Scorpiorefugee

I should have thought that the sensible low cost approach from Ford should have been fit a new pump and change the oil and filter and monitor the situation carefully. If it isn't coming from the pump than it's going down the pistons and it would be obvious that something is wrong there. If they were charging for the job that is what they would have done but it's their money and they are being more careful.

First, You're in the wrong section. There's a MKIII section a bit lower down. Greger's may move it for you. I agree that is terrible service. It all depends how far you are from the garage but I should be tempted to tell them to get moving or you would be forced to drive it to them and then Ford would have to suffer the consequences anyway but I can understand your position. It may help if you supplied a bit more information about yourself and location as local members may be able to offer useful advice. The fact that you were driving it until you checked the oil level suggests that a few more miles shouldn't cause further damage. Can you tell from the dipstick if the oil is contaminated and are you sure that it wasn't overfilled at the last service. I.e - is this the first time you've checked the oil?

Thanks again Brian. I'm now home and it's out of reach. It's quite probable that I could sort it if I had it on my drive or I could tell a few porkies and get to keep it and then I could get rid of my ghastly MKIII and make peace with the missus. Thinking about it again I'm a little surprised that he finds it necessary to go over 3000 rpm cos mine always went so well I hardly ever found it necessary to do that other than on override down steep hills and that gave me great service for over 100K in 4 years until it died at 250K and never once suffered from any of the horrible turbo problems described by others on this site. I think I'll have to talk him through a few simple driving tests to get better idea of the problem. Ron.

Thanks Brian, my thoughts entirely. Unfortunately I am 200 miles from my tool box and trying to be helpful. I've always found that each and every fault has a set of unique symptoms but the fault code would be an enormous help. In this case it has been into Ford Garage a time or two for this and they've not been very helpful and I only see this chap 2 or three times a year. My guess from studying earlier posts is that it could well be something to do with turbo over boost but mine did 250K without anything like this so I'm hoping for an " I had that problem...." . Perhaps I should suggest an Italian Tune Up. One thing I have been reassured over this is that Ford made a bl00dy mess of the MKIII. My missus didn't want to get out of it.

I've just been for a trip in a friend's '98 TDI Ghia and I'm still trying to get him to do a swap for my Titanium. More to the point, he apparently has only one problem with his and that is a sudden loss of power if he takes it above 3000 rpm which resets on restart. This vehicle only does about 2K miles a year and has less than 90K on the clock. I am sure that this must be one of those common faults but it's not one that I ever had. Can anyone offer help on this 'cos armed with that information I might be able to make him an offer he can't refuse.

I think it's amazing just how much abuse those cills seem to take. Mine had been straightened out at least 4 times and still survived. My son has had it for 18 months now and his garages seem a bit more enlightened although I did make him well aware of the problem and he probably gives the mechanics a good finger wagging before he allows them to start.

You may be better with an earlier MKIII as they were still working on the old Ghia standards etc. You may have read my comments on the MKIII and I have to admit that after fitting a cushion to the "sports" driver's seat I was beginning to learn to live with it. That is until I finally convinced my wife to drive it and then I rediscovered why the passengers hate it. This effect comes in after about half an hour on anything but a dead smooth straight motorway. Fuel economy in mine (2.0L mondeo type diesel Titanium) is improving slightly but it remains a struggle to get it above 40 wheras my old MKI never did less than 45 and was a hell of a lot more enjoyable to ride in and drive. Oh, and do avoid Run Flat tyres at all costs. The best one I ever found was a 1998 MKI Ghia and the owners from new have so far refused every serious offer. Having said all that, If you want this sort of car then the MKIII is probably still the best of a very mediocre lot of recent makes and models unless you can find a very good example of an earlier model. Of course, if you like all black interiors, hard uncomfortable seats with no lateral support and a bouncy ride you may love the MKIII. Just one observation. The Citroen Picasso range can be a very good buy for a family as the interior is much less morose but they are far less durable. Good look with whatever you choose.

I took it to the Local Ford dealer today and one of their techs drove it around for about 1/2 hour. Annoyingly, the damned thing had been behaving itself pretty well on the drive in so it continued that for most of the test. I drove it for a bit but the trouble is I now anticipate it's idiosyncrasies and tend to intercept them and he had a different driving style. He did however agree that he had noticed some of the symptoms I described on Mondeos and agreed that it seemed to be just part of the normal behaviour of this engine. I think they have been very helpful and they have suggested that I could pop in every month or so to check for any updates and refused to charge me for his time. I have to say that Hills Ford of Kidderminster have been brilliant throughout. I suppose it is somewhere in the range of Fault, Freak or Feature, probably midway between the last 2. Annoyingly it started doing silly tricks on the way home but I've now got used to it I suppose I'll just have to live with it and try to get my wife to give it another go. One little point, one of the reception staff is looking to replace her MKII Ghia X with anything but a MKIII and that's before I came along but I think that's mainly because of the fold down seats which is probably my biggest source of dissatisfaction. I've offered to let them borrow mine so that they can do a comparison with the alternatives as they rarely get one less than 3 years old in for resale and these issues do seem to have occurred as a result of "improvements" like standard fitting of "sports seats".

Hi Dave, I've got mine booked into our local Ford Agent who actually seems to be a cut above the norm. They don't have much experience with Galaxys but the same engine is in Mondeos etc so we shall see. It's going in on Monday and I am taking one of their techs out for a spin first so maybe a bit to report later. One issue I keep raising without any comment is that of over sensitive throttle. This is always evident so maybe they'll have some comment about that at least.

Hi Dave, Did you learn anything from your loan of a different motor or did Ford come up with anything? Ron.

I've logged a lot of moans about my MKIII but I am eventually learning to live with it. Chucking out the run flats and using cushions in the awful sports seats has helped and inflating the tyres to full load levels together with exclusive use of Shell fuel had helped the fuel consumption. On a recent 400 miles it managed a calculated 47mpg albeit with a mix of motorway with some speed restrictions and urban/rural roads. Even better, after filling up and driving 10 miles home following one of those nutters who manage 35 mph on open roads and 40 in built up areas it recorded 58mpg but that won't last. More to the point, I have continually complained of turbo lag for want of a better description. chrispb123456 reported that his seemed much better after a service and software updates so I was hoping for a similar result. Sadly, after it's second service (now at 15K) and having had all of the updates which apparently took most of the afternoon, it is now if anything worse. I am now wondering it I am suffering from a "Feature", an unfortunate side effect of low emission engines, some specific design feature to improve the driving experience :blush: :blush: or an actual fault. This being the case I should appreciate any feedback from other owners based on the following fault description. I should say that my wife continues to refuse to drive it and she has happily driven everything from an antique motor coach to a TVR including furniture vans and motor bikes. The problem(s) The throttle has most of it's action in the top 1/4 - 1/2 inch (1cm) and under normal driving conditions including motorways just the lightest touch gives a feeling of a lot of welly, almost like driving a high powered sports car, but using the rest makes a little difference but nothing appreciable which makes overtaking a bit nerve racking until you learn what to expect. It's a bit like the old days when a quick burst on the throttle squirted neat petrol into the input manifold. On a steady take off or in slow moving traffic after changing up there is a short (1 second ish) period of normal reaction followed by 1 or a series of surges of power particularly progressing though 1400 rpm. These can be almost like a a quick stab of full throttle (without turbo lag) with a sustained increase in power until a quick lift off and a gentle return to the throttle pedal. If I just leave the throttle pedal fixed there are a succession of these at 5-10 mph intervals as the speed builds up. A similar effect occurs after accelerating at higher speeds and changing up. I.E. a normal smooth change followed by an unwanted boost. It seems at times as if the damned thing has a mind of its own. As others have commented on a similar effect I should be interested in progress. I have adapted to this but it still feels very odd from what is supposed to be a well designed power unit. I shall be taking it back to the dealer but I get the feeling that they see very few Galaxys and what they do see are mainly autos so a bit of ammunition would be useful. My own opinion is that is is all to do with controlling turbo boost at low revs as the surges at around 1400 rpm do feel like quite a push in the back, far more than I should expect for low revs in 4th gear. Any observations welcome. Thanks folks.

Thanks Isolator42. I looked on line and ebay but I found none that could guarantee that it would work on this model and it also entailed taking the radio out and risk losing the power to it so I took the coward's way out and paid my

Hi Dave, I've been trying to wangle a test drive in something similar get a comparison check but out 2 nearest Ford dealers just haven't had anything in with the same engine gearbox combination of around the same sort of manufacture date so it hasn't happened. I did get into a Galaxy Zetec one year older than mine and the front seats were just way way better. Better material and no bl00dy sports seats!. It also had a lidded box on the dash where you could get at it without having to feel around and end up with it all coming out on your head. I've also had a butchers in some of the other bigger models and they all seem to have the park bench flat and featureless second row seats and all interiors in ghastly 2 tone black so I guess that's the new Ford style. I'm wondering if yours is not manual as it may be that what you are experiencing is a different manifestation of the same problem as my effect is definitely a lag but it's effect is distorted by a seriously over sensitive throttle pedal. I do spend most of my time using the lightest of feather touches on the pedal once the lag and surge have happened. I'm assuming the Kuga will have the same engine set up so it will be interesting to see your comments. Ron.

Hi Davewill, I cannot be sure from your description whether your problem is that same as mine but your comment about yet another 'feature' strikes home. My 03/12 Titanium still has only 13K and has just had it's 25K service at which I mentioned a similar problem and asked for all software fixes to be applied. The Ford dealer was extremely helpful and even apologised for not having time to wash the car because of the time taken doing the updates. Sadly there does not seem to have been any improvement so it's going back with a smile and a plea. My problem, one among many, is that there seems to be a delayed action on the throttle which has caused the well documented issue of stalling on take off. This is made worse because most of the meaningful throttle action is in the top 1cm of movement so changing up in slow or tight traffic an annoying process. In fact I frequently find myself lifting off at cruising speed to prevent speed creep and it often seems to carry on almost as if the cruise control in engaged Basically, my assessment is that there is a 1 -2 second turbo lag and a further progressive turbo boost as the rev's build up with no movement of the throttle mainly between 1000 to 2000 rpm. This bothers me when in built up areas changing up to 4th at 30mph there is a surge of power which I control by lifting off for a moment. This happens in all higher gears and today I actually just let it go on and surprisingly it just kept accelerating in stepped surges up to 50mph, each surge adding more power and I had wedged my foot against the wheel arch to make sure I didn't change the throttle position. I think that this is linked to the use of turbo boost at low revs which wasn't done on earlier engines. I have tried to use the throttle to control revs off load between 1000 and 2000 rpm but it is virtually impossible due to the over sensitive throttle and that it tends to go up in steps on the way up but comes down gradually. Sadly, these dealers do not see many of these Galaxies so really don't have much experience and also it would not bother anyone with an aggressive driving style which many Mechanics have. It might be interesting to see if there is a similar problem in the Mondeos with the same engine.

I think the only reliable information available is that for the versions with all VAG engines etc. so it can be hard work to find your way around these. From what I can remember about the MKI and MKII I had the deadlocking was automatic irrespective of key or remote locking and since you seem to have suffered from permanent deadlocking and that is tied up with sensors on the locks that may be a good place to start especially if the drivers door lock was wrecked by an attempted break in. I do know that when some low life broke in by breaking the driver's window, they couldn't get in and I only use key locking. They wrecked the door lock but fortunately the passenger's side was undamaged. I simply swapped lock barrels and left the useless one in the passenger's door. I hope that helps and good luck.

You don't give up easily do you. I think you should now be looking at the door lock switches and/or associated wiring because that seems to be where it all started.

I think it should be a safety requirement to be able to unlock doors with a flat or disconnected battery but then common sense in designers is always several years behind what is obvious to most normal people.

Jim Prong, That all sound like the voice of bitter experience. All very interesting and I hope it helps. It does seem odd that all of the locks have failed together. I'm just wondering if the battery has failed as nothing has been said to indicate either way. No mention either of the LED on the driver's door. May be a clue there.

I had a problem like yours some years ago with my Galaxy Ghia, 52 reg. On mine, the symptoms were associated with a blowing exhaust noise coming from the EGR area. I paid about

If it is not possible to get under the bonnet it may be possible to remove the under tray and put a load onto the 12V feed to the starter to discharge the battery and allow the passenger door lock to open the door. That is if the key will override the mechanical deadlock once there is no battery to reset it. If it doesn't work the battery can be recharged via the same connections to save ruining it. Just suggestions as I haven't had this one. Did you try using the passenger door lock manually while trying to open the door at the same time?

Just a couple of thoughts. When did the problem with the driver's door happen and could it be a result of an attempted break in. To have such a succession of door lock problems seems a bit too much of a coincidence. The deadlocking is supposed to be initiated by unlocking and locking in quick succession on some models. Since the unlocking by way of a key is mechanical in case of flat battery it may be worth trying to use the key and door handle in quick succession in case there is something triggering the central lock process as a resukt of the damage to the driver's door. How about trying to get under the bonnet and disconnecting the battery? A full examination of all preceding events may give a clue.

MK2RV6 "I choose to live my life to a different tune of music, one which is not censored or wrapped up so much with a blanket of over regulation, Health and Safety gone mad (because these days it has), fear and blind compliance to anything you are told to do.. a blanket so thick, that you no longer can hear the music. If I'm injured, you'll hear me blaming only one person.. myself. It's acceptance of personal responsibility for my actions... a quality that's very much lacking in society these days." And so say all of us. :47: :46: :26:

Hello Ben and welcome. I wish I'd not looked at this. I'm getting car sick (Bit like home sick) and almost tempted to offer a swap for my MKIII Galaxy. It certainly looks very inviting and I'm sure that, serious problems aside, you'll get as addicted as the rest of us. I hope you Don't have too many causes to shout for help. Ron. P.S. Don't take too much notice of me. I'm just an old stick in the mud who thinks that Ford did to the Galaxy what Gordon Brown and His sidekick Balls did to the economy.

If ever you weaken at all just take a long test drive in a MKIII and you will return to your old motor with a renewed enthusiasm to keep it. Just get the wife to sit in the back while you do it and she will never let you into a Ford agent again. A Titanium X may be a bit closer but anything less will do the trick.

This is getting cryptic.