tim-spam

What is the model and year of manufacture of your car?

...but not all farts are flat...

Does one add up to a 'lorra lorra'? Even then, it could have been that mk2sport was merely stating that he thought approximately

Where did you get 2.13kg from? The total refrigerant capacity is 700g - 750g for standard aircon, and 1000g - 1050g for dual aircon. In other words, this is how much should be put in after pulling a deep vacuum in the system. 2.13kg is far too much. Hope this helps.

Which is less than the cost of the genuine ATE pads by themselves....

...it won't be. The catalytic converter on a diesel is a much simpler and robust thing than on a petrol engined car. In addition, the MOT emissions test for a diesel can not measure its effectiveness, so don't worry.

Just a quick follow-up. The new condenser arrived and was soon fitted - you have to remove the front bumper, but this was an easy job - took me under an hour all in. By the way, always use new 'O' rings and keep the system open for as little time as possible. The system now appears to be holding pressure after a pressure test, vacuum and re-gas, and I have lovely cool air again. I had the re-gas done by a mobile aircon business, and he was very reasonable and more than happy to leave all of the fitting work and parts procurement to me, although he can do this as well if necessary. He charges

Definitely a sticking VNT causing a positive deviation of the boost pressure and the ECU to trip into limp mode. This can be reset by keying off and on again. If you do a search, you will find plenty of information on how to diagnose and fix. By the way, the dealers usually replace the turbo at some considerable expense.

I would also think that this is a possibility. However, the 'fizzing' noise is probably the electric fuel pump in the tank.

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

Is this more of a pause or slight stumble at around 2000rpm in first or second gears? If it is, it will almost certainly be caused by the boost control system. The sequence of events is as follows: 1) The turbo boost kicks in at around 1300rpm (cutting in at such a low engine speed is one of the advantages of a variable geometry turbocharger) 2) As you accelerate, the boost increases until the point at which the boost control should start to back off - this is done by reducing the vacuum to the VNT mechansim on the turbo. 3) Because there is a tendency for the VNT to stick slightly, it does not quite keep pace with the demand to reduce boost - this causes the ECU to reduce the vacuum to the VNT more until the point at which the VNT backs off. When this happens, it backs off quickly and a little more than it should. This is what causes the pause or stumble. 4) Once the ECU senses that the boost is somewhat less than called for, it then increases the vacuum to the VNT until the boost is correct and normal acceleration resumes. All of this takes place very quickly, and, unless the VNT sticks to the point of causing a trip into limp mode due to excessive boost pressure, there is nothing to worry about. In the higher gears, the engine speed accelerates more slowly and the requested and actual boost pressures remain more closely matched. Hope this helps.

ATE pads are the genuine article and the ECP part number ends in a '5' to denote this. The Jurid ones are not, and the ECP part number ends in a '0' to denote this. As I said, parts from reputable manufacturers are probably perfectly fine. On the other hand, OEM parts are definitely perfectly fine. By the way, it always pays to check prices - there have been occasions when I've gone to my local VW dealer for parts that have been no cheaper at ECP.

Yes, but the OEM parts have been properly tested and approved for the vehicle, whereas the alternatives have not. For example, although you and others may have found the performance of alternatives to be 'very good indeed' (and the performance may actually be 'very good indeed' - who knows?), you do not know how good or bad the performance actually is because you do not have access to the test facilities that the manufacturer has. For example, how is the front / rear balance affected? What about wear rate, brake fade, frictional performance in adverse weather conditions, etc.? My approach is quite simple: by doing the job myself, I am already saving a packet - if I can make further savings by buying OEM parts at reduced prices, then that's great. Saving even more by buying pattern parts for safety related items is just a 'bridge too far'.

On mine, the clutch unit can be replaced separately - are the Mk 1's different?

Don't get me wrong - I use Ebay to buy lots of things, and with care, many extremely good buys can be had. But for safety related items such as brake components, steer well clear. The cheap brake pads on Ebay will probably be copies of very dubious quality, and the so-called 'OEM' ones will probably cost more than places like Eurocarparts anyway.

Why not get your pads from somewhere like Eurocarparts? They sell the ATE ones (which are the OEM parts) for around

It could also be air in the system. This would cause sponginess and could also cause the brake pads to remain in light contact with the discs - hence the heat build up. By the way, boiling brake fluid would cause total loss of brakes, so I doubt it's that. Another possibility is that it has some very cheap and nasty pads fitted.

More congestion?

If there is 6mm end float on an outer CV joint, there is definitely a problem - probably the spanner monkeys not having reassembled the CV joint to the drive shaft properly. If the play was in the joint itself, I would expect a great deal of noise.

Why not remove the turbo inlet and try spinning the turbo rotor by hand to see if there's any roughness? If it spins easily and quietly and the rotor looks OK, it may not be the turbo after all. By the way, with the engine cold, there will be a little play in the turbo bearings.

By 'additives', I meant those extra additives (such as Slick 50) added to the oil by the owner. I did not mean those used in the production of the lubricating oil by the oil manufacturers.

Engine oil additives are a bad idea - period. Make sure you use a reputable high quality engine oil, and one that meets 505.01 for the PD engine. I have never used engine oil additives and never will - our old Mercedes 190D has over 300,000 miles on it and has been run on plain simple Castrol GTD.

This is a brilliant post - just what this forum is really all about. My aircon has also just developed a small leak (first ever problem with the aircon on my car!) which was proving very difficult to find. So, I removed the dryer cap from the condensor and bingo - leak found. A new condensor is now on order from Eurocarparts, and I shall probably fit it next weekend. Regass from a local aircon guy will cost

Your error codes mean that the VNT mechanism is sticking - the 'intermittent' part simply means that it is not overboosting when the codes are being read. If it only happens once in a while (particularly when the engine is cold?), you do not really need to take any immediate action - when it happens, simply lift off the accelerator and key off and on again and normal service will be resumed. If the problem gets worse, you will need to clean the VNT mechanism to allow it to move freely again. There is a very good posting on this that was started by dt1. By the way, the dealers fix this by replacing the whole turbo. There is a small chance that there is a blockage in the boost control vacuum hoses, or a problem with the N75 valve (boost control solenoid), but these problems usually cause a negative deviation fault code (under-boosting).