seatkid

Hi there , There's a 10mm vacumm pipe going to the servo from the manifold, off that theres some rubber hoses which perish over time check them for leaks ,whistle sound On the TDI the hard plastic pipe from the brake servo goes round the back of the engine to the right of the block to a T-piece/non-return valve. It continues from the T-piece to an engine driven vacuum pump mounted at lower block level at the front right hand side of the block. The T-piece feeds the Turbo control vacuum system. The hard pipe commonly splits at the ends longitually causing loss of vacuum. The small gauge turbo control vacuum pipes also known to disintegrate and/or drop apart - sometimes get pulled off by careless hands. Unfortunately its also relatively common to have the servo unit fail due to internal seals failing - the servo unit is not repairable. Start with the big plastic pipe first though as thats the most common.

Are you using Microsoft's IE browser? The later incarnations of IE dont work. If you use Firefox, Chrome or Opera, there appears to be no problem. I recomend Firefox with the Adblock Plus add on installed as that gets rid of all those annoying ads as well.

Check the wiring in the (2) rubber gaitors to the tailgate. A very common problem is the insulation deteriorates and drops off here causing shorts and core breaks. You evidently have a short between the heated rear window supply and fog light circuit. Maybe even more. Technical FAQs contain some guldes how to fix these problems

Not sure if the Mk 3 has an undertray. Ask in the Mk 3 section.

Try using Firefox, chrome or Opera. This forum has big issues with latest IE (internet explorer).

Easy start kills engines and should not be used. Your post suggests you misfuelled your car? Full details of car needed, engine, model etc. I suspect you have a Mk3 galaxy in which case you posted in the wrong section. Could be immobiliser.

Well its 13 years since I bought her from new. It will now be the longest I've had a car (I had a passat for 13 years). Exceptional car, reliable, cheap to run, comfortable, I could go on..... No intention of letting her go yet. We have other cars but everyone loves the old Alhambra - I wonder if in another 10 years they'll become a bit of classic like the VW camper van?

Ignition needs to be on when you press the reset button.

A/c unit - If you remove the electrical connector to the a/c compressor the clutch should not engage. That should work unless the a/c electromagnetic clutch is seized as well. On the diesel, the a/c pump is on the main belt that also drives the alternator. However you may be talking about the power steering pump. On the (Mk1) diesel it is driven by its own V belt. If thats seizing then well, you need a new one. Checking the power steering fluid level may help..... You shouldnt use WD40 on belts!!!!

Most likely to be one of the coilpaks or leads I think.

Radio code is lost if battery is disconnected but has nothing to do with immobiliser etc. They are unaffected. Your non starting is likely to be battery problems I think.

Toby, please dont get offended, we are all here to offer help, but you must understand how our forums work. If you have a problem, you start a thread and keep it going until you get sorted (or give up) and hopefully pass information as to what you did and how the problem was solved or not. What is unhelpful, is to keep starting new threads on the same issue, and to ignore someones suggestions and leave several threads on the same subject with no closure. Diving into someone elses thread by talking about your problem and asking for help there is just plain confusing for anyone trying to make use of the information, let alone any member trying to help. Have you ever tried to hold two conversations simultaneously or observed someone trying to do so? Even your habit of quoting previos posts doesnt follow convention. Its normal to quote only the relevant parts and before giving an answer - not after. The "reply" button is even designed to work that way!

How much do you pay for the used oil? And what is the "market price"? I imagine that a lot of local sources already have buyers or contracts.

Well done there chris. As far as the lubricity is concerned I wonder if using some additive such as Millers would help. Obviously you have a source of cheap or maybe free used chip fat. Not something that is readily available to most of us. Does the 5 micron filter need replacing often? I'm a bit confused about the washing with water bit. What do you wash? You don't say what happens to all that water - poured down drain?

I've never heard of this "backdoor" and quite frankly don't believe it exists.

If you cant start your car - which is what I think yours saying, then go through the standard procedure for a petrol engined car. 1. Lift off a lead and check you have a spark when turning over.If not then check ignition leads/coilpak. Check all leads as there is more than one coilpak. 2. Remove spark plug(s) and check condition. Turning the car over (very briefly) without plugs fitted will dry out any over zealous squirting of cleaner or petrol flooding. (Take care where those spark leads are as they could ignite the stuff coming out the plug holes) 3. Next step is to establish if fuel is getting through - but I doubt you need to get to this stage. 90% of petrol non starting is ignition related. Please try not to hijack another persons thread - you have started several threads already on the same subject. Just stick to one thread and keep it going instead of starting a new one or diving into someone elses.

Before you proceed any further - if you have a duff battery or a problem with charging/power (e.g. overheating/melting engine bay power fusebox) - this needs to be sorted first as this might be the reason behind your starting/cutting out problems.

There is a lot of misinformation about brake parts. Mintex and Pagid are both subsiduries of TMD friction group. Effectively the same product, Pagid is an OE supplier to many manufacturers, whereas Mintex is an aftermarket brand. Lots of brake manufacturers claim to be OEM, its a slightly creative claim in many cases. Most car manufacturers will have at least two suppliers for each model variant, and maybe more for the entire range of cars. Beware that there are a lot of fake counterfeit brake products around particularly on fleabay, most being vastly inferior chinese product.

Take what Halfords say with a pinch of salt ! 1. To check the alternator, stick a multimeter on the battery and measure the voltage with the engine running. Should be approximately 14.1 - 14.4 volts. Turn on a few electrical items, e.g. headlights and rear heated window. The voltage should remain the same, although you may need to up the engine revs a tad. 2. If the running voltage is low (< 13.4) (esp under load), go back to the main fuse box in the engine bay and measure the voltage at the main lead from the alternator. Check the fuse box for signs of overheating/melting. Common problem caused by faulty crimp on main power cable. 3. If it starts with a jump start, battery was flat and/or duff. Recharge the battery overnight. Then let it stand a few hours, if it wont start then the battery is the likely suspect. The 1.9 tdi is a VW engine and has VW ancillieries.

Probably Relay 30. If you're handy with a soldering iron you can take the relay out and open it up. There is usually a dry joint on one of the connections. Resoldering would fix that. Otherwise they are about

You could sell it on ebay (whole or bits), I would think its worth a fair bit for spare parts compared to just scrapping it. There are also quite a few people out there prepared to replace the gearbox if the rest of the cars in good condition.

I heartily recommend you use the "Adblock plus" add on with firefox. This gives you a beautifully ad-free experience when surfing the internet. To install, go to Tools, Add-ons. This is the number one reason to go with firefox!

FAQs ok with me. All sections working fine, I'm running Firefox 8 on good old XP.

Actually sounds reasonable.

I believe fluffy dice are illegal. They fail them on the MOT unless they are OEM and fitted with washers and self levelling. ^_^