asp383

Well, as I had the day off work for hospital appointments this afternoon, I took my eldest to school, car started & got there fine, wouldn't restart when I went to come home. No glow plugs light. Looked under passenger seat, nothing there, just a empty storage space. Car is still parked at the school, had to walk home & get a hire car for today. My mrs is trying to get me to look at galaxy's around 2005, most seem to be at least the same mileage as my mk1 & those I've looked at with less all seem quite rough inside, so of course, I'm starting to think "are these starting to get to that troublesome stage?" so I keep trying to put her off.. Really struggling to want to commit to another galaxy at the moment. Looking at a Nissan pathfinder in the morning, but the only negative so far is the height & if my disabled mother - in - law will be able to get in & out ok (I can always get a caravan step for her), at least I could always send the video of her trying into you've been framed

Just an update... I've been trying the car every evening when getting home & on the weekend, it started up & I used it to pick my eldest up from mother -in -law's, pop to shops & get home, central locking is still a bit iffy... Unlocking ok, but not locking every time. Certainly suggests non starting problem was related to the wet weather we've had. But as per my op, I can't have an unreliable car & come June/July, it just won't have the required space for a buggy & shopping with all 7 seats in use & with the Mrs requiring frequent hospital appointments at the moment, I think time has come to change car now, rather than in a few months time. As much As I like the galaxy & the ability to get 55mpg out of the mk1 if driven sensibly (reckon I could even better that if just doing motorway journeys), I'm having to move up a size.. 9 seater! No reason why in the future as the kids get older, I couldn't go back to 1 at some point.

Thanks gregers, will check. Would make sense, as it normally plays up after prolonged heavy rain, although it has always started before & never not had the glow plugs light not come on or not be able to communicate with the ecu

battery tested ok, voltages are fine & turning over strong enough. same if jumping off another vehicle. which relays/modules are under the passenger seat? not really got time to spend on looking at the car, as not normally getting home from work until after 8pm & not really in the mood after 14 hours at work, so if i can't get it running enough to sell, i'll just drag it up to the local scrappy

think my car may have finally died. lately, when using, it's been acting as though the battery was a little low, although i'm thinking it was more the starter motor, as it starts sluggish, but does fire up. with the recent heavy rain we've had, the central locking has been non existent, with only the drivers door & fuel cap locking on the key, the other doors have had to be done manually & the boot has remained unlocked. this morning, it unlocked (although the indicator lights didn't light up), got the family loaded up & went to start it, noticed the glow plug light didn't come on, tried it a couple of times, still no glow plug light (has always come on, even if just for a second or 2), turned it over & it just wasn't firing up. did the usual of take the key out, lock/unlock the drivers door & retry (usually sorts it out if it doesn't fire up), but this time still not firing up. put my snap-on scanner onto the car (always keep it in there) & it kept saying unable to communicate with ecu, tried it several times, even tried a neighbours car, which it worked fine on. now, i'm wondering if the ecu or the ecu relay has got damp because of the weather. either way, i think i'll be looking for a replacement sooner rather than later, as my girlfriend is pregnant (due july) & we can't be without a reliable car, as my mother in law is disabled too & we're her nominated drivers. anyone else had this experience with their mk1 1.9tdi?

i have the same problem with mine, they only go right over if driving at speed with heavy rain. with mine, it's the linkage, the space the pin the r/h wiper is in to hold it central in the linkage had broken up & is missing, it seems to be a common problem, as all the galaxy, sharan & alhambra cars in the local scrap yard are missing their whole linkage. i keep meaning to get round to looking to see if i have any washers or something else i can use to locate the pin in the linkage, rather than buying new, but as it looks like i only have up to 1 year left with it (got to get a replacement before the mot next august), i may not bother, it's been fine the last 2 years i've owned it & the couple of years it's been in the family before that & not been mentioned on the mot. only problem, aprart from not always clearing enough of the screen is, if the windscreen isn't wet enough, the r/h blade can drag & snag with the l/h blade, messing up the end of the r/h blade, although i can usually traighten it out enough to clear the rain, i've only had to swap sides once & replace once

didn't go that way, because i had thoughts of doing that hill in 1st lol. on the way down, from crawley, i went through east grinstead, across to tunbridge wells, down the a21, then cut across through hawkhurst, then a268 through peasmarsh to rye, then camber, lydd new romney. the a268 is a sod of a road! i remembered why i didn't do that route normally. comming back, i thought about just sticking to a259, a27 & a23, but settled on rye, broad oak, cripps corner, battle, uckfield, then a272 to cuckfield & up through staplefield, back to crawley ... was only about 20 minutes longer driving home than going, but a much smoother drive, especially with 4 adults, 3 kids & all the beach stuff

good to hear it sounds like you've found the cause & hopefully cured it

drove to new romeny friday, the drive went fine, until the last section where i came off the a28 down to rye, which was quite twisty & hilly, so lots of gear changes & often not enough time to build up speed between a slow bend & long or steep hill & it felt like it hit the preverbial wall, where it was suddenly down on power. checked the fault codes when i got to my destination & it was showing: 65535 ecu defective 00575 manifold absolute pressure deviation from desired value error occured intermittently cleared the fault codes & decided to take a different route home ... 1 that i knew was a bit flatter & not so many twists & turns, especially as my right elbow was quite sore from the drive down (shattered my radial head last october, had an operation on it early july & this was the longest journey since the op). going home was a lot easier, apart from driving out of rye towards battle, which is a long hill, i did most of it in 3rd, once clear of the hill, i was cruising in 5th@50-60mph most the way home (apart from junctions & speed limits), without any loss of power. rechecked fault codes & still 00575 manifold absolut pressure deviation from desired value error occured intermittently, definately be having a look at some point

i know it may not sound as though it's worth buying new, but at least you'll know it's working & under warranty. i'm always cautious about what used parts i buy, you only have the seller's word "it's from a car i broke & is in full working condition", when it comes to sensors, brake & steering components, i always buy new this year, due to a starting/running problem, i've had to spent about £500 on my r plate 1.9tdi, but then again, it was given to me by my girlfriend's uncle when he downsized, other than that, it has only cost regular servicing costs, such as 2x front tyres, service kits, oil, cam belt kit & n/s/f wheel bearing for the previous mot, passed 1st time this month. it's probbly not worth much more than £500 as it is, but the way i look at it is, could i buy another/replace it with another 7 seater (needed due to my family & disabled mother-in-law), for the cost of the repair? if the answer is no, then it's worth repairing

i know, it's a bugger, especially for the trucks, who have to phone the control room for permission to fill their tanks if they're going on a long recovery, in the patrol vans, we're expected to get an average of 26mpg, if we don't hit it, they start asking questions, but i cover south west london, a23 round to m4 & that section of m25, so fuel consuumption is hit in london & also because on the road side, depolying our crt or jump starting, our engine is running. every other comany i've worked for was jsut fill your tank when you need to & i never felt the need to skim diesel from them

my appologies, misread your op. changing the starter is easy enough, but from memory (last starter i changed was on my galaxy diesel about 4 years ago), the top /inner bolt may be a bit awkward & a longer extension may be required, petrol may be a slightly different bolt pattern though. just make sure to disconnect the battery before starting though. it is possible that the starter is at fault & running on once the key is released, but i've not heard of a starter running on for more than a few seconds. unless the ring gear is worn & or the return spring in the starter has failed, causing the ring gear to "hold" the gear in the starter & taking a while to release. other than the clutch/gearbox, there isn't anything else at that end of the engine, the water pump will be driven by the auxillary belt. is it manual or auto? have you checked the oil level in the gearbox? is it doing it every time you start the engine? have you tried starting it with your foot on the clutch? although normally, if it's the clutch release bearing, it will make more of a grinding soundall the time until you press the clutch in. it may also be worth checking the starter actuator wire, to ensure the power switches off when the key is released. if you take the starter off, you can "bench test" it on the floor ... use jump leads & then a short length of wire to touch from the + to the actuatror wire terminal (stand on it so it doeesn't jump about), once the starter is spinning up, remove the wire & it should stop fairly quickly

Try spraying the pulleys etc with wd40 to see if it stops, sometimes it's nothing to worry about, a lot of engines have a squeal when 1st started, can often be something simple like a cold belt & friction/slipping between it & a pulley, as everything turns, the belt warms up & becomes softer & oils thin slightly, it grips better. As you say it stops after a while, I wouldn't be too concerned about it, although worth a look just to make sure nothing untoward is obvious.

I know my new plate vw sharan 2ltr averaged 25mpg, best I ever got out of it on a long motorway journey, cruising about 65-70mph was 31mpg. I use www.torquecars.com/tools/UK-mpg-calculator.php on my pc to work out my fuel economy, just ask for a vat reception when you pay & you'll get price per ltr, how many ltr & total cost, just write mileage down on the receipt. I've also got fuel calculators on my BlackBerry playbook & phone. At work, we're only allowed to put exactly 50ltr in our vans & trucks at a time, no more or no less, so they can keep tabs on our mpg & try to stop those of us with diesel cars from skimming diesel at the pumps.

From memory, my desired MAF reading was changing, but the actual didn't, fitted new MAF sensor & both readings matched. It looks like my problem is related to the turbo system, if it's pipework, vacuum hoses, Egr valve or map sensor, then it's no big thing. If it's just a case of the turbo under boosting, I'd be inclined to leave it, driven enough n/a diesels to know how the go, so dropping a few mph won't upset me, just take a bit longer to get somewhere. I think if it was any other problem with the turbo, then I'd be expecting smoke & I doubt it would have passed the emissions last week