dieseldogg

A 1998 110BHP TDI remapped to 124 BHP plus oodles of extra torque(alledgedly) So 230,000 on the injectors (never touched) and 180,000 on the Exchange Injection pump Not bad Her can be a bit "stouchie" on acceleration but never mind.

May I rub some salt in your wounds sir? See att Tiddles was bring her brother home from Jordanstown, got 65.?? on the way up and this 63.1 on the loaded ret journey. Sniff! I may need to recheck the validity of this trip computer. But say less 10% (and the worst against carefully brimmed calcs was less than 7% previousley) 64-10%= 57.6mpg

Sigh, Dont i know :blink: I tried to bring myself to scrap her through the scrappage scheme( and could have got a new Alhambra for £15,000.00 nett.) But could not bring myself to do it. I realize that I have probably formed some sort of irrational emotional :wacko: attatchment to the old girl. Currently I would/might consider seeing if I can take her past 250,000 miles on her mostly origional bits. I will also enter her for a forthcoming local "classic car" event...... the wacko organizers welcome any car over 10 years old, (and I should have had her in this past three years) I hasten to add she WILL NOT be washed or primped. I might rather drive her through some clabber beforehands. tee hee

Thanks, erm Plastic engine cover? :) A very early casualty of my home maintenance regime. I pulled a 4 wire sensor from the bottom of the top radiator hose , about 150mm out from the head (& there is another sensor just at the plastic "tee" piece next the head) Anyway i dunked this pulled sensor into a jug of hot water straight from the kettle, with the ignition switched on. No movement seen on the temp gauge, so i presume this one is buggered? Or it is not connected to the gauge? i.e. is it the wrong one? I suppose I could be cunning and source a temp gauge sensor from the motor factors and then see where it fits? Ps Re the thermostat, yep i figgered it was Ok, anyway having heard it described as "a complete pig" to replace, not that keen on investigating "just in case" Cheers M

I should add that as far as I am aware our aux heater has not worked this goodly no of years, I may even try & get working again with the help of this forum as I was interested to see that this seems to be a common failing :)

I cannot seem to see the "edit" button, so to continue. I forgot the saga of the hot starting difficulties at 50 or 60 thou miles, i searched on tinternet every which way after asking all & sundry locally who might be knowledgable. Without any success. A local "guru" who was very big into car electronics, specializing in VW stuff, was baffled, strangly when he cracked the master injector open whilst I churned her she started,& we tried this repeatedly, but no wiser. He later, (a good few months or years) said that he had seen this glitch referred to on some Audi forum and that a 5p resistor fixed it. However in our case it fixed itself never to reoccur. I paid £500 for an exchange pump, which did NOT fix the problem, it was supposed to be £1000plus, sigh I regretted paying owt , but a apparently decent respected local firm, which ceased trading very soon after? The both rear brake calipers failed within a month of other at about 200,000 miles, fluid absolutly pishing out of them, and one of the replacments failed inside a 12 month(under warrenty at least) The drop links are very short lived too. But hey the coolant system has been absolutly perfect. And the first alternator did to about 190,000 miles, the second only done 40,000 before the clutch in the pully failed. Gerrrr oh and her eats bulbs, both dipped headlight and various brake /tailight ones Another breather needed. And here we go again. I did try asking both the Ford( & fall about laughing) dealers about the starting issues, well to be fair it was really a VW of sorts so what did they know/be expected to know? Watching them below the car discussing the mysteries was quite wonderful(in long time ago hindsight)it kinda went" I wonder what this bit does??)I think that was the Aux heater btw, It did NOT inspire confidence at the time. The snooty sods at VW refused to lok at her......cos thats a Ford innit. I must say i have been getting bits from the store man at the local VW place and apart from a bit of gentle teasing he has been very helpful. PS Mr Ford made a better job of the VW engine than Mr VW did At least in respect of driving the water pump off an ancillary belt rather than the timing belt........from what i have heard anyways whew enough already cheers M

Oh Er ho hum, Where do i start. Looked at the Citroen Peugeot and Espace equivalents in 1998. We wanted a vehicle to go camping on the Continent and bring back goodies. I plumped for the Galaxy simply because of the VW TDI engine being more fuel efficient. We bought an import out of Cork. Alway absolutly useless at clearing the screen or glass internally when loaded with Pax, especially in humid weather. The A/C failed at about three years. Not fixed after one abortive attempt. the Aux heater used to work. The brakes were never good. They 16" tyres were too expensive. a set of 15" alloys & van tyres solved that. The manual 5 speed gear box absolutly locked into third a couple of times, a spray of grease & a wheen of prayers later = fine. Crankshaft oil leak and gearbox oil leak, keep topping them up. Ran her in on Case No1 tractor oil. Currently on 229,000 & still going strong But******************************** Otherwise excellent. Has definately delivered for us. It does what it says on the tin. Absolutly has never let us down. I do some of my own maintenance may help there. Easy on fuel.& Tows very well. No rust except for the "professionally" insurance repaired tailgate. Cills/Sills? crushed stupid by tyre fitters. i am now very blunt with them. Tough. But as sound as a bell beneath, and as i mentioned in my introduction, origional exhaust, clutch, gearbox, head gasket, the blinking water pump was only changed at 180,000/190,000 whilst still 100% but there was a hose leaking, the "Y" shaped one, down the front of the block. Take a wee breather.

Cos I enjoy the challange, I hasten to add in an essentially disposable/expendable vehicle, and I do go canny when there are other vehicles/folks about. Otherwise Way Hey. :)

Could i add that our 1998 Galaxy 110HP TDI is remarkedely economical for the size/weight of a vehicle it is. I can get( and have got) 52.5 mpg over 100 hours mixed driving , photos too ( but I hasten to add only on the trip, but it was only 5% optmistic when carefully checked against fuel put in miles travelled all checked against Motorway mile posts, sigh sad arnt I)) but mostly 50 odd mixed driving in the summer, dropping to say about 45 in the winter, this includes a bit of trailer towing too. For the versility /usefulness of the vehicle I think this is very very acceptable. M

Cor, that alone has made it worth joining :) Its a pity that in the week from her MOT pass the daughter has reversed into sommat and mangled a rear door, well i suppose i should be thankful she did not get fanked up with another vehicle or personal injury claim. (I MOTed the car rather than the daughter btw) PS Better smilies on this forum, compared to some other sites. I like smilies. PPs i will be tough deciding whether to treat her to another timing belt or simply run her on with well crossed fingers ;)

OK I have searched and also checked the FAQ So I have mislaid/cannot find my Haynes manual, nor can I find the thermostat or identify the sender unit/sensor for the temp gauge. I know the weather has been exceptionally cold but from memory over the past 12 years the gauge should have been registering/registering higher, i think the thermostat is Ok as her be blowing hot air, whilst the top hose still be cold. Thanks in anticipation M

Hi, as above we bought our Galaxy new, way back in 1998, and have kept her ever since. Currently on 229,000 miles and running like a clock ( well an antique clock perhaps) I have not thought to register on any forums as she has not given any trouble, well except that hot starting glitch at about 50,000 miles. Still on the Origional exhaust, clutch, gearbox and injectors, and one drive shaft replaced at about 200,000 She has "ate" starter motors mind. We hope to take a wheen of years & miles out of her yet. Cheers M