tim-spam

Yes - the tyres exploded - hence the poor fuel consumption, dodgy cornering and horrendous road noise.

... be worth doing... I miss the edit button.

Just another thought - your problem could be caused by the water pump not working. It has been known for the plastic impeller to become detached from the shaft. The replacement water pumps have metal impellers. Unfortunately, if it is the water pump, it's a cambelt off job - if it's due, or nearly due, for a cambelt change anyway, the extra labour to change the pump is not very great so it would be worthe doing if there is any doubt.

Both the belt I took off and the new one, bought as part of the kit from my local VW agents, were made by Continental. It is possible that the VAG group 'dual source' the belts, and Gates is a perfectly good supplier. However, for something as critical as a cambelt, I would always prefer to buy the genuine parts from the dealer. Eurocarparts also sell the genuine belt (Contitech), but their price is only a little lower than my local VW agent.

Does that mean that your engine coolant temperature reached 90 degC after 10 minutes? If this is the case, I would think that, either the engine was pretty well loaded or your booster heater was working. Either way, your car heater should have been working. As a result of this thread, I felt the temperature of the air coming out of the vents on my car yesterday (ambient temperature 2 degC), and the air started to warm up before the coolant temperature gauge had moved much above 50 degC - long before the thermostat would have even thought of opening. Also, with the booster heater working well, it took at least 10 minutes for the coolant to reach 90 degC - if I switched the interior heating off, the coolant warmed up considerably more quickly. It seems that there must be a problem with your heater controls somewhere - have you tried moving the control slowly from full heat to full cold and back again? You should be able to hear something moving and the sound of the air flowing through the vents should change slightly as well. Other than that, VAGCOM may help diagnose the problem.

For certain, on the 115PS version, there will be a different ECU, higher performance turbo, different injectors, improved piston cooling and an uprated cooling system. It is also likely that the cylinder head porting and other internal changes will have been made. However, in our relatively temperate climate, it may be possible to chip tune a 90PS up to 115PS or more without too much of a risk.

The heater circuit on the MPV's is very similar to that on the saloon cars fitted with the TDI engine. The thermostat does not prevent circulation of coolant through the heater matrix, and it is true that these engines do not produce enough waste heat at low loads to achieve a coolant temperature of 90 degC in low ambient temperatures. The main difference is that the MPV's have a cabin that is around three times the volume of a typical saloon car - hence the need for a booster heater (and an auxiliary heater at the rear). The saloon cars get away with glowplugs in the coolant circuit to overcome this problem.

Yes, the 2002 90PS TDI is a PD engine, and the engine code is ANU. This code should form part of the engine number, which you can find on the engine block or in the front of your service booklet.

So, the heater should work without any help from the booster heater. VAGCOM is probably your best bet to diagnose the problem.

It wasn't me who called it 'dumb' - I was merely quoting someone else. However, I don't think I would let 'dumb clock in the middle' or not affect my choice of car very much.

Whether or not your heater booster is working, I don't know. However, if the engine coolant reached normal working temperature (around 90 degC), the heater should work. So , I would guess a non-operational heater control valve / flap, depending on whether you have a Mk 1 or Mk 2. It it's a Mk 2, it could be a problem with an electric servo motor - VAGCOM should be able to identify which.

The last 2 times I have had a flat tyre, the 'repair' kit would have been useless - both times, a spare tyre was needed. Without a spare, it would have involved recovery to wherever. With a spare, around 5 minutes to change the wheel and I was away.

You may be right (and I have read that in a Golf IV manual), but Seat UK recommended staying with the 40,000 mile interval as 'some other changes may have been made'. When I asked what these changes were, I could get no confirmation as to what they were or whether there actually had been 'some other changes'. When I suggested that they asked someone within VAG who would know, I couldn't get a sensible reply. So, as I do the work myself and it only costs the price of the parts, I will stick with 40,000 miles. By the way, the OE belts are made by Continental.

Except that neither the Alhambra nor the Sharan have that 'dumb clock in the middle'.

Yes, but you only really need to do this if you fit a cheap battery that is not suitable for the car, and then spend ages trying to convince yourself that it's something else - then replacing the car does seem to be the only option. Seriously though, it does sound as if a weakish battery may be to blame - have you tried 'jump' starting from another car when cold? If it fires cleanly, then that would seem to point to a weak battery. It may also be worth measuring the voltage with the glowplugs activated.

Any update? Did Power Boost work on your's?

Sorry, I meant that the alarm is deactivated on the second push - car remains deadlocked.

Mine's a Mk II. The buzzer on mine sounds when the headlights are on, door open and engine off. If the engine's running, there is no buzzer with the doors open. On mine, the deadlock and alarm is activated by the first push of the lock button, and de-activated if the button is immediately pushed again.

On the Alhambra, there are no beeps when locking / unlocking, but the indicators flash once for locking, and twice for unlocking. There is no beep when you open a door with the engine running. Therefore, it may just be possible to re-programme a galaxy to do the same with VAGCOM.

Missing fasteners on the under-tray causing it to flap?

The lower crank pulley is also a vibration damper, and is a bonded rubber / metal construction, so I suppose that it could be becoming delaminated - never heard of this happening before though. However, Eurocarparts sell them (which means that it must happen sometimes) - OEM

Yes, but you still spent 2 hours reading this thread......

...but you'll never know, because you never got round to fitting a battery to the correct specification, and....oh, I really can't be bothered.

Comma do a fully synthetic oil that meets the 505.01 standard - I believe it's the same as Esso Ultron. The thing is, they appear to have done their market research - around

Yes, I know....but, with its new owner, I wonder if it is still a problem car.