Sparkyalan

Ha ha...just noticed this thread...I had to deal with that bugger ( no 8 i think) when fixing my fuel injector last year. The most stupid piece of engine design I have ever seen. As I recall, I had to use a small 10mm socket with a variety of mini extension bars and small spanner. Getting the socket to sit on the bolt head using the tips of two fingers, and dropping it 270 times in the process nearly brought on a coronary and I invented 67 new swear words.

Have you checked your battery is fully charged Mustard? I say this as short journeys or lengthy idle periods, particularly in this finking weather, really bugger up the holding charge of the battery. Get it out and test/ fully charge it, particularly when your fault occurs, and see if it cures fault with fully charged battery. If this doesn't help, try and locate your earthing points in the bay and check for corrosion/ loose wires etc. Trouble is....there are loads and if you don't know which one your circuit uses means checking them all. Try spraying these with propriety contact cleaner...not WD40 which can cause more problems.

Ahhh...what a brilliant find. Many thanks BigDog. Now all I need is a bit of weather improvement and ill have a crack at that. Cheers buddy.

Thanks viper...I'll have a look at that. I suspect this car has been a Lithuanian rebuild. Wiring all over the place, no bulkhead scuttle tray etc . I suspect that car was in a smash at some stage although no record of a write off. I just doubt they would have gone for a screen with an element when a standard screen is cheaper. Will look tho.

Hi Chris...yep, it does state problem with motor flap and I assume this to mean the distribution flap for the air. Do you know if this particular motor is fused as these things usually are. I just don't want to spend a day taking the Dash out as according to Haynes, it's the only way to get to the motor.

Thanks for the responses guys. Firstly, I believe the screen is a replacement and is not wired up. Secondly, the blower is working fine, pumps out loads of hot air in foot well and dashboard vents, but no matter what button I press, It will not pump up through the vents for the screen. I expect some misting in winter but it is seriously undriveable at times. In older cars, you would use a mechanical lever to send the warm air in the direction you wanted or set for half and half. It would operate a flap that would divert the air down the appropriate pipe to the required vents. I presume this is the same but done electronically. I was kinda hoping someone would say " oh yeah...I had this, it was fuse 23 or a cross wire behind the stereo etc rather than rip everything out but I guess this is what will have to be done. According to Haynes, pretty much all the dash has to come out with 2 pages of instructions! Thanks though guys.

Hi guys Finally getting around to my HVAC probs having spent the winter peering through water dripping down the interior of my windscreen. I have noticed several posts about demist probs but none related to this. My Mk2 1.9 TDI ghia windscreen should have a heating element...it doesn't. I should have a car manual about the blower switches and controls?..I haven't. My air con doesn't work (and a quote to replace one pipe at over £200) means it isn't going to be working anytime soon. Now, the heater works, as after 15 minutes, I get lovely warm air blowing out of the front foot wells or the vents in the dash, but no matter what buttons I press, nothing comes out of the windscreen vents. A tissue paper placed there barely moves whatever setting I put it on. Now I believe that there should be a mechanism / flap/ deflector that sends that nice warm air up to the windscreen ...presumably a motor driven flap distribution circuit. Does anyone have any experience of this? At this stage, I do to want to dismantle the entire dashboard to get at the motors. Is there a fuse anyone knows of? I do need new cabin/ pollen filter, but as the blower works ok, it's the direction of the warm air that I have a problem with. Any advice will be very helpful

Hi Eddie....If I did see one, I wouldn't be able to find it again! The big problem is that sometimes there is too much crap to wade through on the Internet. I would not like to guess how many hours I spent trawling through everything that was out there but you just have to keep trying. As the mark 2 was shared by VW and Seat, search through those forums as well which was where I found the jatco 5 reference manual. It appears to have been posted by a VW trainee mechanic, but that was his only reference article. It is worth remembering that although cars these days are filled with all kinds of various bits and pieces, at their heart, they are just the same cars as fifty years ago. It's all the peripheral crap linked to each other that is almost impossible to diagnose correctly ( especially if a previous owner of east European origin has buggered about with it). In the end, I did very little with the gearbox itself other than use contact cleaner on the all original brake pedal switch and the wiring loom plug that sits atop the transmission. My reader still informs me I have a sporadic earth fault within the valve box of the transmission, but I have had no more probs since December so im not that fussed. You haven't mentioned what our problem is...post something and I will keep an eye open on the forum to reply. Thanks for the positive comments by the way, much appreciated.

Me again...just trawling and note this topic is hot...clearly a lot of lumpy diesels going on out there. Since my last post, the intermittent lumpy gearbox resurfaced three times, all in the same week. All rectified by turning engine off and on again. Happy to live with this as car has done 2k since being written off by one auto trans specialist and two mechanics - terrible misting probs on screen though so trying to tackle that but had lengthy delay as I had fix wife's Pug, that lost its cambelt! Had to do that over the very cold weekend in December...not nice! About to post on forum for my heating probs so see ya there.....

Update....no sign of the gearbox problem over last 4 weeks and 600 miles...the auto box has cured itself. It's a miracle. Now I will tackle the multitude of other niggley little probs that I didn't bother with as I was going to scrap car. Next up...heating and ventilation....terrific !

And now an update.... 500 miles on and gearbox is fine. There is still an intermittent ground problem to the valves but this never occurs during driving. It is either there when you turn on or not. When there, gearbox is shunting in to gear. When not there, perfect drive. Clearly a wire problem but this car has been bastardised so much....it's difficult to know where to begin. Not a problem though...if its there on start up, I switch off....switch on again and it's gone. More often than not, it works fine every time. I also replaced the gear selector box. This was a laugh a minute...not happy with the one in the car anyway as it had trouble recognising drive from neutral. I went searching for the elusive switch on the lever that is often mentioned on forums...but there isn't one! During my search, I broke the knob clean off and drove for several days with just the lever and a well placed paper clip to hold the inner rod up. Purchased a replacement on fleabayfor 50 notes then went to fit it. What a bugger. Logic would suggest that the four mounting bolts would just screw in to the chassis. No such luck....I had to raise the car one side and spend two hours underneath. The bolts go straight through and the nuts applied from underneath. However, they are hidden from plain sight by two layers of under shield tha have twelve rusted bolts holding them in place. On top of the shields is the exhaust, that doesn't move. A lot of manipulation and shield bending gave me the chance of doing it blind with small ratchet behind the nearer shield that I bent to get my arms through. With a face full of crap from the underside of the car, it was done. Really glad I did it by the way, the replacement is solid and works beautifully...the original was filled with fag ash and stank. If anyone needs more specific detail of this procedure, I will check back soon and give a response. The procedure is not in any manual or download I could find. And. Final note....it appears as though a large number of Mk11 auto gals are out there being scrapped, no end of decent spares. I think a lot of these are being trashed for no reason when a simple electrical fault may be the cause of all the problems. When my gearbox plays up, it's easy to believe that it requires replacement at 2K a pop. It doesn't, it's probably as good as it was at manufacture. What I have learned the last few months, is that with a bit of patience and not jumping to conclusions ( or so called expert opinion) you could save a fortune if you always look for electrical fault first. And never, ever buy a Gal from a Lithuanian...they can't help themselves but tinker with the car and they all smoke.

If anyone is interested...I got it going again...battery just a little flat and the starter contacts were a bit dull so cleaned it all up, bit of contact cleaner in the multi plug...no probs for 300 miles.

Hi...me again. Had recent thread re auto box prob followed by injector. All fixed or so I thought. Parked up last night. Went to put car on drive...won't start. I cn hear clicking from relay somewhere but starter not turning. Battery fine. Took brake switch out...wd40.. Back in...no change. Noticed when turning key full stroke all the gear indicators light up in display and red led in door flashes. Key is ok. Followed various posts and decided to look in centre console for inhibitor...not there. Checked Haynes and it suggested a relay in engine compartment...not there. I need to start car to get it on to drive as at present on a hill and will not risk car raise. Can I sling a wire from battery to starter to bypass any inhibitor prob and if so...where is starter? Hope someone has an idea.

Yep...the Galaxy has electronic control boxes that store fault codes. With the right kind of scanner/ reader, it will read those codes and give you a starting point for sorting the problem. There are a multitude of scanners out there that are designed for VAG systems ...I recently got a V-Gate 405 which is very handy...about 30 - 40 quid but cable comes with it. You plug it in to a multi port socket at the bottom of the trim below the steering wheel. This will check the fault codes for both the engine and auto box .

Car appears fine...drove for 90 mins covering hills and heavy traffic. Up to 70 mph... No problem, in fact the revs are nice and low so I suspect better performance may also have been achieved. It appears to me that the transmission fault was caused by the brake switch, possibly in combination with a misfire from injector 4. It is worth noting that the transmission fault appeared very much a mechanical problem but never went in to limp mode which enhanced that idea. This very nearly turned out to be a costly repair that wasn't required. I recommend absolute thorough research, on all Internet forums regarding TDI, particularly VAG sites. Get a decent scanner... I got a V- gate 450 for thirty odd quid and it is invaluable. Just lent it to a mate with an Audi who has identified his airbag failure fault, fixed it in two mins and cleared the fault...he can now put it in for MOT. Not as thorough as VAGCOM but can easily be carried in the car at all times. I made the mistake of leaving the injector in situ...first time round, to save the expense and hassle of removing it. That was a mistake. Any time you suspect the injector may have moved even slightly, get it out unless you know the seals are fresh. The o rings on mine were like ancient elastic bands. The injector turning just 5 mm in its seat tore them all. The short trip I took and subsequent ten attempts to turn engine over pumped 4 litres of diesel in to the head. I know this because I drained the sump and got 8.3 l of corrupted engine oil out ( capacity is only 4.3l). Invest in a Pela pump...again only thirty quid, but dead easy to use and no new sump plug, raise car etc. tube goes down dipstick tube and vacuum sucks up the oil from the depths. Only use the supplied VW stretch bolts and get them from VAG dealer rather than frauds to save on mark up. I hope this thread helps someone else in the future ....as stated, 4 weeks ago this car was a write off...and now it's back on the road at minimal cost. Any questions, please post on this thread and I will try and get back to you.

Hurrah and hussar....all back together ( took opportunity to adjust all 4 unit injectors) and turned over on third attempt. Taking for test drive this pm but so far sounds very good. I think what happened here was initial loss of clamping block bolt caused a misfire with injector 4 but at same time, brake switch was also faulty. This in combination resulted in wrong torque codes to the auto box which resulted in what looked like mechanical failure. For anyone interested, 4 weeks ago this ten year old, 90 k beast was pretty much a write off requiring by experts, £2 k worth of work. Yes I bought a VAG reader, new oil, new oil filter and in total a day of my life...but the new bolts, injector test and 0 rings came to about £100. I will add final update once car has done 40 miles and will put a few notes in to explain what I did.

Final update...took cam cover off again...head of bolt for fixing unit injector snapped off. Unit injector just lifted out, all 3 seals broken. Seems I have been pumping diesel all over every time I turned engine over. Had the injector tested and refitted with new o rings. Took out stud using age old method of two 6 mm nuts. Will now drain sump, new oil, put injector in and hopefully restart...without trans problems!

Totally stuck now- re charged battery over night...starter still turning over but not firing. Not sure where to go on this. I'm guessing electrical but no idea where to start. Heeeeeelp.

I agree but same garage said the same thing to another member on this site and it cost him £ 1800 !

And now an update...car ran fine, tiniest hint of misfire on 4... Decided to take cam cover off and have a look last Tuesday ( stupid position of screw 8 of cover...impossible to get at) and my jaw dropped. All injectors in situ but the bolt for the clamping block for injector 4 missing and the clamping block itself was wedged between the cylinder head flange and the injector spring. Required large screwdriver and bit of force to release it. At first I thought it had sheared off but although filled with oil, the hole was empty. No sign of the bolt in the cylinder head ( every nook and cranny checked with magnets and fingers) so assume it went down in to sump. Looked like straightforward new bolt in to block, lock down and job done. New bolt obtained from VW but..new bolt dropped straight in to threaded bore seat. The pervious bolt had jiggled about before committing hare Kari ...enlarging the bore. I got lucky that the previous bolt hadn't sheared and that the block hadn't got free and fouled the camshaft but now left with no option but to helicoil the bore situated in 2cm area. Managed it, new bolt in ...everything back in place and test drive. Perfect, nice acceleration, gearbox totally smooth...3 miles in and engine temp just getting to 90 and....gearbox problem returns..mile later engine loses power, stalls and will not restart. Got my mate to tow me home. Ok...the questions are...is the gearbox mechanically or electrically faulty and is its failure linked to the engine failure? If so, anyone know if any one of the sensors could cause such failure in both. Any help guys would be appreciated. Ps ...I've taken battery out to charge as this may be associated, and I noticed a large group of cables behind all with serious coolant contamination from the past. Anyone know what all the looms are for? Thanks for reading.

I'm at a loss now...trans specialist told me it was a cracked piston from hearing my description of symptoms.He then rang to say before taking out gearbox, he noticed misfire in cylinder 4. He got it looked at...told me on phone that fuel injector broken off and missing bolt presumably in engine and infix able ...I told him I would come and collect car for knackers yard. Then had message left from mechanic...how much did I want for the car...stated I was at work and couldnt talk now but would still collect car. Got there late, key under wheel arch. Drove it away, seven miles home...absolutely perfect. No mis fire and the gearbox is working absolutely perfectly. IMO, mechanical fractures, breaks etc do not rectify themselves. Anyone have any opinions?

For anyone following this post, I have done some scouting and the major problem seems to be the variation in the types of failure to the transmission. I have found an interesting link that seems to be a VAG training book regarding the Jatco AG5 ( which I believe is the gearbox on my Mk2 TDI ) which is available to download. It lists failings in the ECM and other mechanical failings and how this is represented by the gearbox. It may be useful for someone so I'll put the link here and allow the experts to decide if it is of any use. I am taking my car to an auto trans garage for a diagnostic in the hope it is a reasonably inexpensive fix but I do not hold out much hope. If it is a removal and refurb/ recon job, I'm afraid it's the knackers yard for the old bus. It could be fluid loss but that may still signify expensive repair. I will post findings for anyone interested.http://www.volkspage.net/technik/ssp/ssp/SSP_232.pdf

This is the most delightful thread on any site I have seen lately. If only other people acted in the same manner as AMac, the world would be a better place. Hats off to you squire.

Hi peeps...hope you can help. I have a 2002 1.9 TDI that had a new pump and cam belt two weeks ago. We've just returned from driving the car on holiday and have clocked up 500 miles with no problem. Stopped on M3 for a break and returned to find the bulb warning light on on dash that turned off after putting in drive ( brake switch)?... Anyhows, driving along..twenty miles later and car a bit gutless. High revs showed not changing from 4 th to 5 th. tried escalating through the gears but still no change up to 5 th. limped home at 50 in drive but every gear change was a jolt. Tremors felt through vehicle and reverse is gutless unless hard down on gas. Anybody have experience of this...could it be an electric prob or am I looking at expensive box re- build. Any ideas would be a help as I know stuff all about automatics. Cheers