MarkinLondon

Hi I am afraid it it ithe auxillary heater and it won't fix itself. When mine went last year it cost

Andrew T - thank you very much for your comprehensive reply. The damage is exactly where you say. It won't do any harm to replace it and test before thinking about doing anything else. Was that done by the garage - or did you do it yourself. If you did it yourself, how did you get to places where the cable runs underneath? - it appears to be sitting in clips. Did the garage tell you why it might have happened?

Thank's again - I located the alternator. FYI here is what I have discovered so far. I opened the fuse box with some difficulty to find that the area where the cable from the alternator with an onward connection to the battery was melted and blackened. I sopke to the the garage who sucked their teeth - I could hear the tills ringing in the background! Does anyone know how I can do some basic tests to check the alternator is fine (or not). I don't want to find myself being charged for replacing the alternator when it is the fuse/fuse/box/cable etc. Is it fairly simple to replace the fuse box/cable? In your opinion does the damage indicate a bigger problem or is it just one of those things that happens with so much power going through the engine? Last question: does the car engine need the alternator to run on once it get's going?

Thank you all for some very swift and constructive replies! :huh: Where is the Alternator locatd by the way? Cheers

I got a new warning message today "Alternator Workshop". The accompanying physical symptom was the car trying to start but not doing so. About an hour later the car started, but the red battery symbol wouldn't go out. Now it sounds like it has a flat battery Has anyone encountered this issue before - what happened next? If the alternator needs replacing is it possible to do it oneself? If so how? Where is located? and where does one buy the dratted thing? The vechicle is a 2000/X Ghia TDi 1.9 115 Any and all help appreciated!

What does "lol" mean?

I have a Galaxy Ghia, TDi 1.9, 2000 model. The car has been giving off a lot of whitish smelly smoky vapour which is pluming out of a pipe on the underside of the car. The pipe is midway along on the passenger side just inboard of the exhaust pipes. My questions are: What does the pipe do? What does the white clouds mean? Is it dangerous? Cheers Mark (London)