LPG_info-ver2.pdf

Vanden Plas 1300 so twin carb(?) very posh I only had an 1100 as my third (I think) car in 1978/79. - You didn't mention the Princess bit. 😄 Gax, yours must have been even more down on its heel than mine or you knew less about maintenance than me, which would have been difficult but I was more willing to give it a go then. Certainly you shouldn't have needed to top up the dashpot(s) oil unless they had wrong parts and the headlights should have been reasonable for the time, plus the built-in fog lights. Leather seats with front and rear seat armrests, wood fold down picnic tables on the back of the front seats with chrome inserts, plush carpeting and roof lining, rear courtesy lights, rear wood dash and door capping - made top level Fords and Vauxhalls seem low rent. If you were to see a good example now you'd be surprised how much room they have inside and the boot, many went over to Japan in the '80(?) and '90s. Large thin rimmed steering wheel, large chrome hub caps with large centre vp logo - lovely. This interior photo is a non-period off t' web - ETA: I've just noticed this is an auto too. Below is genuine period as those that were there then will easily tell, all these period "correct" programs with very shiny and forever clean cars. 🤣 The pre-added yellow spot/fog(?) was reversed into a few days before by a 'hit 'n' run' and the car was dark blue not green, old photos fade and change colour. 1966 'D' reg, Vanden Plas 1100 (single carb).

D.FYLAKTOS did your plugs look particularly fouled considering the cars use and mileage on the plugs? If not then going to hotter plugs will not help. If you did want to then you would have to contact the plug manufacturers who would probably only offer what is in their databases that you have already seen. Road car engines just off standard are not race or specialist machines and your engine is of a much older design than 2000 despite its added computer. If you look at possible cross-references for the engine which includes different heat range figures you will be into dozens if not hundreds and you will find many have been superseded or not sold in your area. Chasing the individual plug cross-references will have you going around in circles until you disappear - as Scotty would put it, up your own wazhoo. If your plugs are meant to be set to 0.8mm then resetting them to 0.8mm is a good idea, sooner you than me messing about with the silly three-prongs, and very gentle cleaning if you can not drive in a very spirted way "to blow the soot off". So far you are only going by the TC-6 figures to say your car is drinking petrol like it is going out of fashion, you need another method of consumption to verify these figures otherwise they could be as accurate as later VW claims. Given your description of the driving conditions it is no surprise the consumption is higher. If there is a problem it could be because of any of the things listed before or even a combination or permutation of two or more. The ECU and/or its programming are in the possibilities but the possibilities are not restricted to only these.

If you have measured the gaps (to three decimal mm places) with a cheap digital caliper do you know its accuracy. "Dead on balls accurate?" "It's an industry term." A quote misses out Marisa Tomei though.

0,93 mm = 0.03661417" - (0.0365") - (36.5 thou) 0,889 mm = 0.035" - (35 thou) 0,88 mm = 0.03464567" - (0.0345") - (34.5 thou) 0,889 mm = 0.035" - (35 thou) The DIY blade feeler gauges we use over here work to thousandths of an inch. So 0.001" steps normally but the set might include 0.0015" and 0.0025" blades too, so to four decimal places at a push. So apart from the first gap you list the set of four is within "half a thou" so nothing to get too excited about and beyond my ability with a feeler gauge. You would have to ask your tuner if the gap when new for those plugs would remain at factory (Champion or Skoda?) setting for his programming or not and it depends on their use (mileage) how much they might wear from whatever was the gapping. Others here or viewing will know know a lot more than I about plugs, as I put I use whichever suitable NGK (copper) plugs are available at a good price and change every two years (if not before), I do check the gaps (and sometimes clean) at least each year.

That site is US of A, they didn't get Skodas, I only linked to it it as a quick reference to your plug manufacturer of choice. I do not know if the following link will work for you, and even if it does it will not improve your mood as it list 9 possible plugs for the 68hp engine in Champion codes - EON1/287 - EON1/286 - CET12PSB - CET12P - OE182/T10 - OE182/R04 - CCH9806 - OE145/T10 -OE145/R04. https://www.championautoparts.co.uk/catalogue.html#fitment_id=11193&search_type=vehicle&subcategory_id=686

Bit premature with the gloating, it's not been confirmed that the error code is the fault, and related, it's like how I sometimes am with reality. And you can have more than one problem related or not to the issue in hand and/or as yet undiscovered or unrecognised issues. The German car manufacturers often seem to go out of their way to make things over-complicated to show how clever they think they are which often leads to complex issues and solutions in and out of Warranty and these engines are more complex than most. Let's hope cleaning the coil or connector sorts the issue. 😁