I have an 2006 octavia petrol 2 litre. its done 82k and just started playing up and hitting the rev limiter in any gear.

there are no error lights, any ideas?

is this with or without you putting your foot right the floor?

Without.

I have to be careful when accelerating too hard

Without.

I have to be careful when accelerating too hard

Knackered clutch? Is it slipping?

the cars on its original clutch at 82k, and the engine cuts (rev limiter i assume at the same 3500 revs) and n any gear 1-6th

Some VAG engines have a much lower rev limit when they are in neutral - maybe your car isn't sensing that it's in gear? I think you'll need to get the car scanned for faults to find out what the problem is.

Its a manual.

I was trying to avoid taking it to a garage, would unplugging the battery reset the ECU etc?

Its a manual.

I was trying to avoid taking it to a garage, would unplugging the battery reset the ECU etc?

What I said still holds true for manuals - there will be a micro switch somewhere that can tell if the car is in gear or not. On our manual FL Octavia the gear you are currently in is shown on the dash.

If you are trying to avoid going to a garage look in the Diagnostic and VCDS section of the forum and ask if there is anyone near you with VCDS who would be prepared to scan the car for you.

a friend who is a mechanic took off the MAF and it continued to do it. but it now has a check engine light on.

The light is on because the car was run with no MAF as for reving high id look towards the throttle being stuck open.