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Have had my gal annually serviced by local Ford dealer since new, primarily to avoid invalidating warranty and now extended warranty (which I purchased when I bought the car). I realise that nowadays one does not need to have it serviced by Ford providing it is to Ford recommendations. However, I trust other local garages even less and they are handy. Anyhow, for the 10k, 20k and 30k services, they stamped my service booklet for the paint and perforation warranty. Today, I collected the gal from its 40k service and saw that although they had stamped for the service, they had not stamped the paint/perforation. So I queried it and they at first said to each other "Looks though it hasnt been done etc etc". This went on for some time between them. They obviously gave the impression that it should have been. Then they changed tack and said if you want it done, you have to pay extra because Ford have changed the rules. I said its always been included in the annual service before and it it wasn't why didnt you let me know instead of simply not stamping it and potentially invalidaing the warranty should I need to claim? Anyhow, totally unrepentant and didnt offer any adequate explanation - thought they were bluffing their way through. Has anyone experience of this? Should the body check be part and parcel of the annual service or should I have to pay extra and specifically request the check? The other weird thing was that they were unsure of the price anyway. I'm suspicious. Anyone help/

thanks for all the input.They were eager to make a fast buck out of the supposed freeplay. I just smelt a rat so glad I checked here first.

Tend to agree, in which case I wonder if they have corrected it when I went back but didnt admit it was out to save face. Is there any way I can verify alignment correct without waiting for further tyre wear? Don't want to let Frauds do it as I guess they will charge some ridiculous amount.

Yes, they are reinforced. As I say, the wear is uneven. Only 2mm lost on the outers and even that would upset me after 4000, but down to 3mm inner. Probably would have done better wth polystyrene.

Two new front tyres (Avon ZV5) 4000 miles ago now worn to 3mm on the inner but still 6mm outer both tyres. Prior to these being fitted by National, the original Michelins had lasted 22,000 miles. So the problem only seems to have occurred since the new tyres were fitted, at which time I also had the wheel alignment checked. Suspicious that they had f****** up the alignment and caused this wear, I took it back to them and they claim alignment is spot on. So they started looking for other reasons and came up with excessive play on both top mountings. Didnt look too excessive to me and reading this thread, that amount of play could be the norm, plus the gal has only done 26k since new and is always carefully driven. Not sure what to think. Certainly can't afford tyre wear at this rate. It does also appear badly affected by bumps in the road surface which cause it to pull slightly to one side or the other. Any ideas appreciated. Also, does anyonr know if I can swap the front ZV5's to get more miles out of them or are they unidirectional?

A wet fusebox would certainly cause the weird problems you are getting. Don't know how the water gets in but it might be a similar situation as in this thread: http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php?showtopic=19432

Talking about Haynes. I was in the local library a few weeks ago and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a Haynes workshop manual for the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander. To be sure there's a lot of those going around! Mind you, my local frauds now deal with Kia too so an Apollo franchise might bring in a bit of extra cash for them.

Dash electrics going haywire sounds suspiciously like one of the symptoms i had with the 100amp alternator fuse in the auxiliary fusebox. Mine too rectified itself with no apparent reason though the fuse was in a mess and would have failed a any moment. I guess if it's just happening intemittently it wouldn't be apparent that there was any power loss. Worth a quick two minute check in he fusebox though.

Won't a can of Radweld sort this out or is it not advisable on the Galaxy? Certainly worked a treat on the old Espace I had. I remember back in the 70's I used eggs to cure leaks on a mini. Sure it probably didn't do any good long term but it cured the leak ok. (not suggesting you buy half a dozen eggs for your gal but if you did make sure they've got the lion mark lol).

I noticed also that they had spread a bluish jelly substance on all the terminals in the aux fusebox. Is this probably a thermal grease or thermal paste? Couldn't think of any other reason as they are not likely to corrode other than from overheating. If so, is it a prudent action for all gal owners to take?