SirToppamHat

MkII Galaxy 1.9TDi GHIA 130PS. Been having a problem with my spare coming down. I won't bother you all with the reasons behind by needing it off, but I've been looking at various threads for a couple of wks now and finally decided to have another go this morning. FWIW, the current price of a new carrier from Fraud Marlow is about £105, but they are available for £90 inc delivery of various Ford dealers through EBay (go figure). Symptoms for me were that the wheel would lower about 3 ins, then simply stay there, wobbling around. No amount of weight on the wheel would help, so I'd decided to have a look at whether I could undo the 2 allen bolts holding the box to the underside of the cross member running under the luggage area/boot. As it was, I couldn't reach them, so was thinking about cutting through the cable, but there was no cable visible. The following picture (borrowed from Suzuki91's excellent post) shows both the white piece at the end of the cable and the steel casing/tube which descends below the winch box: The white piece was actually still partially inside the steel casing/tube and there was a VERY good reason for this. Over the last couple of weeks I had wondered exactly what the lever (L-shaped) mechanism was that hung beneath the winch box and fed into the casing below it. For those new to this it is a safety device so that if the cable snaps, the wheel cannot just drop off the car. This has a kind of flat fork which is held inside the hanging casing by a leaf spring. It catches against the top of the white section once the winch has lowered the wheel about 3 ins. When you undo the main bolt which lowers the wheel, there is a white plastic surround which you are forced to press down to get the socket onto the bolt. This should pull the fork out of the long casing and allow the plastic piece to drop all the way down. In my case, the fork had become slightly rusted into the casing and could not be pulled out in the normal way. I took a long screwdriver and placed it into the end of the fork (through a hole in the spare wheel) and levered it. Suddenly, there was a crack as the for released and the wheel fell free from the car. It might have landed straight onto the driveway, but fortunately my head stopped it, thereby preventing any damage to the rim or tyre. I removed the wheel in the prescribed manner and only then was I able to see what had been the problem (the seized fork). I moved it in and out a few times, then greased the grooves within the metal tube in which the sides of the fork slide. I then extended the cable almost all of the way out (it extends well beyond the rear bumper) and re-attached the wheel before winding it up without further difficulty, and saving myself about £180 in the process! There are some lessons I wish to share: 1. Check you can get your spare off ASAP. Don't wait until you get a puncture on the M4 in the middle of the night in the pissing rain! 2. If the wheel stops lowering, stop undoing the main bolt - I suggest that many of the cable tangling problems people have shared across the web are caused by the fork sticking and then the cable just unwinding into the winch box and 'knotting or jamming' when it is rewound. 3. If it hasn't been done recently (and no it's not part of any service schedule Fraud of Marlow recognise), then take a couple of minutes to grease the 2 grooves I mentioned earlier - it will be really obvious when you are under the car. You do not need any special tools and you don't even need to jack the car up (unless you have an absolutely massive head or a ton of stuff in the luggage compartment!). 4. I had my wife come and look at the mechanism to see exactly how it works and satisfy myself that she knows how to get it down. She has satisfied herself that she cannot change a wheel on our car, but she can at least tell the roadside assistance chap how to get the wheel off and, hopefully, not cut through the cable! Thank you for your time. Toppam (PS I tried to post this in one of the other threads but was unable to. Perhaps it might be merged?)

MkII Galaxy 1.9TDi GHIA 130PS. Been having a problem with my spare coming down. I won't bother you all with the reasons behind by needing it off, but I've been looking at various threads for a couple of wks now and finally decided to have another go this morning. FWIW, the current price of a new carrier from Fraud Marlow is about

MkII Galaxy 1.9TDi GHIA 130PS. Been having a problem with my spare coming down. I won't bother you all with the reasons behind by needing it off, but I've been looking at various threads for a couple of wks now and finally decided to have another go this morning. FWIW, the current price of a new carrier from Fraud Marlow is about

MkII Galaxy 1.9TDi GHIA 130PS. Been having a problem with my spare coming down. I won't bother you all with the reasons behind by needing it off, but I've been looking at various threads for a couple of wks now and finally decided to have another go this morning. FWIW, the current price of a new carrier from Fraud Marlow is about

MkII Galaxy 1.9TDi GHIA 130PS. Been having a problem with my spare coming down. I won't bother you all with the reasons behind by needing it off, but I've been looking at various threads for a couple of wks now and finally decided to have another go this morning. FWIW, the current price of a new carrier from Fraud Marlow is about

My final post on this subject I think. I needed it in a rush this morning and ended up going to the Ford dealer for the part. £90 inc Vat for the whole bracket. I am sure I could've got it cheaper or even freed the other one with enough time, but we have one car, I'm in the RAF and we're about to move house, so time is not something I have much of. Ford's at Shefford had it within about 3 hours of ordering and, because I had recently had all the parts off, there were no other snags and it went on easy peasy. At the end of the day, it's a brake and I don't want to take any chances - when it ceased, there was no indication until the pad wore almost through (and if it had been the other side there would have been no indication at all until the whole thing went bang!). Anyway, thanks for all your help; I hope others can learn from my experience. Regards Toppam

OK, I'm back with an update. Firstly, Halfords are a bunch of to""ers. Having ordered the item on line to collect from Halfords at Bedford, I turned up to find they didn't have any in. "Computer says no", so I knocked it on the head for the weekend. Anyway, I bought the correct tool for about £20 from a proper motor factors the next day, but have not had time to tackle the job until today. The rear passenger side went OK. I attached a bit of fish tank tube (70p from the local aquarium place) to the bleed nipple and fed it into an old drinks bottle to collect the fluid. Clamped the tube and slackened the nipple, tightening it again as soon as it was released and only loosening when I actually started to wind in the caliper. The tool worked very well, but was a bit fiddly. The screw thread didn't precisely match the rate of wind of the caliper, so I had to keep unscrewing the collar a bit at a time. Took care not to wind in too far as others have had problems. Check the combined width of 2 pads and the disk and stop winding when youve got a couple of mm over this width. Disk and pads fitted and Toppam happy bunny. NB BOTH SIDES REQUIRE CLOCKWISE ROTATION TO WIND IN THE CALIPERS, SO YOU ONLY NEED THE ONE TOOL!. The driver's side didn't go quite as well, but I now know why I had a warning light! There had been loads of wear left on the LH pads, but on the RH ones, the outer was fine, but the inner was worn almost to nothing, breaking the sensor wire and triggering the warning light. I thought this was odd, but went ahead with winding and fitting the disk and pads. It was only when I went to re-fit the caliper that I noticed the traveller within the caliper frame (is that the right term?) was seized. I can't free it and don't want to risk sheering it as I neeed the car tomorrow (Sunday). Anyway, the new pads and disk are on and I will have to accept uneven wear until I can get a new frame (the bit held on with big bolts that you only need to remove to get the disk out). Anyone know where's best to get one of these and the likely damage? I don't suppose you can get it from Ford without the whole caliper, which I absolutely don't need!

Chromedome Thanks for the quick response. I think we have the same model of Galaxy. Found these (presumably the right ones); I am posting here in case anyone else needs same. Caliper Tool Regards STH

Hello there. I got a warning about my brakes on the dashboard and decided to change the rear disks and pads today. All very straightforward, everything came off like a dream and for once, the motor factors had even supplied the right parts. Unfortunately, I was unable to open up the caliper and have refitted the old parts. The lid was off the reservoir (interesting location Ford - God knows how you're supposed to check the levels), I have given up for the day but before I go back tomorrow I have 2 questions: 1. Is it necessary to rotate the caliper to get it back into the cylinder? 2. Should I be expelling brake fluid from the bleed screw rather than trying to force it back up into the reservoir? Many thanks for any assistance. Regards STH

Following-on from that last request, has anyone managed to obtain the control unit separately from the actual motor? Regards STH

I wrote a post on here a while back explaining that I had had some difficulty with the wipers on my Y Reg Galaxy 1.9TDI. On that occasion, I thought the motor had failed, but found that the control unit was virtually under water. Drying it out resolved the problem, and I wanted others to try that first before being ripped-off for a new motor/control unit. Well I've had the same problem again, but this time I may have a more expensive difficulty. First check was the 30A fuse, which was fine. I have dismantled and removed the wiper motor and control assembly; I can't believe how easy it was to take the pieces apart and put back together. I understand that they are not available separately - typical Ford! Anyway, connecting the motor direct to the battery reveals no problem (in either direction), and there is no sign of damage to the control unit, so my next step is to check the output to the motor. I have tried to load my (1982) TIS disk, but it doesn't work with Win XP. I have secured a later one (2004), but this won't be here for a few days, and you will appreciate that I am in abit of a rush to get the lady back on the road. Could anyone out there be kind enough to let me know what the output valtages should be in the various wiper configarations. I've been offered a (Genuine New) motor and control unit for

I post the following to share knowledge and warn against what a Ford Dealer might interpret as the cause of the problem I had. A couple of days ago my front windscreen wipers failed. Rear were fine and washers all worked OK. Of course, my first point of call (having done some basic checks) was here, and I worked through most suggestions before opening the bonnet. I have a Ford TIS disk and undertook all the diagnostic checks; fuses fine and appropriate voltage to the motor at the various speed settings, leading to the conclusion that the motor itself needed to be replaced. I would suggest that the average Ford Dealer, following the TIS instructions, would have come to the same conclusion, at a cost (to me) of about

OK then guys, I just thought I would complete the circle on this. Today I printed off the relevant parts of the TIS and completed the job in about an hour. The task required the pillar C and D trims and seatbelts to be removed, along with the side door rubbers around the affected areas. It was then necessary to remove the side trim at the foot of the side door. I removed the 'clip' from half way along the side trim panel at the bottom. I didn't manage or need to completely remove the rear (D) pillar trim, and in the end I was able to lever the front part of the side panel towards the inside of the car to access the back of the clip. Talk about a crap design! The clip has 2 prongs that are about 1cm long. These pass through the panael and are held in place by a couple of 'self cutting' nuts. Once the back of the panel was exposed, the job was a doddle. If I was doing it again, I reckon it would take me about 30 mins. It would be interesting to know what Ford charge! Anyway, thanks to all of you that helped! Regards Simon

Jim Ah, I see now. I had considered whether your idea of simply replacing the clip might be a better (simpler!) opiton, and I may give this a go. Failing which, I will wait for my TIS Disk to arrive and then do it the hard way. Once again, many thanks for your assistance. Regards Simon

Yep, you guessed right! Of course mine is on the left (nearside) of the car! I was intrigued by your description of the fastening - bolts? The replacement piece I have has 2 plastic prongs, each slightly wider than a matchstick and about 1.5cm long. These must go through the panel, but I can't see how 'bolts' could be involved. I may give it a go this Sunday. I'll let you all know how I get on. Regards STH