Benjamin77

It may be way off, but check the brake pads aren't rattling in the caliper mounts - I've just had a 'learning experience' with control arms and a rattle that sounded like the whole front end was about to collapse and in the end it was the non- OE pads. I could not believe how much noise/clunking they made! (sorted now with OE pads)

Finally got the car sorted... I can't have been braking enough over rough roads, or was side-tracked by the control arms, because the actual noise WAS the cheap brake pads rattling in their caliper mounts (presumably getting louder after the copper grease washed away. What a racket from such a small piece of metal! I really can't believe it. They were the cheap ones from GSF without adhesive backing and the lugs were not as snug in the mounts. £66 later I have genuine VAG labled ones from the Audi dealer (actually TEXTAR made) At least when the scrap man came driving by today I managed to haggle a decent looking kids bike off him in return for the chunks of old aluminium control arms.. Yet another slightly expensive lesson learnt on this Superb, but I still love it!

Thanks. I can't think what else it could be so will have a go at the other CAs not yet done. I read a lot about the pinch bolt on Passat World. There are good recommendations. I threaded the lock nut back on a few turns and bashed it 20+ times with a lump hammer. I also eased the bolt head 45deg each way clock/anticlockwise quite a lot until I got a bit of shaft visible to hacksaw through and get the bolt head off. Then using a spare nut and washers/spacers pulled it through using its threaded end (tough, but could have been worse!) good luck!

We have an 02 1.8T with 80000miles on the clock and it rattles a lot over potholes. The noise seems to be both sides, from wheel arch areas So far I've changed the upper control arms on one side and lowers on the other with little improvement (I'm not sure how worn the old ones actually were, but from reading Passat forums these were often culprits for rattling) I've also checked the engine mounts and subframe bolts - all tight Shaking the wheels at 12/6 and 9/3 there is no real play. There is a bit of play in the transmission when rotating wheels (allowable?). The rattle is under power/coasting or braking so I assume not CV joints? Where do I look next? Any thoughts/advice greatly appreciated!

After many hours and many litres of Dot4 it was the servo all along. Water prevoiusly in the plenum chamber and rusted inside the servo. Apparently fairly common on Superbs, Passats and various Audis. Now I've got an almost completely new braking system in the process!

Thanks for this info. I think I'll be needing to put new ones on as the current ones have been overheated from rubbing. I note the master cylinder has 2 outputs - 1 apparently feeds FL/RR and the other FR/RL on the ABS unit. I am trying to work out if a problem with that would cause non-release on those calipers, or if it would be the ABS unit itself (hopefully not as hundreds to replace...) Incidentally VAG-COM shows no ABS faults.

We bought a nice looking 2002 Superb a couple of months back and it clearly needed brake work doing but was a good price. I changed discs and pads straight away (good Brembos x4 and Pagid pads) and bled using gravity (so not to damage Master cylinder seals) with the ignition on (listening to that high pitch sound from the ABS unit). The pads I removed where unequally worn - almost to the metal on L front and R rear...not so bad opposites. Presuming a bit of bedding in was needed we ran for a few hundred miles but clearly L front and R rear squeak more and heat up more. I rewound the rears/cleaned again and splashed out on 2 new front calipers. Guide pins seem smooth. Now I've just bought a new R rear in frustration as it's rubbing again! (but not convinced it will be the caliper as it wound in so smoothly)It's also not the handbrake cable as binds with this fully disconnected. I wondered about the servo - it does seem to work though. You can exhaust the vacuum when switched off, then starting the engine softens the pedal as it should (and not too much!) However I'm not sure the pedal fully returns up a far at it could? Is this a familiar issue. Could this be preventing those 2 opposite calipers releasing? Interestingly when you manually pull the brake pedal up as far as possible it affects the engine idling - presumably affecting air intake somehow. Is this normal? Any other ideas? Thanks

The car has hopefully sold on ebay now.

Thanks! I'm clearly a bit of a forum/advertising novice! We're in Manchester M32, a couple of miles from Old Trafford and just off the M60.

Webuyanycar have offered me £370, so was hoping for a little more really but I understand it may have limited appeal. (It is taxed/MOTed and drivable)

Our much loved purple estate with full black leather and heated seats has got to go. It has just started to occasionally misfire and I had thought it may be something electrical but alas our local VAG specialist has found reduced compression in cylinder 3... probably a leaking valve, so a fairly major bit of engine overhauling required. 111000miles done. He reckoned it may manage another year/10000miles before it stops but no guarantees. Extra sad as just serviced last month - new oil/filter/fuel filter/plugs. Recent new front wheel bearing. In past 12m all round discs/pads/fluid. It has 4 almost new 15inch BFGoodrich tyres on excellent condition alloys (inc spare alloy). MOT November - only advisory was the wheel bearing (now renewed). All the electrical gadgets are working and no rips in the seats. This was THE top spec Skoda of its day. If someone fancies a project or some decent spares this must still be worth a few hundred? £750? Offers? I'd love it to go to a fellow Skoda enthusiast. (picked up an 02 Superb this week - what a car! Good timing for a bigger car with number 3 child halfway there) BEN

no mounts. There is an all in one Thule kit available I think (just about to buy one!)

Asked a friendly mechanic and apparently also when original turbo went it would have squirted plenty of oil into intercooler. Took that off today and swilled it out with petrol and plenty of oily sludge in there! Car certainly seems to run OK and oil level maintained but smoke++ on motorway. Am waiting until it's dark to burn it some more so less conspicuous. Will be great if CAT isn't damaged too though.

Thanks! This is slightly comforting. Need to sort the gear-selector and clutch out now and give it a test drive! Certainly nowhere near a litre out yet, and I guess the fact that it's not v smokey and is actual liquid means it's unlikely to be engine/combusted. I guess come MOT time it would fail emissions and need a cat, but just to get it that far I'll be jumping for joy!

Help! Firstly 4 weeks ago I broke the sump without realising on a rough road and ran on low oil for 2 miles until engine stopped. Then replaced sump and oil and ran for 10miles before losing power and cloud of smoke from exhaust. I assumed broken turbo and engine damage so sourced a second hand one. Have put engine and turbo in now - started immediately but at fast idle liquid oil is pouring from exhaust pipe with only minimal smoke. (at least 2 egg cup fulls) Is this likely to be a turbo problem or engine? Obviously v frustrating to spend 3 days swapping engine over only to find I've put dodgy stuff in! If it's just the turbo this is easier to sort. The original turbo looked obviously damaged when removed with lots of play in axel/shaft. The 'new' one had a solid axel. Engine and turbo bought via e-bay with alleged '2 month warranty' - don't fancy my chances of much refund though...