Ivor_E_Tower

Try van aaken as suggested by Griffiths; I think they are based on the TRL site near Crowthorne; they've been featured in a number of motoring mags; read a few good reports over the years and not seen anything bad about their work, but see other threads on this site about possible problems of "chipping" engines.

0W-50 is better than 5W50 (more viscous at lower temperatures).

Well, Inchcape Ford (Farnborough) have redeemed themselves; took 3 visits but they have sorted the aircon on my car; they sourced a compressor from another dealer due to long delays in Ford's parts system and followed up by phoning me at home in the evening to check that all was well.

Yes - best to use fully synthetic. Try Mobil 1, or I think Castrol do a "magnatec" for turbodiesels as an alternative. Don't know if Halfords still do their own-brand fully synthetic which I have used on previous (petrol) engined cars.

Don't believe the insurance details on their database - get the proper check done. My Jan 2001 Gal ghia tdi 115 was shown on the insurance database as a ghia-X 110 - a model which ceased production about 8 months before my car was made! I got the insurance co to change the database!

Look underneath the Ka and see if the inside faces of the bumpers have been painted.... Depends - on the old Citroen BX, for instance, the original colour bumpers were moulded in the relevant colour, but any replacements (eg after crash damage) were grey and sprayed to suit. Don't know about the Ka in great detail - I thought that only the "special editions" had colour coded bumpers.

I'm a happy bunny again! Inchcape Ford sorted the aircon at last, yesterday. The dealer principal even phoned me at home in the evening to check that all was well with the car, which it is. He also told me that they were still waiting for the compressor to come in from Ford's spares sytem, and that they had sourced one from another dealer in Kent to speed up my repair. So, third time lucky and my confidence in the dealer is restored. Sadly this is more than can be said for Ford's customer assistance centre who responded to my letter in a somewhat negative and disinterested way.

I had waggled all the suspension bits on mine and not found the noise, but the garage (main dealer ) seemed to know straight away that it was the anti-roll bar links. Reading other postings, it seems almost certain that this is what's causing your noise, Jonathan K. What I find worrying is that they wear so badly after as little as 15,000 miles!

The instruction book for my facelifetd Galaxy says something about taking the car to a dealer if going abroad for headlamp conversion, so I suspect that there's a way of altering the beam to dip to the right. Quite how this placates the Gendarmes, I don't know. They are supposed to have purgers where they stop and fine British motorists who don't have deflectors fitted - even if it's day time and the Brit has no intention of driving at night!

hmmm...a year 2000 Galaxy - facelifted or not? If facelifted, the headlamps are made from plastic which is supposed not to crack, unlike glass. Headlamp protectors should therefore be unnecessary - and also be careful if sticking beam deflectors on (for continental travel) since the glue can leave a mess which should not be cleaned off with strong solvent which can damage the plastic. If pre-facelift then the lamps are glass. There was a company somewhere that used to make a whole range of protectors, but I cannot remember their name! I also do not recall ever seeing a Gal with headlamp protectors. I'll see if I can find anything out.

Do you know who the original supplying dealer is? Could be worth phoning them to see if they can help, but really any Ford dealer should supply you with the code. My parents bought a used Volvo a few years back and the dealer they bought from supplied them with the radio code. This turned out to be incorrect, only discovered with a flat battery, but their nearest dealer, who they did not buy from, looked up and gave them the correct code for free. I believe that it's called customer service - something that Ford dealers don't really seem to know much about, unfortunately.

Jakey247 is the expert on this, but I know that you need a different centre console "centre bit" to fit the Ford satnav system; this also probably means different switch blanking plates.

Jakey247 is the expert on this, but I know that you need a different centre console "centre bit" to fit the Ford satnav system; this also probably means different switch blanking plates.

You have remembered to set the heater to "maximum", I hope........

Could be an electronic glitch. There's a button on the floor under the accelerator pedal so that when you push right down, eg to get "kickdown" if you have an auto, the aircon is switched off so that maximum power is available for acceleration. If you activated this when passing the bus, then perhaps when you released the pedal, the glitch that was stopping your aircon was somehow cured.

Has anyone taken the plunge and fitted a DAB head unit their Galaxy yet? Are there any particular problems, especially with witring etc on the current-shape "facelifted" models? Reading a few other recent posts, it seems that there may ba an issue with getting the original aerial to work. ...and where is the best place to stick the DAB aerial? Ford announced a couple of years ago that they would offer DAB radios in all their vehicles by, I think, 2005. I believe that they "do a deal" with Blaupunkt to have the Woodstock DAB unit fitted but I wonder what his may involve with the Galaxy?

Yes there must be, although it may involve having to find the aerial amp and cut/re-solder wires to it. I used to have a Rover 820 hatch that had the rear window heating elements as the aerial. It was fed through a separate source and switched using the "usual" head unit power antenna lead. I had no problem in upgrading the head unit to a rather nice (but non-Dolby) Blaupunkt radio-cassette.

If you don't have legal cover, phone or call into your local Citizen's advice bureau - most are staffed by people with the same sort of qualifications as solicitors - sometimes you even get retired solicitors or legal executives working there. They should certainly be able to offer good advice as to where you stand legally, and they may even be able to draft and/or send letters to the garages and warranty company.

I think you definitely need legal advice here. How long ago did you buy the car? The selling dealer does not seem to have sold you something of "merchantable quality" and he should have checked if it had been clocked. The Warranty should apply whether or not the car was clocked - that's the whole idea of a warranty, to protect you from unforeseen and unforeseeable problems. The Seat dealer is almost guilty of fraud - trying to overcharge you for strip-down because he didn't like the warranty co's attitude. Mechanical bits of an engine should not disintegrate because they are worn out. Similarly just because the warranty co's engineer can see signs of wear or damage on other engine parts does not mean that the warranty doesn't cover the damage that has already occurred. Have you tried contacting your local paper (if you have one) to get your tale of woe published? Is it time to name and shame the garages involved yet?

Yes - just been out in mine at night; the red triangle should be back-lit.

Sorry to hear the news. In one of your earlier posts you said: "Phoned warranty company this morning and stated that the valve follower had broken. Yes they said, this is covered and also damaged caused by the breakage." Sounds like it's time to contact Watchdog and as many consumer programmes as you can. Have you tried SEAT UK? Write or phone their director of Customer Services. High mileage or not, this seems an odd failure that Seat ought to contribute to.

Well, on the Galaxy, the number of opening rear windows depends on the set-up of the airconditioning system. I suspect that this is the same with the Sharan and Alhambra too. Quite why, is another story.....

Interface box appears to go behind the head unit in the dash, judging by other comments. If you already have a cable just try following it and adding the Sony lead alongside it. This could be done by releasing the carpet at the bottom of the door openings, for instance. Try using a piece of net-curtain hanging wire to aid threading cables - it works a treat, especially when used with a "loop" eyelet in the end you push, with the cable you are trying to feed tied to this loop. (again, I'll say that iy you don't want to listen to cassettes, it may be easier and cheaper to just replace your current 2007 with a new unit in the dash). Keep us updated on what you do!

See my tale of woe which seems to start from a small hole in the condenser. This is apparently not an isolated case (although it's quite rare) - could be that you have a hole somewhere in which case get it investgated quick before you need a new compressor (at about

The saga is being continued under "and the worst dealer is...." Just to say here that there was apparently a hole in the condenser so the gas escaped and the compressor went u/s as a result. The garage failed to check the compressor when investigating the fault. I copied my letter to Ford customer assistance (who did not want to assist) to the dealer principal, who phoned me at home to explain what had happened each time that my car went to them. Shame that they couldn't have told me this themselves at the service desk each time that I went to collect the car. Now I just have to wait for Ford to get their parts supply sorted out, and the dealer to fix the car.