GaryM

I'm not sure electically what signals come out but from recolection there are three wires. I would imaging two will be power and ground with the other being the output. The sensor actaully consists of a Piezo transducer that emmits ultrasonic signals and measures the time for them to return. Anything in the way changes this time. The deep constant tone which you are getting sounds as though you have a fault. Further proved by the fact that you get the same noise when you unplug the sensor. As far as I can tell this is done so that you don't reverse merrily thinking it is all woking OK and then you hit some thing. I'm not sure but I think the guy that designed this system is the same one that did the air conn :o I my experience the best way to test the system is to borrow one off a working car and swap out each sensor one at a time. Our system was faulty as you described when we first got our. In the end I found a duff sensor on the front. Further investigation revealed that the prevoius owner had a scrape along the bump strip. Taking this off I found the sensor in two halves.

Despite all the rules and regs I have tinted my fronts. It is lighter than the rest of the car at 30% but probably illegal. Anyway did it to better the looks but mainly to help the underpowered air conn. It is not hard to do yourself but like everything its the preperation that takes the time. Did a Mini Cooper in dark smoke and that was hard to see out of <_< Looked way B) but would not do it again on the grounds of saftey.

I spoke to VAG to and they did not have ones to suit the combination of switches on the Galaxy in the end I resprayed mine with satin Black paint. Don't know how long it will last but it can't be any worse than fords attempt. You would have thought that they would have changed the design by now.

Looks like I will have to modify the door cards at some point. I have a new shape galaxy that has a really crap arrangement on the speaker grille as half of the speaker is covered by the door card. After checkiing the space behind the front door it is very limited due to poor design. The window runner sits right behind the speaker and limits you to only 55mm depth! Fords answer we will just redesign the way the speaker is made. It has an inverted foam surround. It is supprisingly bassy considering. Most ford headunits (HU) have a distortion limiting circuit reducing the bass and trebble as the volume is increased. Hence them sounding poor at higher volumes. On my old shape Galaxy I ended up making a 10mm round space and fitting this to the door and then refitting the door card after cutting out the broken grille. This then allowed me to fit the speaker externally which is easier anyway and gave me the much needed depth. I then purchased some plain grilles and sprayed them the same colour as door cards so they did not attract the theives.

After asking loads of questions here a chance to give something back... I have had a couple of galaxys now both with Witter towbars fitted. As part of the fitting instructions you have to remove the impact assembly from inside the bumper to make space for the towbar to fit. I guess that other aftermarket towbars may well suggest the same. The problem is that after removing the impact structure there is very little to support the weight of the bumper, infact just the clips down the sides of the car towards the wheel arches. Witter try to combat this by providing a few small support brackets but these did not line up against anything on mine car. Where this can be a problem is when you place wheight in the bumper eg: a cycle rack. When I got my current car it was just a plastic tie that was holding the passenger side on as the bolt fixings had broken. So here is my solution... http://www.mpathltd.co.uk/Garys/SpacerJPG.jpg Take a peice of 40 waste pipe and cut it to about 35mm in lengt Cut off 7 of these. Add a small vee cut as shown above. This is to allow any water that might collect to flow away. Using some hotmelt glue etc, glue the spacers to the towbar, vee facing down. These then off the support to the bumper when fitted. To get the correct positions I found it best to refit the bumper and line the inserts up from the underside with the raised mounting points on the bumper body... http://www.mpathltd.co.uk/Garys/spacers%20in%20place.JPG Once you have the spacers in place just refit the bumper. It will then be supported via the spacers.

Heres the pic at last... http://www.mpathltd.co.uk/Garys/radio%20mute.JPG There are normally two methods to get the audio through the front speakers. 1) Typicaly the aftermarket kits from Autoleads etc tap in to the speaker leads direct and us a relay to switch the speakers over to the HF kit. The wiring for this can involve quite a lot of cutting. 2) the other route is to take the audio from the HF kit and feed that in to the HU via an aux input or phone input. You will obvoiusly need to know what pin to use. Although I think the ford hu is crap and it will probably be going soon. Functionaly it is quite versatile so I'm sure it has a phone audio input. But have not looked for it. No 2 is the best method of connectivity but generally I just use the speaker supplied with the kit. I just took the back off my external speaker and mounted the front of it down on the center console just in front of the handbrake. Cut a hole in the console for the rear of the speaker to go through. The HF control unit is then mounted behind the ashtray inside the console. Easy to get at and easy to pick up all the feeds (off the back of the HU)

As I got knowhere trying to post the picture as an attachement (Timeouts, webmaster!) I have posted them on another site and attached them that way... The EGR http://www.mpathltd.co.uk/Garys/egr.JPG

In a quest to find out why my 1.9TDI (115) is not running right, see my other post, Poor Performance Or Not?. I decided to take a look at the EGR. I'm no motor mechanic but happy to take things appart. Couldn't find any pics so below is a pic of what the inlet and EGR look like. This is from a motor that has done 72K. Is this good, bad, normal? The inlet manifold also seems gummed up so I cleaned it up as best I could without getting muck down the pipe. Taking the manifold off is going to far for me. With the EGR all cleaned up I have to say that I cannot feel any difference in performance so I'm still at a loss with regard to the fault. BTW what is the black butterfly valve for, looks like a choke (just curious)? (I'll try and post the pic on monday from work via ADSL as I'm on Analogue dial up and keep getting timeouts when trying to post the pic)

Not sure if the info has been posted b4... Just completed an install of a Sony Ericsson hands free kit (HF) and was looking for a way to mute the head unit (HU). Taking a look at my HU, a ford 6000 unit, I have found the mute connection. Third pin down on the yellow connector, counting the purple lead as pin 1. Taking this low (0V or ground) mutes the hu and makes it say PHONE on the front. Just connected it to the HF kit, works a treat. The pic below shows the pin, the one with the test lead hanging out of it. (I'll try and post the pic on monday from work via ADSL as I'm on Analogue dial up and keep getting timeouts when trying to post the pic)

Had quick look last night but found nothing obvious, did end up having tying pipes back etc where they fell out of the clamps etc and a couple showed signs of wear but none seemed holed.

Thanks.... 35mpg has been on long runs sitting at about 80Mph so that could be right. When it comes to hills I'm dropping out of 6 to 5 or 4 and to be honest there is very little extra get up and go just more noise (revs).

Hi there I have a 1.9TDI (115bhp) that has done 71K. I purchased it a month ago and as it is my first oil burner I was not sure what to expect. Having got used to it now I'm begining to wonder if it is not performing as well as it should... 35Mpg, I regualy see posts quoting 45. But it could well be my driving. Accellerates well in low gears but performance drops off in higher gears and power seems limited to low end revs Can be sluggish on hills but fine on the flat When up to speed engine can seem to surge power when accelerating and hit several flat spots. When accellerating get an odd effect when the power kicks in, immeadiatley drops off (as though I lift my foot) and then goes again. Recently changed the air filter and things feel a lot better but all the above issues are still there. The old filter did not seem that bad but it was dirty. Records show the car has been serviced regularly but I'm missing the log book and the reciept for the 60K service, which is a biggy I think, and the garage cannot find a invoice for it either. I have read many posts and things seem to point to the MAF or EGR. Disconnecting the MAF seems to limit the speed to about 40Mph. Plugging it back puts the life back in. So I assume the MAF is fine. It is a Bosch unit and seems clean and tidy inside. Just a casual look but the vaccum pipes seem fine. Disconnecting the vaccum pipe to the EGR makes no difference. Do I have a healthy motor that I,m expecting to much of or could there be a problem? If so any pointers or tests that I should try? Cheers

Like b318isp I too got a before and after printout on the rolling road and the there were definate improvements. Rolling roads are a whole nother topic as they very rarely simulate real conditions calibrated or not. The best way to use them is for the before and after printouts. At least you know wether you are gaining power or losing it. I rekon you need at least a 10bhp for most people to feel the difference on a normal road car and as I said both the straight petrol chips I have did not give me that feel of loads of power. However on paper I had gained 8bhp and drivability was definatley better. It was not kidology or the like. And as I said it is all the compromises that the manufacture has to make to meet emmisons, long term reliabilty, etc., etc. that gives the window for the chippers to do thier stuff. A great example is the new mini one and the cooper. They both use exactly the same engine yet one give 90bhp and the other 115. The difference is all in the ECU (chip). Buy and mini one spend a few quid with superchips and walk away with a mini cooper! Please lets hear from a few that have had the chips fitted to understand the real life results...

Read many of your posts and you obvoiusly know youre stuff but why are you so against chipping? Many of the points are spot on! But it is exactly because the manufacture has to cater for things like, running in different conditions, hot, cold, low altitude, high altitude, poor gas, good gas, emmison regs etc that your so called laptop oki has the scope to tune your motor to suit our climate, driving conditions etc. Sure there are some cowboys out there,

Just found this post after batteling to change my filter. The TIS CD made it sound sooo easy. And like a fool I belived it. The filter came out pretty much as seatkid descrided by the thing would just not go back. Not sure exactly where it was fouling but it did not seem to be the wiper motor more the support bracketry. In the end three bolts (you'll see them) and the wiper mech is loose and then it is a doddle. Also noticed the replacement carbon filter was slightly thicker so glad I released the wiper mech.

It is not a big job but as with everything can take a little while especially without the correct tools. Funnily enough I just working on my brakes at the moment, replacing the front pads but checked the rear while I was there and found a ceased slide pin. BTW anyone know where to get the rubber gators (dust covers) from that go over the pins? Ford want to sell me a whole caliper kit. Chock the car and release the handbrake. Take the rear wheel off, remove the two bolts holding the slide pins in and the caliper will slide off with a bit of force. Remove the old pads and insert the new ones. To stop potential sqeal use a little copper ease on the back of the pads where it contacts with the caliper and piston. Be careful not to get any grease on the braking surfaces! Using a special tool (costs around a tenner and Halfords have them) rotate the piston back into the housing slowly. Put the caliper back on. Bolt the slide pins back. Wheel on & drop the car. Press the brake slowly a few times to reset the pistion. Gentle test drive and test the handbrake Job done. Not hard, but dirty. As the other posted said though it is saftey critical so if you do not feel confident don't do it!

Window tinters have problems with the dots too. I stops the tink sticking fully and leaves a lighter effect around the edge. Reading posts they literally scrape them off or use wet-n-dry. Gary

Sussed it thanks to all here and a few of the posts. Running a little blind as I do not have the users handbook but one of the posts mentioned the lack of beeps being down to a faulty sensor. Checking them one by one found the cuprit. The front passenger side had taken a knock sometime and broke the Pizeo transducer away from the the rest of the sensor unit. Exchanged it with one from a friends Galaxy and it it works a treat. So need to find a place to order a new ultrasonic sender unit. Cheers Gary

Both mine 2000 and my friends Galaxy's both have the paint comming off the door handles. I think my mate has had hers replaced 4 times now! So I take it this is very common although I have not seen any posts here. Anyone have any solutions appart from replacing them again? Was thinking of respraying them with real paint rather that the rubbery stuff but I'm not sure how easy it is to get just the handle off.

You can tell I'm the newbie... The parking sensor system is not working. Upon engaging reverse gear I get one quiteish beep and one long louder one and then the noise stops and the light continues to flash. Reading a few posts here it looks as though a failure of one of the transmitters or recievers results in a system shutdown? Sensible I guess. Where does the control box live? Found the rear speaker but not the front. Anyone found a way of testing the sensors?

Hi all, Just brought a 2000 (new shape) Zetec with manual air-con. Currently manual in the sense that opening the windows has the best effect :o . Anyway what advise do you have to do some basic tests to find the fault(s)? I have had an old shape Galaxy and a Sharan both with climate control as company cars and these had to be regassed loads of times and never got that cold. Currently about all that happens is that the AC switch lights up. No cooling fans start, no click or drop in revs as the clutch engauges. What is with these AC systems that make them so unreliable? Has anyone any hints or tips that make them so? Gary