pj_andrew

The offside anti roll bar link on my 02 Galaxy needs replacing (my very reliable mechanic tells me). However I can't get it done for at least 4 weeks due to other commitments. Is there any danger of other damage being caused by not replacing it? P.S. He replace the nearside one last year with a Bosch replacement. It cost more but his professional opinion was to go for the best you can afford.

Having searched through previous threads I haven't quite found the answer to these two questions. What is the standard battery for a 2002 2.3 Petrol model? Is there a preferred replacement battery (Ford or not)? The battery on our Galaxy passed away some 4 weeks ago - 6 years old, can't complain. A local garage put in a new one. Not having the relevant spec to hand I trusted the garage. The guy said he'd put in a "bigger, better, heavy duty" battery, which sounded great. That new bigger, better battery has lasted 4 weeks! Just had the RAC out to get us going. He couldn't find anything wrong with the car. No drains on the battery and such like. He then tested the battery and not only was it flat but it was also showing as "faulty". So now I need a new battery and I want to be ready, pre-armed with the correct specification. Thanks.

Ok, so it's a chain. Good, phew. Thanks for the replies. Interestingly it's the local garage on the corner who say its a chain and the local Ford specialist who says it's a cambelt. No prizes for guessing who is doing the service.

I have a '02 2.3 with 60k miles and one garage says it has a cambelt which now needs changing and the other says it has a timing chain so no need to worry. So which is it?!!

Excellent! I need 2 new fronts (yet again!). Always gone for the Dunlops but they don't half wear out fast and

Sounds so simple. Tried to remove nearside fron indicator to get at the pump but no joy. Removed two screws (with star shaped heads) from top of light cluster and one from down the side but the light cluster wouldn't budge. There seemed to be another screw down the back but I couldn't reach it. Surely there's an easier way!

I see. Makes sense.

I'm interested as to when would you not use the rubber strips on the top of the Aero bars?

Shhhhhh.......you may get told off........ Strictly in France only of course ;)

One general photo. This is the car fully loaded when we've just arrived in France. 2 adults, 4 children and stuff for 3 week holiday. Oh and one of children posing !

I recently looked on here for recommendations and info about roof bars and roofbox and didn't find anything specific so in the interests of fair play I'll post my findings. I ended up getting bars and box from Thule. Bought them all online at www.roofbox.co.uk Car is an 01 2.3 with roof rails. Needed to get the feet (the bits that actually fasten to the roof rails). Model is Thule 755. Also bought the bars (which fasten to feet and go across). Model is Thule 862. (These are the Aero bars which are more expensive than normal bars but they are well made and look pretty slick). The feet need a little bit of putting together but it's not difficult. You then fasten them to the bars and then to the roof. It's a clever system and when you remove the bars the whole thing comes off in one peice so the feet stay fastened to the bars. It's very quick too. The feet lock. At first I didn't see why this was significant. However it'll stop anybody stealing your roof rail kit or your roof box which when you add it all together is worth a pretty penny. For a roof box I ended up getting a Thule Atlantis 780. It was a compromise of cost and size. It's big, not too big and not too expensive. It has "Power grip" fasteners. These are actually claws/pincers which you open before putting the box on the roof and then tighten using rotating knobs inside the roof box. Initially I was sceptical that this would be very strong but it is. The pincers grip the bars very tightly. The pincers and the bars have rubber contact points so nothing slips. Very impressive and very quick. We did over 1000 miles at 80 mph with no problems. The roofbox is just about light enough and such a size that one person can put it on and off the car roof. However I'm over 6 feet tall so anyone smaller might find it a bit more tricky. Ideally it's a 2 person job. The box opens from both sides. This is very useful as what you want is always around the other side! People mention wind noise from a roofbox. I didn't notice any. In terms of mpg I didn't notice any significant difference to normal. In hindsight what might I have done differently? I might have bought the bigger roof box (the 900) BUT it would be heavier, take 2 people to lift onto the roof, be more difficult to store and would have cost quite a lot more. The 780 was a good compromise. By the way the guys at www.roofbox.co.uk were excellent. I was silly and left it all to the very last minute! I ordered it all on Monday and we were due to go away on Thursday. I paid extra for the next day delivery and they guarenteed it would arrive and it did. Full marks (and cheaper than Halfords). (If anyone wants to see photos then I can send them).

It's been inbetween min and max whenever I check it and I've never added any oil. Not sure on which oil was used, I trust the garage for that !!! There is no oil on the ground and the car spends 95% of it's life sat outside the house. I'll need to check the engine side of the undertray. No smoke and no oily smell. Car is currently on a 225 mile trip so I'll get the oil level checked when it gets to it's destination.

Petrol 2.3 Ghia ('02). 43K Checked the oil last night and it was nowhere to be seen ! Not a spec on the dipstick. Very concerned. Most unusual as I check it every few weeks and I've never had to add oil before in the last 3.5 years. Put in 1 litre of 5W30 and that brought the level up to midway between Min and Max. To be fair since I last checked we did 1000 miles to France and back, followed by 600 miles to Yorkshire and back in the space of a week. It's doing another 600 miles to Yorkshire and back this weekend. The car is usually used as an around town runabout doing 6-8000 miles a year. Anything to worry about?

Took a slight detour to Ford garage to check out the new 06 Galaxy. Initial impressions are: - like the exterior, simple and doesn't look too van like - the new seats look great. Very easy to fold down and yet very solid when up. Bit concerned about the floor to ceiling height with seats down but they fold very flat. - overhead storage is neat - 2 remote key fobs on Zetec and above (hurrah!) - good selection of gadgets. The sat nav looks great as does the DVD system - not a massive choice of engines but 1 petrol and 3 diesel on Ghia level spec seems to cover most needs - it ain't cheap ! Probably wait for 6-9 months for a 10K 2nd hand deal. All in all looks hopeful. Will wait with baited breadth for reliabilty reports.

Thanks I'll give them a go. I work down the road in Sunbury, so it's pretty convenient. Any joy with these guys? I used them again the other week. Seem fine. They do what's required. I can't say if they are cheap or not but it seems ok. The couputer wasn't working when I drove away but it was fine by the next morning (I suspect this is because they'd had to disconnect the battery or something or other). The funny thing was the coutesy car. It was an Escort. Having driven the Galaxy for a few years now, driving the Escort was like being in a go-kart. Good fun ! And it was free including the petrol.