stan_deezy

Hi Diljit, As the others have said, be happy you are here to tell the tale. It is a testament to modern car design and Euro NCAP pushing the manufacturers to improve passenger cell survivability that we have to thank for that, as well as the boys and girls back at the Skoda factory for putting the car together so well. I've dealt with some horrific RTCs in my time, seen wreckage that you couldn't believe anyone could possibly survive from, and yet they've often walked away with barely a scratch! I once had the embarrasing situation of attending an RTC on a dual carriageway, a car versus a lorry, and called it in as a "Smart Car", then my buddy walked over and said "Er, it was actually a Peugeot 406 big man!". So yes, be very thankful that you and your passengers were protected by your baby. I used to find at RTCs that people got so irate about their car being smashed, of course it was partly the shock of the incident, but the easiest way to put things in perspective was to say to them "Yes, but the car did the job it was designed to do: protect you and your passengers. And bear in mind, it can be replaced, you and your passengers cannot be replaced". That usually gave them food for thought. As far as replacing it, well, I'm biased, I've been a Skoda owner since 2001, so only 21 years, and they are beginning to grow on me! 😆 Try and get a vRS if you can, the 2013-on model is definitely the pinnacle, especially if you can find one with a host of extras! Good luck with whatever you go for, professional curiousity makes me want to ask how the incident happened, but it's probably better for you just to let it lie. The one thing I would say is get behind the wheel as quick as you can, a prang like that can sometimes dent your confidence. Take care, stay safe.

Pab, I just wanted to offer you HUGE thanks for the download and for the amazing work you do, for free, for the community here. I wish there were more people like you in this World. PM replied to, and the promise stands, Many, many thanks, Stan

Hi, Forgive me if I'm posting in the wrong thread, I haven't been on the forum for a long time, but back after buying a Mk3vRS (bucket list car!). Hopefully this is the info required, and if I've posted in the wrong place, then sincere apologies! Device part number; 5E0035874A Hardware; 041 Software: 0435 Media codec: N/A Thank you in advance of any help/info you can provide, you are a gentleman doing this for free! Stan

"RUN FOR THE HILLS! STAN'S BACK!" I'm only back because another Skoda Octavia has joined my fleet of decrepit worn-out, saved from the scrapyard, "cars". There's only nine, yes 9, cars in the fleet, but I'd always promised myself an Octavia L&K before I met the humororous lady also known as God! My gawd she's got a wicked sense of humour! You want proof? You should see me naked! I get the best job in the World, nuf said, "Evening all!", and then get struck down with injuries and illness, and end up retired *very* early in my life. Ho-hum! So, what would you do in that situation? Sit around, crying while cuddling a bottle of vodka awaiting the inevitable, or take life by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shake and fight harder? And if you've ever seen someoe in a wheelchair trying to work on cars you'll understand why the neighbours call me the Village Idiot! It's looking nice in here now, but where's the bar and the jukebox gone? Right! I can't spend all day posting to you lot, I've got some cars to sort out! Nice to be back though, hope you have all avoided the virus? But more importantly, I hope you still all have Skodas? Or else.....! Hahaha! Cheers me dears, Stan aka The Village Idiot!

Yes, when the car comes back I'm going to try out my new toy (the dial gauge!)

Well I must admit, once the car is back in my hands and checked over I'll be happy to name them. I won't be naming the supplier of the parts though as it is not their fault they were supplied from the manufacturer with a faulty tensioner. I will, however, only be buying VAG parts from now on!

The garage are doing all the work at absolutely no charge to myself. It'll be passed back to the supplier as a warranty claim and I expect they'll pass it back to the manufacturer. I'm just very. very glad that I didn't have to foot the bill myself

Must admit that had been my thought too, especially as the coolant had started to drop again with no obvious signs of a leak. I've asked that the water pump be replaced anyway: turns out they fitted a plastic impellor one

Well here's me eating a huge slice of 'umble pie and apologising for doubting the specialist They have stripped the engine down and found that the adjustable tensioner had seized after only 15k miles :eek: Damage done: basically scrap the head and replace everything with new! The garage are happy that the car had covered 15k miles in six months as it goes some way towards proving it wasn't their fault and that a claim against the supplier will be successful. I'm happy because they are replacing the head and all the previous parts with VAG parts. I'm also happy that they have agreed to take my other ASV engined car in and replace the OE-spec timing belt and parts that they fitted a few months ago which had also come from the same supplier. Lesson to be learned? When it comes to parts like this, buy from the dealer only!! Thanks to everyone who advised, supported and commiserated on this one, really appreciated it Ps, the repair will be in excess of

No, unfortunately the thread is completely stripped so tapping it just won't help. I have a local blacksmith/ATV workshop type place that should be able to put a helicoil in, I'll have a visit down to them and see if they can help. I'll let you know what happens!

Hmmm, it was a 2nd hand hub. I did wonder about that at at the time. Laziness and too many things to do have stopped me getting the thread repaired on the old hub (which has a brand new bearing fitted in it as well!). I may just take the opportunity to get a helicoil fitted into the hub for the caliper bolt and see if the original hub cures the problem. Thanks

The wheel bearings are a wonderful job at the front :( I was lucky: I'd just bought myself a hydraulic bench press for the project car wheel bearings. I was unlucky though in that I was having to rebuild the hub in the dark, in the rain, on a cold March night and I managed to cross-thread the caliper slider Needed to get a replacement hub after that and replace the wheel bearing that was in that hub before I could get the car back on the road

Thanks for that, I got my parts from GSF too. It's driving me crazy as I really cannot find the solution to this. I've stripped and cleaned the calipers and slides. Everything else looks great. I've read that the wishbone bushes can be difficult to inspect properly though and can even be missed at MOT inspection (mine passed it's MOT with the judder!). Not sure what else to try :(

Well, you don't see me for months and then I pop back with two separate questions in one day! Right then, 02 model, Octavia, Elegance TDi. Split CV boot after front coil spring snapped (I have a Friday afternoon built one! ). The split boot was only found when I started hunting down the cause of the brake judder I was getting. Boot replaced, and also the discs and pads due to contamination from the cv joint grease. Zimmermann discs and pagid pads: horrendous judder. Swapped that set-up with Brembo discs and Jurid pads: horrendous judder :( Swapped that set-up for another set of Brembo's and a set of Ferodo pads: horrendous judder. Car pulls up in a straight line, doesn't appear to be ABS related. Car, so far, has had two new struts, new springs, new top mounts and two new wheel bearings fitted. Any ideas? I'm beginning to think wishbone bushes are shot?

Oh, and by the way, I've had a word with someone quite senior in VW who assures me that the mysterious pin could well be the crank pulley key that was upgraded and redesigned ages ago, long before the ASV engine was launched

Now thanks for that!! I hadn't thought about using the AA for that sort of thing, so that is a big help! Yes, apologies for not being on so much recently, I took up a new project car and have been infesting their forum with questions instead

Funny you should mention the water pump...................... They were specifically told to change the water pump as the coolant level had started to drop slowly and no trace of a leak could be found. They said they'd done this and for the last five months the coolant level has been okay. In the last couple of days the coolant level had started to drop again...... I suspect that they swapped the o-ring on the water pump and the impellor has now failed, taking the timing belt with it! It will be very interesting to see what they have to say when they contact us with the results of their investigations.............

Need some help guys!! ASV engine code, 110 TDi engine, cambelt, tensioners and water pump changed at 120k miles (2nd change). That was six months ago, and 15k miles. Yesterday the cambelt snapped :eek: Car recovered to the specialist who did the original work and initially, on the phone, they said they were shocked and had never experienced this before........ When the car was finally delivered to them, on the back of an AA truck, the owner of the garage said this was a common fault and was down to a "pin" failing. What pin is he talking about ? Has anyone else heard of this happening before? To say I'm angry is an understatement! Won't know the full impact of the damage until later today but if it's too expensive it may well be the end of the car. It's a 2002 model by the way.

sounds like "have" or "chaff" or "wrap" or "kling" Oh dear, Essex boys and suchlike............. give them a decent car and look what happens XR3i anybody????

Yer wish is my command Princess One worm omelette coming right up, with a side salad of silverbacks and leeches..............See MacDonalds are listening to customers after all

Last week I was out driving ,well what else would you do in a car :confused: Anyway, I was quite happily driving past an Army Training Range which had the red flags flying, indicating that the range was in use. THERE WAS NO OTHER TRAFFIC ON THE ROAD IN EITHER DIRECTION Didn't notice anything amiss until a mile or two later when all hell let loose and the temp warning went crazy and then a literal explosion of steam, coolant and other fluids erupted from the rear of the bonnet :eek: :eek: Stopped the car. Unlatched the bonnet and got out to see what was wrong. The first thing I noticed was one of the vanes in the front grille had been destroyed by impact with "something" :confused: Carefully, and painfully, opened the bonnet and discovered: a hole going through the radiator and aircon condensor and one of the cooling fans :eek: :eek: The car lay "bleeding out" on me and has been laid up ever since awaiting parts :( We can't find the offending projectile anywhere and there are no marks on the engine block that are obvious. It seems very strange to me that the MOD would be negligent enough to allow live firing so close to a public road and I guess it could have been something else that hit the car but what???? There were no other vehicles around and hadn't been for several miles :confused: Dreading the bill when it comes in :( :( Also: does anyone know if running the aircon without refridgerant damages anything? I doubt it would over such a short distance? Finally, in future, if the recovery services ask me if I'm a lone female (I'm a 6'6" male built like a brick outhouse!) I'll say yes.................it'll save waiting SEVEN HOURS for recovery!!

"APPLAUSE!" What a TRIUMPH !!! Labore et politico equi fekall (with apologies to the Latins amongst us!) So what next for the Blair and Brown Roadshow??? perhaps we should have a "Dead Pool" of British Industries? The rules of the game: You "pledge" 50 points each and try to predict the next industry that the Blair and Brown "love-in" destroy??? My vote is for BAE Systems, Barrow (makers and suppliers of submarines to anyone with enough dosh!) Oh! except the British Government Oh! and except anyone who expects said submarine to actually work (I have inside info...don't argue!)

I became a doctor (and a Bhuddist) when I left

Pizza, I'd recommend three routes to studying (and they have helped me!) 1). Nemonics (as previously mentioned) 2). Night time listening tapes (when asleep) 3). Cribs (imagine you are going to TEACH the subject you are trying to learn: write down bullet points and go from there) if I had a fourth choice it would be: Find out where the exam papers are stored and figure out who has access, who arer their family members and in particular which family members are most important to them........ seize the family member, get the exam paper. pass the exam.....it's that simple...or not if you get caught :( Most nursing exams are based upon case studies: so when you get a question think about a patient you've dealt with (or a Briskoda member!) and THINK POSITIVE!!!!!!!!!! you've come this far, you can do the exam easily!!! Trust me (I might soon be a ****** again!!!)