chicosi

Put the car to a garage as I didn't fancy forking out

My wife's mk1 99 2.3 DOHC Galaxy started running roughly on Friday. Other commitments meant I couldn't look at it until yesterday afternoon. When I started it, it ran ok for a few seconds then started runing on 3, maybe 2 cylinders. A quick search on here indicated duff spark plugs/HT leads/coilpacks. Took off the cover and a quick inspection found everything in good condition, remarkably fresh with no corrosion or dodgy looking wires. Running in low light didn't reveal any arcing etc. Car has done 70,000 and there's no reason to suspect that they aren't the original leads. Next job was to remove the spark plugs, first 2 were in good condition, however on removing no. 3, the gap was almost completely closed up. Reset gap, took out no. 4 which seemed ok and put everything back together. When I started her up there was a loud tapping noise which stopped after 5-10 seconds then she sat idling no bother. Decided to go for a test drive but only got a couple of hundred yards before she started running on 2 again. Towed it back to the house and on removing the spark plugs nos. 1 & 4 were wet with petrol. Gap on no. 3 was ok. Spark plugs have done 15,000 miles at the very most Questions/opinions please:- Why had the gap on no. 3 closed up? What was the tapping noise (tappet?) and did this have a connection with no. 3? As said, everything looks remarkably fresh, Can the coil packs break down with no outward sign of cracks etc? As 1 & 2 share a coil as do 3 & 4, 1 and 4 being wet suggests that either both packs are duff or something common to both is wrong, which is it likely to be? Edit: It's actually 1 & 4 and 2 & 3 that share coils Is 70,000 miles a reasonable life expectancy for the leads/coils and am I best not to renew components in stages but just bite the bullet and renew everything including plugs even though they look ok? With regards to cost, although I can't get prices from my usual motor factors until tomorrow, having a look at what I can find on the internet suggests that 2.3 Scorpio parts are cheaper. As far as I know the engines are the same, so is there any reason I can't use Scorpio parts? Thanks for looking :16:

A woman goes to see her recently departed husband at the undertaker's. She takes one look in the casket and bursts into a flood of tears. "My deepest sympaties" says the undertaker "this must be an trying time for you" "It's not so much much that" says the woman "it sounds silly, but my husband said he'd like to be buried in his blue suit and you've got him dressed in black" "Leave it with me" says the undertaker "and I'll see what I can do" Next day, the woman returns and looks in the casket to see her husband resplendent in a blue suit. "Oh, that's wonderful" she says "however did you manage that?" "Well" says the undertaker "just after you left another deceased came in. He was wearing a blue suit and just happened to be the same height and weight as your husband" "That was lucky" says the woman "I'll say" says the undertaker "all we had to do was swap the heads!"

I thought about welding, but not only is the corrosion across the bottom it is also up the side which would make it a b*gg*r to shape the plate. I spoke to a pretty good welder at work, he

Yep, it's always had the tray fitted Since I last posted I managed to find one from a breakers in London but had to send it back as it was nearly as bad as the one I've got. It was corroded in the same area as mine, I'm beginning to think there's a quality issue or design fault here. It would be interesting to know if any other 2.3 owners are having this problem. Trouble is you wouldn't know until you remove the tray and have a look.

98 2.3 Si 78,000 miles, bought it second-hand at 50,000 but I'm willing to bet it's the original clutch. Sorry to hijack the thread slightly but the sump on mine has corroded and is now leaking. I ordered a second-hand one from a breaker (new one is

Tried them as well - I guess the only reason somebody will give me a sump is if the engine's knackered and there doesn't seem to be many of them about. Thanks for the suggestion though - keep em coming! :(

Does anyone have or know where to get (reasonably cheap!) a sump for a 2.3 petrol? My sump is porous and my local Ford dealer wants

I have a USB Vag com lead for sale as sold by Alpha-bid on ebay. Only used once, I bought it out of curiosity as much as anything else. I was going to stick it back ebay but I thought I'd give someone on here first chance! No software - but this and user instructions are easily downloaded via Alpha-bid's listings on ebay

Here's mine hitched up to the Brother-in-law's caravan :huh:

My girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year when we decided to get married. My parents helped us in every way, and my friends encouraged me. My girlfriend? She was a dream! There was only one thing bothering me. That one thing was her younger sister. My prospective sister-in-law was twenty years of age, wore tight miniskirts, and low cut blouses. She would regularly bend down when near me, and I got many a pleasant view of her underwear. It had to be deliberate She never did it when she was near anyone else. One day little sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived. She whispered to me that soon I was to be married, and she had feelings and desires for me that she could not overcome and did not really want to overcome. She told me that she wanted to make love to me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister. I was in total shock and could not say a word. She said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want to go ahead with it just come up and get me." I was stunned. I was frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. When she reached the top, she pulled down her panties and threw them down the stairs at me. I stood there for a moment, then turned and went straight to the front door. I opened the door and stepped out of the house and walked straight toward my car. My future father-in-law was standing outside. With tears in his eyes he hugged me and said, "We are very happy that you have passed our test. We could not ask for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family!" The moral of this story is? Always keep your condoms in your Galaxy!

Mine's the same (98, 2.3Si) The pedal doesn't go to the floor but it does feel 'long' despite having been bled with a Gunson's eezibleed, so there's little chance of air being trapped

It was relay 30 Thank you to those who took the trouble to reply

Not sure of van weight (I borrowed my brother-in-law's once), it was a 4 berth and I got 19mpg with my 2.3 petrol

Thanks for the reply I'm not sure how the immobiliser works, but the engine turns over fine. I'm pretty sure mine must be a late 98 model with the module under the dash instead of the passenger seat. I'm pinning my hopes on relay 30 but won't hear anything from the garage until Monday at the earliest

My Galaxy (S reg, 2.3 petrol) wouldn't start at the weekend. It's done it once before and I was very sceptical when the garage I towed it to said it needed an oil change, however I have since discovered this is a known problem with hydraulic tappets. The garage flushed the engine and she's been fine for nearly a year. I managed to get it bump started so flushed & changed the oil. Afterwards she was a bit sluggish to start and hesitated a bit when changing up. Next morning just would not start, not even with a bump - engine turns over fine but will not catch. I've towed it to another garage I trust, I thought about relay 30 but they assure me it's immobilised and because of this they can't get their fault code reader to work. They've tried all my keys and are going to try removing the battery to see if that will reset it. If not, apparently the only option is to take it to a Ford dealer for re-programming. (and we all know this forum's opinions of main dealers and their prices!) That doesn't really explain the hesitating for I assume the immobiliser can't operate whilst the car is running. It may be that there are 2 or more faults at work here. Does anyone have any opinions or suggestions? I've trawled the search facility and although people have had similar problems, none seem to fit mine. Another thing I thought of was the infamous water under the passenger seat. Does the water collect directly under the seat i.e. where the fuel pump reset is because I don't have an electronic box there or am I looking in the wrong place? Cheers in advance Chico

I found retracting the pistons while turning them is a PITA - I'd to turn them for ages before they would go back. If I'd known beforehand I'd have bought the proper tool, I think Halfords do them for around a tenner.

Now that the dark nights are here and my kids never seem to be able to buckle up quicker than I can turn the ignition key, I'd like to be able to turn on/off all the interior lights from one switch. I guess tapping into the wiring should be easy enough but I wondered if higher spec Galaxy's already had this facility and if so where's the switch? If not does anyone have any suggestions as to which switch to use and where to mount it?