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

my galaxy has been in the family about 4 years, overall, it's been fairly reliable, other than normal servicing, cam belt & tyres, oter things have been: o/s drive shaft, water pump, wheel bearing, fuel leak on pump, worn woodruff key & timing pulley & lately, intermittent loss of power, which i'm thinking i may be close there now. drove down to brighton today for an appointment, as i'd left early enough to deal with any problems through the roadworks on the a23, in brighton, find a parking space in the multi story & walk to my appointment, i had time to plug my scanner in to see if any fault codes showed up ... 00575 manifold absolute pressure deviation from desired value error occured intermittently, cleared faults, checked when i got home & same fault again. have to say, the car drove fine both ways, no feeling of loss of power, apart from loosing speed on the hill just before coming into brighton ... dropped from 70-50mph very quickly. i don't know if the garage checked for fault codes or cleared them while it was down there, but if they don't come back up, then i'll be suspecting that's what it was & only showing up under certain conditions. will check again tomorrow, as i'm going to kent for the day. will investigate further as to why i'm getting fault code 00575, hopefully it'll be map sensor, egr valve or hose, rather than the turbo itself.

i'm using an older snap-on scanner, so unfortunately for me, it's a case of having to take readings at the time. on the other hand, it's got all the plugs & keys for most pre oebd2 sockets, unlike the basic ones on our vans, but my employers don't want me using mine, so most pre 2000 vechicles, we can't check

hi had problems with my car, check this thread: http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php/topic/25224-who-wants-to-confirm-what-im-thinking/?hl=asp383&do=findComment&comment=177439 when i checked the timing, it was spot on, but struggled to start, sluggish & would intermittently lose power, especially if lifting off the throttle & then back on, with loads of white smoke, zero power, then it would just all clear. i'd already replaced maf sensor, glow plug set, battery & service with trying to sort out the poor starting & sluggishness. when i checked the timing, it was spot on, but my maf sensor was also faulty, along with a few other things that came to light while trying to sort it out. eventually noticed a fuel leak on the injector pump & had to have t taken to a bosch approved garage (you can't get the anti-tamper tools unless you're bosch approved), they sorted the leak, but it still wouldn't start, although the crank pulley bolts were tight, they checked it while it was there, as cam belt was around due, they'd found the woodruff key & keyway in the crankshaft timing pulley were worn, causing the timing to go out when trying to start & when going back on the throttle. breakdown of costs (vat inc): seal £ 12.25 timing belt kit £ 77.65 c/s timing pulley £ 53.75 c/s screw £ 2.92 4hrs labour £249.60

just been out to the car & plugged my computer in, here are the results: 1st off, i checked the fault codes ... 00527 manifold temp sensor - g72 - open circuit/short on power 00535 maf sensor - g70 - open circuit/short with ground 65535 ecu defective 00575 manifold absolute pressure deviation from desired value error occured intermittently 17978 engine ecu blocked (p1570) ... engine turned over, but didn't start after stopping for fuel on 1 occasion, been fine since, so guessing this is relating to that time. live data readings after warming up engine (no load): fuel temp 32* air intake temp 28* coolant temp 59* sensor idle (903rpm) 2000rpm (approx) 3000rom (approx) maf (desired) mbar 275 290 maf (actual) mbar 280 290 barometric pressure (mbar) 1020 1020 1020 turbo boost deired (mbar) 958 1030 1315 turbo boost actual (mbar) 999 1009 1071 accelorator pedal position 0.0% 16.4% 23.2% rechecked for fault codes: none present. looking at it, the maf sensor is giving the readings it should (or as close to it as not to feel concerned), but turbo boost isn't what it should be, guessing that's the reason for the 00575 fault code, so will have to look in the turboarea & associated components. will double check tomorrow, when i've got to my destination & again, when i've got back & again on friday, so i can compare against todays readings. on my own tomorrow, so will only be able to take live readings when static with no load, but as i'll have a full car friday, my mrs can check live readings as i drive

Billywizzo, check the link in my op, I think I put what readings you should get at the plug when using a multimeter. As you're in Surrey, if close enough to gatwick, you can pop round, I can plug my computer in your car, go for a drive & take live data readings to see if it is your MAF sensor or something else.

Thanks mumof4, I had thought if it's the MAF again, it was replaced earlier this year, as it wasn't giving any readings within tolerances, wiring at plug was ok. It's not going into limp mode, just performing like a fully loaded naturally aspirated diesel van ... Takes forever to pick up speed, once there, it'll cruise 60-70mph, but on hills, drop it's speed like a loaded 7.5t truck. Other times, it seems fine, even when warmed up & will be nearly as good as my works van. Turning off & restarting doesn't seem to "reset" anything. It doesn't seem to matter if cruising at 40, 50, 60 or 70mph, or on urban town traffic, it's literally as though it runs out of breath, as an example, I recently went to see my brother, all fine while cruising, but felt it lose breath about 10minutes down the motorway & after coming off 1 roundabout, it took best part of a mile (down hill) to hit 60mph, before having to brake for the next, but coming home, it was fine. With the problems earlier this year, it's had new glow plugs set, battery, MAF sensor, service, woodruff key, crankshaft timing belt pulley & timing belt kit, also just passed mot 1st time

should add, all levels are correct, no excess smoke when starting or pulling away & engine sounds like it should ... regular diesel purr. the loss of power doesn't seem to be all the time & when it's fot the power, it does shift as i'd expect it to

since my last problems with my galaxy http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php/topic/25224-who-wants-to-confirm-what-im-thinking/?hl=asp383&do=findComment&comment=177439 all has been going well, although most of my journeys have been within 30 miles or so round trip, apart form a couple of about 70 miles round trip. noticed a few times recently, when warmed up, especially on the longer journeys, it seems to be lacking power ... pulling away takes forever & can't "thrash it" on acceloration & when visiting family sunday, i decided to come back via the motorway, after about 5 minutes, on the hill going up to the junction, it has a 40mph limit, which i was doing in 4th, but suddenly felt like it hit a proverbial wall & had no more power, even dropping down to 3rd, & full throttle, i could only make 30mph. no smoke out back like last time & once on the motorway (although it took the whole of the slip road to get up to 60mph), it went fine, apart from the hills, where it struggled to keep to 70 ... it acts more like a fully loaded naturally aspirated ldv 400. flew through it's mot last week (much to my suprise), although from the advisories, it's probably going to be it's last. as i've got a lazy day tomorrow, i'm going to put my scanner on the car to see if it shows anything up. all the plugs look ok i've got to do about 60 mile round trip thursday & about 120 on friday, so will try to get 1 of the passengers to keep note as i'm driving to see if/when the loss of power is noticable. it's a 1997 1.9tdi i believe, it should be the ahu engine, but will double check & try to confirm tomorrow. will double check the pugs etc, hoses & pipework, but at the moment i'm a bit limited with how much far i can inverstigate due to a knackered arm. any other suggestions would be welcome, thanks.

If you check out my thread a few pages down, that may give some pointers. Briefly, on the injector pump where the fuel goes in, next to it is an anti tamper fitting (straight edges with rounded ends), you should be able to get a 10mm open spanner on the flats, unscrew & check to see if the internals have fallen out, if they have or starting to fall out, knock the internals in until flush & refit. This controls pump internal pressure, so although you may be getting fuel to injectors, it won't be under normal pressure. The other problem was the cambelt pulley on the crankshaft had a worn woodruff key slot, causing the timing to go out & not start (it also moved while driving, causing loss of power & smoke until timing came back), required new pulley & woodruff key.

Got call from the rage, the woodruff key & pulley were worn, replaced both + cam belt & back together. Picked up today & it's driving better than I've ever known it to... It actually accelerates. In 5th from 40 going uphill now! For no other problems with it, I may well keep it for a bit longer