Hauptmann

I wonder if you got a set of 'mis-labelled' bulbs of a higher colour temp. 5000K should be a slightly bluish white. I would be inclined to get a pair of 4300K bulbs (approx the OE colour temp) and try those. I have fitted quite a number of these and without exception every owner has said they are much brighter than the halogens.

If the cat is oil soaked it will be very difficult to clean. They have a huge internal surface area. DPF 'decat' is probably the best option.

You have the North American DRL setting. AFAIK this is not legal in Europe.

One side of the warning light is supplied with 12V and the h/b switch earths the other side of the light when the handbrake is engaged.

The kits sold in Germany appear to come with fitting instructions and the job is 'relatively' straightforward for a very competent DIY'er (eg someone that could already undertake replacing a brake master cylinder/servo, bleeding a system through etc etc). VCDS is need to to do a calibration on the repaired unit, and you probably need some sort of pedal hold-down device to keep the brake pedal down. The kit (as sold in Germany) comes with bungs to close the ports on the old unit (to prevent fluid spillage into the engine compartment) and the necessary replacement fasteners.

PM'd you George..

It should not be that hard. Check for anything twisted/distorted.

I assume the electrical/electronic system fitted was updated in preparation for the FL features. Moreover VAG seem to use the same controllers across all four brands of cars so a Skoda controller can have features not found on any Skoda model!

Yes, but out of warranty you'd have been able to have a merit repair done on it. Probably a teardown and rebuild with new bearings and new 3rd synchro - done at a gearbox rebuilder for a few £100's. The OP has no such option.

I've not seen it on pre-FL. Only FL and 'LE' models which had the newer Controller 9 software.

Unfortunately that is a typical cost for a 'mainstream' car these days. You should see what something like a 6-speed BMW gearbox costs! Really, you don't have a lot of choice in the matter. You current transmission is not suitable for a rebuild so the other option would be a used transmission from a salvage yard - which is unlikely to be much cheaper than your discounted price, and of unknown condition.

Unfortunately this seems to be a design fault with these gearboxes. There's more than a few owners had this happen, and if the case cracks then the old transmission is no longer acceptable as recon 'core' and the only solution is either a new or secondhand 'box.

The vRS does understeer, but the OP's description makes it sound very bad. I never noticed bad low speed understeer. I would start with getting the basics correct (tyres, tyre pressures and full alignment). I have fitted the Whiteline RARB (mid-setting) and the WALK which do reduce the understeer somewhat and improve the handling. Mind you, I am not keen on what seems to be the latest trend of dialling out ALL of the understeer. At the end of the day, some small amount of understeer is desireable on a road-going car.

Although owners get very excited about fuel economy, the fact is that with the sort of mileage you are doing (11 000 PA) and even with the current high fuel prices, the slightly worse consumption of a petrol model is actually one of your smallest motoring expenses. People notice fuel costs because they tend to pay frequently and so become more aware. Even taking 'worst case' fuel consumption and fuel prices, at 11 000 miles a year the petrol model will cost you less than £400 extra over the Diesel. Your current car is starting to depreciate a lot less, and the depreciation on a newer model will cost you much more than £400 extra. There is now a repair kit for the ABS/ESP and hopefully it will be freely available in the UK soon. This should remove a potential worry because it massively reduces the repair cost. There are other things to worry about (e.g. air con compressor), however my experience with CR Diesel cars (not just VAG ones) is that engine faults are much more expensive to repair than on petrol cars. The later VAG cars with piezo injector technology run at £800-900 per injector and they don't seem especially reliable. My friend who works in a VW garage is replacing quite a few of these at the moment.

Definitely stick with the TFSI - its a sweet engine and the car is a lot more fun than the CR. The only reason to go to a CR would be marginally improved fuel consumption, but you'd have to cover a huge mileage to offset the cost to change - certainly a lot more than 11,000 miles PA.

Yes, I have done other cars of the same age (and earlier) with no problem. But obviously there are some cars (well, at least this one) fitted with a different controller. No idea why - the owner purchased it from new from a local Skoda dealer and apparently its never had any work done on the electrical system. Very strange.

Looks like they are 'no longer available' - someone who is fairly local wants them.

For what it costs I'd get it replaced ASAP. Its not going to get better on its own and could drop you into limp-home at an awkward time.

I have now fitted quite a few HID kits to Octavias (more than 10) and not had any problems until today. A member visited me this morning and I fitted the kit as usual. Went to code Controller 9 and was surprised to find no options for Xenons - in fact quite a few options were missing. Turned off the cold diagnostics but it would not work properly with the HIDs (flickering when motor running). This is the first time I have encountered a controller without HID options. The car was a 2007 model (manufactured early-mid 2007 judging by date codes). The strange thing is that I have coded older and newer models without problem. One thing I did notice was that the last two digits of the controller part no. were AH, as opposed to AJ, which is what I normally see. Anyway, the moral of the story is that it seems there are controllers that cannot be configured for HID's and its probably a good idea to use VCDS to check your controller options prior to purchasing/fitting an HID kit. ** NOW PROVISIONALLY SOLD ** Another outcome is that I have a spare HID kit if anyone wants it. Will fit and code (where possible!) at very modest cost provided you can get to me. PM if interested.

Yes, but is that not likely due to his camera's exposure control? I am guessing the camera is 'stopping down' a lot due to the brightness of the headlights and hence making the sidelights look less bright?

I would have thought it unlikely that the charcoal filter could generate a whistling noise. Have they checked out the air-con compressor and turbo? An automotive stethoscope is handy for tracking these things down.

Having played about with drilled/grooved discs over the years (on things like Impreza's) I would say they are all about appearance and add nothing to braking performance. Drilling just seems to weaken the discs and grooves just seem to make them a little noisier on braking. I would only fit a OE-quality standard disc from now on. Theorectically drilling/grooving offers advantages in terms of helping disperse gassing from the pads, cooling and water removal - in practice I never noticed any improvements.

I would be interested in some feedback from other people who have these LEDs. I have them fitted (along with 4300K HIDs) on my vRS and I looked at it carefully tonight. Viewed 'head on' both the sidelights and HIDs look a clean white, without any blue tinting. When viewed from a 45 degree angle (standing in front of the car, but slightly to the side) the sidelights look white and the HIDs look slightly bluish - which I think is due to some chromatic abberation in the projector lens. I am being picky though. I cannot get my sidelights to look blue and, if anything, they are slightly less blue (lower colour temp) than the headlights. Feedback from other owners would be appreciated, I'd be interested to find out what's going on. One thing I am thinking is that people's eyes might actually be slightly different, especially at night under low light, when colour vision deteriorates. For example, my right eye sees red colours slightly deeper than my left eye. I noticed that as a child and its never changed.

I think that's the exhaust pressure sensor. Seems to be a very common problem. Apparently the replacement parts are to a revised design (water ingress problem?) so you should be OK now the jobs been done.

The whole business of colour temperature is quite complicated, and 'white' is really a comparative term. Technically anything over 5000K is a bluish-white and anything under 3000K is a yellowish-white. Filament bulbs are around 2900K. Computer monitors usually have their white calibrated to 6500K. HID lamps naturally give out about 4150K, the other colour temperatures you see are due to filtering, either by the glass envelope or a filter material deposited on the glass. The brain works in mysterious ways though - that's why your standard sidelights look 'white', until you install a set of HID's when they look yellow!