skomaz

My understanding is that it should be possible to replace it in-situ without removing the propshaft. Space is tight but I've seen comments that there is enough movement in the parts available to allow the coupling to be removed and refitted.

I'd still suggest it's the flexible rubber joints / donuts in the propshaft that are failing. They can look fine but the outer ring can come loose and unbalanced and the rubber will be affected by temperature and could 'soften' slightly after a drive which might tie in with your observations that things change after a short drive, or on a cold start. They are available separately from the propshaft at about £100 so would have probably been cheaper to try than everything else you've doe so far.

I'd suggest it's the Merc's fault for not looking but, it being a private car park, where 'normal' rules don't apply I'd expect their insurance to push for 50/50. This is based on previous experience where someone on a petrol station forecourt did something similar to us many many years ago trying to queue jump to a different pump that had just been vacated.

When the metal / rubber coupling goes it's generally a loud low droning noise coming from the rear of the car that increases with load and is louder in higher gears - so under load at just over 70mph and 2300 RPM or thereabouts in top seems to be when it is at its worst. I think some have also experienced the metal 'ring' coming oose from the rest and moving that could be a more metallic grating type sound.

Cat N... Avoid IMHO. It's an economic write off so repaired and may be fine but will probably suffer from increased insurance costs and is it worth the risk?

Interestingly when I started work a LONG time ago at Dowty in Cheltenham I was put up in a B&B at John and Betty Cleeveley's house... John being the founder of Cleevely Motors and who's sons took over the business and subsequently also started Cleeveley EV's.

Have to say I keep reading this thread every now and then and have visions of Heath Robinson arrangements for batteries and solar panels at @lol-lol 's house and him running around morning and night like Scrooge unplugging and plugging in all his electrical appliances to his batteries and panels...

Isn't that a re-badged Mitsubishi L200?

For info thier engines have wet CAMBELTS. Your doesn't have a wet cambelt, as I mentioned above.

It's not a wet belt in the traditional sense of it being a wet cambelt which is an issue. The 'wet' belt in your engine is a small belt separate to the cambelt in the sump that drives an oil pump. There have been no reports of issues with it over many years of use

That does sound like it ticks all the boxes for the propshaft coupling... In terms of driving it - yes you should be OK - the one on our Octavia II 4x4 TDi started to go at about 75,000 miles and then got progressively worse and louder but it continued to 'work' (albeit noisily) until we had about 113,000 miles on the clock at which point we moved it on and bought our Kodiaq.

Does it occur at a specific rev range / speed? and does it appear to come from underneath / towards the rear of the car. If so and it's occurring at about 75moh or 2300 ish revs and is worse in higher gears and your mileage is anything above / around about 70,000 miles then I'd suspect it is probably the rear guibo (doughnut) flexible coupling on the propshaft just in front of the haldex unit that is worn and getting out of balance. Octavia 5e5 2.0 TDI 4x4 Propshaft coupling - 150 hp Diesel 110 kW 2012 - 2020 CKFC ▷ AUTODOC

That's an additional cost but again isn't answering my question... So again... what areas of our lives we have looked at more closely as a result of the war in Iran and why and what transport will be different because of it in the future. If you don't know or can't answer just say... But then also stop making brash broad brush statements about fundamental changes in transport that isnt going to happen... After all is finished we'll still import goods by boat and plane, move them by train and lorry and travel by car, train,bus, bike and legs etc.

No not missed that news. You didn't answer my questions though... I asked you to clarify what areas of our lives we have looked at more closely as a result of the in Iran and why and what transport will be different because of it in the future. You response above is just deflection and whataboutery...

I did know that but it's not really a full blown Gulf War is it... It's Trump and Netanyahu being aresholes. And yes fuel prices are high at the moment but I was wanting an explanation as to what the long term knock on effects would be. I can't see it making such huge changes as we're implied.

What is this GW3 you are talking about and could you clarify what and what areas of our lives we have looked at more closely as a result of it and why and what transport will be different because of it. None of what you have said has any coherence or clarity and has very little resonance within the day to day transport industry as far as I can tell from within it.

So despite your argument to the contrary there was still a net reduction in contributions to the Chancellor's coffers that needs to be 'redressed' by some other means...

It's not removing excessive slack. It's simply compensating for stretch. The slack is still being taken up by the tensioner

We had an early estate identical to that for about 13 years. Everything still worked when we sold it with over 130,000 miles on the clock. It went on to do just under 200,000 miles before it eventually went to the scrapyard in the sky

Or just fit some Grayston spring assistors

I managed to update the ottocast firmware after a bit of a battle but it made no difference at all. Its now sat back in the box waiting for me to decide what to do with it. In the meantime I've got an AA wireless2 that works flawlessly for the three phones that use it regularly.

From memory the rear fog light is a coding issue so should be an easy fix by anyone with vcds or similar with no need for physical changes.

Thanks. Had look online and it looks like these or the Mii are about the right price with the Mii being slightly cheaper so will take a closer look at some

What are these like on insurance. My eldest is learning to drive at 22 and hence I'm thinking about a first car for her... So they are on my list along with kia picanto, kia rio, hyundai i10, hyundai i20, suzuki swift, suzuki Balerno etc. (not interested in the usual Toyota Aygo, peugeot 106, citroen triplets.

They're redundant and part of the quality control process during manufacture. They are used when the car is tested for water leaks on the production line. Just tuck them out of the way and ignore them