jeallen01

From the OP's original post , the full P/N is the same as you gave but with the relevant car model prefix - I found some with a 5N0 prefix but they were too expensive! Now thinking of buying a complete set of used callipers, carriers and pads for less than one new carrier - then keeping the carriers and flogging the callipers etc. on! In fact , I've now done just that (£106 delivered, so maybe £50-60 nett in the end?)

Where did you find them?

Done some searching on ebay, and this supplier did list them there at some time, but has now withdrawn the ad - so I think he does not have these calliper carriers anymore.

As Title, as the 288mm disk setup on the estate is now a bit "marginal" at times after the remapping a couple of years ago, and so I thinking of this upgrade. So, what are the impressions from people who have made this change: - Efficiency? - Feel? - Fade? - Anything else? Or else, would a change of pads or 288 disks to better types (currently running fairly standard items) be a better (and easier) route. Thanks in advance. John

If you can't arrange the postage/courier, then please tell me the overall dimensions and weight (including appropriate packaging!)

Has anyone tried these PSB 160F poly bushes? PS: don't want really hard poly bushes - just something between the standard ones and the Powerflex type (which were a bit too hard on the old Golf Estate)

See also this post from last year about the rear console bushes - Brad 18.T gives a lot of info and my post No 16 gives the FEBI p/n's for the 2-void console bushes.

PS to my earlier post - it is the front ones that I need, to go from 288 to 312mm disks.

Is the ARB still available, and if so then how much to post to the London area? Thanks in advance.

Afternoon. I have already changed the lower control arm bushes for 2-void Febi ones - but was looking the front bushes a few days ago and they look rather sad and worn at 118K miles. How easy/difficult is it to change those - either for just OEM replacements or for poly bushes (road spec - not really hard ones!)? Thanks in advance. John

Is that still true, as I would like a pair for my estate (see left for details)?

I agree - experience with the adjustable Whiteline on the Golf taught me that.

Cheers for the info about brackets and bushes - that was what I had hoped. I'm now looking for a GTI bar in the UK, but, whilst the dismantlers appear to have a few front bars, they don't see to have any rear ones at present, and I don't t to go the Whiteline route because of the costs. I think, on the estate - and based on past experience as mentioned - fitting a GTI rear bar should be enough to sort out the slight sloppiness at that end of the car without ruining the balance (going too hard on the Golf made it very tail-happy!)

Brad Many thanks for the info - will try to get my hands on one of those GTI rear ARBs, and drill the holes before I fit it. Question: I realise that new ARB bushes were required, but were the original ARB bush mounting brackets OK, or did you have to use the ones from the Golf GTI MkV? I had a Whiteline adjustable bar on the rear of the old Golf estate, and you could certainly feel the differences when you changed between the various positions, but I suspect that the equivalent bar for the Skoda (is there one?) would probably start off a bit too stiff at the minimum position for my needs (and my back!).

Nope - just bog standard KYB OEM replacements :no: Went to Duxford yesterday for the airshow, and had a much more comfortable rise, but rather more understeer at times that I am used to. Looks like it needs to be a bit stiffer at the back now! From my experience with several Mk 2 Astra SRI estates and the Golf TDI estate, the way to go is standard springs and relatively soft shocks but a slightly stiffer rear ARB, although not something like a Whiteline (had that on the Golf) etc., and so I wonder if anyone knows if the VRS estate rear ARB is stiffer than that on the standard estate as I think that would be the way to go if it is (that's what I did with the Astra estates and it worked well with Koni Reds)?

Update: The B4s "arrived" from Italy via Germany (!) yesterday courtesy (not) of Parcelfarce (they were overloaded and got an agent to deliver, but we weren't in and he didn't leave a card so it took nearly 4hrs to sort that out and collect them - and ruined our afternoon and evening as a result). Anyway, fitted them today and went out over one of the bumpiest pieces of road around here (sleeping policemen, speed humps, cobbles and a few potholes - well it is a 20mph zone so that all helps to keep the speed down, except for the idiots who don't!) and the ride is quite a lot better - not perfect but still quite a lot nicer than before. FWIW, the KYBs I took off were virtually solid - I think they had actually seized up during the 2 yr period I left them in the garage, so I was right about the main problem being the shocks and not the springs. BTW: I fitted the shorter VRS estate 117mm bump stops instead of the standard estate ones, - and it was interesting to see that the distance from the wide end to the raised ridge that hold the bumpstop to the dust shield appears to be the same, and it is only the bit below that ridge that appears to differ. On reflection, I could well have saved the £25 on the VRS ones and just refitted the shortened standard ones that I fitted with the KYBs because they were still fine!

Which post was that in reply to????????????

Update on my posts above: The shocks were shipped by GLS late last night - but from Italy and not Germany! So partsoutlet24 looks another of those websites which are not actual shops/dealers with items on "their own" shelves but which pick parts from a range of warehousing facilities across a wide area. So, I'll wait until the shocks arrive and then post again (BTW: my previous recent experience with a shipment via GLS from the Czech Republic tells me that it's not very quick, and so it will probably be about a week before they are delivered, and that that will probably be by Parcelfarce).

Need to bear in mind that the website prices don't include the P&P costs, which are only evident when you get to the Checkout which is where you enter your address - and that's when you find out that the website says they can't ship to the UK and so does not give you the P&P price! Then you have to contact the company using the website, or their email address which is [email protected], and they will let you know the shipping costs - for the 2x B4s it was 30 Euros, but I guess that for a full set of 4x including the front struts then it would be substantially more.

Today I finally bought a pair of standard B4s for the rear of the Octavia from partsoutlet24 in Germany (£105 delivered) because no-one in the UK appears to have 2x to sell for immediate delivery at anything like a reasonable price - only a full set of 4 which I don't need. Apparently Bilstein in the UK quoted a 4-week delivery for 2x shocks but the German shop had them on the shelf today. OTOH, when you try to place an order on the website, it states that they can't deliver to the UK - but if you use the "Contact us" approach and mention that they email you and then can treat it as a direct order and can ship on receipt of the requisite amount by Paypal. John

Mannyo Thanks for the comments and info - it's the "but you can never tell" bit that kinda worries me!

Update: The car has been running fine since I restarted it on 19th April and I still have no clear idea of what happened to prevent it starting, or why (apart from the battery disconnection and ECU reset process) it did finally restart after a few days.. However, then I read the article on ECUs in the June issue of Car Mechanics (which came yesterday) where there are "Top 10 Engine ECU failures" listed - and No 10 (on Page 15) relates to the Passat 2.0 TDI where it states" "The engine ECU is a very common failure that will cause the engine to either cut out while driving or fail to start. The fault may occur intermittently and the engine might restart after a short period. For 2011-2015 cars, the ECU can be water damaged, due to poor drainage from the plenum chamber under the windscreen. If trying to read fault codes, diagnostic equipment might not communicate with the engine ECU, as well as other ECUs, including ABS or the instrument cluster" Whilst my car is earlier than the period stated above, from what I think I know, the general configuration of the location of the engine ECU in relation to the plenum chamber under the windscreen on the Octy II is somewhat similar to that described for the Passat, and the symptoms outlined are eeriely similar to what appeared to happen in my case because I had the issue that VCDS (and Torque on my tablet, via Bluetooth) would not communicate with the ECUs. Therefore, has anyone else experienced water ingress into the engine ECU on this generation of Octy II?

Bump for suggestions for NRVs to insert into the fuel lines? BTW: started the car yesterday and today with no problems - but it was only standing for about 12-15hrs between the starts.

Cleared all the existing codes and then reran the autoscan - and only the steering angle fault code and LED symbol is still there now. IIRC from other threads, that one should disappear after the vehicle has been driven for a bit and everything syncs up properly again. Therefore I think (at least I hope!) the electrical side of things is sorted (well, maybe). OTOH, the question as to why this all happened in the first place is still unanswered. Because of the amount of turning over this morning before the engine finally fired, I think that letting the vehicle stand for a couple of days allowed fuel to drain back into the tank because of the failure of some sort of non-return valve (NRV). I believe there is an NRV in the combined fuel/vacuum pump (on the end of one of the camshafts) but that unit is said to be unrepairable (and costs >£300!) and so changing it would be a last resort. Therefore, where else might there be another NRV that could be changed, &/or is there a way to fit a separate NRV into the fuel supply line, and if so does anyone have any suggestions for a part to use? PS to MikeH, I did get the non-gen VAGCOM lead to work this time, and - given that I need to use one quite rarely - I don't fancy shelling out over £300 to replace the gen one that got nicked some years ago unless there is absolutely no alternative. PPS: thanks to all the people who have given help and suggestions on how to sort out my problem.

Sunday update As suggested, I disconnected the battery this morning and left it like that for about 3hrs whilst I did other things before reconnecting it. Then I tried to start the engine - 1st time turned over for about 10s without firing, switched off - 2nd time - same as 1st - 3rd time - after a few secs, began to hear attempts to fire but nothing regular - 4th time - same as 3rd until 1 or 2, and then finally all 4 cylinders started firing and then the engine revs settled down and so I kept it running for a couple of minutes. Then switched it on and off several times and it started and ran each time, so left it for about 10mins to start to recharge the battery (good job that is large capacity and quite new, or I might not have got that far anyway) Tried to connect Torque on the tablet to the BT dongle in the OBD socket but it would not connect. Connected the VAGCOM lead and fired up the laptop with VAGCOM - got a connection to the engine management system this time! So I ran an autoscan which threw up various minor faults including the steering angle sensor (that LED was/is still illuminated) and one relating to the CANBUS (hoping that was a stored and not live one), plus various other minor issues which I don't consider very important at the moment. Have saved the log on that laptop, which is not the one on which I'm writing this post, so can't post the log at the moment. Now trying reload all the Fault Codes so that I can try to delete them and see what happens afterwards. Any comments on the above would be appreciated