Masked Marauder

I concur, it is clearly a Trading Standards issue. Fraud/Deception is a nightmare to prove in that kind of case. You would have to prove that whoever stamped the book did so to obtain pecuniary advantage, and that is never going to happen.

No it does not, it simply supplies a constant voltage/amperage regulated by the diode pack on the alternator.

The fridge man who fixes the reefers on the trailers at my work will do it for

The trouble with any CAR battery is that it needs to provide a lot of amps at once. To do this the battery is made up of lots of thin plates in a mixture of 35% Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4) and 65% distilled water (electrolyte.) But the down-side is that when the battery is deep discharged, sulfur molecules come out of the acid and form on the plates. That reduces the battery's capacity. In severe cases with a silver/calcium cell, that can be by as much as 40% on the first occasion! To recharge the battery fully you then need to use a special "pulse" charger. This re-energises these sulfur molecules and knocks them off the plates back into the electrolyte where they re-form sulfuric acid. Some chargers have this fitted to enable fast charging without damaging the battery. Perhaps that is how Mr Tomkins managed to re-charge his on "Supercharge" setting! DEEP CYCLE batteries (often known as "Marine Batteries") have very thick plates and are designed for a long, slow discharge rate and do not suffer from sulfur build-up nearly as badly. These are the batteries best suited to leisure use and powering accessories in a split-charging system. They are more expensive, but are not damaged by full discharge.

There are only a few checks you can do without VAG-COM or FDS2000 To check the control unit: 1. Press buttons 1, 3 and 6 simultaneously. 2. All parts of the display must light up. If necessary, renew the control element. To get the unit to check the individual components of the system: Temperature Valve Control Motor: Press button 3 or 4 until "Hi" or "Lo" appears on the display. Air Distribution Control Motor: Press button 1 or 5. The control motor then goes once through every setting. Centre Vent Control Motor: Press button 2. The control motor then goes once through every setting.

Have a look for Entry Illumination Buzzer PN 33-07-007 If that is what it is, it is in the under-dash panel on the driver's side.

Well calcium batteries will not properly re-charge from flat without the use of a special charger. Perhaps that explains the short life, not dead, just sleeping.... In any case Calcium batteries should have a three year warranty.

I have a small turbo sounding squeal under acceleration! And a hot oil smell after any enthusiastic driving! I will have a look at the turbo oil pipe unions. But I never connected it, just thought it was normal turbo noise as this is the first TDi I have owned.

When I went to Cornwall last week I got over 600 miles from a tank of diesel. That was a 306 mile drive down and the rest running around when there. Oh and was family, luggage etc. on the way down.

Refund of Duty on rejected goods imported from outside the EU also see Notice 199

That sounds typical of a failed cell in the battery. Does anyone know if the vehicle comes with a calcium battery btw?

What age/engine is it? If it is a VAG 1.9TDi then you should be able to drive about 5 or 6 miles before it is at average temperature! In any case I would suggest that it is a thermostat problem as the fans should not run all the time, although a failed head gasket can give similar symptoms.

Where do you live? Intapart at Daventry have more than a few in. Although I live in Northampton and have never been to the yar, I have driven past it on many occasions and it is as good as it looks on the web-site....

Someone told me it was red and white! ALL the ISO plugs had been cut off my Bammer when I bought it and a old cheap and very nasty radio/cassette fitted. I soldered in some new ISO connectors but could not get the speed adjustment on the volume to work. I now know why! Thanks chaps, will have a look later in the week.

Don't suppose you remember what colour the wire was?

You will need to take the top half off the steering column shroud. Any spare leads & plugs for cruise control or remote are clipped into a retainer on the left hand side. As for connection interfaces, I know for a fact (because I have fitted one) that Blaupunkt do one for the Sharan/Alhambra/Galaxy but obviously that will only work with their units.

When you say a screaching noise is it when the engine is under load, accelerating hard? It could be a leak on the post-turbo air piping. Or your clutch release bearing spinning, with the noise going when you put the clutch in. Or it could be your input shaft bearings, but they would make a noise even at idle, but perhaps less noticable. Noises are soooo hard to diagnose without being there. As for the fact it seems only on the motorway, I think it is more like you only notice it on the motorway.

Thanks for that link, have already looked at that. Interestingly though, there is a link on that site to a scan of a german magazine page, but the resolution is too low to blow it up and I don't speak German either.... But by the pictures it is plug in the stalk....

I know this thread is a little old, but I am looking into a retro-fit cruise control on my Alhambra. As far as I am aware everything is in place except the stalk. You simply fit the stalk (http://www.intapart.com) and see if it works. If it does not then you simply have the dealer or someone with the correct software turn the cruise control software in the ECU. Still need confirmation of this, but as I also need a key programing to the ECU I shall fit the stalk first and they can turn the software on at the same time.