Ricardo vRS

Hi, I have a Mk1 Octavia vRS. The key fob range use to be fine, but now it only works if the key fob is close to the glass. It works reliably, but just has a very poor range, and yes I have changed the battery, but with no improvement at all. Any ideas??

Your suggestion of the pick up pipe being blocked is very plausible. I think the noise is from the head area. If I wait a minute or two and try another pull away, then the noise is usually not there any more. Presumabley by this time the CAM followers will have primed and thus no noise. Is it just a case of removing the sump and disconnecting the pick up pipe? Thanks

Can't see it being the Cam belt tensioner, as that would presumabley rattle all the time, with quite devistating conseqences! After a couple of pull aways, the car is fine for the rest of the day. It only does it when starting from stone cold.

It's not a high pitched squeak noise. It's more of a metalicy grind / rattle.

My 54 plate Octy vRS has started making a nasty noise when cold. The engine starts fine, but as soon as you put the engine under load when starting to pull away, a nasty mechanical noise can be heard from the engine. It's like a rattly grinding noise, like a rotating part is catching on something. When it happens I dump the clutch and try and pull away again. Nine times out of ten it won't do it again, but sometimes I may have to do a number of attempted pull aways until the sound is no longer there. The power produced by the engine is always fine, but if I'm being super critical, the idle may be a bit lumpy. When idling under no load, the noise is not there. Any ideas? Thanks

I was lucky and my plastic bit didn't break. It's a white rectangle piece that fits inside the box section that broke. The clutch master cylinder rod fits inside it. If this plastic piece fails to click into the box section then the clutch pedal will site too high. This happened to me after I got the box section welded. A small amount of weld had crept into the area inside the box section and fouled on the plastic pieces, stopping it clicking into place. I just shaved off a bit of the plastic piece to get it to click in. If yours isn't clicking into place any more then I'd advise you get an new one. I have no idea what the part number it is, but I can't belive you can't buy it without buying the whole master cylinder. Why don't you ask at you local dealer, or phone AVS (www.vwspares.co.uk). Just a word of advise. The plastic bit has to be fitted to the master cylinder rod before putting the plastic piece into the box section of the clutch pedal. It's a right pig to fit, as it acts as a ball and socket joint for the rod. I wedged a screw driver across the mounting bracket of the clutch pedal and pressed the plastic piece onto the rod, using the screw driver to support the rod during this exercise.

I've added the pictures now!

How do I show / attach the images?

(Now with pictures) I know this topic has already being discussed, but I thought it would be useful for others to see some pictures of a failed clutch pedal. I have a 1.9TDi Fabia estate which is 9 years old. It's covered 94,000 miles. Whilst driving home, I pressed the clutch pedal, heard a loud ping which resulted in the pedal staying flat to the floor. I thought the clutch cable had snapped (it has happened to me in the past when I owned a Cavalier) so knowing I couldn't really do anything at the side of the road I called out the AA. They duly attended and informed me that the Fabia has an hydraulic clutch. They diagnosed the fault to be a broken clutch pedal (which initially I thought he was joking). Only when I had a look for myself did I belive it has broken. The problem is a very weak box section that is only spot welded onto the side of the pedal. This box section applies all the load onto the clutch master cylinder push rod. After 9 years, the spot welds give way resulting in the back of the box section snapping off. The AA however have come up with a neat trick to get you home. There is a hole going through either side of the box section which is used for the clutch pedal switch. They put a bolt through these two holes. This gives you a temporary back section of the box that has snapped off for the rod to press against. They then place a nut on the end of the rod to increase it's surface area, which then can press against the bolt. Elaborate use of wire and tie wraps holes the rod in place. This enabled me to drive 60 miles home. The next day I removed the pedal and got the broken piece welded back on. This time the entire section was seam welded so hopefully it should never fail again. Below are some before and after pictures: Image showing broken box section Image showing seam welded repair Another angle of the seam welded repair

O.K. - Thanks - I've got it now! Strange that other cars I've worked on (Cavaliers etc) didn't have ovulated holes holding the cam sprocket on, so you couldn't do this. I suppose this method ensures a very precise timing set up. I'll give it a go. Thanks for your help PS - Can you buy a tool to hold the sproket in place whilst undoing the bolts, or do most people just make one themselves?

... but the cam shaft is locked in position with the pin, so it can't rotate. Thus my confusion regarding the need to loosen the cam sprocket. On every other car I've done, I've never loosened the cam sprocket. I just mark the cam and crank up, take the old one off and put the new one on, ensuring the cam and crank are in the same original position. Please help clarify this one! Thanks

I'm considering changing my own cambelt on my 2001 ATD and have found a tech guide on the vRS cambelt change very informative. I have a question though about the cam sproket. Why is it necessary to undo it and put the bolts in the centre of the holes. Surely they should already be in the centre? Why can't you just take the old belt off the sproket and put the new one on with the sproket remaining in the same place? I'm sure I'm missing something obvious but I can't think why you need to do this. Is the tech guide for the vRS an appropriate guide for me to use for an ATD? Any advise greatfully received! Thanks Steve

I'm interested in changing the cambelt on my 54 plate octy vRS myself. However, I can't find any info in the tech guides section about how to go about it. Could anyone give any advise please? Is there a "how to" guide that I have missed? Thanks