bpenman

Thanks Brian. I found a post where someone mentioned fuse 27. Mine had a 25 amp fuse in it rather than the 5 amp I was expecting. Have pulled it anyway and can now lock all doors manually, but haven't driven the car yet (I use it as a camper) so not sure if something else might not be working. Will have a look at 32 and the other forum too. Cheers Bruce.

Hi I've got the crazy Central locking issue on mk. II Sharan where it works, or not, on random doors. Will do the door wires check but driving in Spain at the moment and just need to be able to lock all doors manually. I've pulled fuse 19 but the central locking still operates. Can't see any other mention of central locking in manual, fuse box cover etc. Any ideas on how to switch central locking off without leaving battery disconnected?

OK I think I see what you're getting at. But the booster heater (the one under the car with the glow plug problems lots have posted about) has never worked since I got the car five years ago. I wasn't even aware of it until I started coming on here to be honest. I've done 100,000 miles on it and apart from the age to warm up the cab heating in the winter it hasn't been a problem, although I note your point about increased engine wear. I've got no plans to fix that issue at the moment though, a bit technical for me I think and no way am I paying the local Ford dealership to do it. I've had a look in the engine bay and convinced myself it would be much easier just linking the rubber coolant pipes at the rear heater end with a bit of metal tubing or similar, I think that would largely avoid your coolant capacity problem since it would only be the capacity of the heater itself that I'd loose. It would also be an easy job to put it back together if needed. Everything I've done on the campervan conversion up to now has been non-permanent and easily reversible so it would fit that approach.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. To answer the last point first, space for a proper fridge and an extra 8 inches width for my bed which is barely a double at the moment. The car is now more often in campervan mode and I plan to take it to Spain for the winter, which might take care of point one but give more emphasis to point two. Except that I don't understand either point. 1. Are you saying that taking the rear heater out of the coolant loop will affect the front heater as well? Or is it something to do with the electrics? Why will I not be able to use the front heater as normal in all its positions including front cab heating? 2. Is putting the heating on in the cabin is an effective way of cooling the engine in hot weather? Can't the cooling system be relied on to do that on its own? And what about the occupants?

Hi all I've got a mark 2 Sharan 1.9 tdi that I'm using some of the time as a campervan. I've gradually made some "improvements" as you do, and I've been looking at the nsr trim panel for ages wondering what's behind it and whether there's any useable space, always an issue with campervanning. Got round to removing it yesterday to find the whole space taken up by the rear heater unit. Or at least I assume it's just a heater despite a label on it saying air conditioning unit. I can only see a couple of 1 inch rubber pipes going in and two electrical connectors, and I'm assuming the pipes are for hot coolant from the engine. I've done a bit of searching on here and it seems like that's one of the possible arrangements. Anyway it's a big lump and I could find a hundred and one uses for the space. It looks like a straightforward job to remove it and link up the pipes to maintain coolant circulation, either at the heater end or in the engine bay which is probably the better idea, I'm assuming I could take one pipe off, cut the other one a foot or so long and join it back to the open manifold or whatever (haven't actually checked this bit yet.) Then top up the fluid. So the question is will I be giving myself headaches that I can't forsee with this plan? As with most things in the car my experience is that things are always more complicated than they look, so any thoughts from those in the know would be much appreciated. Cheers Bruce.