JohnR

Its very likely to be the drop links. Its supposed to be an easy swap as they are not under tension. Try getting someone to rock the Gal violently left to right while you are holding the link. See if you can feel anything. You can get them from quite a few people on ebay for about 20 quid. John

I THINK I remember reading somewhere that they were qualified to run on BioDiesel (but in winter it needs diluting with 10-15% of ordinary diesel as it solidifies). I think cooking oil is probably out without some serious mods! Try a web search. If you find anything out then report back! John

dunno about a serch but the first item on the faq is the one doing aux heater And of course a Vag-com system to reset the fault codes and get it going afterwards. John only needed for certain fault codes though If its a mk2, then if the problem is reported as glowplug o/c, and you have the full complement (5 attempts) then you'll have to clear them to make it go. Not got experience of others. For anyone without Vag-com, I THINK they can be cleared with an ECU reset though (power down) can't they?

dunno about a serch but the first item on the faq is the one doing aux heater OK. From memory, you need:- T20 and T25 Torx bits 10mm and 7mm socket and extension 12mm socket or ring spanner small adjustable or 5mm (or is it 5.5mm) for connection to glowplug. wire brush to remove dirt before opening 6mm flat blade screwdriver (for jubilee clip) Also, If I was doing it again I would have a pair of toolmakers clamps to clamp off the water pipes and do the job on the bench. Other than that, WD40, a ramp and a piece of carpet to lie on. And of course a Vag-com system to reset the fault codes and get it going afterwards. John

There is a temperature sensor in the heater - all my diagrams are at home though :( - will post a pic tonight if nobody else has :) Ahhh....bliss....nicely toasted tootsies! I can only think that the temp sensor - signal high message is not really a fault code, but indicative of normal operation?? Or perhaps just a spurious phantom error. In any case, I just had to go home (10 miles) to let in a cooker engineer, and the Gal was up to 90 degrees in about 2 minutes flat! Great job, John

OK, I got a new glowplug after getting glowplug o/c errors and no heat. I swapped it out under the car last night with the aid of a lead light (which was just a bit too short so couldn't quite see what I was doing!). Anyway, I got the thing back together again. Just came in to work, plugged the laptop into it, cleared the fault codes and.....wehey....a whistling noise and the exhaust gets hot!!! I haven't taken it out for a spin yet, but I just plugged the laptop back in and checked the fault codes again. No o/c errors now, but I get a temperature sensor - signal too high???? Does this mean a duff temp probe in the heater? If so, where abouts is it (didn't see one) and is it then a dump coolant and on the bench job??? I suppose it could just be a duff connection....that particular fault was not there before. Any thoughts? Thanks, John

A couple of things I've found. Number one, if you've followed the instructions in my earlier post about connection problems, on my Acer laptop you have to use the same usb socket or it won't connect. Number two, make sure your laptop is not trying to do anything else at the same time. Mine was giving lots of comms drop-outs until I realised that I still had the wireless lan enabled, and Norton anti-virus was in the process of updating! John

Gonna have to plug mine in tomorrow. I just spent the last hour and a half lying on my back under the car changing the glow plug in the heater! The cable on my lead lamp was just about 2ft too short so couldnt quite see what I was doing! Wouldnt advise anyone else to do it in the dark. Fortunately, none of the screws had corroded in and I managed to get them all out no probs. Hopefully, when I get my laptop plugged into it (which I left at work!) it oughta fire up like a good un once I've cleared the glowplug o/c faults!....fingers crossed..... John

Planning to drop the booster heater off this w/e. I've read the post about swapping the glowplug under the car, but would rather do the job on the bench and give it a good clean up at the same time. If I drop the unit down, hanging on the cooling pipes then are the pipes soft enough to clamp off with 2 pairs of mole grips?? If not, then if the back of the Gal is on ramps can I disconnect quickly and plug the pipes? Is a 15mm copper stop end the right size? Anyone know? Seems a shame to dump the entire coolant system as per the TIS. John

Do a search on the ross-tech site for "after market radio problem" I think the term "dumb" is misleading. It isn't just a connector, has a pcb & chip.

OK, I knew my booster needed a new plug, but I figured I would wait for some cold weather to see how essential it was. Basically, from a 2 degree ambient outside temperature (and 2.7 degree in the cabin), I drove my normal route to work with the temperature control wound up to max and the fans on full. The journey is a mix of dual carriageway and cross-town. After almost 35 minutes, the cabin temperature had risen to an almost comfortable 16 degrees. However, having the heating and fans on full prevented the engine coming up to temperature. After the 35 minutes (nearly 12 miles) the engine seemed to have stabilised at about 75 degrees. Normally they run at 90 degrees. Personally, I like to pop my stat at least every few days to keep the fluids circulating (filthy minds you lot!) Its pretty clear that in a normal UK winter you could go days or weeks without proper coolant circulation. So, even if you can stand the cold tootsies, my strong recommendation is that you look after your engine and sort your heater out. I've just ordered a plug for mine from Martin (naughty, naughty....price just went up 2 quid!!). John

OK. I just got one of these from this guy:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KKL-409-1-VAG-COM-VW...1QQcmdZViewItem It took about 6 days to arrive directly from Hong Kong. Its opto-isolated, and protected from the "after market radio" problem. It comes with a driver CD which also includes vag-com 409.1 on it, and also a PDF manual. I found it to work just fine, but read my other recent post on "Vag com connection problems" for extra help. I got the free Vag-com version to work first, and then paid $99 to register it and get the full functionality. HTH John

weird....check for something rubbing on a front tyre???

Morning Jackthehat....sorry....yawn....takes a while to get going sometimes. OK. I have the same box as you, and mine has done 95K and is still pretty smooth. The only noise I notice is a snag going into first if you are too hasty. That I think is normal (not allowing enough time for the synchro to match). I checked in the TIS, and whilst not giving instructions for checking the level it does give the capacity as 2.5 litres. Have you checked the leak to see if it feels oily, or could it be clutch fluid?? If you think it is oil, then I'd get the engine warm, and then drain off the gearbox and measure what you get. Then you can refill with a full 2.5 litre charge. If you find that you get almost a full charge when you drain it, I would be inclined to add a dose of molyslip. I've found it to work wonders on other boxes in the past. John

The words HALFORDS and GOOD in one sentence hhhhhmmmmm :D According to the local car radio shop (who have a good reputation) One of the problems is that on earlier Gals Ford undersized the panel hole so the clips are an oimpossibly tight fit. If you happen to get one of these, their advice is to get an old 12" ruler and sharpen the end of it. You then use it as a chisel to shear them through! Didn't need to go that far on mine. Oh, yes, and I used less brute force than Frauds who bust the black brackets off when they changed the drivers window mechanism before I got it! See the post as to how I fixed it! :( John (think I'll add a proper removal tool to my collection for next time though!)

Glad it was useful to someone :lol:. This is a great place to share tricks! How was the vag-com scan?? John

According to the TIS, after may 2002 it is N289 which is where I said! Thanks, will check it tomorrow.

Cheers gooner. Will check em out when I've got some dosh to do it! John John...Lap-tab in Brum.....do a same day service for around 300...if you can drop and leave for a day or so they start at about 125 (for the full set) or just go and get some 18's..... ;) That sounds better. I might try to get a couple more from the breakers or on ebay and turn them around 2 x 2. Not yet though....busy fixing other things at the mo.....booster heater....air con etc!

OK. After I ran Vag-com for the first time the other day, there were 2 "glowplug open circuit" errors from the booster heater. I cleared the faults. This morning, I forced the thermo-switch with a freezer spray (after eventually finding where it was from the TIS!! no...its not anywhere near the wipers on a MK2, its down next to the passenger-side front fog lamp!). Its not easy to get at to disconnect and short out with a fuse as on other models. However, it is dead easy to force it with a can of freezer spray through the hole in the bumper. A quick squirt and you should see the temperatures on your instrument panel and climatron diving. Mine quickly went down to -25.5 degrees, which I reckoned ought to fool it!! I then fired up the engine and listened by the booster. Absolutely nothing at all, no noises, white smoke or anything. I went back into Vag-com and had 5 of the "glowplug open circuit" errors. Now the question is, is this the expected behaviour, or should I have expected to hear the pump going or something while it was trying? If its just the plug then I'll fix it. If its something else (mores dosh!) I won't bother. Oh and BTW, I called into the local VW dealers.....they wanted 51.73 for the plug as well but did not have one and could not tell me whether or not it had a trailing lead! I'm still watching the other thread to see if Gooner can get the new P/N....and then if Martin can buy a bucketload and flog em cheap on ebay! John

Hmmm....yes. It MIGHT be worth indexing this more appropriately in the faq's? I didn't search for "door card" I searched for speakers!! Cheers, John

OK. Only had this Gal for 2 weeks, but couldn't stand the diabolical sound quality anymore. As I have already swapped out the mal-functioning 5000rds unit for a Panasonic mp3 head that I had in the garage, which was only worth abot 80 quid, I did not want to spend too much money on new speakers. As I never travel in the back I opted to just swap the front ones. The speaker size fitted is 16.5cms (6.5 inches). There are lots to choose from if you go on ebay and search for "16.5 cm speakers". In the ebay shops they start from about 20 quid per pair + delivery. I acted on impulse and bought a pair of pioneers in a local car radio shop for 39.99 instead. Before doing the job, arm yourself with at least 1/2 a dozen new yellow door trim clips from Fords (about 30p each). You are guaranteed to break a few. Best to choose a warm day to do the job, as otherwise you will find that some of the plastic breaks easily (both the yellow clips and the black moulded brackets that they fit to). The trim panels are removed by first prising out the handle insert (the bit you pull on when closing the door). This is best done with a 6" steel ruler so you dont damage the handle surround. Now you can prise out the handle surround, and unplug the switches. On the drivers door, you will now be able to see the 3 M6 bolts. You will need a 10mm hex socket for these. On the passenger door, there are only 2. Having removed these, the panels are now only held on the yellow clips, being hooked over the lip at the top adjacent to the window glass. Starting at the bottom corner, prise the trim away (I used a 12" steel ruler). You need to get the ruller right in to the yellow plastic clip if you can. There is a proper Ford tool for this, and if you wanted to you could improvise one by grinding an open ended slot into the end of your 12" ruler. However, I just used brute force. The passenger side panel came away without too much trouble, just leaving 3 of the plastic clips in the door, which I removed with pliers (breaking them in the process). The drivers side had already been removed before by Frauds as the window winder was reported in the history as being changed. Unsurprisingly, 2 of the plastic brackets at the bottom had been broken away from the trim panel. Fortunately, this was only at the interface where they were held by a melt-rivet technique. I found that I had some M5 x 12 self taps in the garage, and with a 4mm drill to clean out the holes the brackets went back on as good as new. When the panel finally comes free, you have several wires to disconnect (quite easy) and also the cable that connects to the door handle. This is a simple clip and the bowden cable is simple to put back. Now take out the 4 screws in the speakers, and fit the replacements. You may need an adaptor cable (this sometimes comes with the speakers, it did with the pioneers) or you can solder and splice if you are so inclined. Before clicking the panels back into place, make sure you have plugged everything back in that you removed, and tested the new speakers. Last job is to take the ridiculously poxy Ford speakers and chuck them in a skip. I did not even have the nerve to put them up on ebay even though they were in A1 condition. They are about the worst "factory fitted"s I have ever heard! Finally, sit back and enjoy your favourite tracks. What an amazing difference!! :D Cheers, John

NO!! she's saving you till later , we're gonna keep bumpin it up till she has the time :lol: :) :P bump :D