tim-spam

None

CV joints on VAG group cars normally last well - how many miles has your's done? Are the gaiters split? The engine does not have to be removed to change the CV joints - why are they claiming that it does? Unless of course it's something else.

As far as I am aware, the only parts to be replaced are the belt, tensioner roller and relay roller - the tensioner damper is normally re-used.

But the 'nip-up' torque followed by an angular movement would largely overcome this problem.

Or perhaps they forgot to refit the intercooler........

-_-....I know I won't be asking tim spam to check the bolts on my sump are tight.... Basically, one standard (grade 8.8) M6 bolt correctly tightened will have a pre-tension of approximately 9.7kN, which is around 970kg. In other words, if several of these are used to clamp the sump seal, the weight of the engine will not add significantly to this force. However, I would definitely agree that when using the sump to support a proportion of the engine's weight, care should be taken - I use a trolley jack and block of wood. By the way, I wonder how many garages would use the kit shown on the TIS (in fact, how many have even got it?) - I think we can probably guess the answer to that one.

So... it was a stone was it? Any damage to the grille as it passed through?? I bet it was the spanner monkey's work that did it - check the grille. If it's not damaged, you can take it that they know they're guilty and have just come up with what is probably one of the oldest excuses in their very large book of excuses. A very large proportion of the problems experienced by people on this forum have more to do with the work carried out than with the car itself. The only real problems I've had with my car so far have been caused by something minor being fixed under warranty and something more major going wrong as a direct result of cackhandedness.

Chains get quite noisy before they fail, so if your's is quiet, smile and relax.

I don't know exactly how many bolts are used to attach the sump to the engine, but if we assume it's 8, and the bolts are M6 grade 8.8, the total clamping force on the mating face would be approximately a total of 970kgf x 8 = 7.76 tonnes. How heavy is the engine?

I would strongly advise against this as I doubt if the pin would be strong enough. As for the torque + angle method, this is very much more accurate than just torque. What you are trying to achieve is the correct bolt pre-tension, and this can vary by up to 30% if torque alone is used. Therefore, many bolts now have to be 'nipped' up with a nominal torque setting, followed by an angular movement to accurately apply the correct 'stretch' and therefore pre-tension. Do not use loctite unless it is specified - the tightening procedure given assumes lightly oiled threads. The sump on PD engines is metal (not plastic!), and strong enough to support the weight of the engine - use a block of wood to spread the load. The timing marks are on the crank and cam pulleys - the TIS shows where - the one on the crank pulley has to lign up with a mark on the crank locking tool. I have just changed the exhaust on mine, and it was an easy job - the centre section is a bit tight going over the rear subframe, but it does go through with a bit of pushing and shoving.

Is their test gear working? An 'Italian tune-up' will certainly reduce the smoke levels, but the TDI engines are usually very good without this. One other thing to bear in mind however - how do you normally drive? 50+ mpg is a very good figure, and would imply that you drive the car gently, so a good thrash on the way to test would be a very good idea. This will blow out much of the loose soot that accumulates in the exhaust system - one of the problems with a soot test (which is all it is) is that the test can measure soot deposited over time and not that which is being produced by the engine at the time. By the way, the large

Probably the glovebox light.

I've just had the centre box on my 2002 TDI fail just where the pipe enters the box. The rear box has also failed and this was easy to remove. However, in order to remove the centre box, I had to cut off the rear pipe so that it could be pulled out from the rear. I'm hoping that this was because of the pipe between the centre box and the catalyst still being in position, but I'm not sure. Has anyone else replaced an exhaust on a facelift TDI, and is it possible to fit the centre box section without either cutting the pipe and re-joining it or dropping the rear subframe? I'm going to fit it anyway, so will find out myself, but it would be good to know in advance what sort of job it's likely to be. Thanks.

I very rarely have to remove the rear seats in mine, but I do fold them forwards fairly freqently - the boot is then pretty large. The only drawback is that the middle row of seats has to be slid forwards to allow the rear ones to fold fully forwards, but even then the leg room is not too bad. As regards the Voyager, having once removed the rear bench from my friend's voyager, I would never again complain about the weight of the rear seats in mine.

The problem with the folding rear seats on the new Galaxy probably stems from the various customer clinics that Ford will have held during the design phase of the new model. People will (as they have on this forum) complained about the weight of the seats when being removed and the problem of where to put them. However, they will not have considered the alternatives - and now, for the new Galaxy, it's a bit late. In my opinion, the current arrangement, for a large MPV, probably represents the best compromise. For those who would prefer to sacrifice the advantages of proper, removeable seats (better seats, versatility, bigger load area, solid floor, seats less prone to damage, etc) for 'fold flat' ones would probably be better off with one of the smaller MPV's or a conventional estate car (some of which have 'occasional' seats in the boot floor). It's a shame for Ford, as they could have had the 'best of both' with the S-max having folding seats and the new Galaxy staying with the removeable ones.

All I can say is that I hope the new Sharan is a fitting replacement for the current one.

Where do you get your figures from?? Diesel 0-60 is 12 - 13 seconds (assuming you have a PD engine) - even the older 90 bhp versions are comfortably quicker than 20 seconds. In addition, the diesels are hardly any slower if you change up at 3000 - 3500 rpm, so in normal day-to-day conditions, they are quicker than the raw figures suggest - certainly much quicker than the 2.0 and 2.3 petrol engined versions.

Akers.......aren't you two letters short?

Given that we have now established that the garage in question is totally useless, did they use the correct oil??

It's very simple - you reported the fault whilst the car was still under warranty. Speak to someone at the CAB, and then straight to the small claims court if the garage does not respond to your letter. If the garage decides to defend itself, their legal costs could soon exceed the costs of repair, so they may roll over fairly easily when they realise you are serious. By the way, they will not consider a diary of events or a letter of complaint as serious, and neither will Ford UK. One more thing, as this will be a civil case (rather than criminal), liability will be decided on the grounds of 'balance of probability', and not 'proven beyond reasonable doubt'. You should have a very good chance of winning this, but don't be put off by their attempts to fob you off as others have obviously done. Of course they will try to tell you that you do not have a case - what else would you expect? After all, as this thread has shown, it works with most people!

Just like my Mk 2.

Nice bike carrier - shame about what it's attached to.

I've found and bought a used Atera Linea - what a brilliant piece of kit it is. I got it for about 1/3 of the price of a new one, and it still looks new - only used about 5 or 6 times. So, thanks to all for your advice.

Engine code AUY = 115 bhp.

Just dropped my Alhambra off to have the rear bumper repaired (someone reversed into it a while back) and have a Zafira courtesy car. The aircon in the Zafira (brand new with 12 miles on the clock) is OK, but nowhere near as good as on my Alhambra.