WayneAli

Cheers Brian, I'll have a check in a bit (coffee is calling). Thought I'd quickly post an update. Just driven home and seems more to be an issue when changing down from 4th/3rd across to 1st/2nd or coming down/across from 5th. Back and forth seem fine, it seems just trying to shift the gear stick over to the left is stiff.

Hi all, I've had a brief search through the forums but can't find anything that answers my question, I'm hoping someone here may be able to point me in the right direction. I have a 1999 (MK1) 2.3 Galaxy, manual transmission. Up until yesterday, gear shifting has been fine, however, yesterday I tried shifting from 2nd to 3rd and the stick didn't want to move right. With a bit of a tug it seemed to free and gear changing was fine. A little later it happened again but going from 5th back to 4th. Today on my way to work it has been sticking again, it is only left/right shifting, ie 1st/2nd to 3rd/4th, or 3rd/4th to 5th, or vice versa. And it may be worth mentioning it's not every change most changes are fine, its a somewhat random, intermittent issue, there is no fluid leaking and engine temperature seems to have no effect (it occurs hot and cold) Thought I would post here for some pointers before I start stripping and replacing parts. Thanks in advance, Wayne

Failed on a Tyre....!!!? :( Thanks again. ;)

Thanks BrianH, I followed your link for the cable on eBay, the second link, http://www.ebay.co.u...TE/162609555255, although a little more expensive, came with the installation CD and instructions, and more importantly - UK based. Brand new squib, a snip at £68 with 24hr delivery installed today (Black Friday offer - down from £119.95 to £89.96, then haggled over the Best Offer). 5 minutes on VCDS Lite and all is working as it should. Thanks again for all of your help - now I'm off for a MOT retest!!! Wayne

Just re-reading this, my Galaxy is the 2.3. Any suggestions on what software to use if VCDS Lite wont work.

Thanks all, Cables ordered, thanks BrianH. I have tested the squib/clock spring for continuity and it seems good, but I'm with you guys in that I still think there's an issue there. My issue now is trying to find one, Mk1 parts seem to be few and far between nowadays, and trying to find 2nd hand parts is ni-on impossible, I've found a new clock spring on the bay for £90. If anyone has thoughts on second hand and where to find one I would be forever indebted. The part number is 95VW14A664AA. Thanks again

Thanks for the info Brian, I have a wifi/bluetooth scanner that I run with Torque on my phone, unfortunately I can only access the main ECU, it doesn't dig as deep as the SRS ECU, having a read up VCDS-lite is not compatible with this elm chipped adapter. Do you know of any other diagnostic software that may delve deep enough and be compatable with my ELM 327 adapter.

Cheers guys, No other real symptoms of a hgf other than a horrible gut feeling. I decided to take it up to the fire station and give the system a flush through with the hose up there, simply because the hose is 1 3/4 inch and fits perfectly inside the rad pipework. I flushed from both the top rad hose, then back-flushed from the bottom. When flushing from the bottom, the water was filthy but eventually ran clear. I then ran water through the block, which coincidentally wasn't too bad, put it all back together and topped up... ...Still over heating. Initially I thought thermostat in the top rad hose, but if this was seized closed am I right in thinking this wouldn't of flushed with cold water. The internal heater matrix shouldn't be blocked as the engine temp is dropping when the internal heaters go on, so water must be passing through. the radiator fan it triggering and running but not lowering the temperature sufficiently. The only way I can get the temperature to stabilise is with the heater blowers on number 2 and the temperature on high. I have run 'Hi-Gear Permanent Block and Radiator Seal' through (I can hear the sighs) as it is still losing a bit of water through the matrix. Temp wise, I went out for a steady run last week with a wifi obd reader sitting at around 60mph with a couple of roundabouts, Torque got up to around 106'C with all internal heaters off, dropped to 90'C once the heaters were put on. Any other ideas would be great, I'm a bit limited with regards taking it out now as it failed the MOT the other day on emissions (along with a couple of other bits) - they said they couldn't test them as the temperature climbed too quickly and were concerned about overheating. On a different matter, if you have any thoughts on the airbag warning light, I've started another thread here, http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php?/topic/27743-mk1-galaxy-squib-issue/ Just another MOT failure. :(

Hi all, As the title suggests, I have an issue with the squib. The issue arose a couple of years back when the squib gave up the ghost, so that one was replaced. Ever since I have been plagued with the airbag warning light. My MOT station usually has a tinker, resets it and it goes out for a week or so before lighting back up. This time however, the MOT center told me that there was an issue with the drivers pretensioner. Off to my garage for MOT work, only to be told that the issue is "00588 - Airbag Igniter - O/S/F - N95 Resistance too high". On Googling this, I am led back to a possible squib fault. With out testing the squib, I am assuming it works based on the fact that the car horn, which draws power through the squib, is still functioning. The one thing I have noticed is a small (30mm or so long) yellow plastic sprung stalk on the that passes through a small 5mm hole in the steering wheel and rests against the back of the airbag module. If this yellow stalk is depressed it pushes a copper/brass terminal out from the back of the squib to make contact with a metal ring in the steering column. Currently, when the steering wheel, airbag, etc is all together in situ, there is a small metal ring that covers the stalk (airbag side) and I'm trying to determine if the yellow stalk should be depressed so as to make contact with the ring at the rear of the steering wheel, if so the yellow stalk is too short - either broken or worn, alternatively, the terminal at the back should not be making contact with the ring, in which case all is fine with the way it is installed. Is this right, or is it possible that the yellow stalk has worn sufficiently that the terminal (which possibly should be making contact) is no longer contacting the back ring. I've just read this back to my self and even I'm confused, but I'm hopeful somebody gets what I'm on about, I shall try and add a couple of photos below to try and show the yellow stalk I'm on about. If anyone has any other ideas regarding the fault code above please chirp in. The car is a MK1 1999 Galaxy 2.3 ghia. Many thanks in advance, Wayne

Thanks to you both for all the help. Successful flush out this morning, unfortunately still over heating. I feel I'm getting closer to the inevitable head gasket. Haynes manual arrived today and even decided to check out how viable a head gasket change is - 3 Haynes manual spanners - it's a possibility! I have thought about the temp sender unit Brian, and also came across another thread where you gave advice on this issue. Just looking at the various tell tale signs of this failing and not sure if this is the issue, the gauge seems to be reading fine, no erratic behaviour, just running hot. What are your thoughts on head/block sealer, I'm guessing it's down there on par with radweld. May get Green Flag out to run a test on the head/block.

Cheers Paul - Ouch!!! Going to flush the system through tomorrow, have taken a couple of hours off work/duty (on-call firefighter) so hopefully can get it done undisturbed. Having a watch of a few YouTube videos on flushing the system, most show cleaning with radiator flush/cleaner (I'll pick up later) and then flushing the radiator through by removing the radiator drain plug and flushing with a garden hose from the expansion bottle. As there is no drain plug on the Galaxy, would you recommend just removing the 1 1/2 inch hose entering the radiator around 4 inches up from the bottom. Alternatively, do you have any suggestions on how best to rinse/flush the "entire" system. I have been trying to make sense of the pipework, trying to figure the best route to flush as much of the system as I can. I can just see me setting up the garden hose and just flushing 3 or 4 rubber pipes that bypass the whole engine. :( Oh and thanks for the Haynes pic - I did get it right! :D

Thanks Paul & Brian, I am going to give it a flush through over the next day or two and see what that reveals. Cheers Paul on the thermostat info, I had read elsewhere online that some people had found that "thermostat housing" empty, I have bought a new thermostat online but will discard that and just check to ensure ones not installed. I could only find a thermostat online that looked as though it would go in the housing at the end of the head. Will have to investigate around the rad to try and find that one. Brian, I did contemplate repairing the matrix, I did one some years back on a previous car and remember the process of changing the matrix itself as being really simple - was just a nightmare getting to it (I think it was an old Mondeo I had). Looking at where the pipework enters from the engine side I'm assuming it is tucked as high as it could possibly be behind the dash. That said, it's only an educated guess that there's a matrix leak, based on losing a litre of coolant per month back in summer, steamy windows when the fans went on and the paddling pool that developed in my footwell. Regarding the temp sender, I'll possibly just replace it - can't hurt for a few £££'s extra. Thanks for that. And finally, I'm 95% certain Paul that the belt is on correctly, unfortunately I had no original belt to photo before removal as it had tied itself in a knot. I did start by following a diagram downloaded from the net but couldn't make it work, I needed another 2 inches of belt. I ended up roving it following my gut - and following the ribbed side to ribbed pulley theory. Funnily enough, I found a Haynes manual online yesterday, I haven't owned one of those for over 15 years but did remember them being the ultimate "go to" for car repairs - nowadays it's all to easy to jump online and forget what worked 20 or so years ago. Once it arrives I'll double check how I've fitted the belt. Well, thanks again - that gives me a few bits to tinker with. I'm almost convinced on a blockage, I know the inner casement of the old water pump had completely disintegrated so im expecting some considerable sized bits of metal and rust to be floating around or lodged in the cooling system. Will post over the next day or two on how I get on.

Ok, so this morning after reading up on various causes of over heating, I decided to purge any air that may be trapped in the system following draining for the pump change, the reservoir level had dropped by around 200 - 250ml since filling up after the pump change. Following this, I went out for a drive experimenting with different settings and speeds, here are my findings: At 55-60mph & internal heater and blowers on, the temp guage sat constantly between the 'N' & 'O' or NORM. Increasing to 70mph with blowers on caused the needle to rise to between the 'O' and the 'R'. 20 - 30mph with blowers & heater on maintained steadily over the 'R', as does sitting stationary idling. Turning the blowers off at any point caused the temp gauge to rise up over the 'M' Turning the blowers back on caused a slow and steady decrease in temperature. I have hot air coming out of the blowers and I did notice earlier when trying to purge any air out to the cooling system that there doesn't seem to be any water returning to the expansion bottle as the engine heated. This may or may not help in fault finding. Thanks again.

Hi all, Its been an age since I was last in here, July 2013 in fact, with intermittent relay issues - coincidentally all was resolved with the help from this forum - Thank you! My problem this time around is with over-heating... ...Last week the water pump of my 1999 Mk1 galaxy 2.3 bit the dust and in the process tied the auxiliary belt in knots, one week on after reluctantly and cautiously (I'm by no means a mechanic - more of a car tinkerer) dropping the engine due to the pump being the only pulley to sit right behind the wheel arch, a new pump has been fitted along with a new belt. I now however have an issue with over-heating. Before the failed pump the temperature gauge on the dash sat happily between the 'O' and 'R' of the 'NORM' - fluctuating between the two as the radiator fans kicked in and switched off, now after fitting the new pump its rising to just above the 'M' - just below the red. I had a leak in the system within the heater matrix a couple of months back which (I can already hear the grumbles) was long-term/temporarily cured with Radweld - My knowledge and expertise unfortunately didn't extend as far as a complete dash removal to fix that one. My thoughts are erring towards a blockage, however, the fact that it was running fine before the failed pump issues left me wanting to question the somewhat more experienced before I begin the task of stripping down and flushing. The only things touched when doing the work were obviously the water pump and auxiliary belt, the air filter was removed to access the off-side engine mount and the MAF was removed to have the cobwebs blown out. The rad fans are working - but working hard, they seem to be kicking in when the dash temp gauge gets to above the 'M' (of 'NORM') bringing the gauge back down to halfway through the 'M' - previously they were kicking in on the 'R' - this is causing me to think it could be a thermostat issue and not a Radweld blockage. Any thoughts on this or suggestions of further checks I can undertake in order to narrow down fault finding would be great and very much appreciated. She's old and on 150 odd thousand miles - but she keeps plodding on and hopefully with a bit of help/advice I'll keep her going for a little longer - it would be great to be back in this forum in another 4 years with the same car needing another fix! Many thanks in advance - Wayne