charles

Is the problem a different part no., or has every new instrument cluster to be programmed when plugged in? in any case the dealer should have give you that information before selling one to you. A diagonis before replacing would be better, because the fault is maybe not in the instrument cluster, but in one of the wires to it.

I use both Haynes and TIS. In TIS it is hard to find , but it has excellent step-for-step (with pictures for each step) de-installation and installation instructions.

If disconnecting the MAF has no influence, then the MAF is definity suspect! With a diagnosis at the ford garage you will know sure if the MAF is defective

on the site www.fordscorpio.co.uk i found some information about repairing the instrument cluster. I do not know sure if it is valid for the galaxy too.

Same problem with temp gauge. Sender is correct, wiring too, so fault must be in instrument cluster. I leave it as it is. There is a second sender that warns if temp that operates the fans and warns if above 100degrees

if it's running it is not dead.

I paid EUR 70 for a diagnosis which had no reported errors, although the car ran like a dog. conclusion of the garage: "we can not find any fault, maybe there is some mechanical error or a problem with the sensors" I think the problem is that de car was only checked static. They connect the car at the garage and rev it up. The only good check is connecting a laptop and driving it, logging the output, and analysing it afterwards.

can't you ask the garage to " borrow" a good one.

The famous footwell leakage can be avoided by adding sufficient antifreese. f.e. protection until -30degrees or even more. because water expands when it freezes it damages the delicate connections of the tubing.

serious, cleaning the lambda sensor will not make much sense. It has protective metal around the sensor. If it is very polluted maybe the holes in the metal are cloughed. if it is defective it should be replaced, this can be measured.

what are the lambreta sensors?

the running of my car greatly improved when I replaced the MAF. Surely it was defective for some at least 6 months, because the car did not run as smoothly as it run earlier. There are two indications: - running rough, vibration of engine could be felt (it is now totally gone) - a sudden drop in fuel efficiency mpg for 15-20% that although the ford garage could not measure any fault with their diagnostic software.

on several models the relays are on the same place but have different numbers on it. relay 30 = powerrelay, relay 167 = fuel pump relay

dear jvernon i had with my previous car a problem that the windings of a power relay where corroded. This caused high current and a smell of burning plastic of heated wiring. only after a few months the fuse of the relay blew out. it costed me a lot of time to find this out. there are a lot of relays in your car, but only 2 or 3 are relays that are always on when driving and could be suspect. It can be felt, because these relays will become a little bit warm after driving a while. this is normal. you should check these by pushing off the plastic cap and inspect these. There are 2 fuse boxes, in the dash and under the bonnet. In your case i don not think the relay is the problem the first thing you should check if you have a ignition or a fuel problem. check the spark when the car won't start. than i can give you some tips. you can leave the sparkplugs in. just pull off the cap of one of these and connect a spare sparkplug. make sure it contact the metal of the engine. One person start and the other looks if it sparks.

if the wear is at both outsides of the tyre than the tyre was underpressured. I regulary adjust them to the ford values, but they gradually lose some air which stabilises around 35 psi.

it is a lot of money for such a simple sensor. the problem is that you do not know if this will fix it. cutting out could have several reasons: f.e. the relays for ignition and fuel pump, ignition coils, other sensors to de ECM(there are a lot of them) or bad connections/broken wires. The first thing I would do is simply replace the power relays (2). These do not cost a lot. In you drivers manual you can find where they are located. just pull out and replace. if this does not work the problem is elsewhere.

relay 30 refers to the number on the relay. it's the ignition relay. relay no 167 activates the fuel pump. see your drivers manual. the plastic cap of the relay can be removed. check the connections and special the contact points. they can be oxydated. spray with contactcleaner or replace with a new one.

i suggest the cranck position sensor or bad wiring to this sensor (behind engine near oil filter)

the lambda sensor cannot be wrong if it is replaced. it last more than 100K and the heated 4-wire sensor (like yours) even longer. Maybe there is a broken wire/bad connection. a ECM-diagnoses could tell which sensor is in default.

Final report: problem solved. As suggested i first disconnected the MAF. The car did not jump anymore, but was still not driving smoothly. Then I tried to clean the sensor with no effect. Finally I bought a new MAF sensor (EUR139,-) . The sensor comes complete with the aluminium housing. The car is now driving greatly, just the way it did ever.

my earlier car was a alfa romeo, but this car is much better electrical engineered than the ford engine. In the engine compartment It's full of many very (too) thin electrical connections to the several equipment and these are poorly isolated and fixed. Vibritions and aging will crack them and cause electrical problems.

yurir, it is still not clear to me. you say that from 95 on all ford models use the SAE J1850 PWM protocol. But How do I know if my car '97 2,3l is OBD-II compliant (neccessairy to work with the standard software, f.e. from scantool.net ?

as advised by the TIS first remove the belt and then start the engine. When the sound has been disappeared, check the rotation of the belt driven accesoires and the belt tensioner

is this cable compatible with the ford 2,3 16V ODHC engine? I heard that only the newest models are compatible with the OBD-2 standard.

found this excellent description of the MAF on a german site www.odb-2.de/tech_sens.html Air measure knife (LMM) or engl. Measure-Air-Flow (MAF) The air measures knives, in the following LMM named, consists of two resistance wires (sensors), that in a Venturi-nozzle in the by passports of the air currents of the air taken in by the motor. Therefrom the one sensor-element is heated on a temperature of 200 degrees centigrade above the environment temperature measured by the cold sensor-element. That is sensor-element air is cooled off of the past strokes. The current that is required in order to hold the temperature of the hot sensor-element on 200 degrees centigrade, is proportional the mass of the air quantity. The LMM sends an analogous volt signal at the motor computer, proportionally the entrance air-mass. The motor computer calculates from that the required opening time of the petrol injectionnozzles corresponding to the desired Petrol-/air-mixture Interferences that are led back to the LMM can result to the one out of interferences of the connection cable (cable breach, short circuit, connector contact etc.), to the other also by the LMM itself. Before one replaces the LMM, can be tried to repair the LMM. But CAUTION: both sensor-elements exist also breath fine wire that no hard contacts endure. A repair is restricted therefore to the careful cleaning evtl. become polluted sensor-elements. Remove the connector and unscrew you carefully the sensor from the housing off. They see then how in the lower picture shown, both sensor-elements. Avoid the use of cleaner (solvent), the residues leave behind. Proved cleaning sprays have itself for electronics part or Azeton. If you have no success with spray, you can use extremely carefully a Q-hint soaked for cleaning. But ATTENTION: if a wire tears at the same time, it was that then. The LMM is over. Below you see the sensor-element enlarged. Do not bend the connections of the elements in the procedure because the elements lie otherwise no longer in the defined air current. After drying of the LMM, you incorporate it again carefully without activating with the elements somewhere.