monty-TDi

I am sure that this needs to be on a couple of threads, but here goes and if there is a moderator out there perhaps it could be duplicated. Seizure of the arms The wiper arm spindles pass through a cast aluminium housing with two brass (yellow metal) bushes. Due to electrolytic corrosion the aluminium between the two bushes swells and effectively locks the spindle. The spindle is restrained in position by a circlip, and it is just a matter of removing the circlip and wiggling the spindle out once you have popped off the linkage to the motor. When I say wiggling, I needed to remove the mechanism from the car and trap the short arm connected to the spindle to a large well attached vice and then pull on the whole length of the mechanism with considerable force to get it to start moving. After maybe 20 minutes the housing got warm and the spindle could eventually be worked out from the bushes. Avoid using hammers - it just takes a little time, but remember to remove the circlip first. While moving the arm backwards and forwards just try to imagine the motor torque!! To reinstall, I scraped (as well as I could) between the bushes and packed with grease. One quick test to see if you have seizure is to look at the mechanism with the wipers in operation (you will need to remove the plastic cover). When everything is OK the frame does not move, but if you are near seizure the whole mechanism flexes under the strain even if the speed and stroke of the wipers appear to be unaffected. In my case the wipers went from working normally to 50% wipe, then park with no warning. One method of checking this is to measure the current at the appropriate fuse. Following this and other threads I went straight for No33, but the motor is either very efficient or I was looking in the wrong place. I therefore checked No 24 and although I had only a simple clamp meter with half second refresh the peak motor current looks to be somewhere about 12A at the first speed. Regarding the mystery of Fuse 33, I think that this is used to power the control mechanism, and the washer pump. No current is drawn during wiping, but circa 5A when washing. I have now concluded that all these winter problems are associated with the freezing of the water in the bottle and consequently in the washer pump, causing overload of fuse 33 and consequently apparent total failure of the front wiper. In Summary Fuse 24 - 30A Wiper Motor Fuse 33 - 10A Washer pump motor and Wiper Control system If you have frozen pipes, then the pump will run, audibly, but will not overload the fuse, however, if you attempt to run the washer pump when it is totally frozen, no sound will be heard and the fuse will eventually blow. My recommendation is to ensure that you maintain the washer liquid with a decent washing solution - don't skimp like me with Fairy Liquid!! Happy New Year to All Monty-TDI

Again mine packed up New Years Eve 100 miles from home!! checked the fuse (according to the manual and the little sticky label) and all was fine. This time a 2004 Alhambra. Odd fault as reported previously on this thread - No front wipers, nor front or rear Washer. But when pulling the lever towards you in an attempt to wash the front screen, the rear wiper activates! However after reading this thread I checked No33 and Wahay. Normal Service is resumed, with the exception of the washer bottle pump - I will look a little deeper. - but although the front wiper does its irritating half dozen wipes, there is no sound coming from the washer pump. I may chose to wire it separately as I really detest the way the washer function is linked to the wipers. It is always a gamble to want to wash the screen on very cold days without knowing whether the nozzles have actually frozen. If they have frozen you then get a great smearing action on the screen and you are left in a worse state than before. Anyway - Thanks for the Forum and especially the super users that make it so very comprehensive - wishing you all a great 2009 Monti TDI

I have just downloaded a procedure for mending MAFs, but it simply describes shoving a cotton bud into the unit to remove dirt. This made mine worse!! Never mind something was wrong any way. I see in previous comments SBB777 has been recommended in Ebay land. He mentions that the MAF has been upgraded. The original fitment was 0 280 217 121, but he now supplies the recently improved 0 281 002 757 The latter code appears to be related to VW Audi Skoda and Seat but the Bosch website gives no clues! Does any one know whether the improved part is actually genuine? Thanks Monty

Hi, I had a nicely flooded passenger footwell a couple of years ago, traced to the rear washer hose splitting at a check valve. This winter I had the same thing, the symptoms are a pathetic squirt from the rear washer and quite a delay from pushing the lever to getting any water out of the jet. I have now pushed the connector back together , and "bandaged" it up with some duct tape. I believe the joint separated this last time on a cold morning when the read jet was probably frozen!! Look for the symptoms before finding mushrooms on the carpet! Also does anyone know how to dry a parking sensor? Rich :unsure:

I try to avoid halfords

Hi I had a brand new HDi C8 July 2003 for 10 weeks before collecting my 3 year old gal 115 tdi 65000miles., C8 was very very thirsty not a patch on the galaxy, struggled to get into the 30's whilst I often drive carefully and get 55+ (both on the computer and when calculated). Kids complained that seats were no good on the C8 and there is much more scope for collecting rubbish in the sliding tracks on the floor on the C8. Also I did not like the central clocks, particularly as both speedo and rev counter go up 10, 20, 30 , ...definite scope for misreading when you have just picked on up. Also i am a bit of a francophobe Cheers Monty

Hi all, I have a 2000 TDi and found small fish etc in the passenger footwell. Separately I had noticed a particularly poor rear screen washer. just a dribble. When removing the carpets and underlay I noticed that there is a washer connection in the footwell and it had just separated, not completely, but sufficient to let 20% of the water into the footwell and 80% to the rear screen. The remedy was to push the connector together and then spend weeks trying to dry the carpet. 3 months later all is well <_<