Ivor_E_Tower

(1) yes Ford dealers seem to use the first trip to confirm that there is a fault, and require another booking to investigate it (even though everyone else seems to think that the first visit after reporting a fault is to investigate it). (2) If they cannot fix your fault this time, demand a new replacement vehicle as yours is obviously either a "lemon" or has an incurable fault. Good luck! Ivor

.. or unplug it whereupon the engine management system should adopt a "default" series of settings which may not be perfect, but the car should then behave almost normally. If it does, then change the MAF sensor.

Yeah, but you're not having spray-on stuff fitted and you're gettign film done professionally so you shouldn't have to worry about air bubbles! Are you using Pentagon?

..and I picked up a chip and small crack on the windscreen within half an hour of picking my second-hand Gal up too.

Haven't found one, nor can I find a luggage net or a split dog guard that allows 6 seats plus segregated pet area :-(( Earlier postings asking for help/info have drawn a blank too....

Kevin - my Gal reg in Jan2001 was manufactured in Oct2000. The rear 2 seats do fold up - you have to slide them as far back as possible on their runners, then slide all the middle seats as far forwards as they can go. The 2 rearmost seats then fold up OK, although they make contact with the middle row seats which leaves some impressions of the catches etc in the material. Did you have worse problems than this with the seats? Ivor. From Kevin: Because Ford (and Volkswagen as we tried a new Sharan after Ford gave us back our money) increased the thickness of the foam on the seats on model 2000 Galaxy's, when the rearmost 2 were folded over and tumbled upright, even with the centre seats as far forward as they would go, it was extremely tight. You could 'ram' them into position, but the plastic trim got damaged and came off. As on your car, the seats would also leave an 'impression' on each other. Also the plastic covers on metal levers would be knocked off leaving the sharp metal exsposed, which ripped the seat material on the seats in front. If you didn't have them 'rammed' into position they would fall back under hard acceleration and the sharp spikes that fit the floor track would impale themselves on our two Labradors. The seats were too heavy and awkward for my wife to remove and what is the point of buying a 7 seater car if you have to leave the two rear seats in the garage all of the time and have great trouble re-fitting them on the odd occasion you did have 7 passengers? In February 2001 Ford had a meeting with VW and SEAT to resolve the problem but it appears that early model 2000 vehicles were not modified retrospectively. We had a load of other problems too with our Galaxy...engine cutting out, poor headlight beam, rattles, windscreen wipers packed up

Thanks Patrick, interesting to know...and for Fredt, my mum comes from Malaysia and I've been fortunate to go there acouple oftimes in the past few years. Don't recall seeing any Galaxies there; most popular MPV seems to be the Toyota Unser which is not imported into Europe. There are an increasing number of Renault Scenics out there though.

UK spec Ghia's do not come with multifunction steering wheel as standard - it's

If book says min 5W40 and they have used 5W30, they have used better than book, so don't complain! The lower the second number, the more viscous the oil is at high temperatures - i.e. the easier it flows. Can't help you on the noise though; may be best to leave the car with dealer overnight, especially as they've offered...

Lynchy - your car should be covered by the Ford warranty. Aircon on early Galaxy/Alhambra/Sharan is known to be problematic but I thought it was better on the facelifted versions. Unfortunately this appears not to be the case. We've had many postings on aircon sagas, including my own Gal - first reg in Jan 2001 and I bought it in May 2003. Aircon went u/s after 3 weeks; took 3 visits to dealer to sort out due to problems in [a] diagnosing what was wrong and obtaining spares due to lengthy delays. My vehicle needed new condenser and compressor plus various other bits; fortunately it was covered under Ford's 3-year warranty otherwise it would have cost me in the region of

Patrick - glad you got your problem sorted out. Are there many Galaxies in Hong Kong, or did you have yours specially imported there? Regards Ivor

Should be in the region of

Yeah, that's the trouble - I suspect that Microbus will be well over-priced to cash in on retro-appeal, much like the new Beetle. Touran, Zafira etc are not realy full 7-seaters as rearmost seats are too small for proper adult use. SA Intruder hinted that Ford are planning a Galaxy replacement of their own, but I've not seen anything to support this in the motoring press, and I think that SA I is on holiday now. I would think that VW will produce a replacement for the Sharan, if only because they have this huge factory in Portugal that makes the current Sharan, Alhambra and Galaxy. I can't believe that they would make the Microbus here on its own, because I don't think that the volume would be right - don't think they'd sell as many as current Sharan etc. Not sure about the Citroen C8 though; the new C8, 807, Ulysse still look like converted vans somehow (like their predecessors) whereas the Espace and Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra look like proper MPV's. Previous experience with a Citroen (owned for 4 years from new) tells me to be very wary of buying another one....

You may be able to get refurbished callipers rather than new - will depend on cost. Back in the early 1990's I had a front calliper seize on a Honda; replacement cost was over

Not personally but we've had at least one posting to this forum stating that they scratch easily and soon look naff.

The forum welcomes Sharan and Alhambra drivers, so don't think that you're trespassing! We also try to help each other out, so feel free to ramble on at length; we can always switch off if we get fed up! Oh, and keep us informed of developments with the cars; it's all useful info that may help one or more of us out in the future. Ivor.

Revisited the Scorpio site - it's not too easy to find the item you want so try: http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/2007hbook.htm Sorry - haven't worked out how to post it as a hyperlink... ah well, when added to site it has become a hyperlink of its own accord! Ivor.

Trouble is, Sharan/Galaxy/Alhambra is long into its model cycle that I don't know if VW would look at installing another engine - for instance the new 2litre diesel that will go into the forthcoming Golf and new Audi A3. The 2.5 V6 TDI would be a great choice for the Galaxy, but with Ford selling out their share of the factory to VW, I don't think that they are even interested in fitting their TDCI engines into the Galaxy. It is suggested in the motoring press that VW will replace the Sharan with the Microbus due in 2005, plus the new Touran (Golf 7-seater) due in UK shortly. Seat are now supposed to be producing a 7-seat version of the Salsa concept car, similar in size to Touran. So where does that leave Ford? Focus C-Maxx is 5 seats only so what are their plans?

Try http:\\www.fordscorpio.co.uk and follow links to the audio pages. This site has been put together by someone as passionate about the Scorpio as we are about the Galaxy.

Most alerts can be reset by disconnecting the battery or pulling the right fuse. Could be worth unplugging and replugging in all the wheel sensor leads/connections, then pulling the fuse and see if the light stays out... Fingers crossed for you. Ivor

Not necessarily; depends on what it is. Could just be a wheel rotation sensor on the way out, or a dirty connection somewhere. Should be possible for a dealer or possibly an independent to interrogate the ABS system for fault codes.

Yup, and the worrying thing is, from other postings we've had, that if the engine continued to run after you'd taken the key out, it could be turbo problems with the engine running on oil that it's sucking into the pistons from the sump (via a strange route). Definitely needs checking out. Have you checked your oil level now, RS Pete? (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't the turbo on the way out...) Ivor

In line. It is likely that if you disconnect the passenger airbag, all the airbag and pretensioner systems will be disabled by the control computer in addition to the warning lamp being illuminated permanently. I'm sure that this is not what you want!

As far as I'm aware there is no problem with a diesel. The glowplugs will cut out after they get hot enough, and they should be on a timer anyway to cut out after about 30 seconds maximum. There are no other likely high current drains that I can think of.

Congratulations on a job well done! Shows that sometimes, perseverance pays off.