AndyMan

"Sorry, I was thinking that the Mk1 and Mk2 were similar." Is that a Mk II in the picture - looks a lot like the steady bar on my Mk II. The Mk I had a bolt in the end of the bar which sheared off. It's a non-standard pitch but the through bolt was the same pitch so we popped a normal bolt in the transverse (through) position and used the original through bolt in the end. The engine sort of dangled and banged to and fro very severely between drive and overdrive without it. This shudder is much smoother. Googling roll restrictor shows pictures of a round thing with three bolts. I've not been under there since 2003 but I'll take a peek soon! But I'm beginning to wonder about the traction control. . Cheers. Andy

Yikes! On my Mk 1 there was a steady-bar underneath the engine/gearbox, and a bolt sheared in that. Totally different to what I have in this car. I've seen photos of a round thing? Andy

Thanks guys Lots of possibilities there. I think I can discount the traction control as a WL comes on for that, although I didn't know about the different operation with both wheels slipping, so maybe there's a throttle modulation going on. BTW I've seen the WL more often when someone catches the switch and turns it off by mistake! I'm interested in CaramaC's heatshield issue - seems unlikely that this would cause so much shaking as I get, but he does say 'heavy shuddering' it's not just noise, when heavily loaded you can see things shaking about! Nice if it was something so simple, though. I will also look into the roll restrictor but I can't budge the engine from under the bonnet, and as I say the vibes seem to be transverse rather than fore-and aft. I suppose that could just be some sort of transferance. It's only done 54K - should the RR be worn out already? Andy

Sorry, rather late reply but might be helpful galaxy radios are more square! Yeah, 'tis true but look carefully and you'll see the curved standard radio inside a bit of extra moulding to fit the square (VW) hole. The entire front can be carefully removed. In some cases you need to swap the LCD panel too as the connectors vary. On eBay be careful to get the right model, with a volume knob or up/down buttons as the knob is NOT part of the front panel, but pokes through a hole. Worked okay for me Andy

Pardon the ignorance - Roll Restrictor? Andy

Hi I've spent an hour rooting around here and not found anything on this so perhaps it's just me. If so I'd be glad for any suggestions. If not a link to what I've missed would oblige me. My 2.8 VR6 Mk II Galaxy has developed an odd shudder. Pulling away at around 20mph, the front of the car shudders - waggles almost. Frequency probably 2-3 Hz. This is with the clutch fully engaged, it's not a clutch judder. It varies in intensity accoring to the amount of power applied. So light-loaded it's not too obvious, partly because one doesn't spend long at 20 mph :-). Heaviliy laden it is very obviousespecially in 2nd gear, and seems to shake the dashboard horizontally left and right. The steering, however is not affected. VAG-COM does not report any misfire and the engine is pulling smoothly and cleanly. It feels as quick as ever (I bought it in 2003) and does good mpg (mid 20s). Oh, and coasting at 20 mph there is no noticeable oscillation at all. There's a slight repeat wobble at about 40mph, only noticeable laden uphill and nothing at any higher speeds. Motorway cruising in unaffected at any speed/load combination. This has persisted through 3 sets of front tyres, including swapping the rear wheels to the front, 2 changes of brake pads and 1 of brake disks. As it seems to be roadspeed related, but wheel/brake balance doesn't appear to be the answer I wondered about drive shafts. The shaft failure threads seem to say clonks precede that problem, though and I have no clonks (except ARB arms every 20k of course). I realised just how long the car has been doing this when my 15 year old son indicated that he thought it was natural because the car was working so hard! Must've been doping it 2-3 years at least and nothing has broken yet. Suggestions please folks. Cheers Andy

Not sure if this applies to you (can't hear your clunk from here) but my first Gal (a 1996 2.8 V6) did that from when I first bought it. It didn't seem to get any worse so I ignored it for a while until one day it did a really big clunk (during a spirited pull away at the lights) and then seemed to be very much worse. I drove slowly and carefully to work (where we had a ramp) and found that the engine rocked in the bay as if hanging from the upper parts only. Looking underneath (behind the tray) I found a big steady bar with rubber bushes that presumably reacts all the torque - mine had a broken bolt in it (no head). I surmise the bolt had never been tightened and the constant impact had eventually snapped the head off. This might not be your problem, but it tightening one bolt saves you all that angst it's gotta be worth checking. Cheers Andy

VAG-COM will do it but can cost a couple of hundred - see www.ross-tech.com. Mk 1 Galaxy could reset service indicator using the trip odometer button hold one in whist switching on the ignition IIRC. Anyone got a better memory than me? Andy

Just to say Hi - I'm a pretty dedicated galaxy owner - on my second 2.8 (4 yrs with me now) - even got my own VAG COM so perhaps I can contribute a little (when I'm allowed to post!) Like many I'm here because I have a problem but I guess this is not teh place to go into it. Looks like a significant resource here - there used to be a Yahoo Galaxy group but it was Sooo quiet I gave up on it. Now I know where you were all hiding! Cheers Andy