mobile armchair

Thank you all for info especially suzuki91 for photos. Long job ... spent 2 hours cleaning all the dead leaves and rubbish out! Mashed mess after parking under trees for 7 years. As it was Bank Hol, no chance of replacing pollen filter, used the thin vacuum end on all folds, seems fine. Took off the circlips on the pins, and ended up having to drill one as per advice to get some WD40 in, then the pins were in very poor condition when I eventually got them out. Once I'd shifted the pin down a bit, got the end of a clamp under the casing and then put the other end on the top of the bolt, and turned till it came out. That one took 2 hours of coaxing, the other one half an hour, but I managed not to damage the threads. All went back together OK and working now without judder or temporarily sticking. Of course, when I moved the expansion bottle to ease the mecahnism and the bulkhead back into place, the bottle electrical connector came out, so I had to move the battery, and managed to drop a socket head under the battery shelf, so that had to come out too. There's just no room to work under there, shocking design. Anyway, job done, we'll see how long it lasts, thanks all again, I'd be bankrupt without this forum.

Thanks for these photos. I need quick fix to get me by for a busy few weeks then will remove the lot later this summer.

Later this month I will be putting my Winter tyres back on until March. They are Vredestein Quatrac 3. Downside?

Mine has done 108,000 and is 02 plate. Most irritating is that no matter how well you look after car, usual suspects fail. Air con ... keep switching it on as advised, still needed new pipes and 3 refills in 6 years +. Spare tyre winch ... twice a year have wound it down, cleaned and repainted wheel, greased cable. Still it twisted and seized. Front suspension bits ... one new pair of track control arms and 4 or 5 drop link arms. Noise on minor failure unbelievable. 12,500 mile service interval a joke, Do it every 10,000. Auto box lasted 80,000 and 7 years. Recon supplier thought I had done really well, says he wouldn't expect more than 3 years coz of weakness in internal casing design. Pricey! Recon 1836 + VAT + fitting =

I have had this problem twice before. Usually there is a difficult to detect leak in the pipework which has caused gas to exit. Recharge without finding the leak may only last a couple of weeks so make sure garage investigate thoroughly. Btw when I took mine to Kwikfit they wouldn't touch it as they said they had to remove headlight to re-gas!?

Glad you found it ...

Are you sure the scuttle is absolutely clear? You should be able to pour water on the bottom of the screen and see it come out under the wheel arch liner straight away. I think from reading this forum that the problem will not be the rear screen wash as this pipe is located on the nearside (and fills the passenger footwell!) Looks like you may have a windscreen seal problem? Windscreen, small front window and door seals next things to check, I suggest

From my experience with the car, alarm is activated by locking car (remotely or with key), then any movement inside car triggers alarm. Mine has only gone off by accident a couple of times; once when a fly was locked in the car, another when a sun blind fell off a window. Alarm will also go off if bonnet is open(ed) while car locked as I found out once when accidentally locking the car remotely while checking the oil level. Seems to me your alarm is working as it should!

I've changed the large bushes at the top of the strut, that sit inside the turret. There's no play in the 'plate' that sits on top, inside the engine bay. I had a bit of hard time changing the bushes. In the end I cut a spark plug socket in half and welded a bar to it. Then I used a small bar and an allen key and hey presto! I was expecting something to break; but I was pleasantly surprised when nothing broke! I had a strut bush to replace on my 96 2-litre galaxy a few years' back. The garage could not undo the nut (rusted as the strut top collects water under the w/screen) without the whole strut turning round. It ended up with a new strut (expensive!) They were very apologetic and said that next time they would soak the offending nut in penetrating oil fo a week before attempting to move another one. NO idea if this is a lame excuse for poor mechanicking, but others on here might like to confirm what I'm saying before you struggle away ... nut also a pig to reach, so the making of the special tool with the spark plug socket is proper engineering! respect :)

:) Welcome! You've had plenty of help from all on here re door latch, steering, brake disks. The oil change and service may well solve the sluggishness. I had a 2-litre petrol in times gone by, and a set of good quality plug leads made an enormous difference to the performance once it reached a certain age and mileage. It seemed the spark was weak because the standard fit Ford ones were just not up to the job. Best of luck with the Gal and the imminent arrival.

See below link from 2007 - this discussion has been going for quite some ttime! http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.ph...st&p=116427 If I recall my discussion with a Fraud tech correctly he stated that the original Gals were sent out withjout XL tryes but were recalled and fitted with XL. This was due to the eXtra Load due to the 7 seats etc. Can't imagine how a Galaxy would handle without the reinforced tyres. Not cheap, but I seem to remember my N reg petrol had 15" wheels and tyres for this were considerably cheaper than the 16" alloys on the 02 diesel I have now ... anyway target price

:16: Best car of a bad category (7-seat MPVs). Would HAVE to buy another, need the space and really no competition. Espace, Peugeot. Citroen/Fiat van, Sedona, Lucida/Estima? Oh dear, no thanks ... But the Gal has been very expensive to own between 35,000 and 85,000 miles. Air con re-piped once, and re-gassed twice, not working again; recon auto box ( small FORTUNE); usual replacement of pads, disks, drop links, tyres, one tail pipe. But we all fit in it, the children's travel sick tendencies disappeared coz they can see where they're going, we can take their friends, grandparents, team mates as occasion demands, reasonable mpg from the diesel with decent performance and you arrive at the other end able to move and not having to unroll yourself from tiny car front seats. INjured basketballers and footballers return home iced up with leg on reversed front seat. Spills and stains easy to reach and clean off, interior fabric has worn OK, although all plastic seat levers had fallen off before I even got it. Every time it goes into garage (frequently) someone folds a sill rim over with the jack, but you just get used to tapping it back into shape with a block of wood and hammer and applying another layer of hammerite ... takes me 5 mins now! I can't even be bothered to complain any more, especially as both Gals I have owned don't rust and rot. Mind, I clean mine underneath a couple of times a year and apply fresh waxoil All things work apart from aircon, but 'struth minor maintenance hard work! Replaced a sidelight bulb this morning, half an hour to get the headlight in and out and had to borrow a 30cm screwdriver! Next time I'll be quicker of course ... Thought of selling it, but can't imagine anyone nervous listening to rattles and various humming and rattling of ancillary drive equipment believing it has a service history as long as your arm. YEs, I should have paid for the VAG belt tensioner so the power steering doesn't moan when it's warm. But it works, just makes a lot of fuss. Maybe I'll have to sell it on here to someone who knows what's serious and what ain't. :lol: Best of luck with yours everyone, you will need it!

The car is giving you a rough time. My advice is you need to have an autobox specialist fault check the box first to see if the repair is economically viable. I just had to have a recon box on my diesel auto,

Don't know about Oxford, sorry, but what I do know is my garage (not Ford dealer) did have my air con system re-piped by a local air con / heating engineer rather than do it themselves or send it to Ford. Not only was it relatively cheap, it has worked fine after) and the main thing is you don't seem to need an automotive special part for this, nor a Ford mechanic. Yellow pages job? Anybody else had similar experience? Good luck

Only thing I can suggest which might keep the price down is don't get garage to use automotive parts, but ask them to get specialist plumber to do it? My mechanic apparently took my galaxy to aircon and heating engineer down the road when air con pipework needed replacing. He did it for around

:wacko: Think we've only left that big lump Kia Sedan ? Sedona? out of the conversation. Honestly know nothing about them. Garage came back by email today promising to come and get it and sort out any problems and leave me with another car. Think I'm very lucky considering sort of things I sometimes read on here. As for getting my hands dirty, I do simple stuff now like checking bolts tight, changing wipers and bulbs, cleaning brakes and checking for leaks. Used to service my own, but that was nearly 20 years ago before 3 children and a demanding job came along - last time I serviced my own I set the tappets on 1.3 Escort, replaced a rear drum wheel cylinder, gapped the plugs and points, cleaned the carburettor jets and timed the engine with some crocodile clips a headlamp bulb and a bit of wire - so you can guess I'm a bit out of practice and my era has gone. And no they weren't the good old days because you had to fix the car so often, although I do hanker after a bit of mechanical simplicity sometimes. Good to hear from you all, this IS :ph34r: an excellent forum

;) Well the mention of all those other vehicles has made me feel better. Shalambraxy clones have no competition from others. Lucida Estima is auto version of Previa apparently ... a mate just waited 3 weeks to get a rear suspension part! I nearly test drove a Fiat Ulysse before buying my first Galaxy, but couldn't twist my body enough to line feet up with pedals. And when I have been in Previa / Ulysse vehicles, they are like vans for passengers. Almost as awful as my memories of rolling around corners in friends' Comma van motorhome in the 1970s. Why on earth were the front wheels closer together on those things than the rear wheels? They'd scrape their knees round every bend ... you're right it could be worse. I've been looking considering other vehicles and have come to the conclusion money better spent on repairing my comfy old mobile armchair. Even thought about a Zafira, but outside can't hear myself think for rattling rear suspensions

Thanks for reply ... "Most of what you have listed is what I would classify as part of the normal running costs of Galaxy ownership except you've had to play 'catch up' and shell out for it all at once because the previous owner didn't bother and got rid of it first." I should have made clear I have owned Gal for over 4 years, so have not been stung by seller, just unlucky with everything going wrong at once! Front tyres and pads were known to be coming up, as were rear discs and pads "sounds like you're a light braker and often lightly loaded since they're not bedded in" Yes - only third set of pads and first disc replacements after 80K. Looks like this will rectify itself then. "New Drop Links - Known issue commonly reported here." n/s replaced at 35K, so o/s has outlived expectation, no problem with this ... "Auxiliary Belt Tensioner - ditto." Didn't know this - so wlll it just keep working fine and be a bit noisy? "Aircon - ditto, and they may possibly have overfilled the system." I'll ask them to have another look at this then. "Auto Box - Bad luck, but they're known to be unreliable and VERY expensive to repair." I've reported full story in reply to another person who has just bought Sharan tiptronic with what sounds like a similar problem. Apparently and briefly engine and autobox combo used in boats and gear 4 inner casing cracks. Apparently I did well to get 7 years out of it rather than usual 3. "It's very simple, if they fix something and it doesn't work then you return it to them under warranty, I'd be careful with the aircon btw since that can get expensive too!" I know ... corroded pipes 2 years ago. Garage enlisted help of aircon heating engineer (rather than Frord) who remade it for

Advice fellow members please. Just spent nearly the value of my Galaxy in repairs in last 3 months. It's had 2 new front tyres, (fine) front pads ( no problems now, o/s drop link arm (again, no problems now), and new auxiliary belt tensioner after mechanical noise and groaning from power steering. This has been OK for about a month, now a little groaning - though no stiffness - when steering on full lock parking at low speed. Is this same, or new problem? Then auto box failed, recon unit fitted. All OK till this week, now when engine started from cold, D (drive) does not engage first time. Once it engages, no further problems in motion, till next cold start. Is this an electronic problem, or has garage put linkage back together slightly wrongly? Again, new problem, or linked to previous? Then back brakes wore out, necessitating new pads and disks. New pads are only cleaning top half of new disks, rusting disks a bit obvious ... is this just a bedding in phase, or do I need to take it back saying pads or disks faulty?? Or is this caliper problem not 'squeezing' evenly? And then, guess what, the air con stopped cooling. Re-gassed, and car returned. Immediately I got it back, when AC switched on, engine revs dropped intermittently as though something on auxiliary drive is starting to seize - is this the garage's fault caused by the repair, or is the clutch mechanism on compressor failed? (No cooling by the way) I am spent up, and need some help arguing the case with garage. Unfortunately, this car DOES genuinely seem to keep coming up with new problems, but surely they shouldn't start the minute I get it back from the garage (local, and NOT Ford dealer, by the way - once bitten twice shy) who have looked after my cars fairly carefully for 10 years now, but having spent

My 02 Galaxy auto just had to have recon gearbox at 81,000 miles.

Mine failed two years ago. Still under extended Ford warranty, took it to Ford, Ford charged

Yeah, glad you got it going, and coil much cheaper than distributor. Still trying to work out why original failure would make your exhaust glow red though, rather than just stop the car. At least you can get it checked out now. My 2-litre petrol Galaxy used to suffer from weak spark, always cured by new plug leads every 12,000 miles, and we never worked out why. Anyway ... problem sorted!

rotor arm/ distributor drive shaft is not working in sync? Don't know what it looks like on this car, but seems like something on the drive has 'jumped' a peg and completely mistimed your ignition. Could be either the distributor drive, or some cam lobe in the mechanism which isn't knocking it round like it should. Worth inspecting this mechanism, (and replacing ignition coil as these develop intermittent faults under load that might not show under test.) good luck

Is to possible for Galaxy to carry 600 litre roof box? Can't find a manufacturer's recommendation for max length anywhere ... the little standard Halford's tub I currently have won't take luggage of me, wife, mother and 3 children, and can't see the point of buying anything just a bit bigger :lol: I've got Thule bars on standard fit roof rails