Andrew T

Would piston slap disappear so soon after start up? Has the noise only been noticable since the last oil change?

A pretty good year then, by Galaxy standards.

When I've had wheel bearings go (and it was a long time ago, they seem to last forever these days) I remember the noise being more of a rumbling. However this post from the Mondeo section turned out to be a wheel bearing. 99K sounds very early for a bearing to go though.

To expand on this; Looking at the Dunlop 215/55 x16 -95H rf on my Galaxy it has a maximum load of 690KG and a maximum pressure of 49PSI. This morning I parked along side a Mercedes fitted with Dunlops which had the exactly the same tread pattern, they were marked 215/55 x16 -93W maximum load 650KG maximum pressure 44PSI. The Galaxy Handbook gives full load inflation pressure of 49PSI, so if you had the 93 rated tyres you could severely over inflate the tyre.

My wife sometimes feels car sick when she is driving herself, which goes against everything in the article. She reckons having the Airconditioning on makes the difference for her. My kids have never been sick in the Galaxy (regardless of who is driving) but have been sick in my Civic which they hardly ever ride in. I put this down to the loss of the high viewpoint in the Galaxy, but perhaps it was due to my cornering harder in that car because I almost never have passengers in it.

They will not necessarily have the words Reinforced or Extra load on them, what they must have is a load index of 95 or above. Check in your handbook or inside the fuel filler flap where you will find a list of the correct tyre sizes (including the speed and load index) for your model.

From the CSMA E-Mail News letter. Tests prove it's the driver, not the passenger, at fault A new study has shown that the way a car is driven impacts on the levels of motion sickness experienced by its passengers and driving at fast speeds is the number one cause of car sickness. The test proved that car passengers, particularly children, who suffer from motion sickness are not to blame for their illness. In fact, it is the driver's actions which often cause the feeling of nausea while travelling in a vehicle. Using a brand new machine that has never been used in the UK before, Britannia Rescue tested a range of drivers and examined their driving styles. The

I suspect Viagra was involved, pehaps the manufacturer could use him in an advertising campaign? This article also appeared under the headline ZIMMER SHAME!

This made me laugh. At that age I would have thought he should have been given an award for 1, Being the oldest driver in the country and 2, being capable of getting himself into such trouble at that age. Good lad.

do you have a spare key? if you do try it when you have problems it may eliminate immobiliser problems - possible and easy to check I assume a typo :) Look at what the red LED in the drivers door is doing when it won't start. If it is flashing rapidly the immobiliser is activated.

Given that you've changed the MAF and you're still having problems it could be the TMAP sensor. Have a look at this thread.

All the info is in this thread. A few posts in there from Marcus Heawood, I wonder what happened to him?

The offence is not in using it, but in using it and not declaring it and paying the duty. During the Fuel crises in 2001 the widespread use of it in rural areas was suspected, and I recall tales of lorries being stopped and their Fuel tanks checked.

I had a quick Google on this and found that White diesel has a minimum cetane rating of 51, red diesel around 45. I presume Cetane is the Diesel equivalent to the Octane rating for Petrol?

it's possible that in my case it could have been the chemicals put in to recolour the diesel that caused the problem.

Now if only I could get my local Tesco to make a special "Galaxy only" area in the car park...... There already is, it's called the parent and child zone.

I don't think it's a question of not us accepting change. I came to this website 2.5 years ago looking into aircon problems, where I found a great information resource with some very knowlegeable (and at times entertaining) members. This site has something of an addictive quality and I always enjoy "dropping in " as some light relief from my work. But for me that's where it ends, much as I enjoy cars and driving our Famillies main interest is in outdoor pursuits and that's what our weekends are spent doing. I really couldn't imagine going and looking at Ford Galaxys in a Tesco car park. No offence to those who do, it's just not our thing. That said, if a local member was having problems I would do what I could to help them but that's not likely given where we live. So please don't get upset at the apparent appathy for club events, it might just be other members feel like me?

You mean there are not many 115s badged as 130s? You're probably right. At the weekend I was looking over a friends 56 reg Bamma Dieseasel, which is badged TDI on the front wing with the DI in red. It's a 2 litre 140BHP which is the only Diesel now available. I noticed it has a cupholder mounted in the off side boot compartment, why did it take them 10 years to get round to fitting that or have Alhambras always had one there?.

K&N Filters use an oiled gauze for filtration. Over time that oil could end up destroying your MAF sensor. Better to go for a cotton or foam filter (e.g. Jetex) if you want that kind of thing.

I presume the previous owner had declared this and paid the required duty to HM Customs and Excise? I inadvertently put a full tank of Farm Diesel through our Xantia and ran like a bag of S***e. It wouldn't idle smoothly or pull cleanly and it smoked a bit. Shortly afterwards it broke its timing belt tensioner, although I don't know if it was connected. A laboratory analysis of the fuel from this garage (on ITVs Trevor MacDonald Tonight, no less) showed it be nowhere near the quality of proper road Diesel. The garage is question was decolouring red Farm Diesel and selling it for road use. Following their exposure on National TV the Garage closed down. I gather this process was developed in Ireland by a certain well known Terrorist organisation as a way of raising funds. Aside from the above, the practice of using Red Diesel in road cars is widespread enough for it to be worthwhile for HM C&E to take a mobile road fuel testing unit to the livestock markets around here.

Have you tried a baby wipe? It's amazing what they'll remove, I hate to think what's in them.

I would have thought that a modesty in your own abilities was vital in anyone believing themself to be an "Excellent Driver".

Sometime in 98 the ECU was moved up behind the Fascia, and according to a recent posting so was the locking control unit, so you should have both or neither!

Start working your way through the technical technical threads and in very little time you will be an expert on MAFs, Booster heaters, seizing wipers, leaking rear washer pipes, blocked scuttle drains, air conditioning failures, spare wheel winches, broken tailgate wiring looms, disappearing trip computers.............................. Oh, and welcome.

If you have no brakelights at all this is likely to be the switch at the top of the brake pedal, this can also (I think) be linked to the glow plug warning light appearing and to erratic engine behaviour. It is covered in the FAQs pinned at the top of technical thread here. I can't see how this could be linked to the cental locking problems (although you never know with a Galaxy). Have you checked the door wiring and the control unit as suggested?