BlueWagon

I think if you have to add say 1L every 12,000 Miles thats nothing. 1/4 of the stick every 3,000, so the full high to low interval after 12,000....who cares. I'd think that after 12K you're nearly ready to change the oil anyway. Could be rings, turbo seals, pcv bypass.....hard to say without doing tests/looking in intake etc. After 200K miles its not like the motor isn't slightly worn. I'd just keep an eye on it.

How quickly did it drop? 1 second, 1 min, and did the heater get any cooler? Eg did the engine actually get cooler. Can you unplug the charge air coolant pump and see if it changes the results. I would think it could potentially cause excessive cooling...but not sure how much the effect on the engine temp would be as the thermostat should control the engine temp still.

Fuel pump in tank that you either didn't notice before or maybe is louder because they change a filter. There was alot of filters charged on that list. Was one a fuel filter? Where is the noise coming from? Inside, engine bay, underneath? Is it when engine running or just ignition on?

I would change the oil to the correct grade as a first step. No guarantee that it is correct or not long overdue for a change seeing that you just bought it.

Looks like an aftermarket mount off a towbar, bike carrier, or more commercial vehicle suspension component. Maybe a delivery van or the like. Unless you have aftermarket fittings on either car, probably not yours. Unlikely for something to fall off a car parked in a driveway. I'd expect it to fall off over a bump in the road or simply rattle off driving. Or from a vehicle parked there idling for a long time.

Probably not painted on the line but supplied painted and then fitted on the line. So the paint is not likely done by Skoda. Same as interior trim is probably painted/coloured where it is made not where it is fitted. Bumpers are likely supplied unpainted and painted separately by Skoda somewhere before they are fitted. Correct, there is paint behind the bumpers and inside engine bay. All bare shells free of engine, door trims interiour and glass would be painted as an early step on the line. Either way, 8 yrs is probably outside any warranty. I didn't realise how old it was when I said it should be warranted. I'd just get a body shop to paint it.

I think you'll find there is a low fluid warning on the brake system but the fluid level is probably not quite low enough to trigger warning on the brakes yet. Low on the reservoir is not empty, just the minimum level where everything can work fine. You said it was a week ago the clutch was playing up so it's a slow leak. I'd top it up and bleed the clutch system then start looking for leaks. Get someone to pump the pedals slowly and look for leaks underneath and in engine bay on firewall. As suggested by someone it could also be in the brake system. You just noticed the clutch failing first as it draws fluid from higher up.

As a spray painter, I doubt it's that challenging. They can simply (and very neatly) mask the screens and rest of the car then paint the part in situ. I've personally done plenty of roofs, trims, garnishes etc. Old or new, a good sand, some primer on the plastic part and it will be as good as ever. Yes 8 yrs is actually not bad for the length of paint life on a plastic part like that. UV and heat (from sun) will kill the clear coat pretty quickly. But not a massive job to fix properly either.

Hows the fluid level? Id check that first up. shared with the brake fluid as far as I know. I'd look for evidence of fluid leakage on the firewall or inside above the pedals. If there its the master cylinder and maybe easier to repair than the slave which may be inside the transmission bellhousing. If there is fluid leak under the trans it's the slave. Maybe a leaking pipe union.

Looks like peeling paint on the roof (turret). Should be warranted if within warranty period from factory. A body shop or panel beater would be able to repaint the roof. No need to replace anything, just repaint / respray that panel.

You probably did a minuscule amount of damage but I wouldn't worry about it. Plus it's done now. Same as when you do a really hard stop, you undoubtedly damage the tyres and wear the brake components etc but once won't be a worry. Every week, yeah, I would worry about that, but not once.

Maybe a loose fixture somewhere. The ticking didn't sound all that regular to me so more like a loose cam cover clip than the belt itself. Maybe a loose tool or something sitting around the engine. I've found a few sockets and spanners in car engine bays before. Left from previous works.

So if you lift off just a bit does the rpm drop off or stop rising, or do you have to release the pedal all the way?

I think he means when he holds his food steadily on the Accelerator pedal, above 2500 rpm the rpm keeps climbing. I think it's just a gimic of the drive by wire system. Can you just lift your foot a bit once the rpm is where you want it? Does it do the same on the road? Often free reving an engine you don't need much throttle to get the revs up, so a tiny movement of the throttle would increase the revs alot. It is much more damped on the road due to the load on the engine. Also, many drive by wire systems dampen the throttle response at low speeds or in low gear to make it smoother. You notice it alot when you loose the speedo input and its jumpy as he'll at low speed

There was an engine (Mini or Rover) on the Barum Engines YouTube channel where the flywheel bolts go into the oil filled gallery on the rear main bearing or into the oil pan maybe. I can't recall exactly. Without the bolts it passed oil. With bolts not sealed it weeped. It does happen...

Yeah, but it may be that other things like wheel alignment and the like are slightly damaged, it's just the CV joint is the one which shows up at higher speed, being the moving part. Not all wheel alignments are equal. Sometimes they only measure what can be adjusted. For example some places only measure toe in on solid axel vehicles as there is no regular adjustment for camber and caster. If the wheel is out of alignment in the vertical sense, the cv joint may be flexing more than its counterparts so causing vibration at high speed.

Sounds like the garage needs to scan with more upmarket scanner. Does the engine light come on BEFORE it dies or when it is sputtering? Almost seems like an electrical connector failing intermittently. Loose fuse or relay which is effected by softening or expansion of plastic with application of engine heat?? I guess some places don't have the top notch scanner It sounds like 1) some sensor failing as it warms up. 2) fuel starvation so I'd be cracking the fuel cap next time it dies (or drive home with cap off) 3) some electrical connection failing as it warms up. Very hard to pin point if not scanning a code, but you could try dousing the engine with cool water and trying to restart when it dies. Focus on sensors etc. The idea is that you cool them down and that replicates the waiting 10 min. Once you get this to work, try cooling different sensors and through process of elimination work out what one is the culprit.

When you say it conked out, describe in detail what happens. Eg, does it splutter, does the temp go up, does it crank over afterwards? Is the engine light on? Is it the fuel cap sealing too tightly/breather blocked. When it conks out, try opening the fuel cap. Need more details?

There is no temp signal (for whatever reason). So on order to ensure the best chance of NOT overheating, the ECU commands the fans to run. Better to run cold than overheat. Seems like a smart redundancy move to me. Like when early ecus, and probably modern ones loose a valid knock sensor reading they retard ignition timing so much that pre-ignition is extremely unlikely. Again, fail safe redundancy built in. That's my take on why old mate's fans are running.

I've personally seen it happen on Toyota Landcruisers and a few other makes too. The temp guage read lower than normal after a momentary overheat. Upon stopping we found the coolant was no longer occupying the top half of the engine. Guage read slightly lower than normal. Motor was roasting hot. Also on a Mazda one time after they hit a roo and punctured the radiator. They continued to drive (as temp guage was reading low) with no coolant. They quickly had an overheating condition which led to a smoked engine. All this time, no indication of over temp on the guage. So yeah, the theory does play out in practice.

No coolant = temp sensor doesn't read a high temp cause it's not sitting in hot water. If the temp guage isn't working but the engine definately gets up to temp, Id think your issue is very much related to the guage and the wiring and the plugs into ECU may be the fault. The car simply can't read its temp so runs fans to make sure it's not overheating.

How much did it take to refill? Was it just the coolant reservoir which was empty or the entire system? You may have air in the system if it got low enough. I'd not be driving far until you got it sorted. If you run it out of coolant you'll do serious damage to the engine If you're not mechanically minded it may be the garage for you my friend. A good look around the engine bay with a torch should locate the leak though. Especially if you remove the lower cover and look from below with torch

Is the engine actually getting warm? Hop out and feel it. Should be too hot to hold hand in head or engine block. You say the guage doesn't work, but it may be reading correctly but the engine is so cold (from fans running constantly) that it never reads above its low mark. Maybe a thermostat problem on the fan side. Can you unplug then fans and drive with them unplugged? What happens then? Maybe the coolant error is due to the system thinking the coolant is empty because its not reading a high enough temp.

20 min with low coolant alert. You're game. I think it's maybe a better idea to stop and check it (top up with water if needed). What was the temperature showing? With coolant low? Sometimes, if coolant is too low, the temp will also read low, as the sensor is no longer in coolant. Probably not the case here but plenty of motors have been trashed by drivers pushing on after overheat and suddenly a lower than normal temp reading. I'd be checking for any air locks and be cycling the heater on and off a few times with engine running to help remove any air. Keep an eye on coolant level, but I'd be curious to know where the coolant went after it was low on NY day. Must have a leak right. You need to find the leak me thinks

You might be surprised. Check out the high Mileage post. I'm at 294K km, so 183K miles Seems to be going strong