1969ghia

Also, if it does turn out to be a faulty turbo the answer will depend on how deep your pockets are. Obviously new is going to be better than reconditioned but will also be a lot more expensive. I have heard good things about the company you mentioned. Mine would go in to limp mode when going above 3000rpm in 3rd gear only, up an incline ( or with extra load on the engine ). Other than that it was good. As bigdave has said, do a search first. Could be a split vacuum hose, faulty MAF etc. If the car has been driven carefully, could well be the turbo vanes getting stuck. They need a good blast every now and again.....( Especially after my wife has been driving it! )

Thanks bigdave. That was the same link posted earlier. Think the battery is okay as car starts normally.

Thanks for the replies. The fues box in the engine bay looks fine, checked that earlier. Its a manual box. None of my gauges works, in some of the other posts Ive read, the fuel gauge works etc. Am I correct in thinking the earth/ground wire is brown? I might check for continuity at the two plugs at the rear of the cluster. If one is slightly high, I could splice in an extra cable.

I checked all the fuses, all seemed to be OK. As i have some lights working ( indicators, high beam and battery lamps ) I must have an earth of some description. Will check the connector tomorrow if I can find it! lol. I did come up with a fault on Vagcom though, 18058 Powertrain Data Bus : Missing Message From Instrument Cluster P1650 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent

Parked up the car yesterday, no problems. Go to drive off this morning and realise the instrument cluster isnt working. No guages, lcd, illumination etc. Turn indicators work as does the high beam warning light as well as the battery symbol. Also noticed with lights on and door open, instead of the usual sound its just a very faint hum. Disconnected the battery and stripped it down. No obvious damage to the cluster. Reconnected everything loosely and it starts as normal but cluster still dead. Will try Vagcom to see if any codes are present, if not, would a 2nd hand unit from Ebay be worth looking at or is it likely to be something more involved and expensive than a simple swap out? Any help appreciated. Wife is working evenings and would like to at least see the fuel gauge. She drives very cautiously so speedo not an issue for now but obviously need to get it sorted. Thanks in advance.

Cheers for that Chris, will check it out as soon as I get a mo. Will let you know my findings.

OK, looks like we have some progress. Didnt have the squelch sound from the in tank pump and was a pain to start! So, how do I access the pump and its connection and is there an output test I can perfom using VagCom so that I can check the wiring and supply? I assume it is only energised on intial start up and after that the engine pulls the fuel through or does it run all the time? TIA.

Well its not the relay so am guessing at fuel in the lines. Will try the T piece on top of the air filter first, then its on to more expensive stuff. Will also verify that the fuel pump in the tank is operating every time. Poor start video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOq97JSWhwI

Sweet, thanks for the info!

Chris, thanks for the link. All my tests came out good. The only issue I had was with checking the timing. I opened VagCom and went in to engine then measuring block 4 but I couldnt find actual timing, specified timing and advance solenoid %, I had something to do with the injectors but not what I was expecting. Did I go in to wrong section?

Cant really help but congrats on the litte un! Air bubbles in the line up to the pump is normal I think....I always used to see them in my old Sharan.

Sometimes, the car will start on the first turn of the key, almost instantaneously but if it doesnt catch first time, it can be a right royal PITA to start. Any ideas where to start trouble shooting this? I was going to check how long the plugs were energised for on a cold start and go from there. I assume there is a glow plug relay somewhere and also temp sensors that would control the time. I wondered about disconnecting the temp sensors to give a false 'cold' reading to see if that helped. I realise as its a PD engine, the plugs shouldnt really be an issue in this weather. Normally on a warm engine it would start first flick of the key but yesterday it took an age...thats why I started to wonder about the temp sensors. Also, have noticed the LED in the door seems to act differently when we have these problems. Is it possible the immobiliser is coming in to play? Have replaced all the glow plugs and the battery. Engine turns over but just doesnt want to fire.

Not wishing to hi-jack the thread but if my tyres ( 195/65 R15 ) are marked as having a load rating of 95, does this mean they are reinforced? If not, are my 95 rated tyres ok for my 99 1.9tdi Sharan? or do I need to specifically ask for reinfirced at next tyre change?