xman

Sadly, certain members here turn into fokwits occasionally and post most unhelpful and unsympathetic comments. Apologies, I hope I don't fall into that category. You are in the realm of building a case against whoever, in the first instance its the seller of the car, Consumer Rights Act. As 6 months has passed the onus will be on you to prove the failure is as a result of some fault or not reasonable. Have you talked to the seller? Did they sell the car with warranty? What was the car described as wrt service history?

Unfortunately early cambelt failure seems to be increasingly common on the 1.6tdi engine, indeed a couple of months ago, I was walking the dog when I saw an AA van assisting a 17 reg Superb estate 1.6tdi that turned out to be a cambelt failure. Curious, I found out it was a company car full Skoda service history on 105,000miles and had a previous cambelt change at 75,000 miles

@Easytiger333 First you need to get proof of OFFICIAL Skoda factory recommendations regarding cambelt inspections and changes. This can be obtained from ERWIN as this is official Skoda source of information. You need to check the details in ERWIN but you may find, iirc, the cambelt recommendation is an inspection of the cambelt at 60,000 miles or 5 years, whichever occurs first, using the procedure outlined in the workshop manual. If the inspection passes all the checks specified, it then requires inspection again annually or 10,000 miles whichever comes first. Up to a maximum mileage or time limit (10 years?) when it must be changed. Two things, this inspection is not carried out in the UK as a standard service item. You must persuade and pay a dealer to carry this out and record the results. So that inspection has likely never been carried out. Also although the car is under 5 years old, the mileage has exceeded the recommendation by 5000 miles. Skoda will argue that absolves them from any responsibility not withstanding the car is well outside of the standard 3 year manufacturer/dealer warranty. However, what warranty was given by the seller of the vehicle? By whom? Was the car purchased as an approved used car, therefore 12 or more months. As the car had 61,500 miles at point of purchase, if it was sold as having full service history (proof required that this was the case) then the seller has responsibility that the cambelt should have been inspected to Skoda standards or had been changed.

A session of ERWIN (cost 7 euro for an hours access) you can download lots of info about your particular VIN. Including service manuals and official SKODA service schedules - should be able to see straight away when the cambelt is or was due as specified by the manufacturer. If the car was serviced in the Skoda network the dealer has a duty to inform the customer of any requirement or recommendation whenever the car was/is serviced. Customers are not trained Skoda technicians or mechanics. erWin is the Electronic Repair and Workshop Information service from Skoda Auto for independent garages, vehicle fleets and all other companies which undertake professional level repairs and servicing of Škoda cars. erWin is also available to private individuals who want to repair their Skoda vehicle themselves. erWin shows you at lightning speed everything you need to know about repairing and servicing a Škoda. The information is made available online. Always up-to-date. Always the latest details. erWin contains information specific to individual vehicles, e.g. technical product information or maintenance tables. You have to log on first for this application. erWin knows even the smallest difference between models. That is because erWin obtains all the workshop manuals from Škoda Auto together with many other useful items of information, to help you improve your service.

Of course Skoda dont make many things, but you've only to look at all the brake threads in the Superb 3 forum for instance to realise their rear discs in particular are complete sh1te. Reflects my own experience. Sourced from the cheapest supplier and great for the dealer network who rely on that regular overpriced business. Discs and pads are made in countries all over the world, many including Bosch are made in China as well as Italy. Some brands use multiple suppliers, its very fluid and constantly changing, driven by business economics. There are 3 or so big parent companies that have many sub brands, TMD friction for example https://tmdfriction.com/aftermarket/ aftermarket brembo pads and discs are a Chinese company using the Brembo branding, much like Eicher. I'd like you to prove that statement. Eicher is an Indian brand. Most of their production is in India. Brembo is an Italian brand, their production is worldwide including China https://www.bremboparts.com/europe/en Aftermarket is not the same as OE, they are often better. In the UK, Eurocarparts have exclusive rights to use Pagid branding. Pagid is a brand owned by TMDfriction. All pads have to comply with ECE R90 What is clear is there is a large market in counterfeit pads and discs. Thats why you should never buy from the likes of ebay unless you are absolutely sure of the vendor. Not only unknown quality but very likely non compliant with ECE R90

Brembo I think. Skoda parts are rubbish, I've tried Bosch, ok but generate too much dust just like OE, ATE disks are OK, I did try their ceramic pads once but the car (fabia) got written off 10,000 miles later so couldn't tell if they were everything ATE claim, low dust and low wear. So far Brembo disks and pads on the Octavia have impressed, low and even wear certainly and not prone to rust before your eyes as do the Skoda rubbish. The hubs are covered in a nice rust/dust resistant shiny coating of something or other. Nice to see the friction surfaces are still smooth and shiny after a year though mileage still only 8000.miles or so.

Not sure, oil could either be from leaking turbo oil seal or more likely from the pcv valve that is connected to the airbox (not sure exactly where). Open up the air box and check for oil there and on the air filter in which case its pcv sourced, oil mist from crankcase. There is always going to be some, but if its a lot then it might indicate something not right. Could be piston blowby causing overpressure in the crankcase, or simply overfilled oil, the oil seperator should recover most of the oil before it gets to the pcv. If the car is not consuming oil I wouldn't worry.

Check the brake servo vacuum pipe for splits at the joints, brake servo end, inlet manifold, there is a non return valve in between, can also split there, basically check its integrity along the entire length. A simple first check is after turning off the engine, wait 2 minutes and then press the brake pedal. If the pedal feels normal, and there is assistance still available (a soft shush as you push indicates vaccum being released as assistance is applied). You should be able to do this at least twice before the brake pedal action becomes hard. If there is a leak, the pedal will feel hard on first application with no assistance available. You still need to check the section between the inlet manifold and the non return valve though. The vaccum pipe is shiny hard plastic about 10mm diameter, attached to the inlet manifold at the front right hand side of the engine and goes round the right hand side toward the bulkhead, the non return valve is around halfway from front to back.

I think its only available from dealers or TPS (trade only), ask your mechanic to check.

Thing is you know that brake assistance (vacuum) disappears immediately when the engine is switched off. That means there is a vacuum pipe leak or the non return valve is not working or both. The splits usually hide round the back out of view. As I said earlier I used amalgamating tape, supertight and overwrapped the connectors and non return valve. It helped a little, but still didn't have vacuum for more than a couple of seconds after switch off. When I inspected the removed pipe and removed the tape, the joints just fell apart they were that loose. And I could blow both ways through the non return valve, though the blocking direction was harder. Obviously contaminated or worn/damaged diaphragm internally. So no amount of bodging would have fixed it.

I mentioned it before but @automass needs to check the brake servo vacuum pipe for air leaks (splits at joints) which if so, allows the inlet manifold to draw in air, messing up the fuel air mixture and so cause running issues. A simple test is after turning off the engine, wait 2 minutes and then press the brake pedal. If the pedal feels normal, and there is assistance still available (a soft shush as you push indicates vaccum being released as assistance is applied). You should be able to do this at least twice before the brake pedal action becomes hard. If there is a leak, the pedal will feel hard on first application with no assistance available. To remove the coil packs requires a special tool, otherwise its extremely easy to break them when pulling. If the plugs have been in 40,000 / 4 years since last change then they need changing or at least removing and inspecting.

So did you swap coils over between 1 and 3 and witness the misfire move across? If you haven't, then maybe yet too early to be buying that new coil. Have you changed the vacuum pipe? Just to point out that the pipe draws the vacuum from the inlet manifold in the vicinity of cylinder 3 so if theres a bad leak, that cylinders mixture will be affected most.

Just to make it clear, you do know that sd cards are released by simply pushing them right in and then they will spring out? Its a sprung loaded bi-locking mechanism....push to latch, push to release... Sorry if you already know this.....

Read this

One thing rarely mentioned is that no charger or electronic converter is 100% efficient. (Thats why there are big fans in those big charger). It would be a very good design if a 240V charger were 95% efficient, furthermore there is the issue of battery charge acceptance and efficiency and generally speaking, as charge current decreases, the inefficiencies rise. I speak as a past designer and user of various switch mode power supplies in industrial applications. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a36062942/evs-explained-charging-losses/

This will guide to the right place under the car. Looks like central tunnel near drivers footwell side.

I remember now, the 65535 unspecified code, was on my old Alhambra climate control accompanied by the LCD flashing for 10 seconds on start up. It was due to a small fan in the CC unit that pulls in air over a temperature sensor stalled due a build up of dirt/dust/grime. If you have climate control, IIRC there is what appears to be small grills either side of the butttons, that where it samples the air temperature. I used a tiny paint brush and a vaccuum cleaner hose to poke around and dislodge the dust and suck it out. I could hear (with engine off) when the tiny fan finally started up. The flashing and error code then cleared.

He may have run the engine between clearing codes and swapping coils so just being a little pedantic in case new pending codes popped up in that period. Cylinder 1 is furthest from the gearbox/battery and closest to oil filter/alternator end. Left side looking from the front ro the rear of car. The aircon code 65535 (-1 or 0xffff) is ”unspecified" error. Whenever I've seen this is usually due to low gas, and the aircon therefore not working. Radio code might be the connector not fully home, has the radio ever been out or is it not the original radio?

2. Move coilpacks between cylinders 1 and 3 (swap positions) AND reset all error codes (regarding misfires)

These threads seems to imply changing seals doesn't work, problem lies in the VAQ unit or diff itself due to quality issues, requiring a new VAQ or diff, not sure which. https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/gli-6mt-with-transmission-oil-leak.9346459/ https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/vaq-or-transmission-leak.348824/ Edit: Sorry, just noticed you've already posted those links in your initial post.... Where in the UK are you?

@froggy8 You've shown us the white deposited plugs AND admitted your brake vacuum pipe is split, I'm sure the problem are air leaks.into the inlet manifold randomly weakening your mixture, running excessively lean and probably causing those occasional misfires. Taping with electrical tape is never an effective repair, the vacuum pipe will simply be moving at the connections when ever the engine rocks under changes on load and speed, and the non return valve has probably been compromised by dirt as mine had. You changed the plugs, which is good as they were worn, one was even loose. Now change that vacuum pipe, its the only effective repair. You will benefit from having full brake assistance in reserve not only when the engine is turned off , but in an emergency when you may need to call on hard braking several times in quick succession and if ABS kicks in. There is no need to change coils at this stage, as the above may fix everything nicely and there is nothing wrong with your coils. Do not buy that ebay rubbish, read the sellers description ......They don't fit your car anyway! Do the vacuum pipe first, then check with your OBD eleven that the misfires have gone away. Then think about changing the ONE faulty coil.

If they have fitted the wrong part at the factory you are surely covered by Consumer Rights Act The Sale of Goods Act 1979 – now the Consumer Rights Act 2015 – provides that consumers are entitled to a repair or replacement or refund where goods are faulty. If the fault occurs after six months, the consumer has to prove that the problem was down to a fault or issue at the manufacturer, as opposed to wear and tear or misuse. In accordance with a law known as the Statutes of Limitations, consumers have this right for six years in England and for five years in Scotland. So can you get a free repair? What all this means is there is not an absolute right to a repair, replacement or refund. This is because you first have to prove the fault is not down to you.

I observed him do it, carefully and steadily pull using both hands from the grommet in the servo, at the same time pushing the grommet back with both thumbs to avoid pulling that out. Then pull the other end off (under the inlet manifold at gearbox end) steadily. He used a smidgen of grease on the new ends to aid pushing the ends in/on, again steadily to avoid pushing the grommet in. Literally 2 minutes.

My independent bought it through TPS, said only genuine ones available, no aftermarket. Said I was lucky as many VAG vacuum pipes are discontinued and unobtainable siting the VW golf 6 iirc as an example. This is the part in question Mine is 6Q2 612 041 AL https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/6q2612041al-vacuum-pipe-36781.html

If you have OBD eleven, then use to check for misfires, its a fine tool.