TWJ

I've done about 3500 miles in my new Galaxy 3 and just the last few weeks I've found that after about 20 minutes driving my throat gets tickly and I have to keep clearing it, and I get the occasional waft of diesel fumes. This seems to happen whether the aircon is on /off / recycle whatever so I don't think it's the aircon. I'm wondering if a seal has come unseated somewhere allowing fumes to get in. This was never a problem during the first 3000 miles, and I'm sure I'm not imagining it. Anyone else ever had anything similar and how do you go about tracking it down?

This reply may be a little late, but I don't think you can properly test the a/c in cold weather. Sure you can check that it kicks in, but the only real test is to buy a stick-on thermometer from Halfords and attach it to one of the vents, then compare the temp of the air leaving the vent to the outside air temp. In my MkII the difference was only about 2 degrees, so I took the car in to get it looked at. Ford replaced some large and expensive component (thankfully under warranty!) and after that a typical temp reading would be as low as 7C when the outside temp (July) was 25C, an 18 degree drop! Obviously you are not going to get anything like this temp difference if the external air is already only 10C or less. TWJ

For those with the new Galaxy Mk3, can you check something for me? Put the climate control on 'feet' and check if you feel air coming out over the driver's feet? On mine I get loads coming out on the passenger side and there is a definite vent there, but I can't feel anything definite on the driver's side and can't feel the equivalent vent holes if I probe around with my fingers. Air does seem to come out somewhere under the driver's seat, but the passenger side has a definite blast of air directly down into the footwell, especially with the fan set high, and there isn't anything like that on the driver's side. Is this the design or is my heater not working properly? thanks, TWJ

Oh I forgot to add, although the new car's computer is very snazzy with steering wheel mounted cursors controls, the functionality is seriously reduced from the previous one. Gone are the two independent trip counters, gone is the journey time, and the instant MPG. You do now get estimated miles remaining in the tank, but overall I am disappointed in the new computer. I wonder if they will ever provide firmware upgrades for it? The control system (4 cursor keys and an 'OK' button) appears to be far in advance of what the computer is actually capable of.

I'm not denying that that would be a major pain in the Harris, *if* it happened. However my MkII never had a puncture, but it was off the road waiting for a new ESP sensor for 2 weeks, and a new cat for 1 week, so maybe I should have carried a spare ESP sensor and a cat? Or any other of the thousands of parts that could go wrong and might not be immediately available. Why single out the tyres? TWJ

Well I really struggle to remember the last time I changed a wheel at the roadside because of a puncture - must be at least 10 years! I've covered 60000 miles over the last 4 years in my mkII galaxy with no punctures at all. Before that I had a Mondeo for a similar length of time and although this did get a couple, they were all slow enough to enable me to drive round to ATS. Before that I had 2 Vauxhall Fronteras neither of which ever had a flat. I think I've changed a wheel about 3 times in my entire driving life, and sold on most of my cars with the spare looking as pristine as the day it left the showroom. Of course this doesn't mean I won't get a puncture tomorrow, but overall this lack of spare wheel doesn't worry me too much, TWJ

Greetings to all, my car is a 2001 V6 manual, and I could do with some advice. About 2 years ago the ESP light started to come (and stay on) up anytime from 1-30 minutes after starting a journey. Sometimes it would go weeks without coming up, sometimes it would come up immediately on starting. I ignored this (don't *really* need esp in normal driving) and decided to get it checked at next service. As it happens it started behaving itself before then so the service came and went without it being checked. Now it's back, and it is joined by the engine management light. The EM light does worry me, and a service was due soon anyway, so I took it into a Ford dealer for service and diagnostic. They did the service first and (their words) 'the light stayed off after the service'. They said they could still go ahead and do a diagnostic check, but this would cost me