MrT

I frequently drive between the M25 area and Northumberland and it is not difficult to make an hours difference on that journey.

I just did a quick sum and it was really scary to work out that I have more

Oddly I find that the money (fuel) savings made by driving slower in no way compensate to the cost of time lost in taking longer to get there. I would rather gain an hour in time than save

I believe that all cars are moving to disks all round as ABS is now a legal requirement in most countries and is cheaper to implement on disks.

Check that the clutch on the air con compressor is engaging when the air con is turned on. When it engages the centre of it (three bolt heads visible) spins. If it is not spinning see if you have 12V to the clutch and if not look for electical issues. If it is spinning look at the mechanical system. Most air con issues are caused by leaks. Also if you have climate control, when the low or high pressure protection switch had operated, it flashes the LCD display when you first turn on the engine.

As I have said before there is only one control operating the air con system and that is the 12V to the compressor clutch. If there is 12V to the clutch and the system is not working it has nothing to do with any sensor or switch or any other electrical device. All these devices decide whether to turn the compressor on or off by applying the 12V to the clutch. If you are not getting the 12V to the clutch or the 12V ito the clutch is turning on and off, look at your sensors and electrics. If you have a steady 12V to the compressor clutch look at the air con mechanicals. THERE IS NO OTHER ELECTRICAL INPUT TO THE AIR CON SYSTEM.

It will change with rpm and may change a little as the temperature of the system varies but it should not be changing every few seconds. You need first to check if the clutch is engaging and disengaging as this happens. If it is, the problem could be the pressure switch operating due to too much or little refridgerent, an electrical fault or even the thermostat controls cycling the system. If the clutch is engaged all the time this pressure change happens you either have very low gas, or a broken clutch and/or compressor.

You would need the double pressure testing setup to detect a stuck expansion valve, but this is very unlikely unless you have had a major compressor failure where debris has been spread around the system. A condensor failure would be a leak in the condensor, detectable by dye and a pressure soak test, although mine was not clearly shown up by this. A compressor or compressor clutch failure again can usually be shown by a proper pressure test. Again the most likely problem is a leak which the Galaxies are notorious for. If it is not an obvious leak, the only way to tell is by having it correctly filled then after a period having the gas removed and reweighed to see how much has leaked out. VAG-COM will not tell you anything much about the mechanical side of the system, it will tell you if you have had an over or underpressure alarm, various temperatures and distribution (flap) positions, but not what is causing the problems you describe. Any reputable air conditioning specialist should be able to work out what your fault is. Keeping paying for re-gases and examinations with cheaper "specialists" will work out more expensive in the longer term and without specialist equipment, a DIY solution may not be possible. Even if you could diagnose a compressor failure yourself and decide to change it, you would not be able to vacuum out the system (essential), fully re-gas and oil and pressure test it yourself. It should not be hard to find a good specialist who will charge a diagnosis charge and will then take this off the bill if you decide to let them fix it.

That depends if it clicked in the first time and worked but soon died and that is repeatable after leaving for some time, or if from now on every time it clicks in it doesn't cause the drop in revs. If it only dropped revs once and never again, that points to a leak somewhere, i.e. it works whilst full of gas but when some has been lost it will never work again until a re-gas. A good air-con engineer would have weighed the gas before and after their work, if they needed to add a lot after all the work that had been recently done, that would again point to a leak. The way it worked pn;y once, sounds more like a leak than a compressor failure. Also if you have the dual air-conditioning, that is with the vents in the roof lining for the rear seats, you need a lot more gas than the normal system.

You also have to be careful over locking then unlocking the car when leaving people inside it. If you lock it, then unlock it and walk away without having opened a door, it will think you have not entered the car and automatically relock (deadlock) it and set the alarm after a short period of time. I did this at a shopping centre and left the family locked inside the car with the alarm going off and no way for them to open the doors.

As the clutch is being switched on and off, the electrical system is doing its job, so that is not your main problem. If no pipes are getting cool the system is not compressing and decompressing the refrigerant. This can only be due to either the system being blocked which is very unlikely, the compressor not working properly or insufficient refrigerant. Too much refrigerant would stop the system from running as the pressure sensor would stop the compressor from being switched on or it would turn on and off every few seconds. A severe lack of refrigerant would also trigger the pressure switch and stop the compressor being switched on, but the system would fail to cool long before that happened. If pipes get cool but the car doesn't you have have stuck air distribution flaps or blocked airways. If your compressor centre turns but there is no noticeable drop in engine revs (it is a small drop but the change in note can be heard) due to the load when it engages, this would point to a broken compressor shaft or other compressor failure My system behaved this way and even with dyes and pressure tests no leak could be found. The system would work after a regas and just get weaker over a few weeks. There was a microscopic leak on the condenser at the top of the dryer, (where it normally occurs due to faulty design and corrosion on the early Mark 2s), but it was only eventually found after the system was dismantled to replace the compressor due to a total clutch failure. When I looked at prices just over a year ago, it was cheaper overall to buy and have fitted a re-manufactured compressor than it was to buy and fit a new clutch. I seem to remember recently some large chain offering no charge if their regas did not make the system cooler. It was Quickfit, ATS, Halfords or similar.

The only electrical control to the air conditioning unit is the power that engages the compressor. If the compressor is engaging and there is no cold air, the probelm is mechanical and not electrical. You first need to check that the compressor is engaging and disengaging when told to do so by the controls, the easiest way to do this is to listen for a clunk and a drop in revs when the airconditioning engages and the rise when it disengages. You can also see the centre of the compressor turning when it is engaged. If this is happening, then your problem is not electrical. If the compressor does not engage, then start looking for an electrical problem or a failed compressor clutch. The first thing to check is the power supply to the compressor clutch which is only two wires, if you have 12V here, when the air-con is meant to be on, but the air con is not working, then the problem is the clutch or another mechanical failure. If you do not get the 12V to the compressor when the air con should be running, then you need to start looking at the electrical system.

I did not think that the whole range had the same size disks?

Vagcom will only tell you if your pressure (over/under) has been activated and various readings for the climate control sensors and distribution flaps. Whilst the climate control electronics make lots of decisions as to how the air is distributed in the car, the only decision it makes as to the refrigeration operation is compressor engaged or not. If you do not have cooling when the clutch is engaged, either you have lost gas, the compressor is not compressing or you have some other obstruction in the system. A pressure test on only the low side may well show a reasonable pressure when there is in fact too little gas for the cooling system to work. There may be enough pressure for the low pressure lock out not to be triggered. The only real way to tell how much gas you have is to vacuum it out and weight it. When my system failed to cool the car anymore, the low pressure side still gave an adequate reading. A combined high pressure and low pressure test would show if the compressor was working properly, but this needs more than the DIY kit commonly available. When mine had failed it still passed all the leak pressure tests, but still kept on very slowly losing gas at the top of the condenser/dryer which did not show any dye. If yours is an early Mk2, years 2000-2002 the corroded condenser/dryer is very likely the problem. All your symptoms are the same as my failure.

Possible broken compressor shaft? The compressor centre should turn by hand with a resistance (obviously turn the engine off), if it turns freely the shaft may be broken.

If you are looking for a small independent garage in South Herts try Far East products and services, they sorted out my Galaxy air con when Ford couldn't and my wifes car when the dodgy silicon Asda/Tesco petrol messed up the lambda sensor. 01923 839892

This is a well known fault on the early Mk2 Galaxies, in fact it is so well known that Ford briefed all their garages about the fault and how to fit the replacement better designed condensor. This document/bulletin exists in the Ford TIS, so any reputable Ford Garage should have known about it. Likewise I had the fault for a year or so but knew about the potential cause, however the leak was so small the dye was of no use and I assumed the fault lay elsewhere. TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN No.112/2002 Car and Light/Medium Commercial 28.11.2002 Section: 412-03 Model: Galaxy 2000.75, built up to and including 21.07.2002 (build code 2M) Markets: All Subject: Air conditioning system inoperative or inadequate cooling power; leaks in the air conditioning system Summary Should a customer express concern that the air conditioning system is inoperative or there is inadequate cooling power and there are leaks in the air conditioning system, the probable cause is a corroded/damaged aluminium cover on the air conditioning condenser or a damaged O-ring. To rectify this concern, a new air conditioning condenser should be installed. Production Action A revised air conditioning condenser has been installed in production since 22.07.2002 (build code 2M)

Ford Parts UK These guys are good and reasonably priced. However if you only want to buy one, consider the costs of P&P vs Ford Dealers prices.

Some people say there are problems with DIY kits as in this report. The problem I found with DIY kits (they cans were

My Galaxy handbook says I should use 98 octane fuel and "If the fuel available has a lower octane rating than that required by your vehicles, reduced engine performance and higher fuel consumption may result.". I normally use Sainsbury's Super Unleaded and that is only 97 Octane and there is a difference in performance. Also if you do use a lower octane fuel, the engine management system will compensate by retarding the timing etc.

The battery should have a lip at the bottom (see the Varta web site Hold Down Type 13) . This lip should slide under a bent over metal lip at the back of the battery tray. At the front of the battery tray there is a triangular piece of metal fixed to the body and another loose triangular piece of metal with curved edges and a hole in it. The loose piece should fit over the lip of the battery with the smaller edge fitting into the edge of the lower fixed triangular piece. A bolt goes through the loose piece into the fixed piece and when it is tightened, it pushes down onto the lip of the battery holding it in place. There is also a black (in my case) plastic cover (about 6cm square) that goes over the postive terminal to insulate it and stop anything from falling on it.

Just a point for anyone else reading this is that it is easy to think you have a Lead battery installed instead of a Calcium due to the labelling on the batteries. My old battery was a Calcium (from the design and part numbers) and was made for Audi in Eastern Europe but it only had the Pb (lead) warning on it. My new silver-calcium battery mentions silver, lead and calcium.

My battery played up at the weekend after I had been spring cleaning the car all day. I assumed that I had run the battery down over the course of the day. Recharged it and all seemed fine. On reading an article linked to in this thread it said if the battery indicator was clear, that the battery should be replaced. I went out this morning to check it and every time I unlocked the doors, they immediately locked themselves again before I had time to open the doors. Once I got in, the interior lights and everything else was working but it would not start. The battery indicator was clear and I decided to phone around and get a replacement. It was unbelievably difficult trying to source a battery. Halfords only get them to special order (5 days) for the Galaxy and they would be

I am not sure if there is any differences between the various manufacturers in sizes but I am think that the MkII Galaxy has a deeper top to the tailgate with a small spoiler like bump above the rear glass. From front to rear the top of the tailgate on the MkII is roughly horizontal before curving back into the rear windscreen. The depth of the top of the tailgate from the crack between the roof and the tailgate and the rearmost point on the top of the tailgate is 12.5cm on the MkII. This measurement and shape is important as the Ford (supplied) Galaxy bike rack top mounting consists of a plate that is curved into a U shaped lip at the front that hooks over the leading edge of the top of the tailgate and a C shaped lip at the back that clips over the back round edge of the top of the tailgate. The rubber insert in the clip allows the compression needed to clip it on, so it does rely on being a very good fit as there is nothing to adjust.

There is a low/high pressure switch and when that detects abnormal it usually shows by the climate control display panel flashing when you first start the car. If this is activated the clutch on the air con will not engage. However this warning is usually at a "last resort" level and the power of the air con has fallen away long before this happens. The sudden misting of windows also points to the air con not drying out the air in winter. The air con on the Galaxy is not powerful enough (in my opinion) for the amount of glass and size of car and even when working well, on a very sunny hot day, the Sun shining on your arms can make you feel hot. The simplest test of how well it works is to get a