New owner

[gumby6371]

I might be completely wide of the mark here but is there a switch in the door shuts that controls the interior light, kind of fridge style thing if you know what I mean?
Don't remember seeing one but it's raining outside and I can't be bothered to have a look.

Presumably the rear courtesy light isn't coming on either which would rule out the actual light fitting or at least make it less likely to be at fault.

[steve_earwig]

Seems like the rear courtesy light does work:

The front courtesy lights ( next to sunroof controls) don't come on when the driver's door is opened when set to turn on when a door is open. They don't come on on any setting if the key isn't in the ignition and turned. Rear courtesy lights come on whether or not there's a key in the ignition, and any door is opened.

I'm not sure if there's a pin switch or it's like a D9 and it all runs off of switches in the door lock. I don't remember seeing them in my D8 but that's not to say they're not there. Reading it again I'm wondering if there's no permanent +ve getting to the light. that would explain why the doors don't switch it on too.

Hold on a mo

and any door is opened

Even the front doors?

[munkymanmatt]

Err, they're relays?

I've had this diagram (which I scummed off of one of the French Pug forums) floating about for a few years, I've never found much of a use for it but looking at it now I think I might be able to shed some light on your confusion:

Ffs, which idiot wired this up? (Btw is your pic upside-down?)
Here's the other half, on the off chance it's useful:

told you I wasn't very good at this! Should that square thing be plugged into one of them?

That pic of the 3 large fuses, if you go from the 50 amp fuse to the missing fuse, you're going toward the front of the car, if that's understandable?

There is indeed a pin-type switch the door pushes in when its closed

[steve_earwig]

AH, I thought you'd linked the wrong picture or something. I guess it should be, the 4 possible relays there are alarm, air horn, headlamp wiper delay and starting security (immobiliser?) I'm not sure what colour that's meant to be but the alarm is meant to be maroon and the starting security violet. It could be one of these I guess, or maybe something completely different...

So the missing fuse is at the front? Bass-ackwards then...

Ah, pin switches it is then. They rely on a contact between the metal body and spike of some sort on the moving part. All you need is a bit of rust on them and they're useless. The front doors don't work the rear light right? If they do then the problem lies elsewhere.

[munkymanmatt]

AH, I thought you'd linked the wrong picture or something. I guess it should be, the 4 possible relays there are alarm, air horn, headlamp wiper delay and starting security (immobiliser?) I'm not sure what colour that's meant to be but the alarm is meant to be maroon and the starting security violet. It could be one of these I guess, or maybe something completely different...

So the missing fuse is at the front? Bass-ackwards then...

Ah, pin switches it is then. They rely on a contact between the metal body and spike of some sort on the moving part. All you need is a bit of rust on them and they're useless. The front doors don't work the rear light right? If they do then the problem lies elsewhere.

Maybe I'll leave it out for now, could have been taken out for a reason! Car has no headlamp wipers and the horn works fine, so I'm guessing they're the alarm and immobiliser...

Yup that's right!

Yet again you're right, only the driver door doesn't trigger the lights. Still can't figure out why the front ones don't work at all without the ignition primed though!

EDIT after having a fiddle around with each relevant fuse, the ignition cables (I think) and the lights, they are now working on 'door open' mode without the ignition on.
I have also spotted something I really should have noticed when buying the car

The passenger side rear door appears to be a replacement door - it has a different style bumper (silver strip along the top) and might be a slightly different shade of blue - I only started looking around twilight time, so it was hard to tell. This might explain why the window in that door doesn't work - someone was too lazy to connect it - however it could be my imagination and just a replacement bumper strip on the door.

The back bumper panel below the boot also appears to have been replaced, and I'm more confident of that. Colour difference was more apparent and the boot looks like it's not quite sitting right. Again I'll be checking tomorrow in daylight.

If both the bumper and the door were replaced it would seem as though the car was crashed into at some stage, however I inspected the undercarriage before buying and I saw no evidence of any impacts such as bent/crumpled metal etc.

In other news my DIY attempt at fixing the wind whistling through the door with silicone has failed - the noise is still there. The door also seems to be sitting in a slightly 'off' position. Might be best left to an expert to try and solve it.

[munkymanmatt]

After closer inspection in daylight I can say the rear bumper hasn't been switched as far as I can tell... still not sure about the rear passenger side door though. Would be handy if the windows had date codes on the glass but I don't see any.

A few other little questions before I go on!
This is the clock assembly from the dash, should there be a bulb in here?


What is this button about and why is it flashing?


I eventually got around to jacking her up.
The reluctor rings look fine and there was no moving them, I put some real effort into shoving them around and they are not going anywhere. No cracks either! Which means the ABS fault is something else. To the mechanic's!



Also couldn't find the crank sensor to fix the rev counter issue. I think the red cable in this pic (faint red dot in the middle-left) might go to it though. Can anyone confirm this?


EDIT: oh and some other things. every now and then she struggles to start and ive to keep the starter turning for 6-8 seconds, she eventually splutters into a start and produces a lot of white smoke (might have a blue tinge I'm not sure), is this normal behaviour? Like I said, my first diesel.
additionally, the fuel intake slot (don't know the proper name!) is a bit dodgy. I've to turn the fuel nozzle anticlockwise about 90 degrees to get it all the way into the car at the petrol station, and occasionally the nozzle gets stuck and it takes serious brute force to remove it.

[dirtydirtydiesel]

1st the Door.
Sounds like the window frame is strained this can happen over time. When the door is properly shut have a look at / feel of the door frame level to the other door, if it is protruding slightly then it need's adjusting.
Now the scary bit 1st make sure the side window of the frame you are adjusting is all the way down, then a peice of 2"x2" / 50x50 to hold the door away from the catch you only want to door ajar by a couple of inches.
Lean on the door to hold it to either with you leg or get some one to help you & then push the top of the door frame in towards the car, just a bit at first till you get a feel for how much effort it takes, checking after each go !
Might be suprising how much effort it takes depends on how strong you are, but it is better to have a few goes then over bend it on the first go

2nd the flashing light is the alarm / interior sensor I.I.R.C

3rd the taking 6-8 cranks to start & then smoking sounds like either your glow plugs not working or on there way out, or if it's white smoke all the time then prob some traces of water in your diesel / fuel system

[steve_earwig]

Yep, sounds like the glowplugs are knackered.

So all the reluctors are ok? Then maybe a pick up has died. Or, as Blackclio found out recently, the ABS ecu has a fault. Can you get some diagnostics done? Failing that, you could unplug it and test towards the sensors, however I can't do a pinout for it, I can tell you what numbers should appear on the wires though.

[munkymanmatt]

I've given in, going to hand her over to our local mechanic today turns out he has a D9 406 himself so I should be in good hands!

Fixing the door myself sounds a little too precarious for e, don't want to end up screwing it up for good! Besides, this guy is a panel beater so he should be able to get it done in a few minutes.
I'll tell him I had a look at the reluctor rings and they seem fine but he should check them himself anyway.

The starting problem seems to have gotten a tiny bit worse. A little more blue smoke is appearing when starting in the morning. Seems to only happen when she hasn't been driven for 8 hours or more. Otherwise she can still be difficult to start but no smoke. I'm a bit worried about this as I thought blue smoke = engine oil burning. I am very keen on the idea that the plugs are stuffed and pressure is building in the sump from repeated turnovers with no combustion, pushing oil into the cylinder. Not sure how this would happen but still keen on it! We will see.

I couldn't figure out what was up with the suspension on the rear axle, I'll just tell him about the thudding and creakiness!

I'm going to give him a few other minor jobs as well seeing as he's taking it. Going to ask him to sort out the fuel filler neck because I got stuck at a petrol station for 15 minutes because the fuel nozzle wouldn't come out of the car thankfully no one was waiting to use the pumps!
Also the crank sensor, I couldn't find it so didn't want to be fiddling around in the dark and break something by accident.

If he hasn't reached my budget by then I might ask him to sort out the pin switch in the driver's door, but on the other hand it sounds like an easy job so I might do it myself.
Finally the dipped heads need adjusting but again I might do that myself.

Loads of other bits that need doing but I'm confident I can do the rest myself once I manage to find the bloody parts! SO difficult sourcing parts for this car around here unless I want to do a 500 mile round trip or pay 35 quid postage for a couple of switches...

Anyway thanks to everyone for all the help and advice!

[gumby6371]

Matt, just revisited this and wondered if you sorted the starting problems?
If you tried the glow plugs and it still hasn't fixed it try cracking the union that runs into the fuel pump and giving the priming bulb a few squeezes. If you see bubbles you have air in the fuel system.
Usually this happens following a filter change or a pin hole in the priming bulb or leak off pipes.

[munkymanmatt]

Sorry only saw this now!
New plugs definitely improved starting, still takes about 3 or 4 cranks though. I serviced the car myself the other night as it happens, squeezed the primer a good few times and she fired up first time so there could definitely be a little air in the fuel lines but it's not really bothering me anymore.

Managed to get most of the issues from this thread fixed bar the rev counter and ABS light. Going to buy a crank sensor next week and see if that does the trick. ABS I'm not sure what to do, could turn out to be very expensive

[dgt]

Sorry only saw this now!
New plugs definitely improved starting, still takes about 3 or 4 cranks though. I serviced the car myself the other night as it happens, squeezed the primer a good few times and she fired up first time so there could definitely be a little air in the fuel lines but it's not really bothering me anymore.

Managed to get most of the issues from this thread fixed bar the rev counter and ABS light. Going to buy a crank sensor next week and see if that does the trick. ABS I'm not sure what to do, could turn out to be very expensive

And I'm only seeing this now!

The rev counter is a pain in the arse, have you an ECU? I have the very same issue..... It was the potentiometer on the top of the throttle that caused that

I have the ABS light on too, I think it's a sensor gone.... Need to sort that soon!

Hows she drivin these days?