jimbojames

I've been using 0w40 castrol gtx for the last few months in my 2013 petrol Vrs with 180k miles. Was recommended on the castrol findcaroil website. Fuel economy had a marked increase, from around 34 average to 38-39. Oil usage hasn't changed at all either. I have the check manually anyway cos my oil level sensor is bust, and I'm not paying £130 for a new one!

Awesome! Thanks for the tip, got a kit for both fronts for £35.

Morning all, I had my offside front brakes sticking on the other day, I took them apart and pushed the piston back in hopefully freeing it off, but first time using the brakes again when out testing, they stuck on again. I took the caliper apart last night, and found the piston to be badly corroded in two rings where the two seals are...also a build up of nasty looking old fluid around the dust seal (where the worst pitting was). I flush the brakes every other year as the manual says, but maybe my gear isn't as good as a garage, so misses that little pocket of fluid that's got in front of the seals... Either way, I'm now trying to source a replacement piston but can't find anything. LLLParts manual doesn't show a separate number for the piston, just the seals Skoda wants £350 for a new caliper! (it's the 340mm 1LG brakes on the vrs) I'm loathe to pay that, when all it needs is a new piston. I've seen some old calipers on ebay, but an expensive risk when those pistons might also be corroded... Anyone able to point me in the right direction?

You know, I've only just realised from reading this, that the creaking my car was making has gone! I'd just got used to it over the years, but now I changed the control arms, no more squeak! I asked skoda multiple times while it was still under warranty, but they always said there was nothing wrong... This is why I don't trust garages.

I watched these videos to decide on the resonated instead of non-resonated. The non-resonated just sounds obnoxious to me. Plenty of other exhaust videos on YouTube for the vrs as well.

Hi all. Getting pretty fed up with the rubbish heat shields on my 2013 Vrs, all the holes in the aluminium shields themselves have corroded away to a massive hole, and almost all the screw threads are just a corroded lump of metal now. I went round them all a few years ago when I fitted a new exhaust, and tried to make the best of a bad situation, but they're all beyond repair now. As the bolts are fixed to the body (I'm assuming spot welded) what are people's solutions to this? I did try to rethread one of them to M5, but it just crumbled in the die!

Yep, Milltek are very good. I fitted the resonated one a couple of years ago, and it's slightly louder than stock, but not at all obnoxious.

That code is for my car that didn't have trailer prep. Your car might have trailer prep. Check your build sticker for the code, second code for me was 1D0 - without trailer hitch. Just meant I needed to wire back to the passenger side fuse box, and into one of the wiring harness plugs on that side. The instructions were very detailed for the wiring, then got the OBD11 info from here somewhere.

Apologies, I got the witter kit, not westfalia. My email archive reminded me!

I also the westfalia detachable on my 2014 hatch, though made the error of not detaching it for years, and now it's non detachable without getting very forceful! Use it regular though, so I'm not that bothered. I wired it, and coded it myself using obd11 with no issues at all.

I've replaced my discs and pads a few months back with brembo (used to be top quality) one of the discs was warped out of the box, and I've just had to replace the pads again the other day as they'd delaminated. Never getting brembo stuff again.

I have the DQ250 box, and can confirm the gearbox needs pushing out the way to do the lower control arms.

And I've just come to give it a bit more of wd40 squirt to ease it off again, and one of the brake pads has fallen apart!! Didn't put them in too long ago, still plenty of thickness. I'm never buying brembo parts again, had nothing but poor quality from them over the last few years.

For me, it's the actual pivot point inside the caliper. There's a rubber boot meant to keep out the junk, but it doesn't do a very good job at all. Only way to get to it properly is to strip down the caliper fully.

If your handbrake goes slack again, I'd check out the rear calipers before tightening the cable again.

I had my petrol turbo replaced by a independent vag specialist a few years ago. I'm also pretty handy, but didn't have time to do it myself. It seems pretty OK to do, the most important bit is to fill the new turbo with oil before buttoning up.

Yep, second @Squirrelz comment. My 2014 rear calipers are binding regularly, causing a tiny bit of play on the handbrake, sometimes enough to bring the warning light on. I'm awaiting funds to replace the calipers, until then, a squirt of lubrication on the handbrake pivot point is enough to free it off for a few months (being careful not to over spray)

I've had the blackvue DR650 dual channel in my VRS for about 5 years now, only ever needed to use it once! But the piece of mind is good. I've also got the viofo a129 plus duo in one of my other vehicles, and it's also great. It depends what you want, good picture at night, not so great at speed, or the opposite etc etc etc. This is a pretty good video to help choose.

That looks to me like expanding foam, which has no place in an engine bay! Have you had the car from new? Has it been in an accident? Possibly dodgy crash repair methods?!

I'd tackle it if I was you. I've just had to replace the steel cover on the front and side of my gearbox on a 2013 2.0 VRS as the rust had made a pinhole the oil was leaking out of!

Well, as I'm the fitter (with 20 years experience in all things electrical and mechanical) it certainly wasn't incompetence 😄 Plus, I replaced the whole bearing and housing each time, so didn't need to press the bearings in or out. Just torque the bolts properly.

Dunno what to tell you! I never changed front or rears on my mk2 vrs in the 6 years I had that, but changed them more than expected on this one. Maybe I had a few 'Friday' bearings?! (I work in a car factory, I know these things exist, though not just on a Friday!)

Just normal driving on good old British pot hole filled roads! I do use my car for DIY tools/equipment hauling, so the rears may be under added stress, but nothing out of the ordinary up front.

Still on the original DSG clutch though, so doing something right there!

I haven't fitted wheel spacers to my 2013 Vrs, but I can tell you, the wheel bearings are definitely a weak point of this car. I first replaced the rear wheel bearings June 2019, after 5.5 years, and 95k miles. Replaced the fronts in July 2019, 96k miles. Replaced the fronts again (shouldn't have gone for cheap ones...) in October 2020, 116k miles. Just replaced the front and rears again last week, July 2023, 161k miles. I don't think spacers will add to the wear, but they're certainly not the best to begin with.