bofus

Thanks to all for the advice and recommendation to use motomax in Poland The shaft was delivered in 3 working days, fitted exactly as expected and has made the car so much nicer to drive. No more clonking, no more clunky gear changes and a much smoother drive take up.....and no worries when i tow the caravan :-)

If it is just the outer sleeve rusted away...don't worry!!! They only need replacing if they have leaked oil or blown seals. If the back end is bouncy and or the car has done 100k plus miles, then any oem or branded dampers that are available from someone such as Europarts or GSF will suffice.

How do you get this to work with a VW/seat radio?

How do I get my mirrors to fold in when the central locking is activated....the switch on the drivers door is a bind.....is it a recode or additional wiring/relay?

Check the brake pedal and cluch pedal sensors

From practical experience ... 1500kg mtplm caravan( max technical permissible weight) is towable behind a healthy 115ps shalaxy, whilst a 1000kg caravan will barely cause te car to breakout in a sweat..... As for towbars and wiring... I have used the vw approved westfalia bars, both acquired on the cheap as surplus dealer stock...very good fit and very sturdy, although any 'E' marked bar should be of similar standard. The big choice is detachable, flange or gooseneck....and 13 pin or 7 pin. For me, detachable and 13 pin wins... For both looks, convenience and reliability...obviously if your caravan is 7 pin then it makes sense to wire for that and not have to use an adaptor.....either way make sure that the additional wiring for a fridge is included along with either a smart relay or other device to only apply power to the fridge when the car engine is running. Another top tip...if you have never towed before, enrol on a towing course, and then take it steady at first...too many first time tuggers end up ruining family holidays by rushing and end up facing the wrong way on the motorway with the caravan on its side...

Just to confirm...the 2001 car was an AUY 115PS the 2003 car is a 130PS ASZ..... Just about 2.5 years apart on build date....but some many subtle differences...also the newer lower mileage car has many 'niggles' such as crack wiring in the door jams, rear washer pipe pulled apart, headlamp motors seized, run on pump seized, U/S aircon, all the usual stuff that the old car never had issues with....ooh the price of progress :-)

Just swapped a 01 for an 03 Alhambra Tdi.... The 03 does not power the run on auxiliary pump after the ignition is switched off. I have cross checked and even swapped the pumps over to prove this. My conclusion is that this was done to stop over cooling the engine during frequent stop start driving in cold weather as the aux pump seems to bypass the thermostat.

http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php?showtopic=4818 try the 5th picture along

I have th esame fault...the unit is on the top of the heater unit on the passenger side...I will try and attach/link a pic soon

umm maybe I should have been a bit clearer, this is a Mk2 Alhambra.....no Torx screws on this one Gav

Okay, I have tried and failed both in the car and using the search...how the hell do you get the top passenger side storage box out of the dashboard top...is it possible at all without taking the dash out or breaking the box? Anybody done this before? Gav

The new 1.9L TDI engine with unit injector system is available in two engine variants. 1. 66 kW variant producing a maximum power of 66 kW (90 PS) at 4000 rpm and a maximum torque of 240 Nm at 1900 rpm. The identification letters are ANU. 2. 85 kW variant producing a maximum power of 85 kW (115 PS) at 4000 rpm and a maximum torque of 310 Nm at 1900 rpm. The identification letters are AUY. This new engine has a variable turbocharger and a unit injector system and supersedes the proven 81 kW 1.9L TDI engine. Cut and paste from Ford TIS, not sure when the 100BHP came available, but the above was correct at time of launch.

Probably AUY 115BHP. From memory only two options then 100bhp and 115bhp Gav

you dont always need to reset the Aux heater with vag-com. Mine fired up fine with all five failures still showing on vag-com. The problem I had (still have!) is the ambient temp sensor under the wiper arm failing mechanically inside. I have shorted both terminals together and all is now fine until May....it will then be wired to a dash switch so i have full control! Cheers Gav

still working!!

Tonights update! Over the weekend , I spent a couple of hours checking the ambient temp sensor, checking correct voltages around the heater etc etc. 12v main feed good, earth good. engine running signal good and when shorted out at the sensor plug, good signal to start the heater at the heater socket. Put it all back together, nothing! Checked the ambient sensor again, seemed okay..... external temp was around 5 deg so a few mins in the hand and it went open circuit, leave it for 10 mins and it closed. So this time I shorted the plug again, re-measured the heater socket, all good. Plugged it al back up and still nothing....VAG-COM was communicating okay though. The heater plug showed some fluffy corrosion around pin 6 (heater start signal from amb temp sensor), so I cleaned this and ....it fired up!...yippee...it went through a couple of high / low cycles all okay. It was now getting dark, so I plugged it all back as normal and went in. This morning...nothing! zilch! 14 miles to work and heater barely warm. So tonight, i have shorted out the ambient temp sensor, and so far three starts out of three goes! Watch this space!

run pump? If you mean the wate circulation pump.....this is new and works fine...if it isn't working you get no noise and a heater over temp warning. Or do you mean the dosing pump? Today.....it took about 6 /7 attmepts to fire and eventually got running after about 10 miles...tonight it fire up first time, got the water upto temp...then switched off and stayed off even when the water temp started to drop during the last 3 miles in traffic! argh!!

here goes....freshly refurbished heater (Polish Ebay company - no problems with unit and as delivered). 12 months on the glow plug fails...lots of smoke...error codes...glow plug changed, clear codes...lots of smoke till the unit clears all the crud off.....then perfect for 6 weeks. Car then doesn't get driven for 5 weeks as I am out of the country, battery is flat flat on my return, gave it a charge and all is okay again......except that the aux heater is now not 100% Symptom 1 - Doesn't always turn on when it is cold - same issue you get if the car is standing for a while and engine heat triggers the ambient temp switch under the wipers.....but this doesn't clear when you drive for a while. Symptom 2 - Heater starts it cycle but turns off after 3 mins.....then Symptom 3 - Sometimes it just cycles over and over and over again during the journey. Symptom 4 - no error codes are stored! So, the questions are....... Is it possible to get air locks in the fuel line? Does the ECU for the car turn the Aux heater off when the fuel level gets low? the reason for the fuel question is...I filled up tonight and the heater fired on the second attempt, and ran with no smoke until i got home 10 mins later. The fact there were no clouds of smoke I assume that the unit hadn't filled with neat diesel! cheers Gav

even better than that, my Alhambra's previous owners actually removed the heater to save fuel AND looped the water hose back to the engine! So a second hand heater from fleabay and a new aux water pump...toasty toasty....90 degs temp within 6 mins and 4 miles on even the coldest of mornings!

I tow a 1500kg Ace Jubilee behind the Alhambra 115bhp, and a mate uses a very old and tired 90bhp to tow a very old and tired Abbey 'van. No problems at all with either car including lots of miles in France last year 5 up, fully loaded and the temp was 35C. Very stable tow car, shame it is only FWD - if only i could find a 130bhp TDI All-motion :-)

I have used this guy to get a booster heater sorted out, top guy, good info and quick delivery. Got +ve feedback from me. Gav

Check the earth connections in both rear light clusters and from the clusters to the body. Possibly, the other issue is the tail light bulb is inserted incorrectly on the same side as the iffy front fog light. cheers Gav

According to the Haynes book of fairy stories....... The 4th and 5th ratios are different Petrol Diesel 4th 0.97 0.92 5th 0.81 0.67 Every thing else internally is the same. However, looking a various parts lists....I'd say the number you have quoted is a casting number not an assembly part number. I also can confirm that Ford bellhousing and the VW bellhousing bolt patterns are not identical.

check the condition of the battery junction box and the cables to/from the alternator and the main fuse box. This can suffer overheating due to very mild corrosion. When the overheating gets worse, the junction box melts and the car looses all electrics. Personally i would check the driveshafts and intermediate shafts for excessive play. Have fun Gav