Stevey Y

Hi you won't hear any creaking whilst moving as there is no static pressure between the tyre and the road as the wheels are turning and have less friction, it sounds like a spring is turning in the seat. Steve.

Hi you are supposed to drive the car for at least ten mins after filling the tank but that symbol is on because it has gone a bit stupid this is frequent and can be cured by doing an adblue sensor then sensor lock using VCDS. Steve

Hi what codes led him to believe it needed a new tank, the only codes I can think of would be to do with the reductant heating control other than that you can reset the level monitor with VCDS, I swear they just set lower levels at the factory so they can get a nice fat payment for doing the same I.E. £70 just to plug in. Steve.

Hi I ask a stupid question but have you driven the car a lot since you topped up as sometimes my car does this and it has to do a couple of drive cycles before the light goes out, other than that it could well involve a trip to the garage to reset the level sensor. Steve.

Hi what you have that is worn won't cause uneven tyre wear as the ball joint is obviously still ok and the tie rod is still within tolerance, the only thing that will cause premature even wear is the shock absorbers as lack of damping control tends to give a harsh ride as a lot of the axial pressures normally taken by the shock unit will be transferred to the tyre, I always found this with the cabs I have run, rapid wear is a sign of weak units so when changed the tyre life was increased dramatically and when I mention wear this was over a period of months not days, if it happens over a couple of days you would have a major component failure in which case you could move the wheel assembly at all sorts of angles even when not jacked up, if you go for it and change everything that is required you will see where the money went on your first drive, the steering will be sharper with less cabin noise and cornering will be much more precise. Steve.

Hi its the tie rod joints moving as the steering lock has no movement due to the fact years ago Fords and everyone else made the columns and locking tabs with a massive amount of movement this led to car thieves being able to rock the wheel from side to side and using sufficient force broke the locking tab, looking at the shocks they are eleven years old so age/milage would have done for them. Steve.

Hi its the Duel Mass Flywheel its a classic sign of failure, the reason it changes when the pedal is pressed is because the release bearing has disengaged the pressure plate and driven plate therefore the DMF has nothing to fight against and the inner part of the flywheel which moves when the clutch is engaged will be back at its protocol position ready to move when the clutch is engaged. Steve.

Hi Roy yes thats back in the old days before they got fancy with the Ultra technology, really glad you got the brakes sorted and the glow plug is pretty simple to fix. Steve.

Hi if the putty gets into the DPF even a small amount it will go into super heat and blow a hole in the DPF core. Steve.

Hi most likely a seized idler pulley or alternator clutch pulley. Steve.

Hi don't go anywhere near Halfords the Monkeys at London Zoo have more savvy than them, there is a branch next to our local Asda and I was waiting for the fare as I was ten mins early, the Halfords Tech was just in the process of telling this Octavia owner he can't change the headlight bulb as its a sealed for life bulb and he would need a new unit, after he went away to check the price of a new unit I got out of the car and asked the owner if I could have a go he said yes, as he put it what have I got to loose, two mins later I presented him with the old bulb, they are a very tight straight push fit design, I stuck around to watch the rather angry owner present the Tech with the old bulb and then left them to it, I did advise the owner to tell him he had removed the bulb then they couldn't try the old Scallops about an un trained person doing it. Steve.

Hi took some cleaning but the second hand unit seems to be doing its job, if you fish about on eBay there are some quite nice examples on eBay for not too much money if you get one stick a torch down the valve end and at least three of the holes if you look from the other end should be virtually clear, thats a good one, next step is get a cheap mixing bowl that will accommodate the whole valve, block the valve end up and treat it to a couple of bottles of carbon clean poured through the holes at the top you can block the valve end with a rolled up rubber glove, leave it to soak for an hour then pull the glove out and drain, next step spray a can of Mr Muscle down the holes and leave for about four hours using the remainder of the can every hour, then wash it out with hot water I did mine under the tap in the kitchen sink until the water ran clear, the Mrs wasn't impressed but I was especially when I could see torch light through 97% of the holes, last thing I got the garage to do was bung one water pipe up and pressure test it with an airline to make sure it wasn't leaking air from the water jacket, all good, as for the contaminated flywheel thats easy, saturate it in brake cleaner then hit it with a steam cleaner. Steve.

Hi the tie rod comes as a sealed unit but it would probably be wise to change the Ball/End assembly where it joins the hub, with regard to the spring pans you will have to change the shocks or eventually the old pan will collapse and the spring launches down the shock and the spring end will machine the wheel and tyre to death, I know as I have experienced this disaster personally. Steve.

Hi Cliff, try Googling in track rod and I guarantee it will come up with the ball joint assembly, tie rods or rack ends is the term used over the last thirty years I have been working on any car, I only know one American, my brother in law.

Hi your tie rods are definitely knackered thats because the ball on the inner end sits in a nylon cup which when worn will allow metal to metal contact, these units screw into the end of the rack and are cheap to buy and replace and no you should not be able to rotate the spring even when jacked up, looking at the pictures the sprig pan on the shock looks well corroded and will eventually collapse, the term tie rod is the correct one which is frequently confused with the track rod end which is the threaded bit that goes into the ball joint so you can adjust the toe in/out on the wheels. Steve.

Hi yes and the valve at the end of it with new gaskets and a heat shield for the new low pressure valve, the task is not for the faint hearted it took them all day just to get the old one out as you have to disconnect a section of the exhaust from the DPF to midway under the car take out that side engine mount and remove the sensors from the bit before the Cat plus the sensor on the bit of pipe you remove, you then have to unplug the DPF pressure sensors as well as about ten other plugs, all this after tripping back most of the bulkhead plastic covers and heat shields to get enough room to work, believe me I did not begrudge the guy one penny of what I paid him as well as the two gallons of tea, if you get at it soon you will be ok otherwise you risk trashing your engine, its a cr@p job and a badly designed thing and I will cut the old one to pieces next week to find out whats actually inside as that might indicate why they fail, I took one off of a BMW a while ago and they are at the top of the engine on the side of the cylinder head three bolts and a couple of hose clips and it falls off we never cleaned the old one as a new one was £150.00 and not over £500.00. Steve.

Hi it needs rewelding by a specialist as the two parts are very different the DPF I am guessing is pre formed stainless and the bit at the end is some sort of cast steel /iron which will require a specialist welding to get it back to factory. Steve.

Hi the belt is self tensioned but the major consideration is its age as they are bonded rubber and nylon reinforcement between the outer part and the inner toothed surface, once the reinforcement is exposed it will fail in short order, the reason they don't mention it is they rather hope to see it again on a trailer needing a good few grands worth of valve gear and cams and thats only if a valve hasn't collided with a piston and holed it in which case the sky is the limit, a short block is about five and half grand and then theres the cylinder heads valves, these people don't care as long as it makes money and I guarantee your car will never run properly again, I have witnessed this with my nieces A4 which went in under warranty because it was burning a litre of oil a week, it came back running like biscuit tin full of nails and leaking oil/water, go to a VAG specialist or any good independent garage and get it done believe me when I tell you the alternatives are horrific. Steve.

Hi chaps, I just thought I would put this one out there, my EML went on last Friday telling me that particle trap bank 1 was blocked but tested then memory clear anyway I looked at how many times the fault had occurred and it worked out about thirty times before it finally put the light on so I limped through the weekend with a good dose of EGR cleaner and made it to this Tuesday, I had a look round Monday and the Slimebags at Audi only sell it as a kit with the valve £700.00 then theres the extra cost of the gaskets you will need another £95.00, I had already bought the EGR valve from a VAG parts dealer on eBay, genuine VEO Continental so did not need the valve just the cooler, all the other monkeys like ECP,Motex etc have jumped on the bandwagon and wanted £500.00 plus just for the cooler, so I opted for a previously owned cooler from the local VAG breakers so while my car was having major surgery I set about it with some carbon cleaner and a can of Mr Muscle that cured it daylight through all holes. My life the reason for the original units failure was wall to wall wet Adblue crystals this was because the water jacket around the cooler tubes had developed a water leak which I was reliably informed that if it was left it would have caused a hydraulic lock taking the pistons and rods with it anyway I adapted the new valve this morning and went for a drive in circles at first gradually increasing my range until I was happy about 50 miles in all, so far so good no light no codes and £65.00 for a second hand cooler I will let you know. Steve.

Hi the recommended belt change milage wise hashes led many a poor souls wallet to the grave, I change mine every 80k or in my case four years whichever comes first, I use my car as a cab so its imperative nothing like that snaps therefore I recommend you get it done post haste as my belt at 80k/four years had stretched about 2mm, the cam belt wears quicker if you do a lot of short journeys as I do especially when sitting in traffic which is when the belt is under maximum stress. Steve.

Hi not entirely, if you use Hydra Maximus or Archoil 6900 D synthesis it keeps the whole thing cleaner read up about them on line, irony think a dirty glow plug will cause your problem I think its either a sensor or a clogged EGR/DPF but you won't know until its been scanned again after you have cleared the existing codes. Steve.

Hi you will beat it I am sure, its like us as we age bits go wrong, and like most of us it can either be cured or controlled. Steve.

Hi Roy time for a good run and a clear out I am afraid any diesel requires a good kicking every month or use of a proprietary fuel additive to keep them clean. Steve.

Hi Ryan, original number 03L 905 061 G OR SUPERSESSION NUMBER 03L 905 061 K that was the two numbers for mine but it appears that 059 905 061 H is another number but I am sure they will all be the same as long as the main part numbers match the letters are years for supersession try TPS or any motor factors, eBay has plenty its just the wait for the item, they seem quite popular, I wonder why LOL and they use them on all the CH designated engines. Steve.

Hi god knows why they go up the wall but believe me they are only a knock sensor, I had the light on and off for two weeks while I waited for TPS to get their finger out, its perfectly possible for that to cause overfuelling if the all seeing eye ECU thinks its that that is failing, could well have been a combination of both sensors, carefully check the wiring to the plug cap as thats been known to break as well thats why they sell a lot of glow plug looms, the whole diesel VAG range uses these monstrosities, still it could be worse Vauxhalls use four of them. Its just another Cr@p design thats making money. Steve.