ridway

Hi Recent probs with air con on my gal led me to browse and stumble on this thread. I have an old rare pug 405 x 4 16 v in my garage hoping it will become a classic, first registered in 1991. It been on a SORN for several years now but is checked out every 6 months or so. Air con still works (R12) and it has 100k on the clock. Ive had the car for 12 years and it has never been recharged. Im the first to agree that in theory they should not leak but I know that once subject to vibration and heat when back on the road it will be inevitable. Rich

Hi all, Had a burst hose on the high pressure side of the air con. This was caused by the rad fans not kicking in at idle due to a faulty 419 relay in the battery compartment. I found the pressure up to 550 psi on the air con manifold gauges - way to high for 134a. Anyway fault is fixed now and air con is working fine again, suction 40 psi liquid 145 psi and fans turning slowly when air con is switched on. Problem is it has left me with a flashing air con display on the central control which as we know indicates a fault or logged fault. Question is can this be cleared in any way without a laptop or star unit? I have heard that it may be possible to short out a couple of pins on the diagnostic port; is this true? Rich, Derbyshire

Hi all, Had a burst hose on the high pressure side of the air con. This was caused by the rad fans not kicking in at idle due to a faulty 419 relay in the battery compartment. I found the pressure up to 550 psi on the air con manifold gauges - way to high for 134a. Anyway fault is fixed now and air con is working fine again, suction 40 psi liquid 145 psi and fans turning slowly when air con is switched on. Problem is it has left me with a flashing air con display on the central control which as we know indicates a fault or logged fault. Question is can this be cleared in any way without a laptop or star unit? I have heard that it may be possible to short out a couple of pins on the diagnostic port; is this true? Rich, Derbyshire

Well I suppose it was inevitable. The air con broke today, big style with a bang and a catastrophic loss of gas. It made me jump to say the least and several pedestrians gave me funny looks. The problem; the high gas pressure hose from the compressor to the condensor failed big time when the rubber bit blew out of the crimp. This was caused by failure of the cooling fan relays so the pressure just built up and up as the gas got hotter and hotter while i'd pulled in to answer a mobile call. Ford only want 140 +vat for a new pipe assembly, then 50+ to change it then 65+ to vacuum and recharge. This can wait till next year. Make sure your cooling fan are working because it seems the air con system suffers before the water system even starts to rise above normal. Relay 419 under the fuse link box is the problem 48 +vat fora new one Rich

Hi all Followed your schedule to a treat, very well written and gave me all the confidence to do it in half an hour; thanks for that. Relay cost 15 inclusive from main dealer. My gal has had this starting problem for 3-4 years now, starting only if the door LED is on constantly on when the igition is on is turned on. If it flashes rapidly it wont do a thing until I wait for a period and try again. Sometimes it will go on the first attempt sometimes its can be ten minutes; it really can be a pain. It will always eventually go though. Unfortunatley replacing relay 30 has not cured the problem so if anyone has any other ideas I'd be most thankful. I really thought this would work but i suppose there are other things that can go wrong. Incidentaly, rightly or wrongly I took the risk of leaving the engine idleing while I gained access to relay 30. This was necessary because I was blocking access to a garage area and may have needed to move. Anyhow the point being is that the relay was fully energised right up to the point of extraction, this stopped the engine as expected. Quickly putting the new one in it started first time, what really suprised me is that it was very hot almost to the point of not being able to handle. Could this be why they fail so much. Again leaving the engine idling the new one seemed to be getting quite warm after a few minutes so who knows. Certainly felt too hot to live a full life to me. Anyhow any thoughts please post and again, thanks for schedule, well done Rich

Fault light on the dash for the engine has now cleared. Suppose the ECU is clever enough to see the problem has gone away. Rich

Good news but the plot thickens. Thankfully I've found the problem now I finally decided to brave the cold weather and get my hands dirty. Would you believe a No3 spark plug had come out? Took off the centre cover and there it was just sat in the hole attached to the HT lead. A new plug (as the bottom 2 threads were damaged) fitted and TIGHTENED and it is now as sound as a pound; I'm really chuffed. It was obvious the plug was not tightened from last attended (the other three are) to, I must have been was responsible for that because I do all the work on it. The puzzle is how has it managed to do 16000 mile with a plug that was only screwed in possibly 2 or 3 turns with out so much as a misfire? It has certainly not worked loose because the HT rubber shroud and cable were well stuck to plug insulator and there is no way of it twisting perhaps 20 or 30 turns to wind itself out. Anyway, Im pleased it works now, repremanded myself for bad workshop practice, but puzzled how it ran to Spain and back in that state plus a years motoring. Sincere thanks for all the help and encouragement from you guys that contributed to the thread. Although everything is running fine now the incident has left me with an ECU light lit on the dash. Is there a simple way to clear this or do I need a diagnostic machine thingy? I am sure it logged a fault because when it was backfiring it was trying to eject the loose sparkplug out the head. The backfire obviously stopped because the plug gap had disapeared (short circuit) when it kept falling back down the hole, either catching the side or from the force of the fuel exploding or the plastic cable support which broke up at the bottom. I manage to limp home on three cylinders with no more back fires after the first few. Happy New Year Rich

Hi sepulcharave You are right I now need to get my hands dirty and tackle the problem. Luckily the gal is not my primary car so there isnt a great urgency but it still needs fixing soon. I agree with you having slept on the problem that it cant be a tappet now so Im off to get long inspection mirror and have a look this afternoon at the integrity of the inlet manifold prior to getting the tools out. Thanks for the guidance, I'll keep you posted on what I find Rich

Things seem to move fast here. My optimism has died tonight fetching daughter back from work, whereas am pleased you seem to have solved the problem. Driving back the old gal started firing on three cylinders; badly. It is also back firing and I could smell gas or petrol depending which is selected. The popping noise has increased by several decibels really does sound like an exhaust manifold branch hole or gasket but it isn't. I suppose the evidence for that is where the noise comes from and the fact that if it were the exhaust side the noise would really get louder if reved; it didnt. Now depressed I'm torn between a severe inlet leak or what my neighbour said about the valve tappet. Because it ran smoothly today and from what you have disclosed (Steve P) I'm still with manifold leak. Why would I smell gas or petrol so much with a burnt valve seat or sticking inlet valve? It is almost as though the rubber seals you talk about have given but because its a vacuum it temporily resealed itself this afternoon but this evening has given way completly leaving part of the manifold open to atmosphere. Having no idea what the manifold looks like yet, are they seperate tubes or a common plenum chamber? Does this sound feasible Steve knowing what you have found? One other thing I notice was that for a brief momment the ECU warning (the engine icon) light flickered for a few times but then went out again as we continued. I think this may have been the back fire upsetting the MAF or Oxy sensor? My daughters comment was "Dad the engine sounds as though its going to blow up but at least you know the warning light works". Are'nt they helpful? The gal got us home but is now sat all looking sorry for itself on the drive a bit like me. Any advice welcome from anyone, particularly from Stevey P as you've had first hand experience. Rich

I had a problem with the front wipers last and the year before where they just ceased to work after a few strokes. It came about that the wiper spindles themselves had siezed. This became evident as they did seem to be moving slower and slower. There is a current sensor or thermal trip which stops them working if the load on the motor is too high. I had to remove the whole wiper assembly and remove the spindles from the housing, frame this was quite difficult as they where siezed in quite hard. Although they are bush type bearings I cleaned them and used some water resistant grease when reassembling and they have been fine since. I dont no whether this is a common fault but it may be worth checking as well as the other causes detailed before in this thread. Rich

Update to last post. Neighbour of mine has just witnessed the intermitent noise. He has recently retired as workshop manager at a stealership. He is convincd the noise is a tappet problem. Apparently they are hydraulic tappets and he suspects that one is not filling with oil correctly probably a grain of "crud" or dirt stopping it filling up right. He says is first action would be an oil change and a good long high speed run up the motorway. Keep you posted Rich

Im now even more confused but perhaps slightly happier. Got in the gal this morning to run daughter to a sleep over, when I got back the popping/tappity noise had gone , completly?!. The engine was dead smooth! Looking perplexed I reved it a couple of times and it was perfect. Just about to put the lid down and switch off and away it went again. Intermitently and totally random, irrelevent to the revs, although quieter at raised engine revs. I'm now thinking along the lines of a sticking air valve or NRV or something of that nature. Not yet got the tis disk out yet but certainly need to look. Could you have a similar problem? At least now I know it isnt a burnt valve problem although I suppose it could be a valve spring or sticky valve. Tentatively I feel confident this could be the problem as the vehicle has only been used on short runs for the last year and it is well overdue for an oil change. So could a valve be gummed up/sticky, especially during this cold weather? I'll let you know how things develop. Rich

Thanks for the replies so far guys. I did suspect valve and/or seat problems but I suppose there is no way of telling without a comp test or head off. Could it be a weak or broken valve spring? The reason I ask this is because the noise suddenly appeared one evening; I suppose if a seat was burning this would be a progressive fault that slowly got worse. The fuel usage is realistically 27-28 lpg and 30-31 petrol doesnt seem that has changed although i dont drive it much unless we go to France and it is mainly used urban runs. The LPG system is the later type (4 injectors) and has been faultless; still is. I have never experienced a backfire. It will be very interesting to see what Fords say and how you go on with the O rings. I have told the wife to drive carefully (low revs) because I plan to do the same as you shortly when the weather permits , if necessary taking off the head. I will keep you posted with any developments Rich

My galaxy 2.3 petrol (lpg conversion) has developed a tapping/popping noise from the rear of the engine. It sounds almost like a branch of the exhaust manifold leaking but thats at the front. If it was a leaking inlet manifold, Im I right in thinking it would be more of a hiss. I personally suspect it to be a head gasket or a valve/tappet problem. The engine runs smoothly but there is a very small hint of a cylinder that is not quite pulling its weight; this however may be me thinking to deep and imagining things. There is a coolant loss but it is very small. the coolant will drop until the warning light picks it up but this will take 3 to 4 thousand miles of hard driving in summer. A couple of tea mugs will bring it back to its normal level. The source of the noise as best i can tell is at the rear of the head (transverse) somewhere in the region of cylinder 4 if this is the one closest to the gearbox Has anyone any thoughts or experienced this problem? Rich, thanks in advance and a HNY

I'm now convinced the problem is the key reader head in the steering column. I have now established that if I hold and stress the key in a certain position when inserting it appears to help. My sypmtoms are no response when trying to start. Will always work eventually; sometimes after the next go somtimes 10 minutes later after 30 or 40 tries. Pain in the bum. The LED always flashers when it broke and stays on when its OK. It never starts and cuts out after a second or so. I refuse to let dealers rip me off until I'm totally stuck. Does anyone no if I can change the barrel read head without affecting the stored data on the 2 keys we use? Rich

Mines a 2001 model done 106Kand has just become clunky over speed bumps. I assumed that it might be the dredded drop links. Are they cheap and easy to change is my question. Or is it best left to a dealer/garage? Rich

Mike I can see your keen and rightly concerned. I and many other have asked all the same questions. There are even more questiions now that more experience is about any many users. I can only give you my experiences which have been in 14 months very positive. I have heard of no horror stories to engines or accidents or serious incidents. Other users always seem positive and critisism only seems to come from a few individuals who dont use it. Maybe Propane does burn a little hotter but to do any damage I think you would have to be at full power for a considerable period to cause any hint of damage to the valves. That means thrashing it at maximum speed (120MPH?) for a long period. What road are you going to do that on in 2007? Who is seriously whose going to spend at least

I watching carefully. I've had this problem for almost a year now. Turn on the key and the car wont start sometimes. The little door light flashes at a rapid rate. If I keep trying the LED eventually stays on and the car will start. It is not the keys because both my wifes and mine do the same. I have tried in vane to pin it down to certain events. It will work for weeks with no problems and then be a pain for several starts, but will always eventually go after trying a couple or several times. The only hint of a cause is a big change in temperature but thats not conclusive. A supporting hint of this is that the problem occurs after a long drive when you come back to restart after a short stop the problem sometimes happens. I've mentioned this problem before on these forums but it seems the problem is pretty rare. The biggest inconvienience is when it wont go after you fill up, especially when the garage is busy. Ive had to be pushed of the pump on more than one occassion. Rich

Mike My tank is a 77 litre doughnut mounted under the rear end; the spare wheel now lives inside. If filled from empty I get 61 litres in every time plus or minus a little depending on temperature. This costs me around

Well done. I've used autoglass for a new heated screen on the gal. Similar report very good service. BTW the cost of a heated screen was into the 700s with the vat. Rich

Yes do it I did our 14 months ago and it is the best thing I have ever done to a vehicle;

Hi, same, noisey, then slow running, then packed up. Ford dealers wanted over

Ebay link It may have been linked elsewhere but it certainly made me smile - read on Rich

Sorted. Cruisecontrol is now working again. This is the second failure, the first was just a leaking perished hose where it connected to the vacuum pump. This fixed it worked fine for 3k then broke again. This time after much hard work, taking half the dash to bits I found the problem to be the vac pump assembly again. I discovered there are 2 parts to the pump. The first is the pump itself, which is ok but it also contains a relief valve. This is obviously the valve that releases the vacuum when you touch the brake or clutch. Close inspection shows three wires to the pump a common which is brown/red a feed to the relief valve which is blue/white and a feed to the vac pump motor which is black. I found that both the pump and the relief valve were getting power but the relief valve was not sealing right. When I investigated by removing the pump cover I found rust around the electromagnetic former of the valve. The relief valve is closed when the electro magnet is energised and the rust was quite bad as to prevent a good seal. Carefully cleaning with a spot of oil seems to have freed the valve slightly and allowed a seal again so the cruise control is up and running again. I suspect the rust may have been caused by moisture through condensation as the body of the pump does suck air in to the chamber. I suspect the repair not to work forever as the electro magnet former is quite corroded and I expect the seal not to remain for long so a new pump assem might be required. If anyone is suffering these symptoms it may be worth a look Rich

My gal has just clocked 100k and the air con has not faulted. I think a lot of the partial failures are due to the re circulation flap sticking. Over last summer I got the 15 second flashing display problem; this is an indication something is amiss with the system. I traced this to the recirculation flap sticking after you close it. For some reason it sticks after a rain storm so now i just leave it open. I suppose i can imagine a rubber seal sticking if it gets damp. If anyone suffers this flashing display try running the front fan at full speed with the ignition key on and engine stopped. You can easily hear the air flow change when the button is pressed, confirming a good or bad. Rich.