Andrew T

I looked into this when we got our 2.3 last year and was put off for a number of reasons. 1. The Galaxy is not eligable for a powershift grant as it has not been homologated by Ford, so you would have to pay the full cost yourself. 2. I rang an LPG specialist who told me that although people have converted this engine, he considered it unsuitable for LPG as the Valve seats are not hard enough. There is also a thread in the early days of this forum suggesting the same. There is some evidence to support this; Someone recently enquired on this forum about replacing a cracked head on an LPG 2.3. If you look at the on-line Ford transit brochure they use the same 2.3 engine in the factory LPG conversion but it is noted as having hardened valve seats fitted. 3. I would consider not having a spare wheel to be a pain. We have had 6 punctures in the last year! When the Spare wheel winch broke, I discovered that lugging the spare wheel around in the boot is very inconvenient. 4. The LPG doesn't switch in for half a mile or so, so if you do a lot of short journeys you may still use a fair amount of Petrol. Also I understand that (due to the lower calorific value per litre ?) LPG only gives about 2/3 of the fuel consumption compared to Petrol. I reckoned it would take about 60,000 miles just to recover the cost of conversion, leaving aside engine durability issues. LPG conversions seem to have little residual value. Out Galaxy has managed 31.2 MPG over the last 14,000 miles and I appear to be in a minority in thinking it quite economical for it's size.

Perhaps I'm cynical, but I think that placing the clocks in the centre has little to do with giving the driver better visibility, it's done to reduce the tooling costs of producing differant fascias for left and right hand drive markets.

Gazza, Aircon specialists sell a DIY Aerosol treatment for Bacteria in A/C systems.

There have been a few threads on this problem. The 2.3 uses a Vacuum powered system as opposed to the electronic system on the 1.9 wheezel. Do a search on "cruise control" make sure you select "posts over 30 days old" and you should find some help.

Not sure that the 2.3 uses the Jatco box ? It's a 4-speed unit rather than the 5-speed used on the TDI and V6, and could well be bought in from another source. There should be no worries with the 2.3 engine at 77K with FSH.

There are some petrol Galaxies fitted with these heaters, have a look under the nearside rear door and see if there it's there.

But using the incorrect tool wasn't the problem, it was not keeping the cable tight while winding it up. There is nothing in the handbook to emphasise this, so how could they reasonably have known ?

Yes, this has happened to many of us. Your fitter is responsible, but it is so easy to tangle the cable he didn't really do anything wrong either. A new winch is about

Sounds like a binding brake. Does one front wheel have a lot more brake dust on than the other ?

1. Andrew 2. Forest of Bowland, Lancs 3. 2001 2.3 Ghia 4. 9 Months / 13,000 Miles 5. Hmmm....as a product it's great, it's the stream of niggling problems that would put me off. 6. Vendor ended up paying

Clonking could well be the Anti-Roll Bar Drop Links, try a search it's been covered many times.

Because the Probe is bastardised Mazda, whereas the Galaxy is a bastardised VW and that's whose parts bin you need to be trawling. Any help ?

I'm sure if you had Diesel mixed in you would have experienced bad running first. It seems a funny conclusion for the breakdown service to draw without any other symptoms. (what did they charge you for a pump out by the way?). Can you explain more about the way it failed to start ? Driving with Diesel in the Petrol could well damage the Catalyst.

Diesel pump fuel nozzles have a larger diameter than Petrol to prevent this happening, i.e. it should be physically impossible to get the diesel nozzle into the restrictor in the filler neck. Could you have added diesel from a can ? I would have thought that if there was Diesel in the Petrol you would have ground to a halt within a mile of filling up. Also could the garage have put Diesel in their Petrol tank ?

Another member gave me this advice last year when mine broke. "I had this on my first Galaxy - and after being quoted

Environ are usually good for items like that.

For Co2 Go here select "features and spec's" then another box opens select "specifications" then "driving and technology" then "fuel perfomance and emissions".

I've had similar noises from a blowing exhaust / Turbo joint. I rather liked them myself.

No, that ones turned up dead in Pualmpaciorek's washer bottle. :D

Is the Auxillary drive belt tight enough ? It might just shriek the first time you start in morning or if you put your down foot hard.

Sadly no. The MK2 comes with all the MK1s faults as Standard; Leaking washer pipes, blockable scuttle drains, self destructing A/C, fragile spare wheel winches, Silver Calcium batteries that won't last 4 winters. I know because I've had them all in the last 9 months. P!ssed off? me?

Yes, it was on my wifes previous car, after she had reported identical symptoms and I had insisted the pads were OK. If you whip the wheel off the inner pad is visible through a slot in the Caliper body. It really shouldn't happen on a car a new as yours though. Maybe it spent a year or two sitting in a field before delivery? I did have a similar problem on a Fiat Uno which baffled me for ages. It only made the grinding noise under certain circumstances, hard braking on tight downhill left-hand bends. When stripping down the brakes I discovered that a newly fitted exhaust was contacting the driveshaft under those circumstances.

I've had a seized caliper which meant the outer(visible) pad was fine, the inner (invisible) one was toast.

True, but the 820 used the M16 unit which was a developement of the old Montego engine, also used in the 220/420. It had a tendency to blow the coolant pipe off the the overflow tank and dump its coolant on the road. Or so I was told by the AA man who recovered me after the 420 pool car I was driving seized up on the motorway.

It'll be that