okay sooo its still broken.

Swapped the passenger front flexi this afternoon. Was slightly worried to see zero fluid coming out of the line when i disconnected it from the hardline. Put the new line in and pressed the pedal and... nothing. Exactly the same as before, no pressure getting to the caliper.

I then grabbed the old flexi i removed and tried to skoosh some WD40 thru it, and sure enough, its not blocked and the spray comes flying right thru.

So something weird going on inside the Wabco unit?!

I connected the nanocom to see if there were any faults, and there doesnt seem to be any.

On the outputs page there are 8 options, front right inlet and outlet valve, front left inlet and outlet valve etc for all four corners.

No idea what they do but i decided to start pressing things and discovered a discrepancy. If i apply some brake pedal and click any of the four inlet valves, i get a small kickback from the brake pedal. If i then click the corresponding outlet valve, i hear a distinct click from the Wabco unit, except for the front left... For the front left i get no click when i press the outlet valve.

The inner workings of the Wabco are a bit of a mystery, but it would seem that its faulty in some way?

scuttle probably drains out in that area too.?

To check for a matrix leak, get a couple sheets of kitchen roll and slide them in between the underside of the heater box, and the carpet. If its leaking you'll soon see the paper get wet.

FWIW, my slightly broken engine used more coolant on short trips than long ones. I can drive 100miles continuously without needing to top up, but a few trips back and forth to the nursery would see the tank empty. Not got enough data after the head gaskets to see how that has changed.

Thing is, the TPS doesnt do a huge amount, its used for idle control, transient fuelling/accell enrichment and as a backup for when other sensors have failed.

MAF is the primary input for fuelling on Motronic. There is essentially direct lookup table that pulls the MAF value and turns it into an injector duty cycle. Everything else then feeds into what the MAF is saying as corrections/adjustments/trims.

Sometimes you'll get a code for sure, but they are well known to have this silent failure method.

I dont really get the stop start hate. I suspect its just the usual humans-dont-like-change thing that applies to so many things... As the chap above points out, if it was always there you wouldnt think twice about it.

End of the day, you visit any major city and you'll find thousands of vehicles sitting stationary at lights and junctions, spewing out emissions for no reason. Its much better for everyone that isnt in a vehicle to just shut it off.

There might be the odd situation where it adds a little inconvenience to the driver but personally i think thats fine. Perhaps some implementations are worse than others. Most manuals will restart as soon as you depress the clutch to select a gear for instance. Hybridisation will as mentioned help fill the gap too.

Should we prioritise the people in the metal box spewing out toxins, or should we prioritise the health of everyone else? Most drivers in this country seem to default to the former, but there really needs to be more balance.

Given you have mixture codes, why would you think its related to the TPS?

As i said a few posts ago, when bosch MAF's fail, they tend to under read (often worse at high load), and will often cause mixture codes. They do so in a way that the ECU doesnt really notice its wrong, but because it doesnt reflect the actual airflow the fuelling ends up wrong.

Unplug the MAF and see if it drives any better.

If the MAF is "working" but providing incorrect data, the engine wont run properly.
If the MAF is not working at all, the ECU will ignore it and use backup parameters, which are usually close enough.

Thus if it runs better without the MAF you have a reasonable indicator that its at fault. Its not 100% but certainly a good indicator.

I much prefer Android Auto to standalone nav having had both options over the years. The traffic-aware routing etc on google maps is fantastic, and it being fully integrated with your phone is also super useful. Being able to seamlessly play music or pull in podcasts etc is also handy.

Rain sensing wipers are nice for sure, but i've also had cars where your constantly adjusting the sensitivity of the sensor, just as youd end up having to adjust the intermit settings. I have noticed on a few occasions with the Skoda, that i've left them on auto and they fire up with a few drops of rain (or perhaps a car in front has washed its windscreen) and they just smear everything because the screens dusty and there isnt enough water... Overall i'm neutral on those.

A lot of these aids have pros and cons. Lane assist can be annoying, but if it gets people to actually use their indicators to stop the car annoying them then great...

Lights i just leave them on all the time if possible. On the P38 i set the BECM to run the lights all the time (the only nuisance is it doesnt illuminate the instrument cluster). Anything to make the car more noticeable to other drivers is a must. Modern cars have DRLs for exactly this purpose, although those have their own flaws, including not lighting up the rear of the car.

I didnt order adaptive cruise on the Skoda, and at first was kinda annoyed with myself. But having driven another Skoda with it, i found it was too eager to back off in traffic. You'd be catching a lorry on cruise at 70mph, put the indicator on to overtake and by the time youve switched lanes its already slowed to 60 or 65, and then has to accellerate again when it realises the road is clear. If your in denser traffic where your just staying in lane and not really worried about changing lanes it works okay. In effect it encourages lazy lane-hogging driving, because trying to keep left just becomes irritating.

Automatic emergency brake is a no brainer ofcourse. I've never actually needed it, but had the pre-warning a few times and its sorta comforting to know the car was on it.

A nice in-dash screen with Android Auto is on my list, i find it invaluable in my daily and feels like the thing i miss the most driving both my older cars.

I would also like the sunroof to disappear...

Working aircon would be nice too.

Brown leather seats have been on my wanted for some time, as well as ditching all the grey plastics for black ones.

The biggest thing? Time. I have endless lists of things that need done and no time to actually do them. Work on cars seems to revolve around firefighting whatever has broken and never actually getting round to the "nice-to-have" bits.

I think the only time the handbrake gets used in mine is when it goes for its MOT 🤣 That said, i have used it occasionally when parking on an actual hill, i just dont do that very often.

Interestingly, earlier variants of the NCT manual had examples in those braking sections about what types of vehicles should be tested with a decellerometer, which included vehicles with permanently engaged 4 wheel drive. At some point circa 2015, they adjusted the wording to simply say "cars of a type that can't be tested". No idea why they chose to add that ambiguity.

The first thing to replace, if your going to replace anything, would be the accumulator. The pump itself is clearly working, but given its restarting so frequently the accumulator may be getting tired.

Its always frustrating when testers have a disagreement like this. I had a similar issue with my old Nissan LEAF. It had a foot operated "handbrake", using a pedal in the footwell. Before the test i'd noticed it was a bit loose, so i adjusted up the rear shoes as per the manual and checked it was all working to spec. The manual says something along the lines of that you should apply 50kg of force to the pedal and it should move 6 clicks. I actually went to the effort of putting a bathroom scale in the footwell to get a feel for how much force i should be applying, and got it all set nicely. Brake felt MUCH better than it had been.

Took it in for its test, and he failed it for too much travel. I decided to overtighten the cable to try and get it passed, and he failed it again. Cue an arguement in the parking lot, i showed him that three clicks on the pedal (half nissans spec!) i could floor the accellerator and the car wouldnt move... He got in and shoved the pedal with all his might and managed to make it move about 12 clicks, and was going "see, too much travel"....

I'm like sure, all your doing there is stretching the crap outta the cables. The brakes were on hard after 3 clicks and you've moved it 12...

After some back and forth he eventually agreed and passed it, but unneccesary hassle and stress for something that i know is working.

I also had them fail my A4 for a non-working engine management light... It doesnt have one. For whatever reason Audi didnt fit the light to models between 1996 and 2000. I ended up taking in the wiring diagram for the instrument cluster, which clearly showed the wiring for the light was "for model year 2001>" and they eventually accepted it.

nice one, thanks.

Ordered front hoses for now, but once they're sorted and the car actually works again, i think i'll get the rears ordered and get it tidied up.

TBH it still sounds more enginey to me... especially since your suggesting it felt stumbly around 4k then eventually pushed thru.

Bad MAF perhaps? When they get old they start underreading, which has the biggest impact at high engine speeds

NCT Manual is here: https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/services/s4.7-nct/nct-manuals/nct-tester-manual-june-2021.pdf?sfvrsn=4cddfe90_5

Excerpt:

Method of Testing

1. If the vehicle is fitted with an Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), check that the relevant warning lamp is fitted, and follows the correct sequence of operation (manufacturer’s check sequence
   must be verified).
2. Where possible connect OBD scan tool and check for error codes.
3. Visually check wheel speed sensors are not damaged or missing.
4. Check wiring or other components are not damaged or missing.

So much like the UK, the ABS test is simply a test of the correct function of the warning light.

Theres some confusion between ABS and the brake booster here...

ABS functions by turning the brakes OFF, when it detects a locked wheel. Certainly in the UK, the only test for the ABS system is that the light correctly illuminates, then goes off. The P38 catches some testers out because the light doesnt go out until you drive the car. I've had one try to fail me before because the light was on, but after explaining they accepted it was working as expected.

The UK MOT test also states that vehicles with permanent 4wd should not be tested on a 2 wheel brake roller.

The UK test manuals are available online, i would suggest you try to find the irish equivalent and see what it says.

The pump you hear running is the hydraulic boost pump for the brake booster. This replaces the vacuum booster found on most cars with a pressurised hydraulic system instead. The pump should not typically run every brake press, maybe only after 2-3 presses. If its running every time, that could suggest the hydraulic accumulator is on its way out. The accumulator holds a quantity of high pressure fluid ready to be used by the braking system when you press the pedal. If the accumulator has failed, it wont hold enough pressure in reserve and thus will need to restart the pump every time you press the pedal.

If its a petrol, at wide open it shouldnt be trying to shift until at least 5k.

So i would actually suggest the opposite is the problem, the gearbox isnt shifting because the engine hasnt reached the shift point yet... Something on the engine side is stopping the RPM climbing any higher.

Lifting your foot will have lowered the shift point and so it changed gear.

Will it rev past 4k in neutral? Any fault codes on the ECU?

defo worth checking the fluid level

Is it a diesel?

Oh i also found a small leak on the top radiator hose at the manifold. Replaced the factory constant tension clamp with a nice JCS HiGrip to see if that fixes it. It almost looked like it was leaking out of the fabric reinforcement at the radiator end too which is very weird. Will need to keep an eye.

Not sure if i should try to steer this back on track or just make a new thread. Anyways i had a day off yesterday and after the brake issues i decided to do some more plumbing on the engine.

When i put it all back together i replaced every coolant hose on the engine. That meant that the LPG vapouriser was no longer connected so i've done the last few hundred miles on petrol. MOT is due next month so i need the LPG working as the cats are worn out and it probably wont pass on petrol... I didnt want to hack up my new pipes, and i wanted to try something i've been thinking about for ages.

Some years ago i blanked off the throttle heater loop. So yesterday i removed my blanks and ran new pipework to the LPG vapouriser. Now it comes off the manifold pipe stub that used to feed the throttle heater plate, goes over to the vapouriser in 10mm hose, then from the vapouriser back to the small header tank inlet underneath.

Obviously cant drive it, but i fired it up, initially with the return line just poked in the top of the reservoir so i could see the flow, and once the air purged out, i was getting a nice strong flow from the pipe. win?

Wont know until i fix the brakes and try to drive it, but hopefully it all works nicely and its a LOT neater than the horrible T'ed fittings that were there before.

My only concern is both the manifold and header tank stubs are 8mm, with a 10mm hose cinched down onto them. I'll keep an eye as that might leak, if it does i'll probably get a short length of 8mm and some streight couplers and use those for the final connection. The vapouriser has 10mm stubs so those fit nicely.

I also reinstalled the passengers side exhaust manifold heat-shield, and peered at the drivers side one thinking how the F am i getting that back in there... any tips?

Found a great angle from a youtube video and took a screen shot.

Blue line is the caliper flexi we can see above.

Then there is a red line representing the hardline that seems to just span from two points on the chassis.

Then a green is flexi from chassis to body.

Then the orange line is the hardline that heads off to the front of the car.

My thinking is to simply connect the orange hardline directly to the blue flexi.

Thanks.

The early setup (my car is a '94) has hard lines running across the axle a bit like the older classic/discovery, which then jump up to the body/chassis from a bracket off the middle of the axle.

So i have Flexi from caliper to axle, hardline across the axle to a bracket, flexi from bracket to body/chassis, hardline to the front.

Except my axle is the later type and doesnt have the bracket. Someones bodged it previously by hacking the bracket off the old axle and clamping it to the newer axle with a jubilee clip. The later axle also doesnt have any provisions to secure the hardlines to the casing, so they're attached with cable ties. Its all a bit crap and thus I'd like to try and convert it over to the later style as per your pics.

The bit you've pictured i can understand, i need a new flexi and possibly i need to add a tab on the chassis to hold said flexi.

The bit i was struggling with, is what happens after that. Your car will have a short hardline that goes up to the top of the chassis near the spring mounts, then a flexi going somewhere, then eventually the hardlines to the front.

I'd like to run the hard line from the front, directly to the flexi in your photo.

Looking at photos, the later "caliper" flexi goes from the axle across to a tab underneath the chassis. Then theres a short hard line to another flexi.

I dont understand what that second flexi is doing?

Can the hard line not just run along the chassis and then directly into the caliper flexi?

My best guess is that the original brake hardlines were attached to the body during assembly, rather than the chassis, and the second flexi is to allow them to jump across to the chassis during mating?

I'm not sure my lines are actually attached to the body any more as they've been replaced, so i'm thinking i use the late caliper flexi to the chassis, and then reroute the hardlines down and in, skipping the second flexi entirely.

That way i'm using standard late flexis, but only the two for the calipers.

Since i need front hoses, i'm revisiting my thoughts on the rear axle hoses.

My car has an early pipe routing, with the pipes above the axle. But the axle is a later one without the bracket, so its all a bit bodged currently.

I'm struggling to figure out what exactly the short pipe and jump hose does on the later setup?

If the caliper pipe goes from the axle to the chassis, why cant the hard line from the front just go directly into that flexi?