sparky2

Hi All, I am hoping to do a compression test on my 2009 Ocy Scout 2ltr TDI via the glow plugs, I haven't done it before on a diesel but I am thinking along the lines of - start the car and let it get to normal temp and remove the pump fuse and the engine will eventually stop, remove all glow plugs to allow for easier cranking fit tester to one cylinder at a time and measure (what value is normal ?), let the engine cool right down ideally overnight and retest, refit glow plugs and fuse switch ignition on and off a couple of times to prime the fuel line and then hopefully it should start. Anybody see anything wrong with that or know which fuse is just for the pump ? It would then stop diesel being injected into the bores and stop it getting a better seal. Cheers Stuart

It's nearly hidden in the top right corner on the top of the ducting ! If you put your hand up there you should be able to feel the round base with an oblong plug, if you remove the cabin air cleaner you can see it at the very top either with a mirror or lying on your back and doing a limbo under the dash ! I changed it on our 1.6tdi rapid and it's very fiddly as its mounted at 45 deg and you have to turn it anti-clockwise with a bit of force to remove it ! Cheers Stuart

Trade seal tp40 is like silicon sealant but it's used on caravans and doesn't give off acetic acid (vinegar) like silicon so it hopefully won't attack the PCB ! I put vagcom on the car today and went into measuring blocks and took pics of alarm settings so I will see if I can find something. Cheers Stuart

Thanks for that I will have a look tomm

If you remove the mudflap and inner liner you will find a mud trap behind that needs cleaning out and if you put some waxoil on the area it will stop it going any worse, the other mark looks like the door edge has hit the hinge pushing the edge out ! Cheers Stuart

If the battery was OK then I would be looking to see what was either dragging it down by measuring the current going out of the battery while it was just sat there with everything closed and the alarm on ! Eg it could be the glovebox light stuck on, or it could be the alternator not giving a good charge out ! As a quick test of the alternator put your headlights on for a couple of min with the engine off and the lights should stay bright, start the car and switch on the heated rear window so your putting a good load on the battery and the alternator normally wines as you Rev the engine above idle ! If you have a voltmeter on charge the volts should be around 13.5 volts. Cheers Stuart

Hi Does anybody know if VCDS can interrogate the intruder alarm to find out what's been triggering it, as my alarm when't off a couple of times lately on the Scout and vagcom showed a fault of 01134 alarm horn (h12), so I removed the siren and everything looked OK inside so checked the voltage on the battery at 6.7v and put it back. But I haven't found anything to show what's caused it to trigger ! Cheers Stuart

My detachable towbar came factory fitted and is a wesfillia complete with a factory wiring loom, the only problem was it wasn't wired for towing a caravan as the actual pins were missing for the fridge and charging ! So I had to run a couple of 2.5mm wires to the fuse box for a permanent and switched power as well as having to change the 13pin socket ! Cheers Stuart

I have been getting false alarms lately so I removed the siren unit on our Scout (2010) 1K8 951 605 cut it open and found the battery Varta 6v 200ma 5/V200H to be 6.7v with no corrosion so that looks OK, the PCB was also OK so I have resealed with some 'trade seal TP40' and reinstalled it on the car today. Is there a way of interrogating the alarm to find out what's triggered it ? VCDS showed 01134 alarm horn (h12) cheers Stuart

Did a VCDS scan and it showed 01134 Alarm horn (H12) logged as a fault, removed siren and took it apart, battery reads 6.9v so that looks good PCB has no corrosion, the battery is a Varta 6v 200ma 5/V200H Ni-Mh and my siren is 1K8 951 605. Cheers Stuart

We didn't recieve a servicing book with our Rapid as its 'online' with the dealer so there's nothing to refer too ! We will have to wait until Haynes bring out a manual ! Cheers Stuart

spare car hitch

car hitch

alko hitch

Thanks for the replys, I measured it with a digital calliper today 49.44mm, there's no grease on the ball or pads, it's a new van picked it up in Feb 2018, but it looks like the towball IS smaller than the min ISO of 49.61mm ! I have a spare 2nd hand ball of the same type and that measures 49.29mm which again is smaller, I will attach some pics, I have just measured a normal ISO towball and that's 49.81mm can anybody measure their towball size to see if it's just my type that looks smaller than standard ? I wouldn't have thought the ball itself wears that quickly or does it, or is the digital calliper not brill ? Cheers Stuart

Hi All, I have just bought a new caravan and it didn't tow very well (snaking) at times so while checking everything out I checked the Alko 3005 hitch which has pads inside for stabilising the outfit, everything was brand new so that was OK, so I then turned to the factory fitted towball which is detachable on our 2009 FL Octavia Scout, on measuring the towball size it was 49.50mm and on checking the Alko manual it says the min size for the ball is 49.61mm so it was too small for the pads to lock onto affectively ! I have a replacement set of pads for the hitch that come with some washer shims in 2 sizes 0.3mm and 0.5mm that go behind the pads so I fitted one 0.3mm behind one and it now tows OK. So the question is are ALL factory fitted towballs undersized when the standard is 50mm ? Cheers Stuart

Are the plugs you removed fully pushed back in ?

Have a look on the Internet at 'Honest john' who writes for the telegraph

You can get new cores for turbos which are a lot cheaper !

Hi All, which clutch alignment tool is req for a 1.4 TDi 3 cyl mk2 fabia 2008 ?

Sounds like its the main door lock mechanism if its a mechanical fault, whats your car based on as we dont have the Laura overhere ?

Its probably the control motors for the flaps, its a common fault on the fabia so it could affect the Octavia

do you have any pics of the unit and the battery ? cheers Stuart

Is there a voltage regulator for the fuel sender ?