Had my car in the garage for its 80K service and a new clutch (as I thought, and so did Phil, that my clutch was slipping) it turned out that the engine management light that was illuminated was not the recurring temperature sensor fault, but faults 17704 and the dreaded 17705. The skillfull master technician at my not so local but oh so helpful Skoda garage diagnosed that the turbo pipe (the one that TaviaRS and Tavia4x4 'discovered') was no longer secured properly and that was the reason for the pressure drop fault (and the flat performance I held the clutch responsible for). Pipe has now been replaced and all is well. New pipe has a better mechanism and should therefore no longer be an issue.

I have got the faulty pipe at home, so I will take some pictures to show the exact problem a bit later on.

A warranty job, Quinten, or did you have to pay for the pipe and labour?

My car is out of warranty unfortunately, but it being my not so local but oh so helpful Skoda garage we came to a mutual satisfying agreement...

The good news I guess is that 1) you found a good dealer & 2) it's not your clutch

My car is out of warranty unfortunately, but it being my not so local but oh so helpful Skoda garage we came to a mutual satisfying agreement...

Understood.

Nice one, glad its sorted now