sepulchrave

A set of new springs really isn't that expensive, you can get Eibachs for sensible money, guaranteed to fit and perform much better than standard.

No, you'll just have to crank it longer.

A filters a filter, who cares who makes it. I'm only snobby about oil and air filters (Mahle), UK fuel is so much cleaner than some of the foreign muck these cars have to run on and It's not even worth changing the fuel filter on a UK petrol car at all.

No idea why, the early wishbone handles much better when polybushed.

Just pour the old fuel back into the tank and get rid of it that way!

I seriously doubt that both the clutch AND the gearbox have broken at the same time. It should be possible to get the gearbox into neutral if you can unload the transmission by jacking one of the front wheels off the ground.

Head gasket failure. Easy and cheap to fix

Use a nut splitter.

How old is your battery? Check battery voltages with engine both running and stopped.

Immobiliser LED on the door going off when you try and start it?

Wow, I didn't even watch the video, I'm not really a 'visual' person because I can use words. I wonder if the throttle body has packed up.

Check the timing belts are intact.

I use a dustpan and brush to sweep the needles that fall off the tree at Christmas, I have no idea why you'd want to try and program a ten year old car to do it for you. You must have a lot of time on your hands.

So what.

Malfunction 0010

I would check the throttle body is working next, simply take off the cover so you can actually see the throttle plate, get someone to start the car and look for any movement.

Your local mechanic is absolutely NOT correct. The power steering system is electrically powered, not mechanically, there is nothing wrong with the rack either. You are clearly not electrically savvy enough to diagnose this yourself so I strongly suggest you get a second opinion from an auto electrician. I rolled the dice on an old battery because nine times out of ten it IS the battery, it didn't work, I'm sorry, but doing this over the Internet ain't easy.

I don't understand why anyone would think that slipped cam timing would lead to a complete loss of manifold vacuum, in such an extreme situation the engine simply wouldn't run at all. Presumably the engine starts and idles ok but just won't rev up and the brake pedal is solid with no vacuum assistance?

Yeah, not the inertia reel mechanism but a small pyrotechnic charge which acts on the the S/B to tighten it under a hard impact.

No, you're right, the TDI engine is fundamentally different, the guys a moron.

I would say that if you're running a flat tappet engine without a full catalyst like an older PD engine then you should stick with high ZDDP oils since there's no reason not to. I have seen many PD engines in bits after a bad oil change done by ignorant owners and the damage is shocking, often in less than 100 miles. 507.00 is an excellent oil generally but don't forget that VW have lost interest in your engines survival much past 100k, your engine will last longer on 505.01 but the relative viscosity is not an important factor in our temperate climate so 5W30 will be just peachy.

I'm afraid it's unavoidable, there are some VERY argumentative people piling in.

Not much, just take it to the dealer and you can get any software updates done at the same time.

My bad, I was thinking it was the paper element in the plastic housing like the 2.0 TDI I changed at the weekend. Whoops, narrowly avoided a horrific Torrey Canyon style incident, good catch guys.

You'll start the car and drive it without further incident until something else goes wrong.