pond

but it's weird how the compensator would favour one side, if i strip it down then it might reveal why. I will look up the price and possibly swap it anyway.

i had a search for a thread/post with a problem more similar to mine, but without any lucky so above post is the closest. This is on a 2003 petrol 1 litre Arosa (am guessing it's v. similar to many Lupo models if not identical in the majority of components used). I have a baffling problem that i'm struggling to solve, and i am retired Trade so quite humbling. If anyone picks this up, and has found the cause due to the same experience, then it would make my day.So symptoms are close to a fail on rear hydraulic brake system but only on one wheel, and MOT Tester did me a favour one year ago by letting me go with an advisory, so stripped off wheel and brake drum to have another head-scratching session as MOT due soon.Things that it isn't:1/ Drum hardly worn and not distorted (41k miles)2/ Brake shoes hardly worn, plenty of life left.3/ Slave cylinder, as it's as good as new/replaced a year ago.4/ Air in this wheel's hydralic system.5/ Brake shoes are not wet/have never shown signs of being wet with brake fluid.6/ Fluid leak anywhere. The actuator arm (linked to rear "axle") of the compensator is totally free just for the record.The handbrake works fine and even favours the "bad" wheel slightly.I'm trying to think outside the box, but it's such a subtle problem, it's going to be a pretty wacky solution. even wondering if the proportioning valve can favour one circuit/starve the other internal as i see there are seperate exits from the valve for each rear wheel. Another thought is that models were fitted with slightly different shoe dimensions, that the brake shoes are somehow distorted from new or during use. I've also tried to get the auto-adjust to advance one click without success, drum comes off fairly easily, but not overly so - it's the same for both rear wheels. I am going to heavily de-glaze drum and shoes in an effort to improve matters slightly, which does work, but not for long.If I manage to just pass MOT this time then i wiil reluctantly fit new shoes as a last resort, but they don't need replacing.It's a strange one..

that is very poor Big F, it's not like it's a 5-minute job either. If mine goes again I will strengthen the old one (never threw out) and replace instead of trusting a "new" part.

Thank you mk2, will start to work my way through everything and will let the Forum know what I find. 🙂👍 @x1x_el how have you got on?

as said, it's not spark plug leads, and.. Lambda sensors don't fail? not sure where you got that from - it is last on my list as don't have access to diagnostics anymore but I assure you that they do. 🙂 Meanwhile, was hoping I could get more replies from owners who've experienced similar and then cured other than spark plug leads arcing.

Hope you don't mind me "piggy-backing" on your thread x1x, but I have virtually identical symptoms same car and I really hope some people can help with the most common causes. I have tried your suggestions before finding this thread mk2 and am open-minded to anything but thinking lambda sensor related maybe. It might be better to start a fresh thread. It probably is a coincidence, but mine has happened out of the blue on a 40k mileage car that has run faultlessly until now, and this was after sitting at -8 degrees for several nights.

I haven't got an answer that is specific to Arosa but sometimes a small amount of corrosion on any of the C/L circuit connectors can cause that kind of fault generally. My first Arosa would randomly lock itself despite no key in ignition/doors shut so had to always remember to never leave the keys on the seat/in the boot area temporarily as only had one key.

Excellent thread Ian, even 7 years later.

pedalbox replaced at 54K miles and the only addition to new pedalbox was one extra run of weld about 10 mm long. Gearbox totally fine but will check for silt next time i change oil.

Great posts Sausage - thanks for pics

one worn track rod end will produce that symptom

A big THANK YOU to @Bigfoot as your documented photo guide was invaluable to me - without the aid of any manual I was even struggling to understand how the st. column was removable without removing the pedal bolt!! Everyone else said removing shear bolts was the hardest but some of the rest of it is just as tricky. Just to add to Bigfoot's excellent write up :- I would mark U/J and shaft on steering column joint with Tippex as it can be mounted 180 degrees out - mine was easy only because I left steering lock on and didn't move front wheels during work. I took pictures of the way the st. column loom looks before unclipping plastic surround and removing all the plugs (lot of patience needed as not all unclip using common method). reason for photos being that horn connector position quite fussy and ditto it's yellow connector with foam around it - needs to be just right for steering column shroud to fit snugly. As Bigfoot said, there are a total of 7 fixings, only 3 a bit fiddly on re-assembly. On pedalbox refitting:- I don't know how the hell you fitted yours completely assembled with all 3 pedals! I didn't fit nuts loose to servo only because I needed it to go into engine compartment as far as possible to help fitting pedalbox. If servo pushrod could be restrained/pushed forward somehow then job would be much easier. After a few failed dummy-runs at assembly I found the only way was to attach clutch pedal (easy) and brake pedal seperately after locating pedalbox on bulkhead first.. Once the pedalbox is finally roughly in position so it can be attached to bulkhead I then offered up the brake pedal which was already assembled with new white clip (mind the steel 'bowler hat' hasn't dislodged itself) and return spring with tang nestled in 'void' in white clip (as said already). First you need to identify hole in pedalbox to locate the other return spring tang and wiggle until it's in. Then you can carefully rotate/position brake pedal complete with spacers/steel sleeves and spring until it fits in pedalbox but also aligned ready to receive pivot bolt. I used a miner's torch attachment on head for this - no way I could have done it without. With whole assembly swivelled clockwise around servo rod, you can get enough clearance away from fusebox to now fit long pedal pivot bolt. This is where I went for a cup of Tea as, apart from brakelight switch saga, all the hard challenges are finally beaten! You can now loosely fit the clutch pedal with it's steel sleeve and fat penny-washer and nut. Next, make sure clutch cable outer sleeve (and cable fed through of course) is properly located in part-rubber fixing you have already fitted to pedalbox (mine popped off twice during all the 'wrestling') and then reattach throttle potentiometer* connector as you won't be able to do it after pedalbox is fully bolted down. Next I put nuts loosely on the 3 servo studs protruding through pedalbox before carefully aligning servo pushrod with brake pedal clip (I greased mine just to be sure) and then carefully depressing pedal to feel and hear a reassuring 'click' when it locates on pushrod ball. The rest of the reassembly is straightforward apart from fitting brakelight switch to pedalbox as it's easy to break it, if you hadn't already done so when you removed it (covered elsewhere on here). I used high grade caphead bolts and thick penny washers to replace my shear bolts. *I am sure if throttle potentiometer was fitted by a VAG Technician then this would need setting up after fixing but I think most of us on here are happy to take a chance that it will perform ok (mine did). I scribed along side of switch body before I removed it from old pedalbox and I could see that switch was not quite 'fully rotated' within it's available adjustment so I just crudely tried to replicate this when fitting to new pedalbox.

all finished now, thanks again to all the helpful posters I left the fuse box and the main one-piece dash panel in place but this did make it hard to locate new pedalbox without damaging anything. I found this the most difficult part after removing the shear bolts of course. The brake light switch is a separate case of it's own of course as many already know. I cant believe the stupidity shown here in converting something that was once the simplest item to fit on a car to something so complicated. I hope there is a thread on this Forum to explain this in full but meanwhile - if you can't remove the switch without force then get advice on here. Basically, you need to depress the plunger while swivelling to remove but there are at least two designs now and not sure how this might differ.

Alex and Martin said most of it Skezza in page 6 and 8 of this thread I think? Just about to start drilling as big drift and sledgehammer wouldn't shift shear bolts. Used to do them on Fiat/Lancia all the time but those were easy/i was much younger

Hardly ever posted on here but just want to say a big Thank You to Alex @alex1916v and Martin @Phatbwoy (+ Sir smudge) on here for giving me the confidence to get on with it - have some health/memory issues so to see someone took the trouble to describe the work that's needed is invaluable to me