Masked Marauder

Does the crackling increase with engine revs? Do you have standard or HID headlights?

Yep it's the same engine :D you must have been tanking it! my mrs can do heathrow and half way back on a tank of lpg :huh: Um, well.... It was early on a Sunday morning. 155 on the M25 was a bit tunnel-vision causing though.....

Not teasing me chap, I don't really gave a ......... Just out of interest, is the V6 engine the same as was in the Golf VR6? My sister had one of those and I drove to Heathrow and back in it and used a full tank of fuel thats a stunning 16mpg on the round trip! Hey, company fuel card, she was not paying!

What shocked me the most (as someone who has never owned a brand new car) was the depreciation. Both vehicles have lost over half their value over 4 years, with the V6 loosing in the region of 4K a year! I only paid 5k for my 1998 102,000 mile Alhambra. OK, it is not fully loaded like the Ghia, but I hope to get at least 5 years out of it before I sell it on. New cars are too rich a game for me, you can keep them!

I have a bathroom to fit tomorrow, if I get it finished before Friday lunchtime I will be going over Friday PM. As for emails, they are only interested in shipping out major components, if your email is about something other than that they do tend to go unanswered. Similarly if you phone to enquire about small parts they do not really want to know.

An hour and a half less huh? So about

Typically a MAF has two main components, a thermistor which measures the air temperature and a "hot wire" which works by current flowing through it causing it to heat up. The hotter it gets, the less voltage that it draws to heat up. The hot wire voltage is sent to the EEC processor as a reading between 0 and 5 volts, depending on how much the wire is cooled by the air flow over it. So by knowing the voltage and the radius of the MAF sensor the ECU can be programed to calculate the physical volume of air flowing through the sensor. And by knowing the volume of air, throttle position etc, the ECU controls the fuel input to the cylinders. But how does this explain the problem? Well contamination of the hot-wire has always been a problem of this type of MAF with some cars worse than others. But if the problem cured it's self, is contamination the cause? So perhaps your diagnosis is correct. The air getting hot in the engine bay being sucked in through the induction piping could be causing the sensor to read over the maximum threshold, that could make it trip out, putting the ECU into limp-home mode. Or perhaps it is just the design of the engine bay makes the MAF overheat. May be the inter-cooler is heating up from the radiator, actually heating the air to a point that the ECU can not believe the MAF so ignores it.

I will be going here http://www.intapart.com very soon, I can have a look for you...

Did you have to get it turned on on the ECU? Some places say you do, others that it is on already.

Haveing seen a few posts in here about wiper linkage problems I looked at my Alhambra's when I had the bonnet up yesterday. The picture shows what I found.... http://www.bigtrucker.co.uk/images/wiperlinkage.jpg

The glow plugs will still come on on the low setting for about 30 seconds even if the engine is warmed up. I once had to run an engine with only two glow-plugs and even fully warmed it was a bitch to start.

Select engine control module by pressing "01Q". Select read data function by pressing "08Q". Read group 06 by pressing "06Q" or "006Q" depending on which version of VAG 1551 tool that you have. The 1551 will display a bunch of numbers. The fourth group of numbers, on the far right of the display will be either "0" or "255". "0" means that cruise control is already enabled. If you see "255" then cruise control is locked, unlock it using the following steps. Press the right arrow key. For login procedure press "11Q". Enter the unlock code "11463Q". Now repeat the above steps and see if that "255" has changed to a "0". EDIT: VAG-COM is: [select] [01 - Engine] [Login - 11] Enter 11463 to activate cruise control [Do It!]

Well done chap! All you need to do now is a full write up so we have it for reference purposes!

It sounds like a failing CV joint to me. Is it worse when you corner?

You don't need to touch the airbag or dismantle the wheel. You just take the top half of the steering column cover. 2 screws in the top. Once you have done that you remove the old stalk assembly and fit the cruise control one, the wires should already be there.

The rules changed because of an EU ruling. But the devil can in the small print. I do not know what any of the current crop of warranties say as I have never (and am not ever likely to) bought a new car. But they can give you a minimum period warranty, with any extended warranty dependant on dealer servicing. For example a 3 year warranty that is a 2 year manafacturer's warranty, with a dealer's extra year tagged on. But the dealer's warranty can be conditional that you get your car serviced with them FROM NEW, not just in the final (extended) year. An anti-perforation warranty can insist on a dealer inspection.

Mine does work, but it is not seem a stepped increase, just over 20mph and the volume goes up noticeably.

Seat and VW are the same,

OK looked at this and could not find a purple (violet) wire. So spoke to someone in the know and if, like me, you find it is not there, then you can patch into wire no 7 on the instrument cluster plug. Apparently the colour can vary, but it is alway No 7 on the plug!

I so want VAG-COM. I am going to make my own interface (about

I don't know about now, but for a long time you could not get a sunroof and aircon in a VW, it was one or the other. There is enough glass in the bloody thing anyway! With air-con you won't want a sunroof!

My '98 Bammer has them. Ghia? Pah! :D

Well here is mine, 1998 Bammer, a good foot away from the rear bumper:

I have replied in the other thread you started.

They do fold back a bit, but still stick out about 20cm from the bodywork.