MrT

Halfords do a large range of spare bulb kits - a legal requirement in most European countries.

Sounds about right. The aircon system is similar to that used in many cars and the galaxy needs a lot more cooling due to its size and amount of glass. The climate control in auto is only designed to cool the car to 18C or 61F although on LO it can get it a bit lower.

When you fill and measure the low pressure you are meant to have the air con running, if it is not, the low pressure reading will actually be higher than it should be. Also I have the same guage and when my car had just been correctly filled the pressure reading was just over where it should be. The gauge does not make good contact with the valve in the low pressure connector and I have to push the gauge connector hard down to get the pressure to read correctly. I don't trust the gauges accuracy at all but as it is consistant I can tell if the pressure has dropped.

Somewhere on this site someone a year or so ago posted the information from the Ford TIS on how to do this. It includes the graph of what the outlet temperatures should be compared to the outside temperature. If you spend a bit of time searching this technical section you should find it.

if you have not already done it, by an air con thermometer from Halfords or similar for under

Normally on an overcharge your pressure goes way to high and the overpressure switch (same switch as low pressure) will trigger and cut out the air-con and you will get the flashing display on the climate control and lack of aircon, just as you would with low pressure. If the overpressure switch fails, it could be expensive.

No it is in Birmingham which makes them even harder to understand.

On the MK2 if you have two evaporators you will have air outlet vents in the roof above the second (3 outlets) and third (2 outlets) row seats, a really thick rear left pillar against the hatch (for the air pipes) and normally no sunroof and a non-opening very rear left window. Another point I have noticed is that in very hot weather 25+ at idle there may not be enough speed on the compressor to get maximum cooling, once you are get a few revs there is a good increase in cooling power. This will vary according to the type of engine and compressor across the models. On mine at idle (about 600rpm) with maximum cooling front and rear, the incoming air is around 48F at idle and 40F at 2000rpm+ (6250rpm is max).

Have you checked that when the aircon should be on that the centre of the compressor (three bolts) is rotating? When my compressor failed, it was the electromagnetic clutch that was no longer working. It was cheaper to buy and fit a remanufactured compressor than a new clutch. I also had the famous condersor leak that could not be detected for a long time by dye or sniffer and when that happened I had the same symptons as yourself wiht the hot and cold pipes, flashing display etc. None of the above should affect the rate of air flow from the vents, only its temperature. Surely if you put your fans on full, the airflow is the same on econ or auto? I would not go on the reg plate as a true indication of the particular date build of car, it could have been dealer stock for a long time before it was registered, you can determine the build date from the VIN plate.

Thanks it seems that there are not the replacements I expected. I should have had three brake fluid changes and one set of spark plugs. I will see what the garage have to tell me but I think it is only the spark plugs that have not been changed as I know these have never been billed for. As for the MoT and seats they phoned VOSA who told them to test it as a 4 seater and issue an "Advisory Notice".

My gal is now about 7 years old, I don't use it much at all except for holidays when it is the only thing big enough that I can get 4 bikes and a massive roof box and loads of luggage with the back seats removed. I am only doing under 2000 miles per year. I have had three sets of problems with the car, the air-con which required a new compressor and condenser, the six ignition coils replacing and a couple of windscreens. I have had the car serviced every year from new, which from what I remember (I may be wrong) is the engine oil and various filters changed, fluid levels checking and greasing etc. Now apart from one set of brake pads and some wiper blades, I think everything else is original and that does not seem right to me for a car of that age. Even with the low mileage and the car currently being problem free, I am sure that there should be age related items that require changing, auto fluid, brake fluids, belts etc. Has anyone a schedule specific for my model of when things should be replaced due to age, even if they show no problems? My dealer also thinks this is odd and is going to go back through their records for the last five years ( the first two services dealer lost their Ford franchise) to check all past service records, as the service program has not flagged anything needing to be done that has not. Another thing I picked up yesterday is to leave all the seats in for the MoT as they need to test the seat belts and mountings. I usually do not leave the back row of seats in the car.

This may not be of much help but I seem to remember (I think it works on the Galaxy) that if you have climate control, a certain combination of buttons will put you in a test mode allow you to see the speed in the climate control display. If you can see a speed here, the sensor will be working and it will be the speedo that is faulty. Certainly through VAG-COM you can see the speed that the engine management detects and also if the speed sensor is faulty you may see an error code.

You could try Compressortech. I bought a remanufactured (as opposed to reconditioned) compressor (due to a broken clutch) for

I remember the coil packs costing about

Don't forget the car travel documentation, fist aid kit, fire extinguisher, headlamp convertors, warning triangle and a reflective vest for every member of the vehicle, these are recommended in most countries and mandatory in some. You should get your NHS card for free treatment in European countries for each member of your party. A torch is always useful. Taking a MAF may be a bit excessive but where do you stop? If everything is thoroughly checked before going and you have some form of breakdown cover, you should not need to carry too many spares.

The elements in the heated seats have a habit of breaking and it happens mostly in the drivers seat as this is used the most. I suggest you get the lead where it comes out of the seat, separate the plug and see if you have 12 volts there. If you have, it is the seat element that has gone. (Do make sure you have the heated seat plug and not the airbag in the seat's plug). If there is not 12V there, start looking at fuses and relays. If it is the element, it is difficult to replace and the whole bottom seat material needs removing and refitting. The process for doing this is described in the Ford TIS.

If you get someone with an engine code reader or VAG-COM a faulty coil will show up on the system as "Misfire Cylinder X". This happened to me and I confirmed the faulty coil by swapping them and the reported misfire moved to another cylinder. Around 2001, Bosch produced a faulty version of these coil packs, (I have put the details of the relevant part numbers somewhere on this forum about 2 years ago) and these were recalled by VW in various countries around the world. Needless to say Ford UK did not recall them and would not consider replacing them outside of warranty. I replaced all six coils and have not had problems with them since. One thing to be very carefull about is the wiring plugs that connect to the coil packs, they clip on and can easily be broken, if you do break them you cannot buy a new plug, you have to get the whole wiring harness which is very expensive.

From what I can see the Parkers guide lists mine as an F at 278g which is correct and it will cost

It is all down to the C02 emissions of the vehicle which are usually higher for autos. I don't know the various Galaxy figures but mine is near 300g. The top class in 2008/9 for cars registered after 1 Mar 2001 but prior to 23 March 2006 is band F (above 186g) and for cars registered after 23 March 2006 there is a higher band G (above 226g). In 2009/10 there is a new range of classes (H-M) for all registration dates after 1 Mar 2001 and many vehicles will move up a class or more depending on their emissions.

I see these Memoscan devices work on all ODBII compliant vehicles and list the Fords but they do not list the VWs. The manufacturer lists a separate product for VAG cars but this is not listed as compatible with Fords. As I have a Gal (VW engine and electronics) and a Focus (07), is there one handheld product that will do both?

Whilst I am (was?) an electronics expert, I do not think there is very much need for electronics knowledge when working on the car. If any electronics bit goes wrong, it normally needs replacement, the inner workings are not usually fixable and you really just need to know what that electronics unit does rather than how it does it and which unit needs replacing. Some sort of code reader for the electronics is useful in maintenance as it can tell you the faults reported by the electronics units. The electrical things that go wrong in the car are more often than not, the tradtional things that have always gone wrong, wiring breaking, poor connections, ignition coils breaking down with age and dodgy relays. I suppose the modern bits that do go wrong are the electrical sensors and these have to be replaced. When this happens they are little different to replacing the old fashioned sensors and parts such as oil pressure warning, temperature sensor and also the ignition condensor (remember those?). In some ways electronics are simpler, remember having to change ignition points, setting the gap then using a strobe to check the timing and rotating the distributor to do this? Again trying to balance a set of SU carbs to get smooth running was not exactly an easy task.

A USB to serial convertor would only work if there were DOS drivers for it and I do not think there are.

On my Mk1 2.8 Gal I had two sets of front disks replaced under warranty (1997) in the first year due to wobbling at hard high speed braking. At the time I was told it was a known problem with the discs and it happened predominantly on autos as drivers braked hard and stopped, then they tended to hold the car stationary (against the autobox drag) with the footbrake pressing hard against hot disks, whilst on a manual you would have dipped the clutch and/or used the handbrake. Not sure if that is the real reason but it sounds feasible.

Why not buy the bulbs from Halfords in St Albans, a lot cheaper than from a Ford Dealer?

Maybe the locking system should be clever enough through the internal sensors which detect people in the car, not to auto-deadlock it that situation.