Binary Man

Hi, I've had crunchy gears for some time now - which I can live with - but the real problem is that selecting reverse gear can be a real problem. I can always get it in eventually - by slipping it into first gear, letting the clutch grip slightly, then whipping it back across into reverse; or, if that doesn't work, by driving forward slightly and trying again. It's a bit of a bind though and can make a quick 3-point turn in the middle of the road a bit of a hassle. The car's done 290k miles. (Ford Galaxy 1.9TDI, 1998, Manual.) I've no idea when the clutch was last replaced - certainly not in the last 80k miles, which is since we've had it. Does it definitely need a new clutch? If so, does anyone know what sort of £ I'd be looking at for a small, local, independant garage to do the work? Thanks.

An update on this. I took a quick look at the adjustment of the selector cables inside the car today... they were a piece of cake to get to and adjust, despite the Haynes manual saying it was a three-spanner job. It was more like a one-spanner. With the selector (blue) cable disconnected from the gear stick I worked it with my hands and was able to ascertain that changing the gearstick and/or housing isn't going to make a scrap of difference to this problem. I did find another way of getting it into reverse though, even when facing down hill: if I put it into first gear and let out the clutch slightly until it starts to bite (with the brake on so the car doesn't move), it will then go into reverse fine. If this continues to work I think we can live this for now. When I get some time I'm going to check out the selector cable/linkage connections under the car in case those are loose; it's not clear from the manual how easier they are to get to though. If there are no problems there I guess it's a gearbox problem and we'll just have to live with it. Francis

Hi, We've got a 1998 Mk1 Galaxy 1.9 TDI GLX and have started having problems with the reverse gear - it won't always go in. I've searched this forum already for similar problems and found several other people that seem to have had the same symptoms, but in all cases there wasn't a posting to say whether the problem was finally resolved and, if so, what the final resolution was - hence me starting a new topic. The problem is the stick just won't push back into reverse. I've found a workaround for it: if the car rolls back, even if ever so slightly, then it will pop straight in. My wife and I have got away with this for the last few weeks (sometimes with the help of our children jumping out and giving it a push), but I know that eventually we're going to get into a tricky situation where we need to reverse and we're pointing steeply downhill, with the car too heavy to push back... After reading some of the other topics I've tried pumping the clutch pedal, but that makes no difference. I've also tried going along at 20 mph, then revving the engine and wacking into fourth; there's no slipping so I guess the clutch is okay? The clutch does bite quite far up its travel, and changing down into low gears has always been pretty crunchy - I don't know whether either of those points are relevant. The car's done almost 260k miles now, so maybe the clutch is getting worn? If so, would this cause the problem I'm experiencing? At the suggestion of a local mechanic we tried replacing the gear stick in case the nylon ball at its base was worn - but this made no difference. To be frank the one we took off didn't look any different from the one we put on to me. He suggested next to try replacing the housing that the ball goes into, but I'm a bit skeptical - in another forum topic I read that someone else had also tried that and it made no difference. Also, the fact that rolling the car back a bit gets it to go in straight away seems to me to indicate some other problem. Any ideas anyone? I'm reluctant to spend too much money on it (new gearbox, clutch or whatever) unless I can be sure it's going to fix the problem. But I don't want to resign myself to ditching it and getting a different Galaxy just yet - that will cost us even more and, apart from this problem, it's okay. Thanks for any suggestions. Oh, one other thing I tried after reading this forum was shoving the stick into one of the forward gears and then quickly trying reverse. I found that doing this with second gear sometimes does the trick. Thanks for reading. Cheers, Francis

Hi everyone, Finally got the Galaxy on the road again today - just in time for my return to work tomorrow. Decided to go for a new replacement alternator in the end: I had another look at the slip rings on the one that came off and they're just so badly worn I wasn't convinced it was going to be okay just replacing the brushes. Also, I tried a local auto-spares place and they said they could get me a new one for

I don't know how you do it seatkid - once again you've pointed me to exactly the thing I need. I searched on the Wood Auto website earlier myself for the starter bits and couldn't find them. I'm missing something somewhere... I reckon I should be able to get away with just replacing the starter solenoid at

Thanks for all your replies everyone - I really appreciate your help. I've manage to find out a bit more today and have come to the conclusion that there were actually three things together that had gone wrong when I started out: 1. The thin blue wire that connects to the alternator, supplying it with 12 V at start-up and turning on the battery warning dash light. Today I found where the break was - right next to another connector near the starter motor. So that solves that mystery. Not sure whether I'm going to be able to make a satisfactory repair of this, but I'm not too worried about this because I think we can live without it. (Neither I nor my wife remember ever seeing the battery light before, so I reckon this has been broken since we've had the car.) 2. The alternator main cable connection wasn't properly connected to the starter motor bolt: the nut wasn't properly tight, so both the alternator main cable and the starter motor cable were flapping loose on the bolt. This would explain the voltage drop I was seeing between the alternator output and battery +ve terminal. The alternator main cable wire itself checks out fine. 3. The alternator brushes are worn, so alternator output was intermittent. I still think this is the case because on the way home last week (before we called the RAC), at one point the alternator was working fine, and then it stopped generating even though the ignition hadn't been switched off at all. This happened several times. So, with all three things above wrong my original battery might have actually been okay (I replaced it last Monday when things started going wrong initially) and I may have saved myself

Hi all, Thanks for all your replies. That link for the brushes, seatkid, looks just the job - at the price it's definitely worth a try. And I'll have another look at the cable too - see if I can clean it up, or else replace it with new as Radiotwo suggests. (Have to get this from Ford I guess.) Once I have the new brushes, is it straightforward to fit them? The housing it plugs into has been sealed with some kind of rubber sealant. Here's a piccy (click to enlarge): http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8185/p1030063lg3.th.jpg I'm guessing I have to peal off the rubber sealant at the back of the brushes housing, and then push the brushes through out the back? Then solder the new brushes direct to the contacts there? No, I didn't - I was just doing a quick search to see if I could figure out the current rating I needed to replace it. 70 A:

Hi again, I did a search on Google images for worn slip rings and by the looks of it mine are well worn - deeply grooved. So it looks like I'm going to have to fork out for a new alternator after all (Haynes says it has to be renewed if the slip rings are excessively worn). Most places are shut now so I'll try to get hold of one early next week. Hopefully it will solve the problem. I'll let you know. I made a quick call to Halfords and they can order 70 A, 90 A or 120 A variants - not sure what the one I took off is because there doesn't seem to be anything on it to indicate its current output. A quick search on the Internet for Valeo VA365 and it looks like a 90 A output, so I guess I should go for the 90 A model - unless you know any different? I could check with Ford on Monday I guess... Cheers, Francis

Hi Radiotwo, I reckon the main alternator wire is probably okay. I checked the resistance of the wire again and it was pretty low - tens of ohms - so I don't know what I did yesterday. I've checked all fuses and fuse boxes that I can find and all looks normal - no signs of melting or anything. I've got the alternator off now: it's a Valeo VA365, dated May 2003 - so not that old; the car has done a high mileage though (250k). The Haynes manual says to check whether the slip rings are excessively worn; I've no idea whether they are or not - I don't know what I'm looking for. The brushes spring in and out of their housing okay. The visible part is 5mm and Haynes says this is the minimum brush length (except that would be for an original Bosch alternator), so maybe the brushes do need renewing? (I'm in the North of England - Skipton, North Yorkshire area). Francis

Hi Radiotwo and seatkid, Thanks both of you for replying so quickly to this. I was awake most of the night thinking about what to do next. The battery connections are good, and so are so is the alternator main connection. I've not checked for the earth strap yet - I'll do that later when it gets light. Interestingly, there was corrosion around the alternator main connection nut yesterday. I scraped as much off as I could, but I still have a nagging feeling that maybe the main cable has broken somwhere inside: with the battery disconnected I see virtually no resistance between the alternator body and battery -ve terminal (as I would expect), but there appears to be a huge resistance between the alternator output connection and the battery +ve terminal. Is this normal? When the engine's running I see a 1.3-1.4V drop between the alternator output and battery +ve terminal. I wonder if this is okay? Hmm, so you both think it looks like the brushes are at fault. I think I'd be able to strip it down okay myself, but I'd need to get hold of the brushes first - we don't have a second car and we're a bit stranded as soon as I start taking the alternator apart. So I need to be pretty sure this is the fault and have some replacements ready. Have you got any ideas on where I could get these quickly? I've still got a nagging feeling (another one!) about there being no battery charge warning light at all - and whether this has anything to do with it. But without detailed wiring diagrams I can't go any further with that. Does anyone have charging circuit wiring diagrams from the TIS CD for a Galaxy Mark I 1.9 TDi they could add to this post? Cheers, Francis

Hi, I hope someone can help me out. I've searched through previous postings and haven't been able to find a problem that's exactly like mine. So here goes... I seem to have a problem with the charging circuit on our 1998 Mark I Galaxy, 1.9 TDi. First problem was the car wouldn't start 4 days ago on Monday. Thought it was the battery because it seems to have been getting harder to start in the colder mornings for some weeks now. So I jumped it from a neighbour and bought a new battery, fitted it, and thought everything would be okay. Then we came to start it yesterday while we were out and there wasn't enough battery power to start it. It jump-started again okay (thanks to a kind person in the car park) and then on the way home we started losing electrics - indicators, lights etc. So we pulled over (it was dark) and, suddenly, while it was ticking over, everything kicked back into life again - so clearly the alternator just started working again. So it looks like there's an intermittent fault. Unfortunately we lost electrics again before we got home and ended up calling the RAC. The RAC topped up the battery for 20 mins - just enough for us to get home. So I've spent the day today trying to disgnose the fault, but haven't manage to fix it. I found some similar postings - this one for example: http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.ph...amp;#entry26736 - but none exactly like mine. Problem is, the Haynes manual (and the other postings I've found on this site) talk about first checking the charge warning light. This never comes on - not when the ignition is turned on, and not when the engine is running. (I can't say whether it does usually - I don't remember seeing it ever come on, my I could be mistaken there.) So I took out the instrument module to check the bulb but there isn't a bulb associated with the charge warning light. From the wiring diagrams in the back of the Haynes manual it looks like the charge warning light is in fact a LED, probably buried deep inside the instrument module. This seems to contradict the text of the Haynes manual which says it's a bulb. I found this topic: http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.ph...amp;hl=ind+wire with an excellent reply from turk90210 which also says to check the bulb - which I don't appear to have. So I thought I'd check the thin blue wire which connects onto the alternator and there's no voltage reading there at all - not when just the ignition is on, and not when the engine is running either. Could this be my problem? If so, I wonder how I can fix it? Does anyone have any ideas? I checked out the voltage between the battery terminals and it was pretty low - under 12 V. Just about managed to start it though, and the battery is still showing less than 12 V, so clearly the alternator is not charging. Checked the alternator output directly too, and that was less than 12 V too. So I revved the engine to about 3000 rpm for a few seconds, and checked again. Wow! - the alternator seems to have sprung into life! I'm now reading 12.8 V across the battery terminals, and 14.3 V directly from the alternator to the -ve battery terminal. I read in a posting somewhere (might have been one of those above) that this behaviour has something to do with the thin blue wire, i.e. that there needs to be a voltage supplied down that wire for the alternator to get going initially - so that could be my problem. One more thing: Does anyone know if the alternator output should be directly connected to the battery? From the wiring diagram it looks like it should be (via the starter motor), but I'm seeing a drop of 1.3-1.4 V from the alternator output to the battery +ve terminal, as if there's some sort of in-line resistance in the wiring. Anyone know if this is expected? Or do I have a faulty alternator output cable? Thanks for reading, and any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I'm getting desperate! I could try a new alternator in case it's an intermittent fault with that, but at