XN85

The car's a regularly serviced 51k miler which I try to keep in good condition. Having left the car at my local Fraud dealer overnight, they have kindly changed the fuel filter! Again! When you try and start it cold it immediately cuts out. This repeats for quite a few turns until it starts, struggles for a second and then runs as new. Apparently the fault codes coming up indicate nothing of significance - though they haven't told me what they are. I'll see whether I can find out and post on here. Sepulchrave, we've owned the car virtually from new (from about 2k miles) so I don't think it's been abused. We generally use it as a family car - frequently using all 7 seats. Once warm, it starts and runs great. This is the bit that I don't get. It is only a cold starting problem... I've checked what I could with regard pipes, etc, but am no mechanic (Ok, I 'forgot' about the pollen filter because I couldn't find it!). I doubt I'd know the MAF even if I dropped it on my toe! At the moment the car's with my local Fraud dealer who have always been ok in the past - my friendly independent having scratched his head and given up! I like the comment about the ECU... it sounds so true in this case!

The aircon on my 2003 TDi keeps losing gas. The local dealer initially said it was due to lack of use (yeah, right!) and refilled it. This process lasted me until the warranty ran out and then they said that I needed a new compressor (or was in condenser - forget). Fraud eventually agreed to pay half so I booked it in for the work. I picked that car up the following day to find that they'd refilled the gas and not replaced the compressor (condenser?). Apparently it was found to be working fine. They agreed that there must be a fault in the system somewhere allowing gas to leak out but said that investigating the repair was too costly to be worthwhile and suggested getting the gas refilled every year. When refilled it works ok, but never gets as cold as the aircon on my Peugeot 406. 'Summer' this year hasn't been hot enough for me to get around to getting the gas refilled yet... Overall, a very ineffective system (both the aircon and the dealer network!)

Hi, I've got a 2003 TDi 115 which has developed cold starting problems. Initially it started taking a couple of attempts before it would fire, but over the past few months this has increased to up to 12 attempts! Prolonged cranking, pumping the throttle pedal or flooring the pedal make no difference. Once the engine fires, it runs rough for a second or two and then smooths out. From then on it runs great - plenty of power, smooth acceleration and instant starting. Unless the engine has been left for quite a few hours (until completely cold) the problem doesn't reoccur. If anything, it appears that the idle speed might have increased slightly when it's fully warmed up - though I could be mistaken! The engine appears to idle at around 900rpm. Is this normal? So far I have tried: * servicing the engine (oil, flter and air filter); * putting in injector cleaner; * replacing the fuel filter (fuel consumption and performance appeared improved, though cold starting wasn't!); * trying different makes of fuel (including VPower diesel and even bio-diesel as someone suggested that this might have a cleaning effect on the fuel system) and; * replacing the glowplugs. Nothing has worked. The Galaxy is currently sat at my local garage who have tested that power is getting to the glowplugs, etc. Having had the car for two days they don't know what the problem is. They have suggested a new ECU. If the ECU was faulty, wouldn't it affect performance as well as cold starting? Has anyone encountered this kind of problem before? Any suggestions as to what could be the problem? Thanks Dave

I pay for my own tyres... and my wife's! :huh:

Being totally unimpressed with tyre-life and grip from the standard-fit Dunlop 2020s, I have now replaced mine with a set of budget tyres. The tyres are called Star Performers (I'd never heard of them either!) and are 215/55/16 V-rated and reinforced - cost

Mike, My other car has Cruise and I'm a great fan - especially on roads plagued by yellow taxation boxes! How much of a job is it to fit Cruise Control to an 03 Zetec TDi? Dave

Thanks for all the advice folks! I think a lot of it with tyres comes down to personal preference. I had a nasty experience with Firestones on an Alfa Romeo back in the 80's. I hit standing water on the motorway and suddenly aquaplaned across three lanes - scaring the life out of me! Still, in their favour... being an Alfa, the Firestones DID last longer than the bodywork! On Boxing Day I took the family to the Lake District. On a number of back roads we found black ice and the tyres struggled to grip. On one occassion I couldn't even keep the Galaxy stationary on an icy hill (thankfully there was no one behind me, but it still seemed a good time to panic!). A family car in front of us drove straight up the hill but the Galaxy couldn't. Even lifting the clutch slowly with the enging at idle the tyres wouldn't grip. The only way was down - and backwards! It is now definitely time to replace the tyres and I am not impressed by the Dunlops, so want a change. My current options are: >> Continentals - These are fitted to my other car (Peugeot V6) and give excellent grip, economy and tyre-life. The down-side is cost. >> Vredestein - Surely the Dutch get as much rain as we do? So, working on this assumption a Dutch tyre should be designed to be at its best in our type of climate. Shouldn't it? >> Nokian - I don't know any one who uses these tyres, but coming from Finland I would assume that poor weather grip should be good and prices are significantly less than Dunlops and Contis. Has anyone got any experiences of any of these tyres on a Galaxy and could advise me? Many thanks

Hi, I'm looking to replace both front tyres on my 03 Galaxy TDI 115 and am looking for an alternative to the standard-fit Dunlops. At just over 18000 miles the front Dunlop 2020s are barely legal. Tyre wear is even across the tyre, and we don't generally go around wheelspinning, so I'm assuming that these tyres don't have a long life-expectancy. I used to get 30000+ out of front tyres on our old Espace... Neither, in our experience, do the Dunlops have much grip! We regularly find that pulling briskly away from junctions, even on dry roads, causes the front wheels to lose grip and spin. Pulling into heavy traffic can be quite nerve-racking... Can anyone advise on a good alternative to the Dunlops? I'm after a tyre with good wet and dry grip, that aren't riduculously expensive and with a reasonable life-expectancy. Any suggestions? In a previous thread someone mentioned Nokian tyres. I've never heard of these before and their website doesn't mention reinforced tyres. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks

I've also got a Galaxy import, an 03 TDi. I bought it at 3-months old with just under 3000 miles on the clock. A couple of weeks later I took it into my local dealer because the 'service' light was flashing. I don't know what they did but it just shows the word SERVICE (no mileage) in the display and they said come back at 10000... I'll probably still do an interim oil and filter change (I was brought up with Cortinas and 6000-mile service intervals!). As for the Galaxy being faster and better... it must be the aerodynamic blue oval on the front! :)

I don't mind the analogue clock... except that the backlight is too dim at night. Does anyone know whether you can fit a bigger bulb?

I think that the Shalaxy is a fantastic family car and even without our need for all seven seats, I can't envision life without an MPV. The ability to change it from 'car' to 'van' for carrying those DIY jobs, garden furniture or kids bikes is invaluable! But, as with everything, if there is a replacement Galaxy coming (eventually), I would like to see some practical improvements in it's successor... My previous MPV, an Espace, had two large storage areas in the rear wheelarches which were capable of storing jump-leads, towrope, kids waterproofs, etc without taking up any boot space. There is storage area in my 2003 Galaxy, but bigger would be better. Also the passenger glove box is too small for it to serve any practical use. Whereas the front seat backs have pop-up picnic tables fitted, there is no room to 'picnic' in the front. I'm sure that a simple pop-out tray could be fitted into the dashboard, above the passenger glovebox. For those of us with young children, who also need all seven seats, the seat backs which look like picnic tables are useless. Replacing the plastic moulding with magazine pockets would be far more beneficial. The centre, middle-row, seat would benefit from having a pop-up picnic table - like the front seats - for those sat behind. I also think that litter bins/bags should be fitted to the middle seat base. In the three years that we have had MPVs, we have never used the swivelling front seat ability. I'm sure that whereas some people will use this function - many will not. I think that a centre console extended beyond the handbrake, featuring a bottle-holder big enough for a 2lt pop bottle, with 12v power socket (for powering multimedia systems), etc, would be more useful. As almost everyone else has already stated there certainly should be two remote keys with a 20k+ car...

If the lens-covers on the face-lifted Galaxy are plastic, is it a good idea fitting higher wattage bulbs? I've seen Mondeos with discoloured, yellow-ish, headlights as a result of fitting the wrong wattage bulbs - though they have a plastic lens inside the headlight.

Ooops! Following my last post... and having sat down on the floor looking at the towbar in relation to the parking sensors... I bent the mounting bracket for the electrics in towards the bumper a few degrees. Guess what? Parking sensors work perfectly now! Oh well. It saves me pestering the dealer...

I've just had a fixed towbar fitted to my 03 Galaxy and when you select reverse the parking distance sensors beep once and then constantly. This has only occured since the bar was fitted. Assuming that the sensors are detecting the towball, would fitting a drop-plate to lower the 'ball a couple of inches make any difference? It's booked in to my local dealer next week (for a different problem) so they could look into reprogramming the sensors if lowering the towball is unlikely to work. Suggestions, please?