nta16

Yes. If it's not convenient to remove then you just use the inlet and outlet connections. Connect a hose up to the outlet and get water going in the opposite direction to usual, the inlet is connected to a drain/backflush/rinse hose to a large bucket or receptacle to at first at least catch what comes out to inspect the coolant that was in the heater matrix (rad). My system normally is to clean (using some sort of cleaner) the whole cooling/heating system but you could just do it on the matrix, then flush and backflush with clean water as many times as required until waste water is clear and clean, then drain, syphon or blow out residue water ready for fresh clean coolant to go back in.

ETA; you don't get much engine breaking on modern cars, inflate your tyres to 'eco' setting, reducing the rolling resistance of the tyres, and you'll see just how far you can roll without the accelerator being touched. I'd not worry about carrying any testers (or spares or tools) in your car, prevention is better have things right at the start do your driver maintenance (preferably at home when convenient) and you'll soon get to know things are good or going off a bit.

New battery full charged after it has been left to settle will be 12.7-12.9v depending on lots of variables, on the car, after opening the car and letting all the computers settle for about 20-30(?) minutes you see about a 0.3v drop (everything turned of that can be (12.7v will show as 12.4v). All rough figures only for example. A mate's 10 year old slightly buggered battery off his 2005 diesel Jag I fully charged (well as much as it would) in my shed a couple of weeks or so ago after a few days just sitting in the shed it settled on 12.8v, just checked it now 12.7v, it'd be fine for use on some cars not not a little use and then only short journeys diesel Jag or a modern VW. VW, if you can believe anything from them 😄, battery figures - (n load to voltage) 12.7v-100% - 12.3v-60% - 12.1v-40% - 11.7v-0%. I was thinking of getting the battery 'coded' and an error report before deleting any errors codes (to see if any return, hopefully not, a battery in low state of charge and even disconnecting and reconnecting the battery can upset the Gods that are the car's computers. For battery 'coding' and error report and deleting codes, someone on the list may be able to help you for beer tokens. Mine was done on an OBDEleven by a site member not far from me. The reports can be very long so below is just the battery 'coding'. List of member that might be able to help you. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me)

Internally (and externally if possible) clean the heater matrix and rinse an flush and back-flush through.

My mate sets his valve clearances to his setting rather than the book as the engine aren't new and he has so much experience on the engines and having used his "classic" as a "daily" for so long and the engines aren't standard anyway. He now owns my last "classic" that I used as a "daily" and the only car I owned for the previous 16 years (I could also use my wife's car if available but it rarely was). The others have seen the vid but you might be interested. My neighbour asked if he could do a video on the car for his YT channel and his well established comprehensive website on motor car history, this was all done in a bit of a rush on s/h camera just out of Covid lockdown (hence my long "covid-locks" hair) everything one take and edited on free software. His site. - https://motor-car.net/ The video, a go car not a show car. -

On there are the Owner's Manual supplements one for a short hood cover which I presume is for covering of rear seat that go into the bed of the pickup without the cover the rear passengers would have plenty of headroom. Here this shows what you a bit of what you want to see. - "Here's a funky little four-seater pickup in which the rear seats fold out into the pickup bed - that's just a cool touch no matter how you look at it!" - https://hidenseat.co.uk/content/skoda-felicia-fun-pickup/

Have you looked at all the information on this site? - https://skodafeliciafun.co.uk/index.html

The "glitters" is one thing and sometimes seen in leak sealants, whether that caused the black gloopy I'm not sure, it might be the photos but it looks very black and shiny, perhaps it's different additives reacting or something else as suggested. I too would investigated further, if your rad has a cap I'd look at that and the top of the rad, extract some coolant if required to see the top of the inside of the rad and see what the coolant looks like too. Perhaps if the heater is higher take the hose off and see what it looks like insides, again also looking at the coolant there.

😆 I'm a 'serial 'offender', really annoys some but I don't see the harm especially if the issues has been resolved or there's a long delay before resolve cn be reported. You've got a clock, and its digital, you're showing off now. 😆 That's late for non-car here, the whole cat thing is only because the Americans are so insular and wedded to consumerism but we won't go into how they 'help' the world. Yes but it's silly because if they are actually mechanic the more basic cars obviously cover the basics of mechanics, like learning to drive if people intitally learnt to drive in an old car they were learnt the basics of driving rather than just how to pass a test. Yes a robot could do as some who just follow a error codes rather than using the scanner just as another diagnostics tool and checking the information the scan tool has given and further diagnosis. In most ways earlier cars are so much easier to work on so you would think they would like to work on them, if only for a change. Unfortunately there are good reasons for this, most "classic" car owners don't want to spend money on the vehicles other than for cosmetics because they drive the vehicles so infrequently and for such short distances, this also means they have very little idea of how to drive the vehicles or how well they should or could go so very many very shiny vehicles are not in the best running condition or anywhere near it. When I had an older car but not "classic" of a specialist English manufacturer I took it to a chap I was recommended too and he was telling me about a customer moaning about the cost and the work and parts required, I think at the time his labour charges were at least halve of those that the specialist Dealership type garages charged so I told him to put his prices up to get rid of such customers (these were not cheap old cars). 6 months later I was back and he put his price up and I was the first customer at the new tariff, and same again 6 months on from that.😆 I didn't mind as he done a good job and still at much lower cost and predicted he was doing more work as he was no longer dealing with irresponsible customers returning always wanting half a job done then moaning about it. I've worked dealing with the general public and businesses and as a customer of course and there is good and bad on all sides (the customer isn't always right and many "try it on", same as many in the car trade. If you are going to drive a car you should learn the basic driver checks and maintenance regardless of age and they apply to old and new cars. Parent, grandparents and guardians that provide the children with vehicles and do all the work and administration for them are doing the children no favours. They don't need to know too much or do anything but driver's maintenance but that should be a minimum. It used to be a lot easier as the Driver's Handbook (Owner's Manual) actually detailed the servicing and maintenance work work required and how to do (and capacities and grades unlike todays VWs). I always suggest for old or new cars that owners should read the Owner's Manual and refer to it as required. I've know owners that are good at mechanics and owned the car decades yet still have something(s) wrong on an old car just because they haven't read the Driver's Handbook for decades and think they know everything already but have forgotten in reality. I also suggest those thinking about buying a new, or new to them, car but particularly a "classic" that they read the Owner's Manual' before even going to look to buy to see just how much servicing and maintenance might be involved and how properly to use the controls and drive the car rather than what they might have been told or read, there's so much misinformation and errors about. For servicing and maintenance you should refer to the Owner's Manual BEFORE the workshop manual and even for repairs, particularly with new cars they could save themselves time, hassle and money as they might find the quick, easy (often clean hands) and no cost solution in the Owner's Manual. A tip for you, the car 12v battery has always been very important, make sure that it and its connections and cables (including earths) are in good condition, clean, secure and protected and that the battery is in a good state of charge. If you have a starting or electrical issue first check those items mentioned and fully recharge the battery with a low amperage charger, to full, as this will help with finding and resolving issues (or even resolve the issue) whereas if things are not in good condition and battery low in charge it can hinder or even prevent diagnosis and resolve. More than once I've been told long stories of issues that took lots of work and time to find the cause and I spoil the end of the story by saying "I bet you fitted a new battery and it was solved". 😆 If they had fully charged the battery and maintained the charge at the start they would possibly not needed to change the battery at all and wated all the time and effort. State of battery charge and state of battery health is even more important with the newer cars, the newer the more important because of all the consumers and computer bits on them. I agree, but I don't like to experiment and would rather find correct information but sometimes you do have to experiment, particularly if you can't remember what order the bits go back in. 😄 Do always bear in mind that you need to check and cross reference any information you get from any source be it Owner's Manual, workshop manuals, any database, the internet (particular old blokes with poor memories), with if possible two other (hopefully) reliable sources of information. Bear in mind things can change and some things that were poor quality can sometimes improve (for a while/ contract). 10% (and 5%) ethanol fuel can be an issues for some "classics" here particularly those that aren't driven often. one of the reason for the last couple of rolling road sessions. I've found old engines like changes of oil & filter, air filter and when required or as preventative or performance change of spark plugs. A mate puts new plugs in ever year at annual service as they are so inexpensive (always stick to old copper type). Of course the engine is not the most important part of the car, instead brakes, steering, suspension (all three include tyres), lights (horn) and glass (windows, mirrors) (reflective number plates(?)) - see and be seen. Brakes can go hard from age and lack of use, and maintenance, brake fluid might be fine for water content but could have other stuff in it like runner that wears on the rubber seals more so flush changing can be a good idea - or if you don't have that new fangled ABS silicone is very good and too many myths surrounding its use. Tyres are a very complex component and often ignored if there is plenty of tread on them, they can go hard from age, exposure and lack of use, a new set of tyres can make a (big) difference to braking, steering, road holding, handling and comfort and noise. Yes sorry about that, another one of my typos I already had to covert it to miles so I knew it was 195k-miles. Apart from a couple of times when I supply information and instructions to the mechanic and his boss if applicable and even leave another copy in the car these are ignored by either the mechanic, the boss or both. I always ask that if any issues come up just to let me know, they rarely do and slow or mess the job up. That's was one of the reasons I started do the work for myself because after I had paid someone to do the work I had to redo it to get it right. Sadly sometimes I can do a better job, that's not a boast just a very sad statement because I'm not that competent and certainly not with a good attitude to doing the work. Yet I don't mind doing small jobs on my neighbours' cars. And here endth today's sermon . . . 😃

I think it's fantastic you have such a car and are looking after it, 1997 is a modern car though. 😄 Well done on the 133,000 km 331,000 km on the original head gasket, shows it's been looked after. Don't get me wrong I'm not a mechanic or anything else and I loathe working on our cars, when we had them, I would much sooner pay someone else to do the work but I found most were not that great and I could do just as badly at a much lower rate of pay. As you've probably learnt cover the basics and all else is better, regular timely, servicing and maintenance is very necessary with older cars not matter how much you use them, and like with modern cars the less you use them proportionately the more they require. JP Group I don't know but they appear like others to have perhaps parts made or bought in and put in their own label boxes along with their other label Classic Line, just looking at a dissy for a VW they look similar quality to a few other brand labels we get here and as you've learnt in general best avoided. Remind me of First Line here that actually bought some of the production line so still keeping the old brand name but not to the old standards, like Borg & Beck that you might have heard of, they do at least have some level of quality control on what they produce but not as good as decades back. Sorry I couldn't help more with that. What places might be making good parts at any time varies with contract, at one time the ship builders in Turkey (IIRC) were desperate for work so making so parts at very low prices but to good engineering standards because that's what they were used to doing. Sometimes the case with China but not for car parts usually or India, Massive stock contracts go to whoever will do them cheap and the stock can last for years. Most suppliers will send you a new part to replace a faulty one and not want the faulty part back, and repeat as required, law of numbers occasional you might strike lucky. Even having the original tooling means nothing, it could be worn and/or no one left who knows how to use the tooling properly. Stick with Bosch or Beru for rotor arm and dissy cap if applicable, SMP Europe's Intermotor brand not bad for arm and cap (whereas their Lucas and Lemark brands are best avoided, for old car parts at least, Genuine NGK for spark plugs are reliable. HT leads you can make up yourself, Ferroflex is good to use (no longer sold direct to retail) but available from various places at low prices, just watch the quality of the end boots and connectors, you can buy better, and make to proper lengths. If it was a Lucas diisy you can get NOS good quality parts and advice on springs for curves but if your old dissy works well stick with that, there are good quality ignitor head to go under the dissy cap to replace the CB points but you might want a rest from electronics for a while. 😆 Good luck.

Just out of curiosity where did you get the poor quality dissy from, if UK I can think of a few suppliers but it doesn't matter as their source is the same and for other suppliers in other countries, just that I might be able to advice you on other ignition parts from them if I know them.

@SaltySkoda you must be new to dealing with old cars parts(?). For 30+ years I used various old over-priced, over-valued, old cars called "classics" for work, commuting (300 and 500 miles a week for a good number of months) leisure, pleasure, holiday in UK and Europe, club tours and events so many miles in all of them and got through a lot of servicing, maintenance and repairs and dealt with and sourced many parts from various sources. Many new parts have been not good / ****-poor / abysmal for at least the last few decades as original manufacturing companies disappear, get taken over or merge, the brand name is bought and manufacturing entirely different or parts are sourced from places like China were the price dictates the quality and quality testing. Now even New Old Stock parts, if you can source them, may be from a time when the quality had dropped or suffer from age and storage. Reconditioned parts could also be not good / ****-poor / abysmal quality. Parts from scrapyards are a gamble may be great may be very worn, but even very worn they may still be better than many new not good / ****-poor / abysmal parts. Some new parts or replacements like the 123-ingition were very good quality. I don't know about your make of dissy but the ones on the cars I had were out of 'tune' for want of a better word within a few years of use from the car leaving the factory, mainly it's the bottom mechanical part the plate and springs, it never mattered that much as has been put the accuracy of the rest of the engine isn't great anyway. We have a chap in the UK that rebuilds original Lucas dissys using original old stock parts or new electronic top parts if wanted but I've no idea how long the bottom parts remain in spec on his rebuilds, again it may not matter that much for most of his customers who may only do a few dozen, or few hundred or even few thousands of miles a year. My Midget I used as a "daily" for about 16 years and it was modestly uprated so I wanted reliable (uprated) performance which the 123 gave me at a very reasonable price given how long it has so far lasted and been very reliable and not needed any attention (other than annual cleaning) and it was a very good improvement over the igniter head in an original dissy it replaced, the increased precision meant it other (small) performance (in fuel consumption and power) improvement could be reliable made and as put better starting, idle and delivery throughout the rev range. I stopped using contact breaker points over 30 years ago as they weren't reliable then, some love them but they don't know what they are missing having electronic BUT it has to be good reliable and long lasting electronic which many of the ones sold certainly are not. Good luck, you don't need to over lubricate the dissy and stick with good quality makes of rotor arms, dissy caps, HT leads and spark plugs don't be tempted by the cheap kits and parts as you've found they can turn out to be expensive and a lot of hassle, sometimes almost immediately if not immediately.

ETA: I'd just about finished typing when I saw SaltySkoda's post but as the generally points are still relevant I've posted, and will reply to the previous post next. Yes, but my point was about accuracy generally, carb to injection and as you have put accuracy of the engine generally from new and at age and wear. I didn't mean that they wont have the curves that are suitable just that they don't have any listed for Skoda. The curves may well be similar to other engines that Felicia owners have used from 123 and other suppliers of dissys. The original dissy curves may no longer be the best for the car now, or indeed at the time, there are many variables on and off the car from when it was factory new and when it was new there might have be many compromises to the dissy and curve used for many reasons. You would have to enquire with Vrbra to see how much they stuck to original or updated for modern road use. 123 do custom units but as I put another of their stock dissys may be suitable, or may not, enquiries would have to be made, tune/programable versions would be suitable but more expensive than the 'standard' versions whether more expensive than Vrbra I obviously don't know as they don't give prices. If the Vrba units or kits work well and are reliable over a very long time of use with parts, if required easily available and not too expensive then they may well be the best choice. Race car generally get very little use and do very few miles but get lots of regular attention, servicing, maintenance and repairs the dead opposite of what I'd want with a road car.

Sorry I always get Lidl and Aldi mixed up. 😁 I can tell you never owned a (real?) Skoda in the 1980s. 😆 I do actually always get the two m, we've got one (eventually) being built about 100 yards away as the crow flies and I've still no idea which it is despite everyone reminding me and whether it's the one my wife likes. It'll be chaos on the road with all the elderly shoppers and the big Mercs that go to these shops, they've already reduced the number of parking spaces on their plans. I'm in one of those moods this morning, we had the model name before, the smart Passion Coupe (sit up and beg type, Leaksters were later, under Merc, well Daimler) and LHD. Whatever the gearbox type was and whatever it was called I don't know and can't remember, something like an automated manual, whatever it didn't have a clutch pedal, I do remember that. You could have it with flappy paddles on the steering wheel just like those red Fezzas. Thanks to that A-Class falling over the £5k smart got all the safety electronics as on a £80K+ Merc (but as you know you'd not want a turn of the century Merc, that's what buggered the smarts) so the box of electronics was as big as the engine. To give Merc their due the smart engine was great and all the electronics worked too. There was a lag in gear changes in auto but you got used to it. BMW copied the idea of boutique selling from smart for their MINI (Maxi) brand and interior design, Fiat too for the interior for their rereleased 500s. I like using a clutch for gear changes even if I fluff them sometimes but with back and joint issues I can see (and feel) the benefits of autos for A to B driving .

Please don't you've got a VW diesel, think of the folk behind you. 😁 Thanks for the vid, enjoy your holiday.

I do not know the system at all so it could well be superior, but we also have a carb in the equation here so not exactly the fuel precision we are generally re more used to now but again it could be superior. I get nothing from 123, I am merely a satisfied customer giving my experience of it which may have variable relevance here, or it may not. I accept that but from what I remember of my mid-80s Estelle engines and the British 60s and 70s British engines (designed in the 1950s) not much is too precise, the 123-ignition fully electronic (top and bottom) dissy was so much better than the mechanical dissy and better than ignitor heads under the dissy cap that the precision was greater than much else. My 123 was set and only moved on the first rolling road session in 2011, in the following four rolling road (sessions up to 2020) it remained at that setting despite experimenting with moving it and changes in other parts and changes in the petrol available over that period. My car was modestly above the manufacturer's claimed outputs so I suggested perhaps the 123 should be adjusted up a curve because of this the tuner (who used to previously sell 123) was too polite to laugh but just said it was not needed other fuelling adjustments were enough. The 123 does produce a fatter spark (hence scarring the dissy posts in my case) so the plug gap could be increased to get the performance benefit, fuel economy and power, but not by as much as some claimed, IIRC just 0.003" (0.0762mm) and you want your coil and HT leads in good condition to take best advantage.

You've got 6 gears(!). I put what Ootohere has recently in another thread (but about wrong box 😄) when my wife had a hire VW (SEAT) 1.0 (3pot) TSI (110PS) it had 6 gears and you'd be in 3rd at 15mph and 5th at 35 mph which was fine pootling around an empty town , I think it was that low to save the engine with a pot missing. Ootohere disagrees but I think VW 4-pots have always been a bit badgers arse, certainly to me have sounded rough for decades at least, hence all the insulation on VW, might as well have a diesel for all the noise. So take one away pot and things can't improve, unlike other manufacturers they never really made small three cylinder engines before recently (and 1 litre isn't that small). I have proven to my neighbour, in his Ren-No! Nissan that ignoring the suggested gear change points increase fuel economy and does no harm to the engine as the revs are still not high and well within the power band. For block changes they are often suggested by the car anyway, which you can often ignore for best effect by I go from 6th to 4th or even 2nd where appropriate and 2nd to 4th when the car suggest 3rd because the computers are not yet programmed with the road gradients or se the road surface condition, the vehicles in front of the vehicle in front. Perhaps when they buy the information learnt by these shop delivery robots (though that might go to the military). What you want to bear in mind with the gearing, you might have only so far driven the car with just the driver or one passenger, three passengers I've found makes a big difference, and I don't mean with three big passengers, so imagine four passengers and then with luggage, perhaps a roof rack too, then going up and long slope or hill and back down with tight bends. 1st gear is always a bit annoying on a family car, until you need it. You are giving the reasons why I suggest not spending on cosmetics until you've driven the car all year round in all conditions as you don't really know the car until then and what you might want to change on it, also things you might have originally thought you wanted to change no you have got used to or see the point of - and you've saved your money for the bit(s) you never expected to fall apart so soon. 😆

I am not criticising the system Papez has put up as I know nothing about it just a generalisation, what is good for motorsport is not necessarily so good for non-motorsport road use and there are lots of "classics" about with vacuum removed dissys but motorsport isn't about lower revs and idle, or fuel consumption so much. Same with D.FYLAKTOS's "4 throttles", also about how the Felicia is to be driven or used, I understand it already has a Weber but those can be jetted for more usual non-sport road use. IF there is a 123-ignition dissy I know from personal experience that they are very good (CSI is a now better design for Austin/BMC/BL A-series engines though) they give great engine starts, better idle, steady throughout the rev range, other than cleaning nothing to do on them, many, many years of trouble-free use (15 and counting with the one I bought), fit and forget, it comes with (or without) vacuum advance. I have highlighted the provisos already, the cost is not high when you consider the many, many years of trouble-free service, the cheaper ones as SaltySkoda has already found are very hit and miss in reliability and longevity, some buy two and keep the second in the boot or carry a fully made up original dissy which personally I find ridiculous as I prefer fit and forget reliability I only like driving the car not tinkering with it or having "fun" with roadside repairs. But as always each to their own preferred solution.

Hi, welcome Abigal. Sorry I've only just seen your post. Looking at the Owner's Manual (as I always do and suggest all owners do no matter how long they have owned their vehicle) I take it by the 6 physical push buttons you have the Swing Infotainment system. In the Owners Manual it has - "Sound settings The Infotainment system sound is set in the menu. The following settings are available in the menu: . Equaliser . Volume ratio . Individual Infotainment functions volume - The volume can be adjusted in e.g. one of the following menu items: - Volume adjustment of voice commands - Maximum volume when the Infotainment system is switched on - Speed-dependent volume - Muting the Infotainment system with the Parking Aid switched on. Depending on vehicle equipment, the following advanced sound settings are available: . Space optimisation . Audio profiles according to genre . Subwoofer volume" So I take it having never seen the system, that if you have it ,in the Swing it's a virtual subwoofer. to set the tone settings is via the equaliser. (As a former home hi-fi nut, formerly with the tinnitus from it, I've never found a preprogramed tone/profile that wasn't tiring after a short time, but each to their own.) What is it you want to achieve with your off-board external amp and real subwoofer, very loud booming and boomy bass or musical bass? In the 1970s there where "wardrobe" speakers for the big bass sound of reggae, sometimes moved from house to house for parties, they were called "wardrobe" because of their size and output but you'd have to be high to listen to them as they sounded dreadful being totally inappropriate for their locations.

On a quick search (Google Chrome doesn't recognise "EFB+") this is about it and I got this by an on-site search of Tayna Batteries. - "STRONGPRO EFB+ Exide’s Strong battery is now “EFB+”. Exide’s StrongPRO battery range is now stronger than ever. A new carbon-based formula of negative active mass enhances the rechargeability and charge acceptance of StrongPRO EFB+ battery. Additionally, the HVR® (highvibration-resistant) technology enables StrongPRO EFB+ to pass the extreme vibration tests under the new European V4 standard (EN 50342-1:2015). A more robust and more lasting battery means reduced total service cost for fleet owners and truck drivers, allowing less replacements over vehicle’s service life and minimized risk of unexpected and premature battery failure." - https://cdn.tayna.com/datasheets/Exide Commercial Batteries 2023 Brochure (1).pdf

You can get them for a bit less at other reputable places. I found I'd copied & pasted this from rum4mo ready for when I was going to do it until I added up the costs (had it done as part of a Dealership service instead £99 IRC). - "NGK spark plug for the 1,2TSI 16V engine:- at the age of your car the factory fit would have been VW AG part number 04E 905 601 with no NGK reference number on them, just VW AG NGK on the insulator. the replacements I bought from a UK based sparkplug supplier as NGK were in fact NGK plugs packed in VW Group boxes with VW Group part number 04E 905 601 B on the box and on the plug body, the box also had the corresponding NGK part number/model printed below the VW Group part number and that is NGK PZKER7B8EGS. 22NM torque 16mm spark plug socket. Laser Tools sell a conveniently sized one, 245mm long 3/8" sqr drive with a magnet in it to hold the plug secure Laser Tools 3682. Edit:- one thing about that Laser Tools spark plug long socket is, many places list it as being 14mm, but the Laser Tools item with the part number 3682 is 16mm, I can't explain why still after many years, some places including Halfords which seem to be the cheapest, are describing it as being a 14mm socket! Get them to open the packaging up and check it with their dial callipers before paying for it!"

I thought you could bang it into manual and at least have the pretence of being in charge of something, after all CVTs show gear numbers. 😆 A chap in our club had a Lidl TT when they first came out, just after(?) the time Mercs were failing to negotiate around elks, and it confirmed the Audis were no longer the brand of the 70s and 80s. His was away for most of 18 months while the manufacturer tried to sort all the issues, after the first time he insisted on a T as a replacement and that seemed to work but it put me off the marque. I think DSG was after this but the Lidls used them first I heard of it IIRC. I couldn't even cope with the manual push lever on the (Merc spoilt smarts) let alone the flappy paddle things on the steering wheel. Then we went to a local show with smart owners meet (we were about 10-15 years older than any others) and a young chap explained I could just turn the switch round at the lever - but it was my wife's car so none of my business. She insisted on having a grey import LHD only a number of months before smart UK established itself at Milton Keynes (20 miles away) but she preferred the LHD to RHD (battery, seatbelt position(s) IIRC) and smart UK were an absolute shambles and the Merc dealerships as bad as you remember at the turn of the centuries.

EFB+ is an enhancement of the enhanced EFB (enhanced flooded battery). AGM is Absorbed Glass Mat and not flooded as such, VW call AGM "Fleece". EFB+ never, or hasn't, caught on for cars. MY wife's car came with the factory EFB battery (EFB are cheap for VW to buy, I decided to swap it for AGM to give the type a try as the car does at least two very short drives each workday and possibly no more sometimes (depending on social calendar) and despite what some think the alternator would not keep the battery well enough for this use medium and long term. There's lots of info on the www about EFB and AGM batteries but not much on EFB+ but it is on there if you want to confirm things for yourself (as much as you can on the internet).

Don't drive at too lower revs or that lugging the engine, ignore what the computer says about when to change gear, from my experience it's often far too low revs for the good of mpg or saving the engine. You know your car and when it feels right to change gear (don't always trust the computers they're no always right, they've been programmed and there are errors and mistakes in programs otherwise why all these updates (of course "user errors"). 😁 Yes of course, why would you want to be sitting in a tin box when it's hot, unless it's a sauna - and why are you spending so much time on your phone when you're supposed to be on your holidays, put it under one of your rear tyres and leave it there as a secondary handbrake. 😁 I hate and loathe the things (I like to drive a car and not just be a passenger behind the steering wheel) but cruise-control (in manual gear shift mode preferably, is that allowed by the car) is best way to keep throttle steady and get better mpg, saves micromovements of your right foot on the accelerator, and perhaps that automatic cruise control but I've never driven with that, I've only ever used the old cruise control once, in the 90s IIRC, car might have been older, I didn't like it at all. seemed to be a way to loose concentrating on your driving to me and imagine if you had distractions like turning the AM station in, turning the cassette tape over, looking at the page on the road atlas, talking on the phone. 😁 IF I'm correct diesels run cooler, particularly in winter but I've no idea about oil temperatures for them. In the same way the coolant temperature gauge is biased to rock steady 90, on a petrol anyway, I suppose giving exact figures could cause too much worry. And seeing the figures changing on readouts or gauges going up and down would cause more worry. That's why they removed the numbers off the old mechanical gauges and just had zones and 'C', perhaps 'N', and 'H' on the "water temp" gauge but you could still see the needles move between open road and restricted, and oil pressure go up and down with gear changes, oil temperature was too frightening to see particularly in very cold slow conditions or fast hot conditions, best not to know, only gave more to worry about. 😆 As I used to tell my wife , with the old cars it's just a gauge not an accurate, which she'd remind me of when we went below half a tank, which was unfair because that gauge was good but with a tank of less than 6 gallons and still a long way to go and petrol stations few and far between it was best I took notice. On the split dual gages you could have the 'water temp' needle of its scale and into the oil pressure scale, depending on the car it was no panic just meant the engine was hot but not overheating. 😁 Computers would probably not allow such reporting now. 😆 Enjoy your holiday, unless something happens just let us know when the garage has sorted all and what they tell you the cause was.

Fair enough, perhaps it's just best to change the "serial" number just to show the battery had been changed and wasn't the original one from the factory. Below was from when a Briskoda member changed the 'coding' on my wife's car using OBDeleven, we didn't bother with a three character code for the battery manufacturer, I was told the Bosch battery is a Varta anyway (VA0). So your car is less than 5 years old and had the battery replaced, another instance of how common this is. When required use an appropriate battery charger maintainer, best in a proactive preventative way and certainly better than a a late reactive way and then you should see a much longer life to your EFB+ battery.