AMacdonald

Are all the fuses OK? My old Alhambra was immobilised for several days after a wire at the MAF chafed and shorted, taking out the fuse that fed the fuel shutoff solenoid.

I'm on a 2011 Passat Bluemotion estate now. The kids are sufficently grown up that I don't need an MPV any more. It's a lovely drive and really economical (60+ with no effort) but the electric handbrake is driving the wife mental!

I'm near Rhosneigr - other side of the island.

Well, R871XON has gone off to its' new home in the North East. If you see it round the Tyne Valley, give it a wave. Of course, that also means I'm no longer a Ford Galaxy (or equivalent) owner so I suppose I have no right to be here any more. Thanks for all the help and advice over the years.

Isn't that one of the things that goes wrong if the electronics box under the passenger seat gets wet? Does the rear wash work? If not, chances are the pipe has come off in the passenger footwell and is soaking the carpet.

I'll settle for knowing someone is benefitting. I hate to throw away things before they absolutely have to be thrown away, as anyone who's seen my trousers will confirm. Maybe they'll do something similar for someone else one day.

Reaver makes a good case. I'll respond to your PM.

I thought it was on its' way to a new home but that one doesn't seem to have come to anything. It's still available if you can get to Anglesey to collect it.

I'm hoping someone can use it as it is, or at least keep another one going with a few choice organ transplants. Still available if anyone is interested.

Completely genuine. I don't need it any more and I can't honestly say it's worth enough to sell. I live by a railway station on Anglesey.

I did go in there and got as far as being able to see the ECU but, unlike the pictures on here it had a massive, rigid wiring loom over it and I couldn't get access. I decided that buying another car was a better option for someone as lazy as me.

I've a feeling the garage didn't track the car properly when they replaced the track rod ends. Only noticed the odd wear recently. Pads have been replaced all round at least once but not the discs. Very little urban driving might explain that. It's already been replaced (Passat Bluemotion Estate) so I just don't need it any more. I wouldn't feel happy about selling a 260,000 mile car as a going concern so I'd rather donate it to someone who might get some use out of it, one way or the other.

If you are, you may be interested in this. I'm giving away my 1997 Alhambra TDi 90 SE. It's got a little more than 260,000 on the clock (240,000 with me) but is still (until this week at least) in daily use, starts first time every time, regardless of outside temperature and uses virtually no oil. It's not without foibles (listed below) but is fundamentally a decent car. It's MOTed until August and has never cost me a lot to get through. Metallic pinky-red with grey interior (7 seats). Seats appear to sport Inca symbology although I could be wrong. I don't want to scrap it because it's still a decent runner so I'd rather give it away to someone on here who can make good use of it. I've had a lot of good advice from here over the years without really providing any of my own so this is a sort of payback. Plus, WBAC suggested it might be worth £16 and it would cost me more than that to get to the nearest office and back. Good stuff: Recent (within the last couple of years) parts - alternator, fuel shutoff solenoid, battery, driveshafts, CV joints, thermostat, track rod ends, probably others I've forgotten. All electric windows (6 off) working. Central locking all working. I can't think of anything significant that doesn't work, except those listed below. MAF works but there's a spare in the boot because it's bound to go one day. For some reason I have two Galaxy Haynes manuals, also included. I'll include my VagCom lead too. I don't think it's compatible with the new car and I want to buy a handheld reader anyway. Less good stuff: The big one. It'll drive fine all day but if you shut the engine down, it's best to wait about 30 minutes before starting again. If you don't, there's a good chance it'll drop into limp mode when you hit 2100 revs. VagCom reports a MAP problem. I've replaced the vacuum tubing up to near the ECU but haven't been able to replace the last stretch or the sensor itself. Fix those and you'll probably fix the fault. 2nd and reverse can be a little tricky to select when cold. May just need cable adjustment. Engine Management light has been flashing for 10 years. VagCom says it's down to an "implausible brake pedal signal". Replacing the switch hasn't fixed it but after 10 years of no ill effects, I don't worry so much nowadays. When the lights are on, the brake light telltales on the dash flicker. Rear lights themselves are fine. Don't expect much in the way of speaker grilles. The interior has done 240,000 miles of dogs and kids. The first 20,000 could have involved dinosaurs, for all I know. It's survived well considering but wouldn't impress a concourse judge. The exterior would probably horrify that concourse judge. No rust but numerous dings and scratches. Climate control worked when it was last gassed but that was a couple of years ago now. Shocks, brake discs etc are, as far as I can tell, all originals. No idea how they've lasted this long but no apparent problems. German engineering you see. Tracking is out so the front tyres suffer a bit. The solitary alarm key broke years ago so no alarm. It's unlikely ever to be stolen though. Two non-alarm keys included. Trip computer has always reported fuel consumption incorrectly (typically reports 30-32mpg but achieves 38-40) If you want some idea of the cars background, check out my post history here - most of the things it's ever suffered from will be discussed! That's pretty much it. No catches. If you can get to Anglesey to collect it (and plan to make good use of it - I wouldn't give a puppy to someone who turned up in a Furriers van, for example) you can drive it away. There's probably about 100 miles worth of fuel in the tank. It's taxed but I'll be cashing that in at the end of July. We even live beside a railway station. Drop me a PM if you are interested and outline what you'd do with the car. Convince me it won't just be scrapped for cash and it's yours. All I ask is that we complete a proper DVLA ownership transfer.

My Mk1 Diesel has decided to display the rear bulb warnings whenever the lights are on. Oddly, they go off when I press the brake. Sometimes they flicker rather than staying on all the time. I've looked for dodgy connections but not found anything. All lamps are OK so I just regard the warning lamps as "lights-on" indicators now.

I know, I fixed the tailgate wiring (again) today as well ;-)

Thanks Chris. I've just got to the bottom of it. For posterity and future searches, this is what I did. I unplugged the 3-pin connector that feeds the solenoid and fuel pump and attached a multimeter to the black/yellow wire that comes off fuse 14, and ground, set to audible continuity. The annoying beep meant the short was audible. I then gently moved wiring looms around until the beep/short cleared, eventually narrowing it down to the MAF connector, which is also fed from fuse 14. The wires at the connector were chafed and perished where it turns round a sharp corner at the connector end and the black/yellow was shorting to the adjacent, also chafed wire. A good clean and application of hot glue to the area should fix it for as long as I still have the car. I can't believe I forgot my own golden rule - "It's always the MAF"! Relays would have been my next stop but I couldn't think of a good reason why one would short to ground and blow the fuse. The solenoid wasn't exactly shorted and was still operating when I attached it directly to the battery but was definitely drawing a lot more current than it should have, hence the sparks/smoke/glowing wire/three wasted troubleshooting sessions. Perhaps the ECU limits the current the solenoid can draw and so the solenoid wasn't the cause of the failure but it was definitely a bit faulty, just not completely ;-)

Well, I managed to get the old one out by grinding the edge of a 24mm ring spanner to virtually nothing. The new one is in but the car still doesn't start. Fuse 14 blows as soon as I turn the ignition on. On the plus side, I can now run a wire to the solenoid from the battery with no smoke or flames, so that's good. Doesn't help to get the car going though.

No space to get a socket on, unfortunately. The fuel return blocks it. I can get a 24mm open end spanner on but there's almost no space to get any movement started. I'll see if a ring will fit over, when I get one tomorrow. Very wary about messing the pump up.

I'm looking at the Haynes now and they seem to gloss over a few of the details :lol: Instructions are to remove the electrical connection (done) and unscrew the solenoid. However, there's very little wriggle room for a spanner in there and it looks like I'll have to remove the top of the fuel pump to get a socket on. Is anything bad likely to result from taking the top of the pump off?

My Alhambra died last night. There was a little hiccup from the engine and it cut out. Turns over fine but no firing. After a little troubleshooting this morning I suspect the fuel cutoff solenoid has gone short circuit. Its' fuse has blown (if I've found the right one) and the resistance to earth is only a few ohms. If I connect a wire to it from the battery the wire gets warm and the place where it touches the solenoid glows red and smokes! Not good. So, is it a big job to replace (the Haynes manual thinks not but I respect the views here more) and has anyone found a good supplier in the past? Thanks Angus

Thanks guys. It's a mk1 from 1997 (in my defence it does say that just to the right of the topic title ;-) ) so fixed turbo geometry. I haven't replaced the pipe through to the ECU yet - it's next on the list if the n75 doesn't work. If that still doesn't work the pipe inside the ECU is my last hope but, having tried to gain access over the weekend I'm not looking forward to it. I followed the excellent pictorial guide on this site to get in past the instrument cluster but where the poster has a comparatively clear run through to the ECU, I have a massive rigid wiring loom over the top of mine. Getting past it is going to be no fun at all. My rationale for doing it this way is pipes shouldn't really suffer changes from heating and the ECU shouldn't see much difference either but the n75 is likely to heat up and is electromechanical to boot. It's also easy to change! Thanks for the EGR confirmation. I'll get my hacksaw out over the weekend.

After clearing out all the old codes, provoking the fault and rechecking the only fault code is 00575 which appears to finger the n75 solenoid or associated tubing. The pipes have been done so I guess it's time to shop for a new n75. I'm still confused about why it only happens after a warm restart though. On another subject, I've seen a number of people singing the praises of blanking the EGR on this engine. Is it just a matter of making a suitably shaped bit of aluminium to go between the manifold and the EGR plus blocking off the vacuum pipe or is there more to it?

That's on the list for today, now I have a couple of hours free. Here's another thing though - I've noticed that the engine never really gets warm so could a faulty thermostat be upsetting the ECU somehow?

I had something similar a year or so ago. The drivers lock barrel collapsed when I locked it manually so the key was stuck in the lock position and wouldn't come out. I could unlock the other doors using another key but the drivers door lock would activate the central locking again after a second or two. Not impossible to use but a real pain. After lots of headscratching and minor violence I was able to remove the drivers door card from the inside to get at the lock mechanism although to release it from the handle I had to remove the drivers side rear door (not nearly as hard as it sounds - 5 minute job) and unscrew the lock mechanism from the door shell with a long torx driver. With that done I could unclip the door handle from the mechanism and remove it along with the lock barrel and key. A quick visit to ebay provided the replacement barrel parts (I was able to reuse the actual barrel so no new keys needed) and job done.

My old (250K!) Alhambra TDi90 has an annoying problem. If I start from cold it'll run all day without a hiccup but if I stop and restart before the engine has had a decently long rest it'll be determined to drop into limp mode which, since I live in quite a hilly area can be a real pain! I've checked and replaced all the vacuum pipes and swapped the MAF out but nothing has helped yet. Could cleaning the turbo help? I've only done it once and that was about 50K ago.