Ivor_E_Tower

Yes, we have a taxi round here with some alloys with very slender spokes and thin rim, running on liquorice-thin sidewalled tyres. Can't remember if it's Galaxy or Alhambra; must remember to take my camera every time I go out!

My Gal TDI doesn't use oil, and my 1998 Renault Scenic diesel owned from new also doesn't use oil between services. I put this down to being driven carefully (engine not revved hard especially when cold etc) when new. (Must have been lucky with the Gal as I bought it used; it was privately owned though).

What do you want - good handling or comfort? The smaller (less deep) the tyre sidewall, the firmer the ride will be. 17inch wheels will give you a dramatic change from 15's.

Don't knock radio-cassettes - some of us have many cassettes and don't wish to leave CDs in the car for risk of losing them to thieves! If you want to play CDs in the car, best bet is to change the complete head unit for a new one; don't forget that you will need the special adapter to supply power to the radio aerial in the rear side window (do a search if you don't know what I'm talking about). If you have the money, go for a Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB unit :)

Well that is great news. Don't worry about the idel for now, let all the new bits bed in nicely for a few hundred miles. Then, if you still have lumpy idle, you could risk the trick of disconnecting the battery for an hour so that any "learnt" settings are lost, and re-programmed from your driving style. Happy motoring, and happy Christmas seeing as it's only 8 days away.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you....

Sounds like you have just confirmed that it is the problem!

IIRC yes, a CD changer should just plug in, assuming that the other end of the cable is connected to the satnav unit; again IIRC there is a menu option to get it to work. To get to the aux connectors, you will need the 4 keys (or some old coathangers) to slide the unit out from the dash - a 10-second job with the right tools. Good luck.

Something sounds a bit odd here! If the tappets were working OK before, then surely they should work OK now? - and I don't think that the wrong oil viscosity will have damaged them is so short a time. Of course you may have been unlucky - we know of someone many years ago who had a major engine rebuild (may have been from head gasket failure too, not sure now) then the next week, after the rebuild, the engine blew up-----it was caused by a failed oil pump and totally unrelated to the first problem. Can you get a "non-runner" from a scrappie etc, and take the tappets from it? Sounds like you and I could both do with some good luck for a change!

Hmm, time to report this ? ^_^ Any smell of fuel should be investigated as it isn't right. Feeling a bang through the seat after you have braked usually means that someone has driven into the back of you - something else not right. ^_^

You have the heater; no digital clock in the roof means no timer to switch it on. It will work automatically when outside temp (measured I believe somewhere under the bonnet) is around 6 deg C or lower, and coolant is cold or cool. If it's not firing up under these conditions, then something is wrong. My TDI Gal is Jan 2001 on an "X", and the aux heater works under the conditions summarised above (and explained at length elsewhere by many others on this forum!) Edited 15-12-2004 From posts today (I have been in a long, boring all-day meeting) the criteria are: ambient less than 5 deg C measured by wiper mechanism, and coolant less than 75 deg C)

Back in the old days of carburettors, the idle speed was usually set high after major engine work - don't know why, but it just was. Has your garage asked you to take the car back for a check after 500 miles or thereabouts, so that they can check it over and re-torque the head bolts?

I'd be tempted to contact Ford customer relations TBH. If there is a known issue with early ECU's, and the car is in a remote location, then Ford should pay for the upgrade as it has been missed in the car's earlier life when (hopefully) it did visit dealer workshops.

..and drive it gently as you would if you wererunning in a new car. Don't hold constant engine speed for any length of time though - any odd vibrations can cause damage. Despite what many people will tell you about modern engines not needing to be run in, I don't believe this; I've been lucky enough to buy new cars in 1985 and 1998. Neither has used any oil between services (the 1985 one got traded in against my 2nd-hand Galaxy last year at around 120,000 miles and was still not burning oil, didn't require topping up between services). The 1998 car is a Renault Scenic diesel, whose engine was supposed to use a bit of oil when new, until bedded in. Well, driving it carefully for first 2000 miles seems to have been worth it! Never needed to top it up between services either.

Another success story then. Glad you found the culprit.

Have already posted a reply on the other thread, which I saw first. Time to try another dealer I think....

If it's covered by a service bulletin, have you asked a dealer if an upgrade is available for free or reduced price? Quite often, if a technical service bulletin requires new parts to be fitted, it is done for free even if vehicle is outside of the original warranty period. ..oh, and welcome to the site, by the way.

..and item number 7 is a) toothpaste :rolleyes: liquid sawdust c) glue d) something else? edited by Ivor....so a little b with a closed bracket after it results in a smiley wearing shades; cool!

Have you got the special tool (looks like an extended box spanner)? Have you tried welding a scaffold pole to its end? :rolleyes:

I know, it is just a general thing now that all new cars have high-level brake lights, some with say 6 or 7 segments each with 5 watt bulb; you get dazzled by 35 watts or more of high-level lamp, plus the 2 x 21 watt normal brake lamps when you get stuck behind someone who leaves their foot on the brake pedal when stopped. Gets very annoying some times! At least in a Gal you sit higher than most normal brake lamps so the dazzle is reduced a bit :rolleyes:

I'm not going to win, am I? :rolleyes:

Kitchen spatula can be used (or DIY decorator's palette knife) - but be careful not to take the paint off the car with it!

..so stick it in "P" when you come to a halt then!

Throttle potentiometer? (not an instruction, a suggestion of a possibly defective part!)

Hmm, I get pretty fed up stuck at traffic lights etc behind people who leave their foot on the brake, dazzling me with all their brake lights. There ought to be a device that switches the brake lights off automatically after the vehicle has been stationary for 5 seconds. What's wrong with using the hand-brake?