seatkid

WARNING - THIS IS NOT A RANT.... :P Since a certain newbie posted highly derogatory remarks about me, I am now very relucant to post anything lest I get the "f*** off SK" kick-in-the-teeth remarks. I thought I contributed something useful but when w**kers come on demanding full multipage detailed instructions on how to change a cambelt, and that only qualified people who have actually done this on the same should reply with a list of tips and photos, poopooing the Ford TIS CD (not wanting spend a few quid more like) and throw insults around, and just get confused and bothered at any humour then its time for me to take a back seat. Anyway, it seems most newbies can't be bothered to do any searches of the forum With copius information stored on this forum, why don't people SEARCH THE FORUM before asking "Why is my carpet wet?" or "My car wont start....can someone come and fix it?" It can get depressing typing the same old replies again and again. And how many people (not only newbies.....) actually post their resolution of their problem... e.g. We had a number of very detailed posts , where a regular and valued contributor (until he defected to MB :D ) - tried to track down a commonly reported problem - intermittent power loss on his PD diesel. A lot of information flowed around and I certainly learned a lot - in the end, did he tell us how fixed it? Only in passing when I pressed him on the subject - and that solution is now buried in an unrelated post - unlikely to surface on a search. Thats just an example, If GTEUK or some brave soul with lots of spare time would volunteer, a FAQ section would be the way to go. In any case I do believe a large proportion of Galaxy Owners have no sense of humour or perhaps I am the odd man out... :D

Now you set me thinking...:P...I'll be blowed if I can remember now!!.... :P

(TDi) The idling speed is programmed into the ECU and controlled electronically. It is not possible for us mortals to adjust it.

IIRC the temp sensor increases resistance with temperature. The easy way to test this is to disconnect it and see if the gauge goes into the red (it did on my Golf)- MARTY did you change the sensor? (as you implied in an earlier post)

OK I accept that... :P

I bow to your collective opinions but may I humbly point out..... On all the TIS wiring diagrams I have checked, there is no "F38" switch, all switches have the designation Nxxx. F38 would be a fuse, and there is no F38 in models 1998 through 2003. Prior to 1998, F38 was the fuse for the Seat control units (seat heaters) Its quite clear on the TIS circuit diagrams that N289, near the fog lamp, controls the booster heater in all variants/ configurations. Never known TIS wiring info to be incorrect....(my TIS only covers upto 2003) I can hear it now.....there goes SK again......rant, rant, rant.... :P

Sounds very much that either the temperature sensor is faulty or a high resistance in the wiring somewhere.

From what I can work out, the thing near the pollen filter is the Climate control external temperature sensor. As far as I can work out, the booster heater is not linked to the cc unit at all, it is independantly controlled by thermoswitch N289 and its own internal coolant temperature sensor. I may be wrong though.

First, turn off recirc! If its 5deg or less outside your'e snookered with cc as it won't work. Make a habit of turning off the a/c several minutes before parking up to give a chance for the a/c evaporator to dry out.

The switch (N289) is located near the horns behind/next to the offside foglamp.

its the booster heater which burns diesel - when they are not behaving themselves they smoke and smell.....even when they are OK they still pong and smoke a bit. They only come on when its cold usually less than 5 deg ambient and cold engine and its job is to assist in raising the water temperature and heating. Do a search on "booster heater" - theres lots of info on this forum.

Thought everyone knew that :P :) How's the "lumpy" engine coming along?

At this time of the year, it would be most unlikely that you would get to the point where the bottom hose is hot, the engine is just too efficient. I think if the very top of the radiator is warm then it OK. Have you tried disconnecting the battery? The instruments are reset when you reconnect. Did you fit a genuine thermostat, with the rubber seal fitted correctly? Never changed a TDi stat myself but I know on other VW engines, that if the seal is fitted incorrectly e.g. behind instead of in front, it can change (indicated) temperatures a lot. I had nothing but trouble with non OEM thermostats (i.e. Halfords) they all seem to open way too hot, on my Passat it led to expansion tank failure. What would I do? IIRC the temperature sender is in the top hose and can be unclipped/removed easily. Pop it in a cup a hot water with a thermometer, normal on the gauge should correspond to around 75 deg C I guess.

I take it you went through the procedure I outlined and established that one or more of the glow plugs were faulty......... to remind you ....+12v is supplied by a 60A fuse (F103) located in the battery junction box to a relay (K70) located in the central juction box. This relay is engerised at startup by the ecu and is protected by a 10A fuse F34 also in the central junction box. The glow plugs are located in the cylinder head 2001 TDI - Glow Plugs... to Remove 1. Disconnect the battery negative lead. 2. Detach the engine coolant hose from the engine cover 3. Remove the engine cover -i.e. remove the retaining screw covers then remove the retaining screws and lift off the cover. 4. Disconnect the glow plug wiring 5. Remove the glow plugs to Install 5 Refit the components in the reverse order

:ph34r: ....like lumpy fuel..... :lol: ....whatever you do, don't press the red button!...... :lol: how much more .....cheap at half the price guv.... this sounds like the start of a yet another bad american sitcom...... just because your glowplug lamp works and it starts doesnt mean all your glowplugs are working.

Check the rear storage compartment where the jack is. There should be a large sticker with all the manufacturing codes (engine/paint/option codes) printed on it.

Lumpy/difficult cold start is often a problem with the glowplugs. 1st check you have 12 volts for a few seconds at your glowplugs when the ignition is turned on when cold. (Note though the indicator may go out after less than a second, the glowplugs should stay on for several seconds even after you start). If you have no 12v then its either the glowplug fuse or relay. If you do have 12v then one or more of the glowplugs may have gone - use a meter to check for them not being open circuit or high resistance.

This common problem is caused by the turbo boost pressure not reaching its correct value when demanded (either too high or too low). The ECU protects the engine by switching the boost off completely (until reset by the ignition). It is caused by a fault in the turbo's vacuum control sytem or sometimes by a faulty/sticky turbo vane control mechanism (though this is rare). 1st check the vacuum pipe going it the vacuum reservoir is not loose (small sphere at front of engine) see here then check all the vacuum pipes are secure and tight on the turbo control solenoid - see here again. If that is all OK then change all the vacuum pipes and the minature air filter that is connected to the "ATM" connection of the turbo control solenoid via a short pipe. It is not enough just to visually check these pipes, a perished pipe can leak or be blocked internally and you would never know. Often the problem is due to leaks at slack or even disconnected pipe connections. Please note the vacumm sytem is the same that feeds the brake servo so there is also a possibilty of leaks in that area. The Ford dealer should know better. Once you fix it, if it is a vacuum pipe (and its 90+% likely) go back and play merry hell whith your dealer and demand your money back!

Rebated gas oil (red diesel) has a permitted sulphur content of up to 2,000 parts per million (compared with a maximum of 50 parts per million for ULSD). Fuel oil is taxed below the red diesel rate but has a permitted sulphur content of up to 10,000 parts per million.

Except for the Aircon which is widely acknowledged to be a bag of s***e. I am happy to put up with the minor annoyances of weak arb links, track rod ends and MAF sensor on my Mk 1. It seems that quality went down a notch with the MkII though. Cheapo suppliers for wiring looms, vacuum pipes etc. Is it VW or Ford to blame? Certainly it looks that as a joint venture they are relucant to fix known issues. There are still many of the same common problems in todays models as the first ones ten years ago..... Anyway its all change next year when Ford and VW go their seperate way...

Anyone got an endoscope?

Which diagram? You may have a 97 model ( made till mid 98) or a 98 model. There were lots of changes to the electrics and are completely different.

How about removing drain plug, it may be magnetic, it may come out with the oil, or use a bit of bent stiff wire to search for it. With luck the bolt will be in the bottom of the box.

The problem with your wipers sounds like a duff wiper parking switch. This is built into the wiper motor but IIRC someone posted something about this long long ago. Time to dig around in the TIS.....

:( :) There are not enough emoticons on this board to express my feelings..... At the risk of being accussed of a rant (again),,,,, In my experience, (did someone say something? :(), the opening temp is usually stamped on the stat (in very small letters). I've have bad experience with non-genuine thermostats (Halfords). I also find original VW thermostats are cheaper than Halfords! In short, buy the real thing from VW.... Also I hope you remember exactly how the old stat/seals were fitted. Can give wierd symptoms if you put it back together wrong. (but that assumes it hasn't already been changed and put in wrong by someone else!)