Railroad

I have a 2003 Elegance Estate and I manage to achieve an average fuel economy of around 42mpg. I've owned it since August 2008, and it's now done 148,000 miles. I've fitted a new air filter, air flow sensor, coolant temp sensor, fuel filter and had the cambelt done since I've had it. My drives it more than me and to be fair she only does about 25 miles a day. A workmate has a 2002 Elegance saloon model with 56,000 miles on the clock. He manages a consistent 53mpg. His wife also uses it mostly, and she never goes very far either. So much so he suspects he has the dreaded sticky turbo problem, but his wife never drives fast enough for the turbo vanes to move anyway. The question is why is mine so much worse on fuel than his, or am I simply expecting too much? The only thing I can think of is that my wife may drive my harder than his wife does, but I can't average anywhere near what he gets either. Mine runs very smoothly and quickly. As far as I can see the exhaust smoke is normal. I don't have VAGCOM (yet), but if anyone has any ideas I'd be very grateful.....

Two very likely possibilities. If there is a fishy type of smell in the car and the floor is wet then you probably have a leaking heater matrix. If not the scuttle might be full of water because the drains are blocked with fallen leaves/dirt etc. In this case the pollen filter will also be very likely to be wet. The latter is the one you should suspect first, and the solution is simply to remove the scuttle trim and clear the drains......

Join them all together and leave it at that. They earth through the body control module. Of the four brown/black wires, one is the earth return from the boot lamp door switch in the tailgate. Two are the earth returns from each of the two boot lamps. And one is the earth return to the body control module for the tell tale LED on the dash. That's why when you earth the whole lot they stay on. If they still don't work normally, but do if you earth them, your problem is elsewhere, and probably towards the body control module or broken earth. Didn't you also mention something about a problem with the drivers door? The body control module also controls the functions there, and it's very likely that all your problems are related to one central earth problem. Unfortunately without looking I cannot tell you where that is......

The point where all the earth returns (brown/black wires) join together is very likely to be where your problem lies. As I mentioned before you'll find that where the loom is taped up, very close to the CD auto-changer. It's not that difficult to do, just a bit fiddly perhaps......

Most heated rear screens are switched on and off via a relay. The switch on the dash switches the relay on, and the relay then provides a live supply to one side of the heated screen. The other side of the screen goes to earth. So it's back to basics here. Switch on the HRW and see if it has a feed and yet not working. If it isn't working then check to make sure it has a good earth. If you don't have a feed check the HRW switch and relay.......

You're panicking over nothing. I bet you'll find the boot linkage is adjusted too tight, and operating the micro-switch. Remove the tailgate trim and locate the link rod between the boot handle and boot catch. Remove the plastic clip and adjust it a couple of turns.

Sorry M8, I didn't read the whole thread properly....

Tyres on alloy wheels leaking around the bead is not uncommon because of corrosion on the rim. The usual cure is to break the tyre off the bead, clean the inside of the rim with a wire brush, and then apply tyre lubricant (I used to use Ru-Glyde when I worked in a garage) and re-inflate. More often than not this cures the problem.......

Another one found today. My boot lamps would flicker on and off, and I knew that there was a bad earth connection somewhere, I just didn't know exactly where. Well today the left hand boot lamp went off completely, but would come on at random. I located the earth return for both lamps to a common return beneath the CD auto-changer. The four wires which should all be joined together fell apart in my hand. I re-connected them, and soldered them for good measure and hey presto, they work fine now. It gets better though. Before, when I opened the boot the red tell-tale lamp on the dash didn't light up. It does now, and also when I unlocked the car it would lock automatically after 30 seconds if none of the passenger doors had been opened. It would still lock itself even if the boot had been opened, making it possible to lock my key in the boot. Now opening the boot is the same as opening a passenger door. It will not lock itself. Another good job done.......

Remove the CD auto-changer in the boot nearside by loosening the three torx screws. Underneath you will see the wiring loom. Locate the thin brown/black wire which goes through a multi-plug connector. Check to make sure the connections are good. Continue to follow the wire, and un-tape the loom. You will see where four brown/black wires all join together. These are earth returns to the control unit. It's quite likely the you have a disconnected or broken wire here, and that will be your problem.......

It needs new front brake discs. Take it from me, change them and your problem is cured. During the course of braking over time the discs get hot in the process of converting kinetic energy into heat, and then dissipating that heat into the air. Hotspots form on them, and in extreme cases can often be seen as blue spots. The resin on the pads also comes to the surface and they get brittle. They cause the discs to get even hotter, and so it goes on. It's not at all unusual to have to renew brake discs every couple of years, or even less......

He's in Southampton. If that's any good to you let me know, and I'll PM you his business details......

Dried powdered chalk or baby powder will do just as well.......

A battery's Amp/Hour (Ah) rating refers to its discharge rate. The figure you're really looking for here is it's Cold Cranking Amps (CCA Rating). A starter motor when cranking an engine from cold can easily draw anywhere up to 400 amps for a diesel, and 200 or more for a petrol. It's false economy to buy a battery that's not big enough for the job........

Very nice, but I always prefer cars to be original. No offence mind.......

There is a simple procedure for resetting the service indicator, and you can find it by searching this board. I have done mine, but I can't remember off the top of my head how to do it. Your electric windows (and sunroof if fitted) should all close when you hold the key turned in the lock position in the drivers door. They won't close simply by pressing the lock button on your remote unless that particular feature has been enabled. You can buy a tool to do this by flashing the body control module. It's the KVW100 Autowindow Module, and details of where to buy it and how to do it can be found at Vagproducts.

Does anyone know if the heated mirrors are on a timer system, or thermostatically controlled? Or are they just a simple on/off arrangement. If it's the latter is there any sort of overheat protection to prevent the heating elements from failing prematurely? Thanks in advance.......

Does this apply to all models including a 2003 TDi?....

How long is a piece of string? Common sense should prevail here. If the recommendation was 60,000km and yours broke at 59,999km you wouldn't be very happy would you? By the same token it might still not break at 100,000km or more. Getting it replaced should but your mind at rest, if nothing else........

Typical price £65+VAT for a full A/C service........

I've got a multi-meter with a temperature facility on it. It was 8°C outside and I placed the probe in one of the centre air vents. I set the climate control to 'ECON', and the fan speed to medium. The meter displayed 7.9°C - 8.1°C once it had settled down. I then turned the A/C on by pressing the 'ECON' button off and the display went down to 1.8°C. It returned to where it was when I switched it back to ECON. I can therefore assume it's now working properly.......

The job was done this morning and it would seem it had been working better than I thought. The system takes 750g of R134a refrigerant and 705g was evacuated, and so the pressure was slightly lower than it should be. It is possible that the previous owner or someone had topped up the system using a canister, but I'll never know how much air was in the system. Anyway it's done now and so should be OK for a few years.......

The machine first draws the gas from the system, and then vacuums it to remove any moisture and to test for any leaks, but in reality if there were any leaks the compressor would pump all the gas out and the system would not work at all. To recharge the system firstly a lubricant goes in, followed by a dye which is sensitive to ultra violet light, and then the R134a refrigerant in the correct quantity. Also an anti-bacterial is used to clean and de-fume the heater ducts. The job usually takes about 45 minutes........

I'm getting mine serviced tomorrow by an old workmate of mine who now runs his own garage, and has one of these all singing and dancing machines and does quite a lot of A/C work. It works, but I'm convinced it's not as good as it was. It's probably low on gas, and my mate reckons they should be serviced every three or four years anyway. My car is five years old, and therefore probably never been done from new. Has anyone had theirs done, and was it any better afterwards?.....

Well I've just proved something to myself. I've just taken the car for a run of about four miles. Only four miles around town I know, but I zeroed the trip computer before I went, and I managed to achieve a staggering 74.8mpg average. OK so it's not a true reflection of reality, but it proves that by driving in a selective manner your mpg figures can be greatly improved. To do it I accelerated quickly to 30mph in second gear, and then changed straight into fifth. The momentum then allowed me to achieve this by continuing at light throttle without ever breaking the speed limit.......