2ManyKids!

Hi yes I did another search after reading that and found it this time, thanks! It's possible I just got a duff pump and/or my learning curve turned the whole escapade into a saga, but essentially I posted in case anyone gets any help from my experience, as there were no useful hints with the kit! This site is so great for pooling first-hand experiences and my thanks to everyone for making this place not just useful, but fun sometimes too!

Having seen oil extraction pumps mentioned on here but never seen them in use I thought I would take the gamble and bought a Silverline 4 litre pump. On the basis you rarely get what you pay for I chose this online for about

Eek, that spells sore knuckles! But thanks for the info, much appreciated. Didn't have any time at the weekend but did about 350 miles and paid closer attention to temp gauge and it's actually showing 60 and sometimes 70 when the engine is properly warmed, which does I believe look suspiciously like the thermostat, dammit! Will also try the top hose test on warm-up to confirm when get a moment one eve this week.

Thanks ChrisPB! That has given me a few valuable pointers so will be investigating heater hose etc further at the weekend. And hunting through my near-useless Peter Russek manual for details on replacing thermostat! Many thanks, all advice is much appreciated. Cheers, Steve

Thanks all for your advice! Stuck Thermostat? hadn't thought of that: would that explain the fluctuating temperature reading (it doesn't fluctuate often now, mostly just stuck at 50 degrees)? It looks like my plan of attack is first I will have a listen for run-on pump operation after engine shut-down, then mess about with climate control settings and see if that influences booster heater or temperature gauge operation. Next step might be to replace the temp sender as that looks like a fairly simple operation (as long as I order the right one!), then if there's an airlock that might be tricky to diagnose and fix? Would getting VAG-COM give any fault codes to help (with heater but also aircon issues), assuming I can figure out how to get it working?! Thanks again for everyone kindly taking the time to reply! Steve

Hi All, I've spent some time searching but unsuccessfully, so I hope someone can suggest what the solution might be to this? The booster heater (under the car) fires up and makes the jet engine noise, but no heat comes through the cabin until the engine is warm. If it makes a noise I'm guessing the glowplug works okay, so the problem is with water not circulating through the heater back to the heater matrix? I've read on here the water pump vane can come unstuck from the shaft on early Mk II's so is that a likely cause? Also, the temperature gauge also only shows a minimum temperature reading (50 degrees), though when I first got the car last summer it used to fluctuate between 50 and 90 degrees, so I'm guessing the Temp Sender has failed so will be replacing in due course. But, it suddenly occurred to me: they aren't related faults are they? I clearly don't want to risk cooking the engine through some sort of blockage in the water system. I have a Peter Russek workshop manual but I find it almost useless in it's depth of detail/advice. Is the water pump for the booster heater on the back of the engine, or driven off the fan/auxiliary belt in the traditional way? I think I also read on here the water pump should be replaced when the cam belt is done, but only the belt was done (by Ford dealer) by the previous owner before selling. Car is X-reg 2000 Mk II, 115PD, Ghia with dual aircon, done 55k miles. Aircon also failed (yes, thanks to seller for lying about 'everything working'! and he works for Ford so presumably could have got it fixed cheap, grrr). If anyone has any tips would be a great help! I appreciate I won't be needing the heater soon with the weather turning, but I'd like to get it sorted at my own pace before something expensive breaks (and while it's dry and warm outside)! Many thanks, Steve PS when the engine is warm it barely gives any heat into the cabin but I guess thats normal for this diesel?

I won't bore anyone with my aircon problems (sneaky seller I now realise was being evasive when I asked did it work, he said put your hand over the vent, it's cold isn't it? Which it would be as it was recharged just before sale and all leaked out within a month of me buying, bstd), but would a Poll broken down by component/pipework give some hints as to which unit fails most often? Also, presume leak sealer doesn't work?, and is anyone clever enough to work out a flowchart to help diagnose which component most likely to have failed? Ultimately, is the only way to fix going to an aircon expert for a dye-test? Thanks all!

Ha well the kids do love dalmations! Hey I know I could paint their coats to match too! That would be brilliant! I'm surely only a step or two away from doing that! PS latest mod is rubber bat flying from rear-view mirror. Yes it's black!

No worries, know it's not to everyone's taste and had initially intended to stick with aluminium if they could be rubbed-back. But I discovered after an hour or two of sanding one cap, and getting nowhere, that wasn't an option so without spending some time, effort and money sourcing new or nearly new ones painting was an option. I thought if I didn't like the paint effect I had nothing to lose and could always look for new caps later. Main reason I posted was so anyone else with knackered caps might decide if it was worth a try or not with little effort. I thought the black goes nicely with black bodywork, blacked-out rear lights and ford badges and general black-themed look of the car (inherited from previous owner, who assured me he wasn't a funeral director). If I had had a bright red Galaxy I would have painted the caps matching red. I think keeping the Ford logo is vital for the overall look. I considered using some bright-aluminium coloured paint to contrast/highlight the fake allen-headed bolts but ran out of time. Overall I'm pleasantly surprised with what I think is a subtle bit of individuality it's given the car, so think I will stick with them. Or next year might paint them acid yellow with smiley faces on!!

Hi All, I recently bought my Galaxy and the alloy hubcaps were very seriously corroded. I thought I could rub them back to bare metal and re-lacquer but the metal was too pitted and I got bored sanding, so decided just to spray them. In case anyone else wondered what it looks like here are a few photos. I use 180 grade wet-and-dry to get the old lacquer and corrosion off, masked-off the blue Ford logo, used 2 coats of grey primer (not all the lacquer came off so I would recommend you try filler-primer instead that Halfrauds sell but I've not tried), 2 coats gloss black (to match bodywork) and 3 coats clear lacquer, all sprayed from cans. I just need to deal with the corrosion patches on the wheel now!