nta16

GT85 used to be a British company, I used it on my pushbikes in the 1980s, now it's owned by one of the big invasive American organisations called . . . WD-40 Company. There's obviously a reason why they continue to market it to bikes, possibly because they have a WD-40 labelled version, I've no idea if it's the same stuff or as good or if it has the same lavender(?) smell. Same for PlusGas, once British but no more, not sure if PlusGas isn't as good as it used to be or just rose tinted memories. Instead of Kurust we used to have Trustan 23 (tannic acid) I used that for decades and it worked, put some on a very small chip rust spot once then missed putting paint over it a year later the metal was still fine. We are great in this country at undervaluing local stuff and particularly now going for the brasher presentation, marketing and sales (and higher prices and consumption) that they do so well over the pond.

Remanufactured/refurbished/reconditioned - all depends on the state the original unit was in when sent in for work, who does the work, how well and how many times it might have been through the cycle. I had a car that used lever arm dampers (unfortunately they weren't the same ones as used on contemporary London Taxis at the time) and recon ones were very cheap to buy, which was enough of a warning really but lots of people and garages bought them and fitted them, and I think for recon they probably got little more than a wipe over and respray and perhaps fresh (cheap as possible) oil in but I'd not be surprised if even that was missed out, then re-con price, retail supplier's uplift and VAT. I'm sure some were worse condition that the worn dampers they replaced. 20 years later I saw the same dampers were being sold, bit higher prices but not by that much and people were still buying them.

For stuck flap if you can see or get at any hinge/slide/wotever point and cable ends then you could try a quick shake 'n' spray of a good long lasting lubricant (not WD-40 Multi-Use) my preference is for GT85 and leave to soak in for a few minutes then try working it in with gentle operation. Only as a general example as your VW Citgo system may well be different. - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3m_mZ8_8EC0 https://gt85.co.uk/ HTH.

Well done. As I used to try to explain to my wife some things on a car just won't fit unless you swear at them. She tells everyone that when I do this I only use four swear words but I use them in rapid repeats, which is true. All my neighbours know not to approach me if I'm working on one of our cars but I will happily stop and talk if I'm doing (small, easy) jobs on my neighbour's car - and I've never like VWs (except Golf GTi Mk1). You posses some fabulous delicate precision instruments known as your hands and fingers, use those where you can before using other tools, and use manual tools in preference to power tools where you can. For work and diagnosis also use your touch, eyes, ears, nose (even taste sometimes but beware) often these can tell you stuff the computers can't - but also use your own computer, your brain, especially to confirm anything a computer tells you. Brakes are a very dirty business but you want to keep things clean whilst working on them. Once you've opened a bottle of brake fluid don't keep any remaining too long, once you know for sure you don't need any for top up from this job dispose of the unused fluid along with the drained/spilt fluid. I only put tonight that this is the 21st century yet we have to put up with this nasty stuff for brake fluid mainly because it's so cheap for the car manufacturers and car trade to use, ancient technology in the same way as the internal combustion engine.

I've been happy with the Halfords Advanced stuff I've had. 6mm and 7mm Halfords Advanced Combination Spanner with Surface Drive Plus ("An average of 28% more torque before rounding on the open end") - £3.29 - https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/spanners-and-wrenches/halfords-advanced-combination-spanner-with-surface-drive-plus-712414.html They don't do 6 or 7mm but do 11mm - Halfords Advanced Flare Spanner - 9mm/11mm - £5.29 - https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/spanners-and-wrenches/halfords-professional-flare-spanner-228251.html Good luck.

It might depend on what the Ctek means or interprets as full, then it depends on how long the battery holds this charge or if something about the car is messing with or messing up the battery. If the battery is too low in charge and charged too quickly it won't accept the charge or will show a full too early due to surface charge, I prefer to use my 1.8 amp charger but it does take a long time, could be up to about 60 (six, nought) hours if seriously flat, say below 5v at start but I've done from less than 3v but I'd not necessarily trust the battery for car use for long at that low and not a more modern Germany marque. Something I missed before is that you put the battery as Exide 70amp EFB I thought VW went over to Banner Batteries but perhaps they changed supplier contract again. Which diagnostics equipment, Dealer scan tool or VW battery load tester (with print out?)? Same for Dealership, If the battery is too low in charge and they charge it too quickly it won't accept the charge or will show a full too early due to surface charge they should know this and be using the correct appropriate equipment - but . . .

Yes it's what the car manufacturers, tuners and first purchasers also do. 😄 But being serious we know what you mean. Unfortunately that doesn't work for the vast majority of purchasers it just puts them off what could be a perfectly good car honestly presented. Any decent photo of a reasonably presented car will make it look good, I've taken photos of cars I've owned for insurance and thought how good they look in the photo and I've only cleaned them and taken the photo with a very modest (digital) camera (not phone). I once sold a car of mine and a chap came to have a look at it for his girlfriend/partner/wotever, he liked it and I said he'd have to bring her with him next time so that she could look at and drive it if it was for her and not him. I admit I took an instant dislike to him to say time, he seemed very smarmy and a bit , can't remember now but I didn't like it, I remained very polite and easy going as perhaps I'd got him wrong . He'd arrived early with her for the appointment, probably trying to be clever to catch me out and I was just finishing off polishing the bonnet on a sunny day before having my mug of tea and sandwich before their arrival. He started on about he'd not seen the stone chips on the bonnet on his first visit and I could see where he was heading and I admit it did annoy me as I didn't really take to the guy. So I explained that if I'd want to hide them I'd not have cleaned and polished the car that highlighted them in the bright sunny day and instead left a cover of dust over the car that would have helped to hide and disguise the small stone chips and if he thought differently he should go and have a look for another example for sale, there are two sides to a sale/deal/contract neither are forced to deal with the other, he changed tack. This was a Japanese car, they tend to be generally short people, like me, she wasn't over tall but very leggy and to me didn't look over comfortable fit in the driver's side but she said she was very happy with the drive and the car. Though I'd not put a high price he of course wanted to haggle so I immediately dropped to my lowest acceptable price which took the wind out of his sails. My wife didn't understand this until I explained that he'd obviously done his research well so knew values and that it was a good price, that he knew I'd not mess about with him given our earlier exchange and that I thought he'd definitely settle for that and buy it there and then and a sale is better than having to hold on to the car for a potential sale later at only possibly higher price. I didn't have the room, time or inclination to hold on to a car I didn't use. Many s/h car buyers can be a real PITA, wanting to buy a used car and expecting it to be as if it was brand new unused, some go power mad or too personal or emotional about themselves, the seller or worse still the lump of metal and plastic (or plastic and metal for modern cars). Obviously you expect more from a Dealership, garage or professional sale but you can see why many prefer to sell to professionals or "trade-in" rather than potentially get more money from a private sale.

I will ask a Moderator to move this to the Skoda Octavia Mk III (2013 - 2020) forum as you have posted it in the 'Driving and Touring Routes' forum.

A very quick Google look , I could be wrong but I'm guessing that's not going to tell you more than general OBD generic stuff especially if it's not to the complexities of VW and L&K I'm guessing is loaded with more complex VW extras. Perhaps better than a slap in the face with a wet fish and might alert you to something (as long as it's accurate) but you might already see, feel, hear or smell most given of it on a long and varied enough test drive and use/running of the car from standing overnight cold to hot, heavy and not overcareful use of as much as you can and together on the car. If you can't leave the salesman back at the garage see if you can at least get him in the back seat. Good luck.

That's a good start but it doesn't allow for stuff not reported and again could include errors, cheap checks sometimes mean very little (look at the get out clauses) and I'd not rely on a seller to know much or all about the car (or with some care or even downright lies). Check all plates and labels on the car to match each other and match all paperwork. With paperwork sort into reverse chronological order to check and cross reference it with all available information. If the seller upsets you you can always leave the paperwork in the order you found it. Computer records are also useful but again not totally reliable. Really take your time on getting accurate research before you get too carried away with the car. You might even find it's better than advertised or you expected but if it's not you certainly want to know. Good luck, all the best. ETA: make sure it has two fully functioning keys/remote and they are for that particular car and anything else that should be or comes with the car (garages/Dealers lose stuff and like to play shuffle with bits). Take lots of high-definition photos that you can zoom in on a large(r) screen monitor to inspect and check.

A 20+ year old car could have a lot of non-originals bits on it and possibly convenience or force fit parts. Once cleaned up a socket and hand/t-bar over the fitting can be the way to go as you can then feel better what is happening, you may need a deep socket to get over the nipple head on a size that small. Always remember when doing a job for yourself there are no prizes (other than ego boasting that many seem to like) for how quick you can do a job so always allow at least treble the time you may think it might take you to do the job and that way if you complete it sooner then that's good but if you take a lot longer, so wot. Always try do a good job, many professionals only do a quick job. If possible allow for having to walk away from the job, or be held up by something, for a while, anyway there are many better things to be doing than farting-about with cars.

Original rear bleed valves show as requiring a 7 mm spanner - as quoted earlier.

Looking at your photo again the nipple against the feed pipe the nipple is very small, but I'd have thought 7mm would be the smallest size but perhaps that bleed nipple isn't original to the car and brake drum. You don't want to round the nipples off like the idiot did to the front, To get the nipple open you need to clean around the base of the nipple and threads and the spanner/socket flats on the nipple to get the large bits of muck off perhaps with a pick or small flat-bladed (slotted) screwdriver then finer cleaning with white spirit/petrol/brake-cleaner and perhaps an old toothbrush or similar and rag allow to dry or dry off perhaps use a small wire brush to get any remaining stuff/rust off then apply (soak) a *penetrating/releasing agent* to the base of threads and leave to soak in overnight, or more (the secret is time and patience) this gives you plenty of time to find a spanner or tool to fit next day with correct tool you can see if the nipple loosens off, if not redo 4, 5, and 7. It may be than any spanner or tool that small may not have enough give you enough length for sufficient leverage but be very careful about extending the leverage length too much and loosing the feel and breaking the nipple. *penetrating/releasing agent* - this could be GT85, PlusGas or if you have it my least favourite WD-40 (not such a long lasting lubricant) https://www.plusgas.co.uk/en-gb https://gt85.co.uk/ Be very careful not to break the nipple off, you must look, see and feel if the nipple and it's thread are actually moving, if so you can apply a little more penetrating/releasing fluid (GT85 is good as it's also a lubricant fluid. Once you know you can loosen and tighten back up again the nipple you can then think about bleeding (better still changing the brake fluid, flush and and bleed. If the front nipple has been rounded then perhaps its best to replace the nipple with a new nipple. As put sometimes different spanners of the same size (or different size) can be a better fit. I bought a 7mm spanner especially for a bleed nipple and it wasn't as good a fit as I hoped but it done the job, if yours is less than 7mm you could try another 6mm (or 1'4" if you know anyone that has very old British cars) I can't see it being 5mm/3/16". Try the clean, soak & leave and let us know how you get on.

Your photo looks like it might be of a rear brake drum, in a very quick skim through the 'HatBoyHarvey' vid I think his brakes were all discs so that might be the difference and perhaps the bleed nipple on your brake drum is 10mm. When you have the pipe on and bleed nipple(s) open before pushing the brake pedal (if you are going to push the pedal) or fixing up pressure thing, put some grease around the now exposed threads on the bleed nipple(s) and that will help not to draw air past the threads and into the system and fluid moving in the tube.

Your attachment doesn't open. In the following video the size appear to be 11mm he says some are 10mm, the guy 'HatBoyHarvey' seems to make good videos on the mk1 Fabia, he shows two methods, a version of two-person and container (jar) this can also be adapted to done by one-person, ask if you want details, and one person pressure system which many favour (but nnot me). Or you can ask on the Mk1 Fabia forum on this site. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/26-skoda-fabia-mk-i-1999-2007/ HTH. SKODA FABIA Brake Bleeding and Fluid Change (MK1 99-07) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNg_0Fg_Hso

Mistakes are also copied from one database to others, same for car parts and all other stuff. Aways check any information you get, for anything, from any source including manufacturers, Government and particularly off the internet, if you can check and cross-reference against a couple of other (as much as possible) reliable sources. As put a confirmed VIN should give original build information from various sources. Good luck.

Yes I've explained that a leak should be reasonably easy to find by various methods for non-specialist VW SEAT garage or VW SEAT specialist garage/Dealership and only requires the time, effort and will, though it has been away for days at a time on at least on two occasions I know of. Tiring for me to think of all the plastic bits in a German car engine bay (and I forget the plastic bits inside some German engines). I assume the Aldi plastic bits are of better quality as they are also (hidden) on the Bentleys. Top-ups were originally with tap water before I took some spare VW G14 coolant (known as G12evo) but after about 4.5 litres over the months I've run out and apparently the local SEAT Dealership specified G12evo from there computer system (though of course that is more of a concern and has me questioning my decision). It's not say the VW garages are any better as her friend had the little rad replaced because of a leak for the car to back to have much of the work repeated as they failed to notice a crack in the plastic of the main rad - and of course they get away with charging for the two jobs. I'm back there Thursday hoping I can get a top up of G14 (to the 'min' line) for the hire Arona as that will mean the Leon has been sorted but I won't hold my breath.

"Hand me down the Troll repellent Bat Spray." "Holy behemoth ogre, there's no point he's already repellent."

Yes, see previous answers. Total generality but a 0w-30 oil may be better than a 5w-30 or perhaps a 0w-40 if you get warmer/hotter weather too - but the numbers only mean so much, a good oil is a good oil but obviously a better oil is better if it is required. I would use 0w-30 here in UK and where I am and we have never experienced -25c (lowest recorded -18.3C on 8 February 1895) but unusual to get minus about 6 or 7 I would guess (cannot check at the moment).

You definitely want to view the oil temperature and take more notice of that for engine warming than the coolant temperature gauge and see when the oil gets to 90c which may be more than 10m (16km) depending on what precautions you have with the car for driving in such temperatures. Personally, if I was keeping the car particularly, I would be using very good quality fully (proper) synthetic engine oil and good quality engine oil filter for those temperatures especially when only doing short journeys as the better oils work better and protect better at very low temperatures (and very high temperatures). What VW recommends is fine but I would want better as I have no commercial tie-in with any oil company and I have an interest in the engines and transmissions (and car) lasting well beyond VW's maximum warranty period. Depends on the conditions, at least out of the sun perhaps, the dark might be good for the tyres, you would know better than I from experience. It might, or might not, mean you need your brake fluid checking/changing more. Brakes are the most important system, components, parts on the car, then steering and suspension (all three include tyres) safety electrical items (lights, horn, blower, etc.), windows and mirrors (see and be seen) the engine and other stuff is actually of less priority. If the car doesn't or can't move it is generally safer than if it can not stop, steer or reasonable handle with it being driven. That's good but may not count much against the rest of the lack of use. Say 1,500 miles a year that leaves only say 1,500 miles spread over say 350 days of the year. Yes sorry I am slow at typing and then editing my post, I did correct that edit when I remember the 7 years was your driving experience. Anything else you want to know just ask, living in such condition you must have lots of experience after 7 years of driving but we can all, regardless of age and experience, learn more (or be reminded of some of the stuff we might have forgot at my age).

The time and miles numbers are just given as an average, your car servicing, maintenance items and engine oil (and filter) could need changing before or after any interval given be it time or milage. I don not know what country you are in or about the ambient temperatures or weather or if your car is garaged or always kept outside so the following is just general. For a lot on things on the car lower use and milage is not as good as you may think, it may be much higher use and milage is better. For the engine oil if you do lots of short journeys so that the engine oil does not warm enough this is worse than if you do longer journeys where the engine oil fully warms up and remains warm. Better to look at the oil temperature than the coolant temperature gauge as that gauge is set to show 90 and remain at 90 even though it could be below or above 90, you want the oil temperature to show 90c to consider the engine and engine oil warmed. If you do lots of short journeys, less than say 16km (10m) non-stop, particularly in very cold weather then changing the engine oil (and filter) once a year would be very advisable if you intend keeping the car a good while. Mileage makes little odds to other items on the car but can reduce average wear by sheer lack of use but it is that lack of use that can have adverse effects on other items. The car battery may get into lower states of charge so age and wear quicker. The preventative use of an appropriate battery charger maintainer following the instructions in the car's Owner's Manual and charger instructions will help prevent the earlier demise of the car battery and help prevent other issues a battery in low state of charge can cause. Preventative charging is done before the battery gets too low in charge which is well before any warning lights or messages appear and certainly before the engine has any difficulty in starting straight away. Just because the engine starts and the lights seem bright enough does not mean that the battery can not be in a low state of charge. Lack of mileage may mean the tyres age more so whilst the tread depth remains through low mileage the tread can become hard and less flexible, and same for the sidewalls, you may see crazing or cracking on the sidewalls, even if not the tyres may not perform as well due to aging and possibly lack of use. You have not mentioned engine air filter, usually changed at or between spark plugs changes again it depends on the environment where the car is parked but it could get dirty just with the car parked up. Have a read of your Owner's Manual for lots of very useful information about your car and how you should drive it and look after it. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models If you have not had the brake fluid and spark plugs done since 2 years ago you may need the brake fluid changing or checking.

KESSY you probably want a good reliable battery make from a good reliable source but for the non-KESSY remote I've used poundshop type batteries with no issues at all. @rum4mo I'm glad to hear the batteries last 8 years, though when the remote failed on my wife's car I did make a distress purchase of Duracell 2025, £2.50! Your daughter should use both keys and not keep one as a spare that way both remotes, batteries, keyblades and locks get even wear and she'll know exactly where the keys are and that both work rather than hunting for the mislaid (or lost) "spare" key to also find the battery is flat (bit like many spare wheels in boots). My wife has a hire car at the moment and it's 2023 VW SEAT Arona, 1.0, 3-pot, Opie Oil have it as a SUV, though the term is much overused the car look nothing like a SUV to me, not that it matters. The engine oil was on the full line but the coolant was just below min but has remained at that level so is fine, as you'd expect I checked the small car battery and put the charger on 5+ hours later it showed "FUL". Our hairdresser has a s/h 2019 VW SEAT Leon FR which has a coolant leak the garage/warranty company can't or can't be bothered to sort, I've tried not to worry her but increased the severity of possible causes as the car's been in three times that I've been told, they've (claimed to?) changed the coolant, new pressure cap and new pressure tank/reservoir on each visit (yes, I know) - any likely suspect for the loss? ETA: 1.5 TSI – 1495cc 96KW 130HP – DPBA

You should advise them and tutor them to do the work then in the future you can get them to do the work for you on your car and in your home, be grateful when they can do a better job than you. My wife is much better at identifying noises and remembering issues on a car than me (decades of practice with old cars) and yet sometimes I still say no I don't think it's that, just shows me up more when inevitably it is what she said. A mate has three strapping sons (wendy ball players at the time) and two of them were out in their mum's old Daewoo Matiz when the wheel (tyre) needed changing (they had three stud/bolts to each wheel) but it was beyond them to know or change the wheel, a mechanic at a nearby local garage took pity on them and done it for them as if they were sick elderly gents or ladies. One later I'm sure put oil in the coolant reservoir, at least he was trying. I blame the dad as I went to school with him and despite having loads of money now (unlike me, spent on cars) he does some of his own basic car jobs. The third son, the eldest and clumsy and always best kept away from any tools and much ease is now a Policeman and has had Police driver training of some sort, gawd help us all especially those where he work. During his probation/training period he managed to get T-packed as he got a new car that was cloned from the number plates and he's policing the demonstrations down that-there Lundun (overtime). Wow I'm a gossip and windbag!

Now that was ironic and doubly funny as those that repeated it possibly didn't know or forgot that some BL cars at least were devoid of such luxuries. Best one I heard was when I got my first speeding ticket, in 1985 in my 1985 120LS (4-speed) Estelle 2, the pedestrian copper waved me down at the roadside and apologised for having to report me but locals had been complaining, I didn't say so but was glad he'd pulled me over where he did as I was yet to get into 3rd off the lights, a wag at work later said "wot, did he write down your VIN number as you passed him at the roadside", one of the most original and best I heard. Doesn't look so good on paper and perhaps you had to be there to get the off the cuff speed, wit and intonations of it. I'm too young for 1976 driving and a new 1979/80 car so don't really know the 110R but I was once given as a courtesy car, not that they really done such things then, the Dealership (backstreet, lowly, friendly garages unlike the VWSKoda ever (but never) changing ones now) "flagship of the fleet" 105 Mk1 Estelle with huge mileage which I was told they couldn't kill despite giving it no attention, it was great fun slow but very willing and always trying, probably down in the 30s for hp, but a relatively light car (unlike lardy German stuff and modern cars) but boy was the steering stiff and heavy, even for the time and for such a relatively light car. I was overtaking something on a dual-carriageway when it cut out and sailed to a stop, no fuel. When I moaned about this when I returned the garage co-owner said "I told you to ignore the fuel gauge not the red low warning light". I was young having some fun, the Estelles were great fun, particularly the 2s and with wide (185/70r13 IIRC) Goodyear Eagle tyres, easy to embarrass a de-badged (ETA: BMW), even in those days, (probably 1.6) on the back roads.

Rooted and others will know about the 1.0 MPI engine. My wife currently has a 2023 VW SEAT with 1.0 3-pot TSI engine and it's not as bad as I was expecting ((we had Japanese 657cc turbo and 657cc 3-pot turbo engine'd cars, and a 699cc other German marque and they were great engines) I've never been a fan of VW 4-pots (never driven other VW engine vehicles other than the old air-cooled) and my wife's 4-pot 1.2 TSI is a bit (lot sometimes) badger's bottom sounding but goes well enough. I think you've missed the boat for minimise electronic reliance with a 2015 VW but not as bad as 2019?, 2021? 2023. Try disconnecting the battery monitoring stop/start at the battery negative terminal if you want to reduce some of the computer interference and reliance. Though your kids no doubt will want the infotainment and ****Nav "essentials" still and updates. Yours might not be in the group to suffer from such. My wife's is a September 2015 registered car but was made I think in April 2015 with a few bits on it as perhaps new year/model Dealership car, it's original history was made vague, my wife bought it at 10K-miles at about 18-months old from the Dealership as former owners, I'd trusted none of them there not to steal the sugar out of a hot coffee they gave me but my wife wanted the colour of the car and there were very few in the country s/h at the budget she had and this one exceed it, when they wouldn't give what we wanted we actually walked away and was in their car park looking at which GBG pub we would go to as we were 40 odd miles from home when the "salesman" just caught us before we drove off, how we wish we'd looked earlier. Get your kids to read and refer to the Owner's Manual, instead of Google to find stuff out, and they will save themselves (and you if you're a soft touch) time, hassle and money. I used to pay professional mechanics to balls stuff up that I could balls up less for myself for very little labour cost. I used to pay them the money and get more hassle from their work and often have to redo the job myself and I'm not good at mechanics and loathe farting about on my own cars and still do a better job (note I never put good job). 🙃 I had someone contact me earlier in the year from a post I put up on a fix it site 10+ years about my wife's previous car because the photos had gone, the simplest of jobs that anyone could do, easier and quicker to do than I could write to explain (especially without photos) but honestly beyond some garages or they wanted to con the owners into more work and cost, same with folding roof issues that often (certainly not always) be solved sometimes by would you believe sticking the keyblade in the door cylinder lock or first stage of easy resolve, saves paying Dealership or unscrupulous auto-electrician. But I respect the want or need of anyone who'd sooner pay someone else to avoid perceived hassle, been there had the numerous t-shirts not fit and fall apart. 😃