RobD

The new temperature sensor arrived, so got a new fuel filter (big illegitimate git and a sod to change), new oil and filter. Did the lot tonight on the road outside as my drive is not level, (lucky because I had to do the screwdriver through the oil filter trick to get the SOB off and spilled a bit of oil on the road). The oil sucker down the dipstick thingy was brill. With my back, getting down on the floor to take off the engine guard and then keeping crap out of your eyes while undoing the sump plug was a complete no no, I would rather pay. But this thing is great. I had 5 litres of 15/40 going old in the garage from when I used to run Citroen diesels, so I used this as flushing oil with the old filter still on. Sucked this out, filter change and filled up with local factor 10/40 fully (?) synthetic at

Well, Disconnected the air temperature sensor Yesterday, drove to work last night and back this morning (about 11 miles each way), and the engine is a lot smoother with less smoke than before, so it looks like I'll be buying a new temp sensor. Hopefully, when the ECU is getting good data from it instead of the default it is using now, the smoke level may get even better, mpg is still low at 35, hope this will get back to normal with the change too. Thanks MM and tiny, your help is much appreciated, by the way, the sucking out of the dip stick tube thingy arrived yesterday, looks like an oil & filter change, fuel filter and temp sender change this weekend Rob PS as tiny pointed out, Cumbrians are known as marra's (= mate), nothing to do with the vegetable marrow, however, I once saw the following graffiti on the bog wall at work obviously written by a non native of our fair county - "'Till I came to Cumbria, I thought that a marra was a vegetable, now I'm F****** sure it is" what can you say?.

What no expert opinions?, I Can't believe that - somebody must have some experience to share on this subject ! Update - Gal now has a new full tank of Derv, (

Thanks Bigjeeze & Bigdaddy I have already changed the Air filter (when I didn't believe it was the MAFF), but the fuel filter was the area I was going to look at next, Also, she is due an oil change and service (100K). Yesterday I did a trip from home (West Cumbria) to Blackpool and back, about 250 miles most of which is motorway and most of the rest dual cabbage way, so I thought this would have done the trick. Funny thing is, she does not use oil, and from this forum, I know this is unusual. Maybe she will once the carbon is burned off eh? Thanks again guys

Hi Everyone, First of all thanks for making this forum the best source of info for the Shalaxy beast anywhere, also for providing a great deal of entertainment, anyway, to get to the point .... I had some problems with sluggish performance on my 2000 Mk1 1.9TDI 90BHP (Bosch not PD) Ghia X. having read the forum and posted a couple of times, I was convinced that the MAF was not the problem. When I unhooked it, the performance was worse. However, after cleaning the sensor in white spirit, as one post suggested, I got (what I thought then was) a good increase in performance for a few weeks before it returned to what it used to be. I thought "what the hell" I'll try a new one - got an OEM one (Original Part No. 0 280 217 121) from the 'portland group' on Ebay for

Look at Ivor's excellent Pics from the "big" post from May 2005. Apparently the job requires a pink sheet to lie on. Not sure if it is essential, but his pics are so good, I'm convinced it's worth a try!. Anyway I'm sure I have a pink duvet cover we were given as an engagement prezzy 30 odd years ago that I could use, anything to make the job easier. Rob

Hi Guys, (and Dolls, at least Martina), I took note of MMs comments about the auxillary or booster heater and read a good number of member posts about this, including the record (not vinyl) breaking post with over 190 replies and 9600 + views. I now realise how naive I was to believe that the slow heat up problem could be something as simple as a stuck open thermostat. I have had a look under the Gal, and Yes my bus has a booster heater under the NSR door, Yes it does not work and never has from being bought last August, and Yes, I am going to have to sort it. I am not sure that it is an absolute neccessity to have, apart from the added engine wear before warm up. and never being warm by the time I get to work, But like many others posting here, I will not let something as trivial as a reason stand in my way of showing the inept manufacturers just who they are are dealing with. I am not your run of the mill Dickhead, I am a Super Dickhead, after all, I bought it in the first place! What a Sh??e design?, why not use some of the sources of waste heat available around the exhaust system e.g at the manifold? they could even make the engine compartment more cramped than it already is, further excluding the none "trained/franchised" mechanics from having a go. Right - Soap box away now Thanks for the help, I appreciate it very much, I am now going to try to find the service kit, get a glow plug, get VAG-COM (and a Lap-Top or a fcuking long lead from my PC) to reset the fault code (or may just D/C the battery overnight), increase my stock of WD40, make sure I have a T20 and T25 Torx bit, charge up my digital camera, and get a pink sheet to lie on Have I forgotten anything? Cheers and thanks again Rob

Thanks MM, I've seen a few threads about the Auxilliary Heater, I'll follow these and let you know. Currently, I don't get any noise from the rear until the engine is warm, then the rear blower fires up (I thought this was normal). It can be a bit of a pain when the roller blind is fitted, the boot is full of fresh chilled stuff from the supermarket and you forget to turn the rear fan off. As mentioned in many posts, it would be nice to be able to select a lower rear temperature on the climate control. Thanks again Rob

Hi, Been a member for a few months now and read lots of postings with great interest, especially the ongoing MAF Saga. Love the site. This is my first post, and all I am really looking for is confirmation of what I suspect to be a small problem. I have a 2000(V) Tdi90 bosch Galaxy Ghia X, (the last ones before the facelift). It is a high mileage (92K when bought, now 96K) bus, with mixed service history. I've had the cam belt (and tensioner etc. thanks to advice from this site) changed, and the front suspension drop links replaced (again due to problems experienced and comments on this site - Sweet !!! -