Ivor_E_Tower

Common problem, as you have already found, is wires breaking between body and tailgate. Suggest you go back and have another look and feel each wire in turn until you find the power feed to the boot lock solenoid.

This is a dreadful fiasco and I'm amazed that Ford just do not seem to care. Time to contact a local or national newspaper, or write to What Car magazine's helpline perhaps.

Snap! I've got the one behind the speedo - cannot cure it by holding the dash and have programmed my brain to ignore it!

Have you been to a dealer and asked if they can check that all recall work has been done on the car, and ask if any software upgrades are available?

Do your belt up one more notch or buy smaller trousers :P Check that the jack/wheelbrace hasn't come loose inside the side panel.

There have been some rumours on this site (and elsewhere) that petrol engines have chain-driven camshafts :P

Folding the mirror should not weaken it at all. If the painted cover on your original mirror is undamages, it can be carefully prised off and re-fitted to the replacement, saving the need to pay for that one to be painted. If you can't work out how to prise it off, you are welcome to try reversing down my driveway and clipping one of the car port supports! You have to get it just right, then the cover simply pops off :P

Check the wires between the body of the car and the tailgate - IIRC the right-hand side rubber flexi thing. Common problem.

Absolutely right :ph34r:

If you have multimedia with VHS player, it lives in the place where the CD changer is usually fitted - hence for consistency (and to save money) Ford leave out the CD changer irrespective of whether you have VHS or DVD. Sounds like the lead is already fitted, so just check that the head unit will take the other end (is it already plugged in?) then get a changer; should be OK (fingers crossed).

What strange friends you have!

How old is the car? There are known issues with facelifted model instrument displays, that are covered by warranty, assuming that VW have now got a fix for the problems - search the forum for more info.

Move house ;) ;) :o ...but seriously - run an electric fan heater (or maybe 2 for a vehicle with such a large interior volume) into the car from the house and run it off a timer switch to make sure it was nicely warmed up before I got in.

I don't know how the boiling point test works - only that the garage that I let service my cars does this test. In fact, now I remember, when they serviced mine last time they recommended fluid change but I said I'd have it done next year, and they then said that they had done a "boiling point" test anyway and that it didn't need changing just yet. I think with main dealers, it's just another ploy to make money; if it needs changing it should be on the schedule and included in the price - a bit like aircon system top-up and re-gas (and Ford are not the only "offenders" on this matter).

I thought it sounded wrong - so far I've only come across Citroens where the instrument panel lighting is switched on with the ignition - and very confusing that was too - on a pool car somewhere I used to work. Misled you into thinking that you had already switched the lights on as it got dark. ;)

If what Masked Marauder says is true, and it sounds correct, then hopefully when the integrity of the loop is restored, the lamp will reset itself next time that the car is started and the computers go through their diagnostic checks.

Not heard of instrument lights coming on with the ignition in a Galaxy before; certainly they don't on mine. Anyone else know about this quirk?

What size is the spare wheel and tyre? I thought it should be same as the other 4 but just steel not alloy. My early facelifted version has an alloy spare, same as the other 4 except badly gouged by first owner ;)

If they really know what they are doing, they will take a sample of brake fluid and measure its boiling point to see if it needs changing. Personally I get mine changed every 3 years.

Would you like to park yours outside my house at night? I keep finding paw prints across my roof and down the windscreen when I get in to drive to work :)

..or lock it twice using the key in the drivers door - turn key twice within about 3 seconds, the red LED will stop flashing and the car will stay locked but NOT alarmed.

Newly rebuilt box has higher internal friction than "worn" old box, so more energy required to overcome resistance to movement, hence worse fuel consumption. However, if it is as drastic as you suggest, maybe something is not right?

It's OK to be raped, so long as the letters stand for Repair As Per Estimate :)

Strange - last year I bought from my local Halfords a set of Bosch front blades for my facelifted model and they fitted straight out of the box; a rear wiper also purchased there fitted too (OK so it misses the top of the screen, but whose replacement blade doesn't?)

It is too much fluid - have you checked the level previously? Juddering can be caused by several things - air in the system (which could explain the rise in level up to a point-how is the air getting in? ...and if it is getting in, why isn't the fluid escaping when engine switched off?; sticking spool valves in the rack causing the equivalent of "water hammer" in the steering rack; slipping pump causing varying level of assistance (but you appear to have ruled this out from existing diagnostics). Maybe other causes too.