Andrew T

Tim, why do you believe that not having a Ca battery fitted would lead to excessive discharge?

This really comes back to my original question. I get a mediocre Analogue BBC1 &2 but good Digital signal, and a good analogue signal for ITV but no Digital. I can also get a lovely S4C and BBC2 wales analogue but I don't speak much welsh. Replacing the cable and moving the Digibox is also worth a try though.

Thanks for all the replies, just been visiting in York for the weekend (and flood-watching!) so I tried the box there and it picks up ITV fine. The Aerial is about 5 years old and has a (60amp?) amplifier. I was told when it was fitted that it was suitable for Digital but I'll dig further into that area because It must be where the problem lies. Thanks for the links. Cable isn't a solution I'm afraid - no cable within 10 miles of here. (Or Gas, or mains sewage come to that. We do have running water and electricity though). If it means spending a lot of money I would go for a dish though - the Aerial and pole look a mess strapped to the chimney of a 300 year-old house and I worry about it bringing the chimney down in high winds. It also seems to make the whole house resonate at certain wind speeds - is that really possible ?

Antenna is on a 3 Metre pole on the chimney but there is an 1800ft Hill between us and the transmitter. Given that we get a better signal on ITV analogue than BBC analogue I suspect that you're right about the 'box not picking up ITV and C4 (it's a Pace unit BTW). I assumed that all 'boxes gave all the freeview channels. Oh B*gger.

We

National Tyres agreed to replace my battery under warranty but when they couldn't source the correct size they've fitted a Diesel sized one f.o.c. The correct size always looked pitifully small for the size of engine it has to turn over, it's hardly any bigger than the one on my 1.5 Honda. The speed it turns over now undelines how knackered the other battery was, and all that spare capacity won't go amiss.

The choice of lap strap or 3-point belt centre seat belt depends on build date not spec. The 3-point belt started appearing around Y-reg, although I think some 51 regs can still have a lap strap.

Towbar wiring might be a good place to start, I recall this problem having been traced to newly fitted sockets before. It may you have been causing a drain all along but it's only become obvious with the greater demands placed on the battery by the winter weather.

If you're looking for obscure faults is the battery clean? I once had a problem with a battery self discharging and (believe it or not) it was salt spray off the winter roads that had dried on the battery that was the problem. You could stick an ammeter probe in to the gunge on the surface and see a current that was tracking betwwen the posts. That said the batteries these days are very well protected from the elements that it'smost unlikely to happen. Do you find your problems is related to how the car has been used i.e it's better after long journeys that short?

Genius? I wish, just hard won experience with the most tempremental car I've ever had. The only reason I noticed the current the interior lights take is because of the impressive sparks that you get when reconnecting the battery lead with the door open! Returning to your problem though, I think you need to explore the Ca or Sb battery angle a bit more. Does anyone know if Sharans are fitted with Sbs from new?(try phoning the service department of your friendly local VW agent?). How long have you had the car? did you put the Sb battery on? If not can you find a production date on it? If a Ca battery has been replaced with Sb prior to your ownership maybe the problems you're experiencing are a result of using an Sb battery instead of a Ca? As I've said before it seems possible that you can have a battery and electrical system that passes all the tests but still fails to perform properly.

You've probably never wondered how publicity photo's of Aircraft are taken, but here it is anyway.....The camera crew are standing on the opened cargo door of a C-130 and no, it's not a photoshop special, he really is that close. I'm not sure who is the braver, the Cameraman or the Typhoon pilot.

If a Sharan has the same lights as a Ghia you get 12 come on when a door opens, so at 5 Watts each thats 60W divided by 12 Volts = 5 Amps. Bloody hell, did I remember Ohms law correctly from Physics lessons 25 years ago?

I've always assumed that these figures are with the ignition off, I think you should expect about +2v when charging, so 14.4v would be right. From my own checks I know that a showing of 12.0V will (just) start the car but 11.8V will not.

Greenfingers, you were asking about the voltages - I copied this off a post long ago. at 12.6 volts the battery is 100 per cent charged at 12.4 volts, the battery is 75 per cent charged at 12.2 volts, the battery is 50 per cent charged at 12.0 volts, the battery is 25 per cent charged I've been having occasional battery problems for months, I've been back to Nat' tyres (who supplied the battery) twice and they are adamant it's a good battery. I watched him go through the tests while he explained what he was doing and he showed me the spec's and everything seemed in order. It's also been into an Auto Electrician (only

The Sharan 4X4 was called the 4-Motion rather that the Synchro in MK2 form, and was (theoretically) available until last year as a 115 Weasel and a V6 (both manual only). It's a part time system that only sends drive to the rear wheels when the front onesx lose grip. How good it is depends on why you want it. It's more suitable for snow and mud than as a general safety feature IMHO.

There have been posts in the past saying that a conventional charger will not work with Ca batteries and a special pulsing type of pulsing charger is neeeded.

Try Yellow Pages for a local Fuel Injection Engineer? (mine lists 4 or 5) you'd hope they would know they were doing.

I liked this article in Sniffpetrol on the subject of blaming everything on the car.

Shouldn't an '01 Sharan have a Ca battery from new (suggesting the battery has been previously replaced) or is it just the Gal' that was fitted with them?

If the alternator is no different for vehicles fitted with SCS, is it because the SCS circuitry/computer/control box/ whatever is outside the alternator? I presume this is the gubbins that the handbook warns can alternate the power between the heated front and rear screens if it thinks you are making excessive demands on the electrical system? never noticed it happening myself though. I like Fords comment on Ca batteries being longer lasting though, it was a Ca battery on the Galaxy I had to replace at 3.5 years old, the shortest I've had a battery last in donkeys years.

When I asked about using Lead Acid in place of Calcium this the reply I recieved from Seatkid. You have to use Lead-calcium tech batteries on Ford engines as their "smart" alternator is set to charge calcium batteries. They require a much higher charge voltage than old Lead- antimony batteries which will die quickly or possibly explode if used in their place. If you shop around there is not much price difference between them. I paid

Well I've had a squint in there Tiny and it's so tightly packed in I'm none the wiser. Looking at where the pipes seem to go I would guess it's low down at rear of the engine. I also notice that compared to the MK1 the towing eye is now very well covered with the lower grill section forming a cover over the top of it, and needs to be removed to tow.

What do you need to know? I can look up or scan pages if you wish. Or you may find what you need here

Yes, our 2.3 has an undertray and as it's derived from the 2.0 DOHC I can't really see why it should differ, unless it has a very different auxilliary drive belt arrangement.

Ah that explains it then...... Might be worth pinning this in FAQs as it comes up fairly regularly. NIK?