Breezy_Pete

Nope not Torx. XZN/triple-square or Spline bit is what you need depending on whether the angle inside each of the 12 points is 90 or 60 degrees respectively. I thought most VW group fasteners were XZN/90 but that photo doesn't show it clearly enough for me to be sure. Take a pic completely square on to one of ghe heads and it may be clearer.

Yeah, when I linked to that ebay ad showing a genuine spring, it was just to show you the paint marks, not as a suggestion of what to buy. We know genuine VW group springs aren't as good as they used to be, cos they keep breaking!

Flow is from the lower (when fitted), convoluted end to the upper, EGR valve connection, as seen in ebay ad pictures of the back of the engine, e.g. here 2008 VW POLO 1.4 TDI DIESEL ENGINE BNM CODE 82K MILES WITH WARRANTY | eBay So mechanically, a blanking plate at that lower end could work, but I think the engine management electronics would notice, and give you a fault light. Illegal too. Access doesn't look too bad from above and gearbox end, judging by the ebay pics; are you sure that you've looked at the right section in Haynes, and that the youtube vid you watched is for this engine type?

Service inspection message does not relate to faults. It just tells you when a service is due, and which type (oil or inspection). What is the fault code read by the scan tool (what number)? Check for broken wires close to the intake manifold flap motor (circled part in your last photo). Check cabin fuse #24. Maybe also take it off and clean the flap. I'm not too sure how air leaks affect diesels, but a very common air leak is through cracks in the vacuum hose that goes to the brake servo, big round thing on the back wall of the engine bay. The cracks usually can be found at the ends of the hard plastic section(s).

1. Yes it will drain the battery if permanently on. Can you link to these? Sounds very, very unlikely to me.

Have you tried pulling that passenger front seatbelt out?

504 00 is the long life one. Read what root posted again, he's recommended 502 00.

Try this. Unlock the car with the fob and open just the front passenger side door. Wait thirty seconds or a minute (can't remember which it is) and see if the car re-locks itself as if you hadn't opened any doors. Repeat with each of the other doors if no re-locking happens. On ours the front passenger door opening wasn't 'seen' reliably and it turned out after a fairly in-depth look to be one of the connector solder joints inside the lock. Similar sounding symptoms to yours except I knew the autolocking wasn't enabled, and it didn't happen predictably at a given speed. Yours may have been enabled. Locking misbehaviour, another possible cause - Skoda Fabia Mk I - BRISKODA Since fixing that joint (and swapping in a new microswitch while I was there, just in case) no misbehaviour has occurred.

Sounds very iffy "If something seems too good to be true..."

1. alternator 150A or 175A 2. cabin 110A 3. Power steering 50A 4. Glow plug relay 40A 5. Radiator fan control unit (high speed) 40A 6. ABS module 40A Anything else that's been added, with its own fuse inline should be moved to the main power rail the other, far side of those fuses, so that they are not increasing the load on each of those strip fuses, and decreasing the contact reliability.

This red one:

Did you investigate that extra red wire under the second thick black wire? If that's powering fans (instead of fuse 8), it could affect voltage going to cabin/light switch/lights when the fans come on with the AC.

Think I'd avoid anschler, but @Carlston seems to know a lot more about spring manufacturers than I do though.

So that part number in my ebay link is the right one, first one that @Carlston listed above - 1K0411105AQ

Dampers/struts and top mounts etc may all benefit from being done at ten years old, but the parts cost will rack up rapidly. Labour cost would hardly increase though. Paint blobs should be obvious after a wipe-down with a damp rag. Example of paint markings here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OEM-VOLKSWAGEN-BEETLE-A5-FRONT-COIL-SPRING-1K0411105AQ-GENUINE-/283950880426

Thanks for confirmation @J.R. Looking at wiring diagrams, there seems to be two variants, one with just the actuator local to the seatbelt reel, one with a control module also local to each. The latter sounds - if anything - more prone to failure.

What colours are the paint blobs on your original springs, and in what sequence. What year is the car?

Do you mean the bit the belt plugs into, in the middle of the car? My reading of the ETKA parts list is that the pretensioner lives in the reel part, not the 'socket': https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/octavia/oct/2015-753/8/857-857060/ Whilst I agree that a broken spring is far more likely, I've experienced one or two of these and I wouldn't describe the experience as ear-ringing loud. Nor as sounding like it's in the cabin. Thorough, jacked-up inspection of all springs would be logical if there's no obvious change in the seat belt behaviour though, taking to a tyre place and getting it fully lifted might be quicker and easier.

Have a play with the seatbelt on that side, and/or where it plugs into. I think your idea about pretensioner misbehaviour might be right. That said, I'm not sure how it would behave after such an event, compared to normal.

In that case look at fuses and fuse connections for fuse numbers 14 and 52 instead. Are you getting the same faults as shown in the scan here? Communication trouble between engine ECU and other modules?

Which engine does your car have @lalwong? I've looked at all your posts without discovering that.

Fuses 17 and 56 look to be ones to focus attention on, permanent and ignition switched 12V supplies to engine ECU on the 1.4/16v. Unfortunately the OP's photo isn't working and he/she hasn't logged in for more than 9 years so I doubt that a mention will work... @Al115, how's it going?

Can you put the battery on a charger for a few hours to get some energy into it? I think it will not have been getting charged well by the alternator with all these broken wires and bad connections.

Does the battery light now come on with ignition?

In this photo, there's a red wire going through a blade fuse just hanging around near the right-hand one of the two thick black wires. From what I can see, the top end of that wire might be attached underneath the connection of the big black wire to the fuse? If that is how things are, swap those over so that the big wire is straight onto the fuse, the red one on top, under the nut. That will improve the connection of the big black wire, which supplies everything in the cabin.