VW Sharan misfire problem

[brauser]

I've got a Sharan 2L 2001 which started misfiring and losing power. Took it to local dealer yesterday but on the way the problem corrected itself! Dealer checked the fault memory which reported misfires detected in cyliders 3 & 4, but none at the time. It still runs fine now. Any ideas?

Also, does anyone know where to get a workshop manual for this car? Haynes don't appear to do one (according to Halfords staff).

[Skids]

Haynes don't publish a manual for the VW Sharan, and have no plans to either. But they do publish one for the Ford Galaxy. They used to be the same vehicle, but the new ones are more different in that VW and Ford use more of their own components now, rather than sharing. Sometimes the manufacturer produces workshop manuals for their vehicles, at a huge cost to the customer, but I doubt that VW do.
Don't forget that the engine isn't just fitted to the Sharan. Try a Golf manual and see if you can match the engine model in there to yours. Fault diagnosis for engine troubles will then be the same.
Probably the best thing to do is search for your fault on the internet. I doubt very much that you're the only one to experience this problem and I expect that there are loads of people asking questions about it on forums.

[brauser]

Thanks. Galaxy doesn't have the VW engine so the Galaxy manual wouldn't be useful. I have been told that the Sharan engine comes from a golf but I haven't been able to find which one - the Golf Haynes manual I looked at a couple of days ago didn't show my engine - which has the inlet manifold coming over the spark plugs.

[Skids]

The Sharan probably has a different inlet manifold in order to be able to fit the same engine into a different vehicle. Its worth asking VW what the engine code for your engine is and matching that with the engine codes given in the Golf manual, if you haven't already. Then you'll know its the right engine. Problem is, you don't really want to buy a Golf manual for a Sharan. Sometimes larger libraries hold Haynes manuals.