Sara S

My 1996 passat zeros the trip counter and clock with a squeak, frequently draining the (good) battery when starting. N.B. The noise seems to come from behind the dash. (It is not the clock and trip counter zeroing.) The car mostly runs all day if started with no problems at the beginning of the day.

I have tried replacing the glow plugs, replacing relay 180 and relay 109 and testing fuses for voltage drop.

Have you got any ideas what the problem might be?

I'm a US citizen and need an embassy appointment to register the birth of my daughter. I'm in no great hurry, just want to get it sorted.

The online appointments system shows no available appointments. I've looked time and again over the last three months, and it's perpetually fully booked. Occasionally I've seen one or two appointments at 8:30 am (for which I'd have to get the kids up at 4am!), but even those are hard to come by.

Is there a particular time when new appointments are released onto the system? Is there another way I could book an appointment besides the website? I do see a premium-rate appointments phone line listed, but that seems to be specifically for non-US nationals who are seeking visas.