Stevey Y

Hi please check Shytots post which is bang on the money, its not the octane rating that is the problem its weather your fuel pipes can withstand the onslaught of the extra 5% bio ethanol, check the government website or with the main Dealer.

Hi try a try thin bead of Tiger seal but be careful not to get it everywhere as once it goes off dynamite won't shift it. Steve.

Hi check the cam timing if you can it may well have slipped. Steve.

Hi is it just me or do the advertising wallahs think we are mentally deficient, I sit around listening to the radio when I am between jobs and here are the two most brain damaging adds that keep popping up, Mini have proof that nine out of ten dogs prefer going to the local park in a Mini, would have liked to have a video of that particular questionaire. Then we have the emissions claim company, is your car telling the truth about its emissions, ever tried having a conversation with your car, its a bit one way, maybe I should try water boarding it or just beat the engine with a tree branch like Basil Fawlty and hope it tells me, sad thing is their are some people who will believe this Dross but I don't think it will be any members of this forum

Hi the only problem wth rattle cans is the cans contain about 60% air and 40% solvent the rest is paint, if you get the wheels refurbed professionally their paint/solvent mix is about 30% solvent and the rest is paint therefore you get about a 30 micron sweep on the dust coat which accelerates to anything up to a millimetre with the wet coat and drys in record time, they also strip the wheels when prepping and use a fast drying Gell to fill in kerbing marks before priming, thats how they can produce a stunning guaranteed finish in eight hours and at around £50 a wheel it won't break the bank, if you find the right company [mobile ] they even come round your house and do it. Steve.

Hi good old A to Z same place I got mine they are not the cheapest but they don't sell cr@p unlike a certain Irish vendor on eBay. Steve.

Hi it depends what the roads are like where Alan lives, frequent potholes will wreck any suspension in record time hence the disappearance of the sensor ring. Steve

Hydra Maximus is the way to go, average of 100 miles a day a lot of it round town and the DPF has not blocked yet done 60k using it and it works. Steve.

Hi maybe you could give the guy some pointers, sometimes its hard if you have no idea where to look, glad you are pleased with your Kinetex set up, I was well impressed with mine even though I am running Don pads being as its a cab and I don't need to stand it on its nose very often but even with standard pads it will do it if I need it, not bad if you consider that they were half the price of the Audi discs/pads and I do about 700 miles a week had them on over two months and no signs of premature wear. Steve.

No you are right, you are not getting the fact that the bearing and sensor ring are a bolt in unit there is no pressing in of any bearing into any hub its all an integral unit that just bolts on to the knuckle they have designed this to cut down on interference fit machining, it's the difference between 2006 and 2015 technology. Steve.

No worries I have normally found that the gear box manufacturers either hide the switches at the rear of the box or just a simple plunge switch that is activated mechanically by the gear stick, worth a try though. Steve.

Hi there must be a multitude of manufacturers for this size bearing therefore if you measure the o/d of your bearing and then match it up with the sensor rings available. Steve.

Hi, have a look under the gear change gaiter in the car it may well be on top of the box. Steve.

Hi the stupid aspect of this is that they will be running E5 alongside E10 for a good few years, the E10 has 5% more bio ethanol than the standard fuel but allegedly will be cheaper as you lose up to 10% of your power and MPG but indeed it will reduce emissions on your vehicle dramatically which in theory should reduce your VED rating [ok you can dream]. I can't see that happening as they are clawing back to much capital under the current VED system in my case my road tax is thirty quid but if I had bought the same car two years younger its fixed at a hundred and twenty-five pounds a year because the greedy bustards realised they were losing out and changed the goal post position again to suit them. Your choice really if your conscience dictates that you must use it by all means do, the only problem is bio ethanol is extremely corrosive and will find any flaws in pipework etc and exploit them, Fords tried to make an engine that would run on pure bio ethanol, great it works running on fuel that comes from rotting cabbages no real emissions to speak of, only problem was it did not matter what they made the fuel pipes out of along with the fuel pump seals it just destroyed them in record time so they scrapped the project, the only fuel bio ethanol works well with is diesel because its Heavy Oil and has loads of natural lubricity and all the seals are made of a higher grade compound but even these rot out if the mixture is to high. E10 = lower price, less MPG, less performance, so the question is apart from lower emissions what is the advantage for the end user. Steve.

Hi I would clear the last fault and see if it returns but reading the date frequency info would suggest its just the can bus system spitting its dummy out, would suggest fitting the right fuse rating for that station as the can gateway would in theory pick up any resistance caused by the wrong fuse rating. Steve.

Hi, like Orac stated big difference but probably still less than Audi want for what is laughingly referred to as O.E. I can't really understand why all these disc manufacturers present their product to MIRA at no small expense for testing if the tests are flawed, the rules are they have to meet or exceed the specifications of the originally fitted units, there is no grey area, they either meet or exceed or no pass is applied, according to the other theory if the short journey with frequent stopping is applied it wouldn't matter what you bought they would wear the same which rather negates the extra value in buying Audi discs, but as this is a delusion because all the discs are tested the same way and I am sure they won't have forgotten to factor in the town driving scenario. Steve.

Hi depending on how drastic the split is buy a tube of loctite black flange sealant clean the affected area with solvent abrade the edges either side of the split with sandpaper or similar then working with a small amount push the sealant into the split wiping the excess over the sides of split then as it begins to cure smooth it with a teaspoon dipped in white spirit. Steve.

Hi have a look on eBay or try Brake Depot, it is impossible to buy sub standard brakes since the advent of E11/EC90 regulation test, if the manufacturers don't meet these exacting standards, IE the same as O.E. or better than O.E. they are not allowed to sell their products in the UK or EU. Steve.

Hi carry on looking after it as you are and I bet it will make the same milage as Steves and some more, I use my Avant as a cab and its just hit 100k with no real reason for it not to hit 250k plus by the time it can't be a cab any longer due to its age, I keep on top of the bodywork and interior so in another three years I might take up the years extension option just for the hell of it. Steve.

Hi they are like chalk and cheese but the rule of thumb is use good fuel and service it every 9k and it will last forever ask Steve one of the moderators on here he has squeezed over 300k out of his car and it shows no signs of giving up just yet. Steve.

Hi the smoke you refer to is the ash content being discharged it gets more noticeable as the car gains milage, your assumption that the DPF is close to full is a bit shy of the truth as the DPF will soon let you know when it is not even close to full by lighting up the dash like a Christmas tree as soon as the ash/soot loads start encroaching on the wrong side of acceptable, try using a cetane booster as this makes the soot particles smaller therefore the burnt ash behaves reciprocally and is less noticeable on its exit from the exhaust. Steve.

Hi its well documented all DSG boxes need regular oil and filter changes every two years or 30k, I doubt Steves car possesses any magical properties that others don't, good housekeeping is the key to a long life which I am certain he has observed. Even my manual gearbox gets its oil changed every 50k. Steve.

Hi find local independent garage to fit it, specialist garages are getting as imaginative as the main dealers. Steve.

Hate to point out the obvious but if you had phoned the local thread recovery service they are mobile and charge about £50 to restore most wrung threads in situ, have done this many times in the past and its saved a fortune as well as not having to replace the offending part risking doing it to another bolt further along the chain. Steve.

Hi Chaps, managed to fix the rogue sensor, the top picture was after I removed the splash guard, fourteen fixings, four massive splined bolts and the rest were an even split of Torx and Phillips headed screws, the fixings for the sensor were Torx and please note the three millimetre thick metal shroud over the front facing area of the sensor this is to prevent shearing in the event of a sump ground out. When replacing the sensor I can recommend a smear of engine silicone as the gasket is pretty thin on the edges where it meets the sump face which is perfectly flat, just a bit of peace of mind, then rotate the tightening of the fixings to 10nm and again to 18nm. The picture below the first shows both the new/old sensor spot the difference the one with the numbers on it is the O.E. sensor the Febi sensor has had all the numbers and logos removed but the numbers that remain are identical, so a little quiz, who made the original?, correct Febi but they can't be seen to be selling O.E. brand parts for less than half dealer price. BTW the reason for the failure is that there is a small PCB at the base of the unit which spends most of its life in boiling oil therefore dredging my memory I think its called built in obsolescence, designed to fail after a suitable period of time, this endorses my theory on aftermarket parts as long as you buy branded they are most likely the same as what you have taken off. Steve.