He's offered to refund it. I doubt I'll be able to get him to pay ferry and flight cost back though.

Anyone know where I could get a copy of etka to check the prop shaft part numbers of the Octavia and Golf/Bora?

I can only find a Russian version of VW online.

Vagcat.com might help

Its called the cardan shaft

1J0 521 101 AH

or

1J0 521 101 AL

other versions, apparently not fitted to octy include

1J0 521 101 AK

1J0 521 101 AB

1J0 521 101 AC

1J0 521 101 AF

I wonder what the differences are?

Here are the links for the Golf and Octavia parts;

http://www.vagcat.com/epc/cat/sk/OCT/2001/252/53/4443161/

http://www.vagcat.co...266/53/3482767/

There are 2 options for the Golf and maybe 7 for the Octavia, the 1J0 521 101AH and AF are the only 2 common to both, but no idea if it is for the full shaft, and what the differences are with all the others!

Edited 9 January, 201313 yr by Lyonzo

I suspect its to do with different front coupling options for different wheelbase and final drive boxes

there are different "donuts" depending on the gearbox that the prop is mating to. When I swapped to the S3 box I found out the hard way

Still trying to confirm the correct number, then need to try and work out the differences between the 4motion ones!

Next question is, would the rear diff be the same?!

Edited 12 January, 201313 yr by Lyonzo

Next question is, would the rear diff be the same?!

Yep, single packaged clutch/diff unit

Examples from flea-bay

271135578909

221176188023

230908398973

I've seen plenty of rear diffs cream crackered due to knobheads draining the diff oil out then topping up the haldex on service thus leaving the diff empty.

Yep, single packaged clutch/diff unit

Examples from flea-bay

271135578909

221176188023

230908398973

Excellent news! In just the TT/S3, or is the diff in the 4motion etc all literally the same too? Do those ones you posted include the haldex, pump etc too? Still not 100% in what I'm looking at.

Also, with regards to the prop shaft, can anyone explain how ETKA works? Below are the list of prop shafts from the Octavia and 4motion Bora. 3 of the part number are common to both (AH, AF and AC), but on the Octavia list there are Octavia part numbers (1U) after these.

Anyone know if the differences can be determined from this, or how I could find out?

I appreciate all the input folks, I feel I'm nearly there now!

Spoke to Skoda there. The one for my car is AK, and the previous revision was AH (which is a Bora part number too).

Would I be right in thinking the AH for both the Bora and Octavia would literally be the exact same then? there wouldnt be any alterations for different models, as the part number is identical?

If this is the case, then my understanding is that a 4motion prop shaft (and possibly diff) would be an option too.

Spoke to Skoda there. The one for my car is AK, and the previous revision was AH (which is a Bora part number too).

Would I be right in thinking the AH for both the Bora and Octavia would literally be the exact same then?

Where are talking about the weird and wonderful world of VAG parts here though

You need to speak to a dealer to check -that online version of ETKA is very limited