Hello there

Yes, I should have updated this post...

Yes, the replacement inlet manifold cured the problem. The car is back to normal and running as it should. They showed me the old IM that they removed, and it was utterly gunked up with crud. The one that went on had very little around the swirl flaps, or within and around the main inlet. They reckoned that the vaccum on my original IM was also buggered, so this was replaced too - and tested before they fitted it.

At the moment - I have zero faults, and it just passed its MOT with zero advisories! (touching lots of wood). The only occasional niggle is the rear high level brake light, which has had a habit of simply not working. I replaced it, destroying the old one as they're impossible to remove intact, and the replacement was initially just fine - until a month or two later it stopped working. I don't know why. I've had all the trim off the boot wiggling the cable, and it started working again - I guess it can only be a loose connection in the wiring somewhere, or a small circuit break, which closes up when the temperature drops. Annoying.