Big Bad Al

Hello, pls can anyone point me in the right direction to the cv joint / boot "how to". I referenced it a couple of years ago to change a boot, but cannot find the link now. thanks in advance.

Good morning everyone. I just took a call from my wife telling me the car's info display (that was telling us a service was due in about 1300 miles) was now totally lit up red! I have had a scan thru the FAQ's etc and cannot see anything similar, so I wanted to ask if anyone has come across that before. We have had this 2003 1.9tdi Ghia from new and had very few problems - it has been a great car so far with the only electrical issue being the well documented door looms breaking and needing some careful soldering, last year. I have it at the back of my mind that there may possibly be a further issue in this area but not sure if that would manifest itself that way? Anyone had this, or seen this? tia. Allan

big thanks for all contributors to this post. I had to repair both rear passenger looms that had multiple wire breakages. Just to also confirm that the panel was easily removed by sliding up and off and replaced by pushing on and down (though took a few attempts to get all clips located in the slots. Great post!

Ok - I had my air con repaired today by just about the nicest man you could possibly meet. The method used was to cut the pipe and fit a custom made part that is better engineered than the original. It is designed to allow more flexing. It is this lack of flexibility in the OEM part that possibly causes this "suction" pipe to fail so commonly on the galaxy / sharon / alhambra. So here is a picture of the part fitted. All the pipework to the right of the low pressure filler valve (as you view the pictures) is the original pipework. To the left of the filler valve a short part of the original pipework remains and then the custom made part has been fitted / crimped to it. The old part was cut of first of course. The pictures show the original pipe that has been unbolted from the compressor and cut. The second picture is a view from the nearside. The last on from the offside. Following the fitting of the new part, the system was vaccumed, then refilled with the correct amount of gas / oil then tested. Oh yes, dye was added as well and I was advised to have the system checked again in 2013. The entire job took just under 2 hours. It cost just

I know this is an old thread but just for anyone like me who may have the same problem that Bigjeeze had and is contemplating cutting front panel in the same way or stripping down the front "landing" to access the pipe, there is an alternative that doesn't involve paying the main dealer large sums of money. On this site I found reference to ac4cars.co.uk. They make and fit a better designed part than the original, that prevent's the very common problem of the U bend on the suction pipe fracturing. I've been quoted

Well - I've applied this product and will see how it goes. http://www.krakentape.com/ On their site it lists 101 uses and refrigerant line wrap / repair is listed. So lets see how this goes!

Hey Bigjeeze I read with interest your post and was hoping there was another way, though I can see why you went down that route. I've got a price of

thx Chris - anyone done this themselves? Do you need to take off the front of the car!?

Hi, I have a 1.9tdi galaxy 2003 and whilst replacing a cv gaitor at the weekend, I have discovered a pinhole leak on some alloy pipe coming from the air con compressor. Can anyone advise me if replacing this pipe is a diy job and whether you need any special tools to remove and replace the pipe. The section I need to replace runs from the compressor up to the top left of the radiator then disappears into the wheel arch I think. Is the pipe continuous or can you get just the part from the compressor up to the top of the rad? Any advice appreciated. tia. Allan

Hi I had the same problem when doing mine. If you undo the two allen screws then get some one to use a lever and put some tension on it pushing it down. While they are doing this get a small sharp chisel and locate it on the join line you are trying to separate. A sharp tap with a hammer and it will spring apart.Hope this helps Andy Met Thanks Andy - I did try levering between the lower arm and the cv joint casing but was worried about cracking the joint. It's a large gap and my breaker bar is quite slender. I will try a chisel in the balljoint joint to the hub - I had used a old blunt screwdriver / drift to no avail. Thanks for the reply.

I spent several hours today trying to drop the nearside driveshaft to change a split inner cv joint gaitor. I just could not get the lower balljoint free from the hub - despite undoing the two allen bolts. My brother went off the Halfords to get a balljoint splitter but the only size they sell would not fit around the joint. Can anyone pls offer any suggestions - a particular size of balljoint splitter I need or another method to get this job done. TIA