Rallim

Before you strip the door down and if you haven't already looked - check the wires that go into the door through the rubber gland for breaks - common problem which can result in all sorts of strange window behaviour (my rear passenger door window went down and refused to go up!). Gordon

My Dad has an N reg Previa (an ex works vehicle - part of his retirment package :D ). Anyway it is not the prettiest of vehicles but it is spacious (more width than the Shalxy's and has a usueable boot with all the passengers in!) the 2.4 petrol is smooth, but it has had its fair share of problems, brakes, bearings, squealing noises. Niggles such as the sliding door not shutting properly leaving the courtesy lights on and flattening the battery... plus .. the air conditioning does not work! :lol: It has done 160k and speaking to other owners they do seem to keep on running, but they are expensive to maintain (v. thirsty)... My Sharan feels like a sports vehicle in comparison.... :D That's probably a little unfair as there a newer versions of the Previa which are likely to be better... Sometimes the grass isnt always greener... Gordon.

I do like my Sharan, its practicality is superb. and I like the drive / ride. But I must admit having broken wires in the door is rather naff for a 4 year old car. The drop links is another, this was also a common problem on my Audi 80, so I think the blame could be laid at vw's feet for this. Also loss of power issues which resulted in MAF sensor, EGR valve & turbo replacement, but it has to be said these problems are not limited to the Shalaxy but any car using VW's TDI engines. Gordon

I don't know about trusting them to do it, but I would certainly trust them to charge me for it... :( :D which is why I did it myself with VAG-COM! :D You may well be right about the relay board, I had another quick look at the diagrams there does not appear to be any other circuitry added other than a switch to turn off the fog light on the car when the trailor socket is inserted... but then again they may not be showing everything... :( My bulb failure circuit appeared to work (well the check light went out when I pressed the pedal, I didnt try simulating a blown bulb) and I so rarely use the board I'll leave it as it is... Gordon

If I remember right from the TIS wiring diagrams they show the trailor lighting connected directly to the main lighting circuit ala vr6galaxy's method. In fact this is how the dashboard indicater operates by sensing the extra load. :( Well that's how I interpreted them when I added a socket to power the light board for my bike rack. Gordon.

Woohoo... since my last post I had not had chance to short out the temperature sensor to test the heater since I cleared the faults, but this morning when I stopped at a set of taffic lights (about 3 minutes from home) and lo and behold I can see smoke at the side of the car, and a distant 'turbine' sound. :D :D Wife did not appreciate the enormity and wonderous-ness of the event, just complained about it being a bit of annoying noise... :( Anyway I checked to see if had logged any faults later and there was none; so for the moment I'm going to see how it goes before purchasing a new glow plug.... Gordon... thanks for the advice guys, I have printed Ivor's post for future reference! :)

Having owned my Sharan for a year now and seen all the posts on auxillary heaters I've always thought, this doesn't apply to me as I dont have one, confirmed (well I thought it was) when I did a module check with VAG-COM and the Aux Heater didnt reply... :o Well I've finished living in denial and realised it may well be fitted looking at posts saying that all the diesels have them.. a quick looksie under the rear passenger dooor and lo and behold there she sits.... and the main reason I didnt think I had one... its never worked. :o So VAG-COM and I went on a mission last night to talk to the aux/booster heater (sounds a bit like R2D2 talking to the Millenium Falcon's lightspeed drive.... if only :P ). It refused to talk (after several attempts) until I started the engine which seemed to kick its communication into life. Sure enough it contained five fault codes, all flame out errors. I have cleared the codes and performed the VAG-COM tests, both the pump and the fan operated, (well they made a noise at any rate...). Is there any way using VAG-COM to get it to attempt to fire up properly or do I need to short out the sensor? From the various post I would suspect the glow plug although there are no glow plug errors but I want to make sure before I buy one / strip the unit down. TIA Gordon.

The timing / control for the wipers I think will be performed by the Central Electronics Module, which is responsible for a lot of the auxillary electronics in the car (not to be confused with the engine ECU) like door locks, interior lights and it would seem the wipers. To support this further I have just had VAG-COM connected to the car looking at my auxillary heater but I also looked at the Central Electronics measurements and contained within these was indication when the wipers were operating. I would start with the spindles as you are planning, as the passenger side spindle on mine had seized up causing the wipers to stop half way. Gordon.

That sounds good, my rear seat mats are only a strip in front of the seats. For the load area I have a generic plastic boot protecter which I've cut slots out of for the rear seats to locate through. Gordon.

Genuine mats do come up on ebay occasionally, I bought a front and rear set seperately (brand new) for about

Did they change the tensioner as well? I only ask as on my previous car my local garage changed the cambelt at its due time, 15k miles later I could hear a flapping noise under the bonnet... after some investigation I discovered that the cam belt flapping, slowly disintegrating (lots of rubber bits everywhere). I took it back to the garage and they informed me that it was because the tensioner had not been changed - they received notice from Audi after the date they had done mine that it had to be changed.... hmmmm ;) G.

My Sharan mk2 has the ultrasonic sensors fitted above the seat belt guides. Has worked fine, although just after I got the car last year it kept going off at night if it was windy. I opended the pods and cleaned them. Since then it has been fine. I agree with you Seatkid, people ignore them, they are only of use to the owner, ie I would like to know if someone was interfering with it outside my house. Gordon.

GSF Car Parts sell correct Quantum oil for 24.95 + VAT and postage for 5l I bought this and took it to my local independent garage when I had the car seviced a couple of months ago. I'm sure there are cheaper places, but I thought it wasnt that bad having paid over

Having furnished myself with some security torx I was all set to wire in the cruise control to the PCM module. Removing the lower connector from the PCM I discovered it was a C52a connection, where as the TIS wiring for cruise control show connection to C52b only. :lol: Does anybody know what the differences are between PCM's with C52a and C52b connections - ie does C52a not support cruise control? Or is it possibly one of these subtle VW / Ford differences? TIA Gordon.

I used my local independent garage to service mine, with cam belt change as it had done 75k. I bought the GSF Quantum PD oil and told the garage I would supply the oil, it was reassuring when the garage guy checked I had bought the correct oil for the car. Job done, I'm now

I dont know about the parking sensors but the front bumper does come off quite easily if its any help. You will need to remove the engine tray, remove the three screws holdig the bumper underneath the car. Remove the three screws on each side from the wheel house liners. Remove 4 srews from the radiater grill. Pull the bumper forward, but before you take it off you need to remove wires for the tmperature sensors, parking sensors, headlamp washer hoses etc. The bumper then comes straight off. (It sounds a lot more involved than it actually is, I removed it to fit spotlights, but admittedly I havent got parking sensors to disconnect as well!). Gordon.

Aha I see. I've just tried my (old fat) PS2 with the inverter and it works but the powr supply inside buzzes :( Hmm, its probably not too happy with the inverters output, but it does seem to run ok... Gordon

If you buy a generic converter such as the one from Tesco's or Mapin's then you have a standard mains three pin socket, so you just use the PS2 mains lead. I think the gaming one must plug directly into the back of the playstation (I'm making an educated guess here) and slimline ones must have different mains leads connector to the older PS2's. ;) I will try my 150Watt Inverter with the PS2 this afternoon if I get chance, to see it it really does drive it OK. Gordon

Are you thinking more of a generic inverter like these from Maplins: Maplins The one on special offer for 20ukp looks good. I have small 150Watt inverter and its quite happily run laptops etc. Gordon.

I've just done a quick test of hooking up the light board to see if the car drives the lamps OK, which it did. I then reprogrammed Module 9 software code from 04097 to 04105 (added 8!!! :( ) and now the trailor warning indicator comes on as well. :D :D :D Thanks again for the info! :) Gordon.

Glad its resolved shame about the cost though. As Matt pointed out broken wires in the door of a car that isn't 5 years old isn't what you would expect. Well I wasn't impessed when it went wrong on mine even though I did repair it myself... :) Gordon.

:) Fantastic. Thanks for that. I will give it a go once I've fitted the wiring! :)

I have read a number of posts regarding wiring in towing electrics - I want to connect a light board for use with a cycle rack. It has been stated several times that the instrument cluster has to be reprogammed to enable the indictor warning lamp - my question is can this be enabled with VAG-COM? If so anybody know the codes required? I have tried a number of searches but found no info about enabling this feature other than at the dealers... :) TIA Gordon.

My 2001 sharan (75k miles) has had the offside rear door window stop working. This was down to a broken cable in the door loom (just where it entered into the door metal work), so a broken loom is not improbable. Its worth a check! :) Gordon