Breezy_Pete

Thanks for the info @Tilt. Yep it's going very well so far, ta. No repetition of the horrible rattle. Things I've done recently: Cleaned out intake manifold. Wasn't as bad as I expected. Fitted a new genuine engine air filter and gave the MAF a clean, initially just squirting some isoprop across the film, then with an aerosol of 'proper' MAF cleaner lent by a colleague a couple of days later. I could convince myself that it goes better and chucks less smoke out of the back as a result of these things. Filter wasn't at all grubby though TBH. Attempted to get one of the pinch bolts moving, and briefly succeeded, but then it jammed up again half a mm to the left. Took a lot of getting back to 'done up'. So I ran away and left it for another day/month/year. Latest game is to see what journey average mpgs I can get on my commute. It's probably near ideal, in flowing, but slowish traffic at 7am, maybe 45mph most of the way. I've finished the journey with an indicated average for the journey of 60mpg a couple times in the last week or two, which I suspect isn't quite real, but it's pretty good. For as long as I have to do twenty-odd miles twice a day, it might as well be as efficient as I can get it. Always seems to be slightly worse on the way home. Prevailing wind effects, and/or possibly a steep hill I go up very early in the outbound journey, bringing temps up much quicker than on the flat start of the return journey??

How would you have gone about meeting the ever tightening requirements? It is a shame that diesel engines have been so compromised recently, but legislation forced it, not the manufacturers.

The workshop manual suggests applying grease. Doubt it does much harm, but in many cases these bits of plastic are probably 20 + years old, so may have worn to nearly nothing.

Yep 6N0609589 , you shouldn't really need to change the backplate, unless the holes have rotted out.

There are 3 little plastic 'buttons' that push fit through the backplate under each shoe, to provide a low-friction contact. These tend to be near invisible unless you're looking for them, but you may well see the retaining clips of each poking out the back of the backplate. They start life white/cream coloured, as seen if you look here. Scroll through the images to see them installed. 6N0609589, 6 per backplate. They get carved up over time. https://allegro.pl/oferta/suwak-szczek-hamulcowych-komplet-12-szt-oryginal-12710229048?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Not sure, but I think if clutch fluid had leaked from slave cylinder, it would also have leaked from the bell-housing/engine joint. There's a thin metal gasket, but I doubt it would hold fluid back. When you move gear lever around with engine off, does it feel like it's actually going into gears?

If the 6 bolts that attach the inner CV to the drive flange are still there, the only way it could come out is if the bolt holding the drive flange in has broken. Pretty sure if that happened, your gear oil would have fallen out all over the place.

Wire breaks or corroded connector contacts are usually obvious to the naked eye, but yeah, if you have a meter, testing from lock connector to a-pillar connector is worth doing.

The blue/yellow and purple/yellow wires of the white 6-way connector at the A-pillar are the ones that go to the motor in the door lock (from the central convenience unit). Some other pins in the same connector also are lock related. Green or white residues on the loom connector inserts is usually the giveaway that rain has got to them.

The wiring and particularly the connections of the plugs/sockets at the bellows can be vulnerable to water ingress if someone has tried to look at the wiring by peeling back the rubber bellows, and then has failed to refit it perfectly. It's rather awkward to do so in the tight space near the hinges, so often it is left not sealing well against the paintwork, and rain runs down and in, affecting the connectors which are not themselves waterproof.

It's the unit that controls the central locking and alarm (where fitted) functions. Mounted in a rather inaccessible position up above the clutch pedal on RHD cars. Generally rather reliable, and tends not to get any attention unless someone wants to replace it to upgrade from key-in-door to radio remote central locking, which requires a different part number. Yours was built with radio remote C/L, so unlikely to have ever been touched. Looks like this:

The subframe tools allow you to put the thing back exactly where it came from, rather than to some particular fixed position. As each bolt comes out, you replace it with one of the tool 'bolts' which has freedom of movement to 'keep' the relative positions of the holes in the subframe and the chassis. I've got a set somewhere that I bought many years ago, just to see how they worked! Then, when ready to refit, you slip the subframe over them, and replace one by one with the real bolts, restoring the original position, and therefore any alignment.

What specs did you use to tighten them? It's not really possible to check afterwards, if they are torque plus angle tightened (which most suspension and engine bolts are specified as these days, and which does not define them as 'torque to yield' types necessarily, it's just a more accurate way of achieving a given pre-tension level).

Hmm, I have grave doubts about the complete truth of that. Lots of folk including lots of professionals in non-Skoda garages will have done this many times to many different so-called stretch bolts,, and very few bolts will ever snap. And if they do, they're by far most likely to do so whilst being tensioned so the spannerer will find out.

Parts catalogue gives 3B2837016R for your car, which has been superseded by 3B2837016AA.

Must admit though, I have doubts that reusing bolts will have caused a problem, unless not done up tight enough.

Do you know what your engine code is? It looks like these may be the two possible diagrams that will cover them https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs/skoda/CZ/SUP/851/1/199/199010 Or https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs/skoda/CZ/SUP/851/1/199/199011

https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs

Doubt it, that would be a LHD unit. I guess you mean driver's side front door lock? Would need reg number or VIN to give a definite PN. Could be a problem with wiring to the lock motor, at A-pillar to door bellows.

Parked on a hill and left in gear, by any chance?

Often a USB-type borescope will have an optional 45° mirror, allowing you to look sideways as well as straight downward. That would probably give enough of a view of valves to see anything grossly abnormal? Can be tricky to see well enough though.

Wasn't thinking it was anything in the door, more the central convenience unit above clutch pedal. Are you in touch with previous owner?

Does it seem to crank over fast, and possibly sound unusual while doing so?

Compression test would tell you, I think.

Yeah, not sure about the boot opening, but if the central convenience unit is coded to think it's in a 2/3 door car, and is possibly also from a car without remote central locking, that might explain most of what's occurring. Not sure why vcds lite won't talk to it though, not sure having full version will change that.