This above is one of the most bothering things on modern cars ... most components are as crappy as they can happily get away with, but some reason it seems to be a consensus among the industry that certain connectors must be made with a overengineed approach that makes easy work an impossibile task! 

 

Either they seem glued in place, or the locking tab is positioned OPPOSITE of the side you are reaching (this one happens to be one my favs), or the locking tab is unclear why in some is "push inwards then pull" in another ones is "pull outwards and pull out" ... may the designers be cursed forever!

My absolute preferred one, the locking in between the two connectors end being SO strong that the tab that holds the assy in place slips out or breaks, therefore the entire combo gets to hang loose somewhere ... if you are VERY lucky they fall more into some innard where extra sweating and a balanced alternating lithany and cursing seems the only way to get around ....

 

I used to think whoever designed these things was an imbecil. Now I just think is someone who models in a CAD with minimal training and motivation, zero engineering motivation (for various reasons, be cost cutting, ecology, etc.), and especially who has never turned a scredriver in his/hers/its (now we got 'X' genders also) miserable life, considers getting hands dirty an abominable relic of the past, but especially, thinks that just because is a "newer" approach, is always "better".

 

I wish them a failure in whatever crap they drive in the middle of a stormy rainy cold night, where they can learn the true extent of their actions .... 😝

Well did my own plugs today and, having read up and learned since Rob's, the pull-and-thumb-push seems to work perfectly. Fingers behind the connector to pull on it gently, both thumbs on the clip to push up and you hear the little click; do all 4 and then the whole rail slides up. Wish I'd found those sorts of videos last week 🫣

 

Divine penance did rain on me, when I'd not spotted Cyl2 hadn't clicked in place so it was running on 3. Laptop out for VCDS, engine cover off to check and thankfully found the problem quickly. Cleared DTCs and was running smoothly again in the end. So much swearing though.

This week i finally found an original windscreen on ebay from what turned out to be a briskoda member.

 

For whatever reason, the previous owner of my car didn't believe in new wiper blades, leading to lots of scratch marks that made driving at night a challenge on it's own. With the new glass i can finally see properly. 

 

Important to note that i did not need a camera calibration. Lane assist, tsr and smart light assist work even better than before. Also the top connector ribbon for the heated screen only needs the dome light cluster prying out gently from the side. The whole plastic piece including the sunglass holder can stay in place

Had a new DCC shock replaced under warranty, I wonder if the other side will go before the warranty expires🤔

1 hour ago, djfish said:

Had a new DCC shock replaced under warranty, I wonder if the other side will go before the warranty expires🤔

Front or rear one? I just had a front replaced at a cost of £442 fitted. MOT history of the car before I acquired it in 2023, shows that in 2020 both front shocks had an advisories of having a light misting of oil. At the next MOT in 2022 there was no mention of any oil misting on the N/S/F but the O/S/F had a serious oil leak and failed the test, but passed a month later with all other faults listed (all 4 tyres below 1.6mm tread and brake pads @ less than 1.5mm) all fixed, with no advisories. 

 

In 2023 it again passed with no advisories and again in 2024 with light oil misting on N/S/F shock, (just replaced) and both front lower bushes showing slight wear, now also replaced so hopefully next test, should pass OK.

 

So it looks as if my car has had both front DCC shocks replaced before I brought the car in June 23 and another replaced this Jan. 

I kerbed my NSF wheel YET AGAIN this morning…. Got distracted by my daughter’s dog I was taking to the vet, who began an inverted sneezing fit. FECKIN FECK IT!! 

12 minutes ago, numskull said:

I kerbed my NSF wheel YET AGAIN this morning…. Got distracted by my daughter’s dog I was taking to the vet, who began an inverted sneezing fit. FECKIN FECK IT!! 

That is where the old steel wheels were far better, you could have them painted, fit plastic wheel trims or have chrome hubcaps and some even with chrome rings like these on my old Vanden Plas car which was a large and heavy car with a very soft ride.

 

1 minute ago, Graham Butcher said:

That is where the old steel wheels were far better, you could have them painted, fit plastic wheel trims or have chrome hubcaps and some even with chrome rings like these on my old Vanden Plas car which was a large and heavy car with a very soft ride.

 

Those big fat side wall tyes also protectected the wheel & allowed you to "feel" for the curb when parking. Unlike the low profile tyes we have today which offer no protection at all.

Nice VP BTW. The VP trimming factory was at Church Lane Kingsbury NW London where I grew up. Nearly went there as an apprentice at 16 from school but landed up at GM (also in Kingsbury) instead where my dad worked.

@Colin170CR indeed their cars were fine, I loved that car, it started out in life as a car owned by United Biscuits, and was chauffeur driven for the directors and VIP guests at the biscuit factory and the chauffeur loved that car and when he retired they presented the car to him as a retirement present. I was doing my time as an apprentice at the Eastern National bus garage in Chelmsford, and the old chauffeur lived a few streets away from me. 

 

I used to see the car at the garages under the railway viaducts next to the bus garage and I would go and admire the car on my way to and from the staff canteen and one day the owner of the garage told me that the car was for sale as the owner had recently died, and his widow was keen to get rid of the car as it was a source of stress for her.

 

I went and saw her I brought the car for a song and I had that for years, and it never missed a beat and I reluctantly sold it a few years later when the 1973 recession hit really hard and crude oil tripled in price almost overnight, and we had petrol ration books issued.

 

Here is some history about vanden Plas Vanden Plas Kingsbury Works - the home of the Daimler Limousine and also United Biscuits United Biscuits - Wikipedia.

 

 

Edited 28 February, 20251 yr by Graham Butcher

1 hour ago, Graham Butcher said:

@Colin170CR indeed their cars were fine, I loved that car, it started out in life as a car owned by United Biscuits, and was chauffeur driven for the directors and VIP guests at the biscuit factory and the chauffeur loved that car and when he retired they presented the car to him as a retirement present. I was doing my time as an apprentice at the Eastern National bus garage in Chelmsford, and the old chauffeur lived a few streets away from me. 

 

I used to see the car at the garages under the railway viaducts next to the bus garage and I would go and admire the car on my way to and from the staff canteen and one day the owner of the garage told me that the car was for sale as the owner had recently died, and his widow was keen to get rid of the car as it was a source of stress for her.

 

I went and saw her I brought the car for a song and I had that for years, and it never missed a beat and I reluctantly sold it a few years later when the 1973 recession hit really hard and crude oil tripled in price almost overnight, and we had petrol ration books issued.

 

Here is some history about vanden Plas Vanden Plas Kingsbury Works - the home of the Daimler Limousine and also United Biscuits United Biscuits - Wikipedia.

 

 

Well that took me right back to my formative years. My family moved from Hendon to Kingsbury in 1960 & I went to school & stayed there until 1980 when I moved out to Watford to get my first house. The Kingsbury area is rich in Automotive & Aviation engineering history. Sadly most, if not all of it, has now gone & the area is almost unrecognisable to me now all these years later. 

I remember the petrol ration books & queing to get whatever 4* petrol I could at the local petrol station. I had not long passed my test at that time & thought I was going to miss out on driving a car if petrol was restricted. As it turned out I don't think we ever used the ration books but ques at petrol stations were a thing for a few years until things settled down.   

17 hours ago, Colin170CR said:

Well that took me right back to my formative years. My family moved from Hendon to Kingsbury in 1960 & I went to school & stayed there until 1980 when I moved out to Watford to get my first house. The Kingsbury area is rich in Automotive & Aviation engineering history. Sadly most, if not all of it, has now gone & the area is almost unrecognisable to me now all these years later. 

I remember the petrol ration books & queing to get whatever 4* petrol I could at the local petrol station. I had not long passed my test at that time & thought I was going to miss out on driving a car if petrol was restricted. As it turned out I don't think we ever used the ration books but ques at petrol stations were a thing for a few years until things settled down.   

No, we never ever used the ration books, but petrol was very scarce and expensive, and I had just got married and moved to Haverhill and I discovered in the garage I rented from the council was an Isetta 300 in bits, which I stripped down and reconditioned it and rebuilt it again and the VP was stored in the garage and I used the Isetta as a daily driver for a number of years and was getting around 90mpg, it was noisy, cramped and not very comfortable, but it did get me about. I was of course in those days pretty slim (can't say that today) but at the time, it was the right car to have and if rationing had been enforced, I would have been laughing all the way to the garage 😄

 

Isetta - Wikipedia

Edited 1 March, 20251 yr by Graham Butcher

You claim that you have to drive a Superb because of your size and particularly the size of your feet but now you tell us that you drove an Isetta for several years!!!!!!!

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

You claim that you have to drive a Superb because of your size and particularly the size of your feet but now you tell us that you drove an Isetta for several years!!!!!!!

I take it from that smart arse snide comment that you actually have zero experience of anything to do with a BMW Isetta 300, and it is very clear that you do not know anything about having large feet and also having a large body. So do I take it then that you are a smallish man with small feet, because you most certainly come across as someone suffering from what is commonly known as "small man syndrome" This link refers to that in case you are not aware of it Small Man Syndrome : Blog

 

Just go away and find a Isetta 300 and step inside it and try it out then perhaps you might just understand how and why I was able to drive one, it is very easy to get into and out of as the entire front of the car is the actual door as can be seen in the photo below and also the foot well on a conventional car is limited to the space between the wheel arch and the transmission tunnel (typical foot well photo attached) whereas an Isetta the entire width of the car is the foot well and there are other considerations as to why I drive a Superb, but I doubt that you would appreciate them either as you seem to think that you know all the answers and so you must be right  and everyone else is wrong.

 

I understand that you suffer with vision but come on, people cannot keep biting their tongue and being your punch bag, and I do mean that in the most respectful way possible, but I have made so many allowances for that in the past, but I'm reaching my limits of chewing my tongue and suffering your smart arse comments.

 

Edited 28 February, 20251 yr by Graham Butcher

Just put him on the ignore list Graham. This forum has been so much nicer for me since I did.

What nice anecdotes! Graham, Colin, it is a pleasure to read and let me mind wonder and wander about those things ...

 

That Vanden Plas, looks magnificent! Years before I was born, my mom recalls my granpa had an Argentinian-built Siam DiTella, which I came to understand later on it was a licensed Riley, which looks very similar to the VP in the photo.... nice link on the facility.

 

The Isetta was Italian stroke of genius ... great little car. Today fairly out of place. Incidentally, there is an electric car called Microlino which is very based on the Isetta. A friend that has an electric car showroom has a couple on display, and it feels really like a toy of a different age. Unfortunately, the quality is very very low. Already bits and pieces of the trim are broken and awaiting replacement, and today when I quipped "when do we go for a ride" he answered "when I get it to work, some software is failing"

Oh well

That is the problem with so many of todays cars, software and with over the air updates, how many times do our computers throw their toys out the pram and it seems after each OS updates, there is something else that fails and needs patching to get back working again.

3Q0 -> 2Q0 camera retrofit with all SWaPs and TravelAssist with KLR now work

As a bonus, I installed a frameless mirror

 

Back from a ski trip in our French Alps, I made a quick clean (Karcher only at the local car wash) to my Estate this morning,  before removing the roof box.

I took this pic, 'cause I find this black & white combo has a bit of star wars Storm troopers… 😁

 

Still 1200-ish km to drive before the 135000km overhaul.

Plan is to :

- Change engine oil + filter

- Change fuel filter (every 45000km instead of 90000 as recommended)

- Change Haldex oil and clean gauge (every 45000km too, since easier than the 3 years to remind for me. Also allows an earlier replacement due to my annual mileage).

- Swap winter / summer wheels.

 

Then it will need a deep inside and outside cleaning to be ready for sale...

 

Edited 2 March, 20251 yr by Bap33

That is a good plan!

On 01/03/2025 at 20:15, zacko_O said:

3Q0 -> 2Q0 camera retrofit with all SWaPs and TravelAssist with KLR now work

As a bonus, I installed a frameless mirror

 

 

What's the benefits of the swapping the camera and was it straight forward to swap?

5 yrs old this week, extended warranty ending: so changed oil and filter, fuel and air filters. Also renewed battery for a Yuasa AGM since just starting to see some voltage drops on the original if standing more than a few days.

(To fit stainless bleed nipples and brakes to bleed in a week or two when its a bit warmer).

registered for Erwin but need to pay the fee and explore how to add my work to the service log.   
can I please ask: this be done easily enough using an iphone or hp chromebook?

4 hours ago, Awesam said:

 

What's the benefits of the swapping the camera and was it straight forward to swap?

It has better specifications, performs much better in lane keeping, recognizes the roadside and linear objects, supports capacity steering wheel(you need to keep your hands on the wheel and there will be no notification during ACC)
The replacement is simple, but not everyone can activate the SWaP codes, but possible remotely

Edited 3 March, 20251 yr by zacko_O

Got under the car to chuck some new bits on.

First is a set of brackets which tighten up the propshaft bearing alignment. The original bolts go into slots rather than exact holes which allows for some movement to, argue RacingLine, ease production-line assembly but results in unnecessary stresses in the prop, bushes and bearings. I’m no engineer and while it no doubt doesn’t make much difference to the majority of cars, if driven harder, more exact alignment sounds like a worthwhile exercise to me. And for the cost of a takeaway and 4 13mm bolts: easy.

Next was the final chapter to my Dogbone insert saga - a rogue OE component change for one of very limited engine codes meant the classic inserts wouldn’t fit. Powerflex’s versions are only partially affect by the changes so I could trim it down and utilise it. Can feel a tiny more of a sensation when idling but otherwise, really not much to report. I did note that they come in 4 colours for different stiffness - red (for diesels) -> yellow(for petrols) -> purple(for harder driving petrols, track diesels) -> black (track and racing). Being yellow, it’s pretty soft and just its presence in the mount is enough to reduce movement.

Edited 4 March, 20251 yr by travs
Layout

On 14/02/2025 at 11:33, Gammyleg said:

Bought 2 bottles of Redex diesel additive from Lidl for £4.99. Added first one this morning with a tankful of fuel. Lets see what happens....if anything.

Well, an update on the Redex after three tankfuls and 1830 miles.

I wasn't expecting much if anything TBH, and I appreciate there could be other factors at play here, but for the most part my daily commutes have been the same both pre & post addition with weather conditions being generally comparable. I've used figures from 4no fill-ups pre, and 3no fill-ups post

The results.

Miles covered pre-addition 2132 average MPG = 55.8

Miles covered post-addition 1830 average MPG = 58.0

So an improvement of 3.9%.

I can't comment on performance improvements as I don't drive like a mad thing and let's face it a 1.6tdi is never going to set any records in that respect.

First wash for Gandalf for 2025. Scrubs up well after almost 8 yrs 😁