Monkhai

I don't know the rapid, but my first port of call would always be to check the lines to the fuel filter and to check fuel filter housings for leaks. Also check the fuel delivery lines and anywhere fuel would flow, including pumps, to make sure there are no leaks. TBH as it's petrol, I would be getting an opinion from a second garage as well. I assume you're confident it's your car and not a cold car in front generating the petrol smell or something else?

Thread moved to Rapid section, as you'll likely get more answers here.

There was an old engine from the mk 1 fabia too, can’t for the life of me remember which one though.

There was an engine which had piston ring issues that drank oil, but I can’t remember if it was the 1.2 or 1.4 and it was only one of the 8v or 16v. The other version was solid as, if a little dull.

Are you the original owner as some people installed a hidden OBD2, or an off switch, such that the car could still be diagnosed, but couldn't have new keys programmed on the sly by a thief. It was more BMW and other premium cars, which were subject to theft by smashing a window out of view of the alarm, then programming new keys via OBD port, opening the car, driving off and doing what they wanted.

What is the part number on the coolant tank. Some of the earlier tanks had the silicate in a tube or bag between two walls, so it doesn't just float there like a tea bag in some of the later ones. That material looks like rust, but do the metal bits stick to a magnet? Was it sandy in texture as that might give a clue to other possible causes. There's a lot of aluminium in the system also, so you do have to be careful on using the correct coolant too.

So coming late to the game...... Define better, becuase with the same power consumption something has to give between cost, life and brightness... Generally in my experience: - The +30% bulbs have a decent extra chunk of light at an only slightly reduced life - The +50% bulbs had a bit more light again, but at a noticably shorter life and higher cost - The + 80% bulbs really didn't seem any brigher than the +50, but were definately very short on the life vs standard bulbs. - The long life bulbs were the same or marginally brigher, but did last a very long time. Cheap bulbs were generally naff, as the filaments had been build to a price, but OEM quality bulbs were fine. H7 are definely brighter than H4 in my book, as you have two dedicated bulbs not 1. Keeping the lenses clean is important too. On the MK2 OCty I found them excellent, then had an issue after some work, but took them to be properly adjusted and made sure the height adjustment motors worked. After that they were great again. Still I ended up with a Xenon equiped headlight set on the next car (Factory fitted not aftermarket). I used to like the osram silverstar and the phillips vision+, but that is going back a few years.

VMs... development etc?

Read up on chain tensioners.....

Love to know what the problem was with the 1.8tdci.... had them and it was the most reliable car of all inc multiple vag and had over 200k on it. the 1.6 tdci had problems and the 1.8 tddi are a bit agricultural but reliable...

I imagine from this and other posts they are either not registered in the YK for VAT or don’t want the shipping costs... When you say large was it cost or size related?

Had them on the winter wheels since they first came out and they’re excellent, even more so as they wear compared to other worn tyres

I used to live in Islington area... They hate cars and will get you one way or another...

If your car is out of warranty, then Mann filter would be my suggestion 👍

The prestone stuff pretty good at a reasonable price...

The water pump, pulleys and tensioner are typically the weak points. As for the 5 years, I may be wrong but I think that’s something that rarely appears outside of the UK market.

Getting rid of heat is the biggest problem, after getting the power in.... Intel and AMD have different metrics for how they calculate the stated TDP, but frankly neitehr are a problem compared to a 300W CPU Just plan how you're going to get the cool air in and the hot air out, don't try to complicate the air flow (in at the front, out at the back works well for a reason) and you'll be fine. That and getting a good, stable PSU.

How much are the items worth? If under (IIRC) £135, they need to learn to do the VAT and paperwork. If over, the VAT is your problem, they just sell it to you and you deal with the taxes. UK customs are pretty much letting everything through, as long as it's correctly identified on the form at the moment, so I do not understand why they're having issues. If it's just the volume of new forms they need to fill out, then maybe they need to talk to some of the UK resellers and set them up as authorised resellers, so they can do it in bulk. If you're really desperate for parts, you could find a friend in EU/UK and ask for it to be delivered to them, then have it posted with the correct paperwork. The process is here and once you get used to it, it's not any where near as bad as people make out: https://www.gov.uk/import-goods-into-uk Sadly, I think some companies are being caught by the predictions of doom on both side of the water and restricting business when they don't really need to.

When you say stuck, is it the struts sticking? If so I would talk to the dealer.

Look at the manual for the 5 and 7 There was some discussion in a few places and the initial short 15.8v pulses are bad for AGM batteries. Not potential instant death like the sun recon cycle, but shortens life. Here is one such link but there are others out there with battery manufacturers stating it was bad too: https://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php?threads/just-tried-out-the-ctek-ct5-stop-start-for-agm-batteries.159081/

If you look at the ct5 and mxs5 you will see: the ct5 is 3.8A max and 14.7v max the mxs5 is 5A max and uses 15.8v during recon and phase1. obviously you can avoid using recon, but the 15.8v during the initial charge stage can damage an AGM battery. The mxs 7 appears to have the same profile as the ct5 but at a max 7amp I would have thought your existing charger would be fine just to top it up, albeit over about 24 hours.

M.2 pci drives are good, not really more expensive... However not a patch on the different between a hdd and a sata ssd.

I get the part number 5E2 864 436 E then a three lettter code for the colour code such as black/black, black/silver and black/red

Hadn't even thought of that, but yes adding wheels, sensors and tyres suddenly moves from about £500 to about £1k and makes it far less likely.

Sorry, yes I know, the point I was trying (and failing to make) is that for most people a cheap/reliable system that puts a light on and can't be easily damaged by a tyre bar is probably enough for most. I do agree it would be nice if the full version was a inexpensive option though. Is the system you fitted an actual VW system or aftermarket?