AMacdonald

Hah, got it. I was, somewhat to my own surprise, able to to remove the drivers door card with the door closed. It must have been loose from years ago. Once that was done I removed the rear door (!) to get at the screw securing the door handle. I was then able to gently ease the handle out of the door. The barrel mechanism had crumbled away so I removed the broken parts and replaced the handle. A repair kit is on order from Ebay so hopefully everything should be back to normal in a few days.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a go later on but at the moment I have frozen water pipes (for a week), no heating and 8 inches of snow to contend with ;-)

Odd one this. I locked my mk 1 alhambra this morning and the key wouldn't return to the vertical for removal. It's stuck wiggling round a few degrees of horizontal and feels like there's a fairly significant block stopping it from moving back. It won't come out of the lock in this position. I've soaked the area with WD40 but no joy. The thing is, as soon as I unlock the passenger side door with the spare key, the doors lock themselves again straight away. I've got time to get in and the car is drivable but it's not ideal. The drivers door is deadlocked and cannot, as far as I can tell, be opened. So, does anyone have any suggestions apart from use more WD40?

I suffered from a broken key recently. Flummoxed me for a while because every time I jump started it from my other car (it wouldn't even turn over with the broken key), the keyring with the broken key was used in the other car so I was using a good key to start the Alhambra. It was only by luck that I eventually used the good key.

Fixed it. I forgot the three golden rules of Galaxy TDi fault-finding: 1. It's the MAF. 2. Seriously, the vacuum pipes are OK so it must be the MAF. 3. Yes, you only recently replaced the MAF but it's still the MAF. It was the MAF

Thanks seatkid. I think I've always had bubbles in the fuel line but there don't seem to be any more than usual. I've got a spare (used but it turned out not to be faulty last time I had a problem) MAF I'll stick on as well although it doesn't feel like any MAF problem I've ever had and I've had a few (one in a foreign country - THAT was a garage conversation worth hearing). I think I'll take the blue switch off and attack it with WD40 as well.

Thanks JCCD. Would the switch exist if the car didn't have cruise? It's a mk1 Alhambra SE TDi.

My '97 Alhambra TDi (211,000 and counting!) has an odd problem. Cold starting and running is fine but if I restart when the engine is hot I get several miles of intermittent power loss. After those miles the engine runs fine until the next warm start. The effect is very like the fuel cutoff you get when pressing the accelerator and brake together so I thought it might be related to the brake pedal switch. I had a new black, 2 pin switch in the garage so I fitted it (to no avail) but while I was in there I spotted another, very similar switch mounted just above the black brake pedal switch, in light blue. Would I be right in thinking this switch is related to the accelerator / brake fuel cutoff function? If so, I'll get one and try that. Not sure why the effect only happens for a few miles after a warm start though.

I had something vaguely similar on my Alhambra. Fine up to 1800 revs then sudden power loss down to about 1500 or so. After a few repeats it generally got past and ran fine after that. I believe I eventually tracked it down to a corroded connector on the needle lift sensor, or at least after things got a lot worse I finally tracked it down and the power loss hasn't come back.

I had something very similar a year or so ago. Over a period of about an hour the selector went from normal to all-but seized. My local garage replaced the linkage for about

Hi where is the needle lift sensor? Is it on the 3rd injector? Did you have total power loss or did you occasionally get full power? Thanks for your help. I had intermittent misfiring at particular revs for a bit, then a couple of hours of the fuel cutoff solenoid dropping out every few minutes (a load of fun that was!) plus a permanent lack of power. After limping home and consulting VAGCOM, the needle lift sensor wiring was fingered and fixed. No problems since then.

Make sure the wiring to the needle lift sensor is OK. Mine went wrong and the car was stuck in limp mode until I fixed it.

I recently had an identical problem with my 97 Alhambra TDi. Not dropping into limp mode but starting in it. After much mucking about with vacuum pipes (although they needed doing anyway) I remembered my old copy of VAGCOM and diagnosed a wiring fault on the needle lift sensor. As soon as I fixed that (corroded spade connector) the car immediately came back to normal.

Well I looked at the needle lift sensor wiring again and decided to renew the last few inches of it completely. So far (famous last words again no doubt) all seems healthy again. The halfords decoker seems to have made a nice difference as well - the whole car just feels perkier now.

Famous last words! It lasted about 20 miles before an occasional misfire showed up. It gradually got worse until, a further 20 miles on the engine lost almost all power and every few miles would die completely, as if the fuel cutoff solenoid was cutting out. Turning the ignition off and on would get it back but at low power. My elderly copy of VAGCOM was showing an intermittent B+ or short fault with the needle lift sensor. I investigated and found one of the spade connectors disconnected from its' wire. I remade that (and cleaned the cutoff solenoid connector) but the power loss remains. The fault is now listed as "short to ground - intermittent" but I can't find anything else wrong. Would a detected fault with the needle lift sensor force a drop into limp mode?

Looks like you were right. I replaced the filter this morning and after one or two bouts of stuttering all seems well now. There was an alarming amount of air going up and down the fuel pipe for quite a while after but a 10 mile test run seems to have cleared that. To be honest, I've no idea when the fuel filter was last changed. It may have been the last time it had a dealer service which was over 100K ago!

I think you're right about that pipe going to the ECU. The Haynes manual glibly mentions removing the dashboard to get to the ECU but I recently renewed my pipe by cutting it where it pops int the drivers footwell and joining to a new pipe. No signs of difficulty so far.

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought about the fuel filter although the fact it always happens at particular revs is odd.

Whoops should be in the technical section. Can a moderator move please? done :(

My old Alhambra (just past 200K !) has developed an annoying misfire at 1800rpm. It's only occasional and it happens generally when accelerating through 1800rpm so I don't think it's the throttle pot. It can happen when the engine is cold or hot. I've replaced almost all the vacuum hoses except for the one that goes off to the ECU. I don't fancy removing the dash to get to the ECU but the hose does have a very worn stretch in the engine bay where it's been rubbing. I'll crop it and replace from there onwards once I get a suitable hose connector. Is there anywhere else I should be looking?

I may do that if nothing else comes up but the lights all work perfectly. It's just the dash warning that seems to be wrong.

Thanks for that but I'm used to the tail light warning LEDs staying on until I touch the brakes. That still happens normally. The odd thing is that one of the warnings comes on again if I brake with the side or headlights on and not otherwise. I'm struggling to see how a faulty pedal switch could wrongly indicate a fault with only one rear light.

I've an odd problem with one of my tail light dashboard warnings. During the day, no problems at all but as soon as I turn the lights on (and brake), the passenger side warning comes on and flickers randomly for a bit. All tail lights are working as they should. VAG COM says the brake pedal switch is giving "inconsistent" readings and the warning can't be reset so I've ordered a spare but does this sound likely?

I had that a few years back. It was a long and expensive job for the local dealer to replace the servo.

Shall do. Many thanks