sepulchrave

It's the DMF and clutch cush springs rattling and ticking.

Yes.

Seems excessive, it's not actually that hard to make one using the existing steel bonnet to make a one-use mould, you then lay it up using pre-preg and vacuum bag it. Getting it cooked is the tricky bit, it would probably fit in a powder coaters autoclave hanging vertically though and it doesn't need to be very hot.

Are you nuts, I can fix anything, most of my forty years experience is practical. How can you say an engine is misfiring if there's no evidence of it? The OP's garage said exactly that. Wanted to change plugs that are only six months old, change all the pencil packs with no evidence of a fault, change ignition leads that don't even exist and smash in a massive bill for simply clearing a fault code which would have returned after a few starts. Take over then maestro, fix the OP's problem, ignore my advice and start from first principles. Fix it by giving best advice.

How is this even relevant to the topic? You just shout rubbish then mount an ad-hominem rearguard action before crying foul, it's the same every time and it's bloody tedious and demoralising frankly. This isn't your personal space to smear with excrement, it's a community offering advice to those in need, if you can't help then please don't just fling sh!t at those who can.

Do you understand the difference between actually helping someone and just being a smartarse. Let me give you a clue, I'm trying to help someone not get stitched up by a garage.

Ignore it then, it's a load of crap and it's distracting you. Smartphone nonsense.

...but you've flown off on a massive tangent, erected a giant wall of text and completely failed to address the OP's problem, then facepalmed me for drawing this to your attention. Are you actually lucid? Seriously!

Stick to the plan and clear that code once done.

You appear to have fallen down your favourite rabbit hole. OP states he has CEL and a P0441 DTC, and no other problems. The garage wants to change the plugs, packs and leads stating that it's misfiring. That's a £500 bill for an EVAP fault code and it won't fix it, they'll just clear the code and it'll come back.

You don't have a misfire, no codes and you'd notice it anyway. So what do you think...

Obviously the local garage are testing the OP's waistband integrity.

Black smoke is unburnt fuel, as @KenONeill correctly pointed out, it's overfuelling, however the reason is trickier to divine. I'd change the ECT sensor then the FTS.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/16825/P0441/001089 Not plug related then...

This is not a snake oil issue, I'm quite certain.

Yes, piece of junk can be hard to spot if the underbonnet landscape is a mystery.

Basically if an alternator physically fits correctly it will work, I'm also guessing that the auxiliary belt was replaced at the same time since that engine doesn't have a timing belt.

http://"Update portal" https://updateportal.skoda-auto.com

This is the map you have installed: Countries Covered: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, The United Kingdom, Vatican City.

I'm amazed it's not been mapped with a cat back exhaust fitted. Shocked actually. What about an ebay resistor of powah, they always make em smokey?

The most common cause of black smoke is a bad remap.

So you have the wrong map installed for your locale, therefore the satnav cannot display it. Is this a serious question?

Is the UAE in Western Europe then?

Yes, they're ruined, replace the lot when you replace the spark plugs.

Did someone just call the safety police?