sepulchrave

You can effect a simple repair by drilling pairs of holes and using zip ties to "lace" the cracks together.

Since the hole is blind you can try getting a Rivnut installed, it may not be strong enough for a long-term fix but given the age of the car it'll probably last long enough.

It won't make any difference, the engines are physically identical so the gearbox will fit just fine, the final drive ratio might be slightly different but I doubt it.

Yes, I believe the kit still fits pre-vin split engines. It's not clear why VAG did this but it could be as simple as discouraging dealers from working on life-expired vehicles. If the engine code is the same then the parts will fit, someone on here did this job recently with a pre-split car and everything fitted just fine, the tensioner components have indeed been modified to improve longevity.

That will fit just fine, an Ibiza is exactly the same car (Polo 9N) under a much uglier skin.

Relax, someone unqualified will be along with a pseudo-legal opinion shortly.

The chances of finding this fault with your eyes are slim at best, wires often break internally. You should take it to a specialist auto electrician to be diagnosed, garages are usually very bad at electrics.

Complete turbo failure or a boost pipe has come off.

That list is unequivocal, <2010 cars are K-line so VCDS lite will work.

I believe you are entirely correct, replacing the crank sprocket is very important since it's half the diameter of the cam sprocket and wears much more due to there being much less chain wrapped round it. Since you're paying a large labour bill anyway the whole lot should be replaced using the VW kit. It is exactly the same engine as the VW internally so the VW garage will be fine doing the work using the VW kit. The Skoda dealer is being entirely disingenuous, but it's probably a coded warning that the workshop isn't really up to the job.

A Dowty washer would provide an extremely reliable seal but is overkill and the difficulty is compounded by the existing steel washer being captive on the plug. The problem is that grease monkeys are prone to drop the plug into the oil catch tank, a new one means they don't have to retrieve the old one, the rest of us don't need a new plug at all, some ham-fisted idiots will need a new sump when they overtighten the plug though!

I think we can safely ignore the spurious code, I agree that the next step will be to escalate to the dealer for a firmware update, it won't be expensive.

I can't find any reference to the 06342 code that Carista is showing you, please double check.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/16414/P0030/000048 Ok, that correlates.

That trim panel is cosmetic and fulfills no other function and as such has no real structural strength, the sealing rubber is there to keep water out and sound in the engine bay which is why it's attached to the steel scuttle and not the trim.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/16684/P0300/000768 Please explain, unless you've been given the wrong fault code.

It's rare for gearboxes to fail completely, they usually get much noisier first, try topping up the gearbox oil to slow down the failure.

Steering wheel should never need moving, if it wasn't straight it means the tracking wasn't correct.

It cannot be the release bearing, it must be the gearbox, I suspect an oil seal failure has left the gearbox oil level low and the input shaft bearings have suffered

A dealer would be more than happy to supply the part if it's available anywhere, it may be a special order and you might have to pay for it up front but if it exists they will supply it.

The VNT vanes are getting stuck long enough to create an intermittent fault, clean the mechanism and make sure it's moving freely.

I wouldn't use unbranded links because they usually only last long enough to pass an MOT, Fabias EAT the damned things unless you fit decent quality, most of us in the know fit Meyle HD links if you're planning on keeping the car but Febi are good enough.

It's perfect, change it all.

I know what you mean but you're barking up the wrong tree, pure glycol is a very bad heat transfer medium and is always mixed with water in coolant, there is an OAT based waterless coolant used by the classic car community so that the system can be run without pressure to preserve elderly pipework, perhaps this is what you mean, however there's no need for it on a modern car with a high pressure cooling system.

It sounds to me like the drive belt is much too tight causing gland and bush failure.