Tim_021113

Hi. Is your Galaxy a MK3? You may want to report in that section if so. If I was making a pure guess about your question though, I'd say it could be the engine immobiliser just showing its enabled.

Well, it only took me a year to get round to sorting this out, I just wish I had read FAQ no.2 sooner - it was the ARB drop links. I had both sides replaced, noise has gone away completely. Thanks again contributors for removing any potentially expensive guesswork.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll start with the jack and silicone spray and see where it goes from there. Update to follow....

My Galaxy is making a strange groaning noise when turning right. The noise seems to come from somewhere around the nearside front wheel. It doesn't always happen if the car is lightly loaded or has no passengers, but it always happens if there is a front seat passenger. Apart from the noise the car is steering fine. Any suggestions as to a possible cause and any checks I can make would be appreciated.

The belt, idler and tensioner have now been replaced. The tensioner was replaced under warranty because it was less than a year old. And now, all is quiet again at last. So I'll see how it goes and report back in a few months....

sparky Paul - the noise goes away for a short time if I spray oil either onto the belt, or into the body of the power steering pump. Do you think both of those still point to the idler being shot?

The oil hasn't cured it, but at least I know what I'm dealing with now. The under tray is fitted so happily everything wasn't covered in gunge. Going back to my original question about the alternator, with the belt slackened off, the pulley spins freely in both directions so it looks like the clutch system is just a diesel thing. Thanks again for all the replies, greatly appreciated.

Dug out the axle stands today and had a look. I ran the engine for a short time with the drive belt loose and the noise disappeared. Got the belt back on and ran the engine and the noise was back straight away. For a while I was convinced the source was the air con compressor, but then I sprayed some oil onto the power steering pump between the pulley and the body, and immediately the noise went away. So at the moment that looks to be the culprit.

Thanks for all the replies. The noise is present whether the aircon is on or off, but I'll check the compressor anyway. Time to fish out the trolley jack and axle stands...

I have a 2002 2.3 Zetec Petrol Auto. About a year ago it developed a squealing noise when cold, so the aux drive belt was replaced. The noise came back in February and the belt tensioner was replaced. All well until about a month ago when the noise came back and is now worse than ever and is also constant. It used to go away once the engine got warmed up, but not anymore. My local garage reckon its belt and tensioner again but I am not convinced. Having read through a lot of threads and FAQs (especially the ones from littledaz), it looks like a number of people have fixed their noise problem by replacing the alternator pulley. But...that seems to be on TDIs where the pulley is meant to freewheel in one direction and not the other. So, does the pulley issue also affect petrol cars and if so can the pulley be tested and replaced the same way as on the diesels?

My turn for this problem came along last week, and I ended up spending about four hours on removal, cleaning and regreasing etc. About half the time was spent freeing up one of the spindles which was seized absolutely solid. Apart from that it was relatively straightforward job! What it made it a lot easier was having first seen the instructions, gotchas and photos about this issue from other forum members, so a big thank you to everyone who has posted about this, it was a huge help.

Squealing now gone - it wasn't the alternator after all but the drive belt tensioner. So now I'm hearing only the right noises once again. The gear selector lock issue hasn't happened again, but I will have a look at that switch anyway. Thanks all.

Here's a weird one, which I am hoping is not a warning of something major, but if anyone has seen this before I'd appreciate some info. I was passenger in my Galaxy today (2.3 petrol auto, 2002), my wife was driving (no that's not the problem!) After about 20 mins the gear selector lever lock warning came on as we were driving along. According to the manual that should only be displayed when the car is stationary and in Park. We parked up, using Drive and Reverse and the light stayed on all the time. After restarting and another short journey the light went off as normal and stayed off. I will take the car out for a drive tomorrow and see if it happens again - I'm hoping it won't! Anyone seen that before? Also...I'm pretty sure the alternator needs to be replaced because it is making a horrible squealing noise almost all the time. Any advise on the pros and cons of fitting a recon unit rather than shelling out for a new one? Thanks...

Thanks leeroy123 Any idea how easy/difficult it is to reach to heater matrix? I know on some cars it's necessary to remove most of the dash to do it. Also, if there is a 'front' matrix, does that mean there is more than one?

Update...my local mechanic has replaced a cracked 'water housing', which is located near the gearbox apparently. I think it has reduced the coolant loss a bit, but not by much. Not sure if I am making a false connection here, but I have noticed the interior mists up very easily, especially quite soon after the car is parked. The carpets are not wet anywhere, but I am wondering if a heater matrix might be leaking. Would that put a lot of moisture into the interior as well as losing coolant?

Thanks for all the replies everyone, much appreciated. I'll get out there with a torch and see what I can find.

This is my first post on the forum, so hello to everyone. I have a 2002 Galaxy 2.3 Zetec with 100k miles on the clock. I have owned it for about two months. It drives really well and there's no sign of any problems anywhere, but for one big but. The coolant expansion tank seems to be loosing half its contents about every 500 miles, which clearly is worrying. I had a Zafira a few years ago which did exactly the same thing about six months before the head gasket went. So..any suggestions please as to whether this is likely to be the same issue and if there's any tests a garage can do to establish what's going on. Thanks Tim