codhead
25-05-2007, 07:59 AM
A friend of mine recently gave (yes, free, gratis & for nothing) me his P reg Sharan, manual, AFN engine. It had over 206k on the clock and only 3 straight panels (and that includes the roof) but I saw it as an ideal vehicle for my main hobby, sea fishing. Right, the story so far:
The car has been used for the last few years, mainly by his wife, for ferrying their 5 daughters around. Although stuff like oil changes & cam belts have been maintained regularly, other items have been "left to develop". The transponder key (they've only got one key) doesn't operate the central locking, it does open doors and used to start the car, eventually. The glow plugs were changed a few 000 miles ago and the glow plug timer was bypassed to operate manually on a separate button. The car has always been a pig to start, since the day I got it. It took ages to fire and when it finally did, the smoke and smell of unburned fuel was horrendous, it also defaulted into limp mode and revs would usually not exceed 3,000.
I took the car to a local (non-VAG) workshop for fitting of new MAF & timing belt & tensioners (having had a timing belt failure 20 years ago, I have never taken chances with them). They then took it to a Bosch agent for fault diagnosis and it threw up a faulty coolant temp sensor. When they showed me the temp sensor they had ordered, I sort of lost patience, it was nothing like the temp sensor that should be on the car. I was also a little concerned that they'd done the timing belt before sorting the starting problem but I suppose that's where the money is.
The upshot is, it will now not start at all on the key. Once the MAF had been changed, the cold start system seemed to be working, power is going to the glow plugs but the engine refuses to start on the key. I bought a genuine VW temp sensor & fitted it myself, still no joy. The car will bump start but is still in limp mode when running.
I have downloaded VAG-com and bought a generic USB cable off eBay. The cable has only 7 pins, rather than 16 and when I queried this with the seller, was told that was all that was required. I loaded VAG-com onto my laptop, plugged it into the car and low and behold, it cannot find any ports to communicate with, all I get is "No response from controller" message. I also think that the battery is now shot because the status window is showing "black" and wondered if this has something to do with the strange things going on with the dash gauges. Without the key in the ignition, the milometer shows the mileage and the temperature & fuel gauges are a half-way. If I put the key in and turn it until the dashlights illuminate, I lose the mileage (screen goes blank) and if I then turn the headlight switch, the temp & fuel gauges drop down to zero. The airbag light goes off after a couple of seconds (as it should) but the glowplug light remains illuminated for around 25-30 seconds, given the weather we've currently had, this seems inordinately long.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I now have a number of options:
Cut my losses and get shut of the car, although I am very loathe to do so.
Continue paying a licensed bandit £30 every time to throw up one fault at a time and then pay for that component to be fixed (it seems that the Bosch system will only give one fault at a time and must be cleared after each component change).
Chew the mop and buy a genuine VAG-com cable from Ilexa or Ross and then start the process of sorting this out myself.
I still have a lingering suspicion that even though the belt & tensioners have been changed, there is a problem with timing at start-up. I have also read of problems with relay 30, although I don't seem to be able to find this in the fusebox.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, or am I tending towards sadistic, necrophiliac bestiality (flogging a dead horse)?
The car has been used for the last few years, mainly by his wife, for ferrying their 5 daughters around. Although stuff like oil changes & cam belts have been maintained regularly, other items have been "left to develop". The transponder key (they've only got one key) doesn't operate the central locking, it does open doors and used to start the car, eventually. The glow plugs were changed a few 000 miles ago and the glow plug timer was bypassed to operate manually on a separate button. The car has always been a pig to start, since the day I got it. It took ages to fire and when it finally did, the smoke and smell of unburned fuel was horrendous, it also defaulted into limp mode and revs would usually not exceed 3,000.
I took the car to a local (non-VAG) workshop for fitting of new MAF & timing belt & tensioners (having had a timing belt failure 20 years ago, I have never taken chances with them). They then took it to a Bosch agent for fault diagnosis and it threw up a faulty coolant temp sensor. When they showed me the temp sensor they had ordered, I sort of lost patience, it was nothing like the temp sensor that should be on the car. I was also a little concerned that they'd done the timing belt before sorting the starting problem but I suppose that's where the money is.
The upshot is, it will now not start at all on the key. Once the MAF had been changed, the cold start system seemed to be working, power is going to the glow plugs but the engine refuses to start on the key. I bought a genuine VW temp sensor & fitted it myself, still no joy. The car will bump start but is still in limp mode when running.
I have downloaded VAG-com and bought a generic USB cable off eBay. The cable has only 7 pins, rather than 16 and when I queried this with the seller, was told that was all that was required. I loaded VAG-com onto my laptop, plugged it into the car and low and behold, it cannot find any ports to communicate with, all I get is "No response from controller" message. I also think that the battery is now shot because the status window is showing "black" and wondered if this has something to do with the strange things going on with the dash gauges. Without the key in the ignition, the milometer shows the mileage and the temperature & fuel gauges are a half-way. If I put the key in and turn it until the dashlights illuminate, I lose the mileage (screen goes blank) and if I then turn the headlight switch, the temp & fuel gauges drop down to zero. The airbag light goes off after a couple of seconds (as it should) but the glowplug light remains illuminated for around 25-30 seconds, given the weather we've currently had, this seems inordinately long.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I now have a number of options:
Cut my losses and get shut of the car, although I am very loathe to do so.
Continue paying a licensed bandit £30 every time to throw up one fault at a time and then pay for that component to be fixed (it seems that the Bosch system will only give one fault at a time and must be cleared after each component change).
Chew the mop and buy a genuine VAG-com cable from Ilexa or Ross and then start the process of sorting this out myself.
I still have a lingering suspicion that even though the belt & tensioners have been changed, there is a problem with timing at start-up. I have also read of problems with relay 30, although I don't seem to be able to find this in the fusebox.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, or am I tending towards sadistic, necrophiliac bestiality (flogging a dead horse)?