steelblue ghia

we went back in april this year,I would definately drive again,its motorway most of the way and really easy to find,it took us just over three and a half hours to get from dover to eurodisney,I wish we could have the raised speed limits on our motorways that france have !!

We experienced the same loss of gears on our old mk1 tdi last year,the selector bolt had sheared and it then smashed through the bottom of the gearbox !,I did manage to repair the box myself,the gearbox did not have to be removed,it was a case of supporting the gearbox by wooden blocks and a jack,removing the battery and the battery shelf (which is part of the engie/box mounting hence the box needs to be held up)I could then gain access (just !) to the selector assembly where it bolts to the top of the gearbox,remove the selector assy and replace the sheared bolt which cost literally pennies !,I reasembled the selector,put everything back together and luckily the cover that sits under the engine had caught the smashed piece of gearbox casing which i managed to plug back in the hole and patch (bodge !) up whith chemical metal putty,the other part of the sheared bolt luckily had dropped down into the gearbox and was stuck to the magnetic gearbox oil drain plug !re- filled with the correct oil,road test and to this day still works perfectly and does not leak,also worth mentioning that the gearstick in the car was really sloppy feeling before the bolt sheared,once the box was fixed the gearstick was solid and as it should have been,obviously the bolt had been working its way loose for some time.

when our 2004 115 bhp tdi had its aircon compressor renewed under warranty last month I enquired about the cam belt change and was told it is renewed every 40000 miles and the dealer printed off an estimate for me and the final price would be

have you checked that the gear linkage cables are still in place on the gear selector?they can "pop" out of their sockets (you will find 2 cables attached ,look under the bonnet under the battery),how did the gears "feel" before this happened,did you have problems selecting gears or did the gear lever feel as if there was a lot of play ?

Thanks for all the replies so far....will keep to the speed limits.....the galaxy has the dvd screens installed so should stop the "are we nearly there yet" questions from the grown ups !!!........kids will be busy map reading.....!!!

hi all,we are off to eurodisney 30th march,driving there with four adults and three kids aged 6,6 and 4,staying in the hotel cheyenne in the park for a four night stay,dover calais crossing,I would be grateful to read anyones comments who've been there on what you thought....?the route from calais to disney....well signed....?any tips for when at the attractions...?will I be sane enough to drive back home at the end of the holiday...!!!!.cheers.

I've just taken a look at your photo's and when you enlarge the right hand picture you can actually see the little imprints that have been left in the paint that the mole grips or pliers they've used to bend the sills "straight" again !!!."muppets"

I would guess that it will be anti roll bar links,our car had the same knocking noises,just had ours replaced under warranty,o4 tdi and only 26500 miles.

We had trouble selecting a couple of gears on our old mk1 tdi,the gearlever was also very slack and sloppy feeling in general,turned out it was the gear selector shaft bolt inside the gearbox that had been working its way loose until it finally made contact with a gear and promptly got smashed out of the bottom of the gearbox....! I did manage to repair the damage myself without removing the gearbox thanks to some sound advice I found on this forum...I hope this is not the symptoms that your car is showing because it was a pig of a job !good luck.

Well I have to say I'm impressed with the dealer so far,it turns out that the air con system contained enough gas to run the system and after carrying out the neccesary tests our gal's compressor/pump is faulty,now just waiting for the go ahead from ford for the replacement pump on warranty,...fingers crossed....so far so good !!

Thanks for the replies so far..I guess I shall see what tomorrow brings.....will report back with the outcome !!

Hi all our august 2004 registered galaxy tdi 115 is in at our nearest main dealers for them to look at the non functioning air con tommorrow(tues). In the conversation I had with the service manager when booking the car in,he said they would first do a vaccum test on the system to see if there is a leak within the system ,if so then any repairs will be under warranty,if there are no leaks found he then told me that the gas in the air con system only lasts a couple of years and then needs topping up or re gassing (quoted approx

Thanks for your reply Neil, I have been phoning around for prices of gearboxes and the cheapest is

out for a drive this afternoon and just slowing down upon entering a 30 mph zone and there is a bang from under the car and the gearstick keels over !!,oh great,I popped the bonnet and checked that the gear cable had not worked loose but all was well and it felt as though the gear selector was not attached to anything in the box.I managed (awkward) to manually select a gear by lifting the selector up and twisting it and got back in the car and started up.I had found third gear and managed to limp home (15 miles,interesting!).I did a search on this wonderful forum and decided that it was probably the selector bolt that has sheared inside the box---great!!,so I started to have a look at the car and noticed that the underside of the car and engine under tray is covered in oil !,I removed the under tray and the bad news is that it is a sheared selector bolt----,the even badder news!! ---I can retrieve the sheared sodding bolt through nice little hole its punched through the gearbox casing.!!I just wish I stayed at home.I am thinking about repairing the box as the bolt is out and I believe I may be able to get the hole welded up but I would appreciate any help about how to remove the gear selector off the box without removing the gearbox if its possible ?or if anyone has had to have a gearbox replaced on a mk1 tdi gal what sort of money is involved,thanks in advance.