Whilst I remember... Loom and ECU removal

Just a few notes on removing the ECU and Loom from the Sharan whilst I remember the details... Someone is bound to ask so i figured i'll just post it here...

First thing... Inside the car, spend 10 minutes removing all the plastics from the dash, vents, radio, centre console, steering column shrouds. Everything. It'll make it loads easier.

The Sharan AFN ECU is located behind the clocks. To get access you need to remove the 2 screws holding the clock surround in place (at the top) and then remove the clocks themselves. A few screws and then tilt the entire clock assembly forward and draw it out. You should be able to get the plugs off the back.

You'll see the ECU attached to a steel plate behind the dashboard under some sound proofing carpet stuff.

First you need to disconnect the multiplug on the left. You do this by sliding the retaining clip all the way out and simply unplugging... except its not really that simple.
You should see a vaccum pipe connection to the ECU. Pull this off. This is the direction you need to slide the clip towards. However, there is a metal plate attached to the ECU with an anti tamper screw (torx with a pin in the centre) which you'll need to remove before you can slide the clip out.

You'll also need to disconnect the plugs from the immobiliser box which is mounted underneath the metal plate. theyre easy though, just squeeze and pull.

There are 3 nuts/bolts holding the plate to the car, 2 nearest the steering wheel which you can access from underneath, and one towards the front accessed from above. You may need a ratchet spanner for the front one as its a little tight.
Once loose, you just need to wiggle it around so its loose and guide it around all the "stuff" under there to freedom. Its a bit fiddly, and you may need to loosen the 2 bolts that hold the brace from the front of the dashboard towards the rear to make a bit more room, but its not impossible.

Loom... right. This is a pain....Disconnect everything in the engine bay. Everything.
Some stuff you can cut if you prefer... ABS wiring, lights etc. But all the engine stuff you'll need. And theres a lot of wire there.

Back inside...
Pull out the fuse box. There are 2 white plastic tabs that slide up/out, then lever the fuse box out from the bottom and lift it off the pegs. Unplug everything. At this point I discovered that part of the fuse box in my car had melted (heater blower fuse was a bit "special", and this is why!) so i chopped all the wires off that go to the fuses. Nothing there that cant be replicated in the T3 so I figured i was safe chopping them.

Likewise, all the wiring to the rear of the car down the drivers side. I just cut through them all.
There are then a load of wires that run to the passenger side of the car through the dashboard. I spent ages trying to check if any of this was needed but i couldnt find anything in there that I needed except the red/white 12v feed to the OBD port. So I chopped these too. I figure that the time I might have to spend adding a couple of wires at a later date wont be anywhere near the time it would take to remove all that side of the loom. You can chop the radio and heater control wiring off, there is a branch of the loom that goes to the airbag controller which you dont need, and the wiring down to the OBD port under the ashtray

Pedal...

A bit of a slow couple of weeks as far as preparing for the AFN conversion goes, but Ive done a little more trimming back of the loom, and tied some more wires up.
I discovered that the wiring diagram I had was actually wrong and a few wires didnt match the wiring to the ECU.

Sourced a usable pedal from a LHD Sharan on German Ebay, pics below with comparison to RHD pedal.
This should allow me to use the complete pedal, keep it inside the T3 and still have it in a nice position under the foot.

Top pic shows the approx position, the other 2 show the LHD pedal compared the the RHD.
The RHD would need mounting too far over to the left so wouldnt be on the flat area, although I'm sure the pedal arm could be modified

RIP Sharon.

Sharons time has come.

The Sharan has come apart surprisingly easily. About an hour in and all the front end is off. and most of the wiring is disconnected.

Engine out tomorrow and then start on the loom...

Fault Codes....

First things first... I wanted to check the fault codes.

This meant finding the OBD port. I had a head start on this because we have a Seat Alhambra of similar vintage (wifes car). The port is under the ashtray.
Unfortunately, the ashtray was under about an inch of ash.

After scraping it all out, I discovered another inch of ash under the ashtray!

Eventually I found the port... plugged in the cable and... nothing. Port was dead, no power at all.
I checked the fuses, all fine. So rather than waste more time tracing the fault through the loom which i'll be removing anyway, I just bridge a wire from the cigarette lighter to the OBD port live connection.

Read the fault codes, and all seems good.
I have a couple of Airbag faults which arent an issue, and a 01176 - Key fault.
Which i'm not going to worry too much about. Ive cleared the fault and will see if it returns. For the time being everything with the immobiliser circuit seems fine so i'll see if it comes back...

The Doner..

There are quite a few suitable TDI engines for this conversion. Fitted to various models... Golf, Passat, Sharan, etc... mid to late 90's. They all had them. And then theres the other VAG models... plenty of Audi and Seat models got them too...
The most suitable ones are those fitted to the transverse engined cars. This is because the engine mountings on the cars with "Inline" mounted engines (all the Audis and Passats for example) are different to the Transversely mounted engines. Using a transverse engine means you can use the original T3 engine mountings, with the inline engines you need to modify or use custom made mounts.

Out of the the Transverse engines the common ones are the 1Z which is rated at 90hp output. Common on Golfs, and Sharans etc. And the AFN... The AFN was fitted to the Golf but we didnt see many of them in the UK. So, that leaves us with the Sharan (and Alhambra, and Galaxy for that matter).

The things with the Shalambralaxy is that they are generally big milers. Nobody buys a 7 seater to trundle to the shops once a week, they buy them to cart people and stuff around. Lots. And of course the Diesels are the most economical at this... so Diesel mileages tend to be high. So one with sensible miles and at the right price isnt necessarily easy to find.

Another plus point for a Shalambralaxy is that that its a big heavy motor. This means that when I pull what I need out of it I'll get a big chunk back from the scrap man for whats left :)

Eventually, what appeared to be the right car popped up on Ebay. 1999 VW Sharan 110hp with a little Road Tax and MOT and sensible miles. Tax and MOT was desirable because it means I get to drive it around legally for a few hundred miles to be confident there are no issues with the engine. Knowing there are no fault codes on the ECU relating to the engine is pretty importantant, and will make fault finding any that appear after the conversion easier.
Mileage on the car is 114000 which is low for a TDI. The car is perfect as its pretty rough around the edges, has short MOT and a load of advisories on the last MOT, and is generally in "banger" territory. Which means sub £500 price tag.
Despite this, it seems like a good car. Its been looked after for some of its life at least... Mileage checks out on the MOT database and it has nice good quality MANN fuel and oil filters, not the cheap nasty crap.
No service history or evidence of cam belt change either which for my purposes is another plus... the belts will be done anyway and the service history would just make it a more expensive car.

Needless to say, I bought it. Ive driven a couple of hundred miles and it goes well, makes all the right noises and generally drives as it should. All the bits I need seem in fine fettle.