FamilyWagon

I spoke to a petrolhead friend of mine about the lacquer peeling off my alloys and he suggested the following: Removing the wheel(s) Carefully painting Nitro Mors over the wheel Remove the paint/lacquer with wire wool Rinse, clean & dry thoroughly Respray with bright silver paint Reapply lacquer Has anyone done this or something similar? Just to clarify, the wheels have not been damaged by kerbing etc it is just the rubbish lacquer bubbling off. Cheers,

Well I have had one lot of mobile paint repairs...or whatever they are called...to have a look and he said that I would be better off taking it to a body shop...personally I can't see how some African Swamp Mud Face Mask and some Peppermint Foot Lotion is going to help...but thats what he suggested :lol: He said that the entire bonnet would need spraying for a good finish and that it would be better/cost effective to get the door done at the same time. So unless anyone has any other suggestions, I guess I am going to have to sell one of my kidneys...I was saving that for my daughters Uni fund too :rolleyes: I just cant figure out what would posses someone to key a car, but if I get my hands on who ever did it...they are going to need a surgeon to retrieve their keys!!!

Yes the scratches are reasonably deep and the paint colour is Machine Silver Metalic

Some little ***** decided to key the bonnet and driver side rear passenger door on my usualy shiny Gal. Does anyone know of any mobile body work repair companies that are any good and preferably those that cover South Wales. Or any advice on what to ask them, what is involved and how much I should expect to be quoted would be appreciated. Cheers in advance.

Tyre Update! I just checked the tyre pressures as I was feeling a little wobble and the steering felt heavier...both fronts were at 26 psi :16: - now 41 psi as per inside filler cap for 215 55 R16's. I will always check that in future after having new tyres fitted. ;)

My decision to try the Fullrun's was not solely made on the basis of cost, even though my local Rapid Fit wanted to charge me

I have had to replace my worn out Dunlop SP-2020 E 's - 215 55 R16 which had only done 10000 miles and I have been driving carefully. The tyre fitters were going to put 2 Fullrun's on that I had asked for after reading the other tyre posts on here but 1 would not balance properly and he did not have anymore so he swapped them for the more expensive (he told me!) Wanli S-1099 Extra Load. I have only done about 10 miles on the new rubber but they do appear to be quieter than the Dunlops. Does anyone have any experience of the Wanli S-1099 XL tyres? Have I been ripped off? -

Cheers :blink:

I have searched the forum until my fingers bled for the bulb type of the sidelights for my mk2 Gal but to no avail. I have found plenty of very useful information on how to change the bulbs but not on the bulb types. I think my wife must have put the owners manual "on the side" never to be seen by man again. I think it would be a good idea to have a list of bulbs ordered by Gal/Sharan/Alhambra (if different) mk1/2/3 as I am sure I am not the only one missing the owners manual. Thanks.

1. John 2. Swansea, South Wales. 3. 2003 (53) Galaxy 2.3 DOHC Ghia. 4. Since Dec 2005. 5. Yes - but would go for a TDI next time. 6. Me about

O G thanks mumof4 :19:

Thanks for your replies. If I take the Gal to the main dealer and tell them the symptoms, would they have the ability to conduct an accurate performance test, maybe on a dynamo or something like that as opposed to just getting one of the mechanics to take it out for a burn? - which they did when it went in last time. The thing is, I know how the Gal drove before they changed things and it is definitely different now - the change is very slight but it has changed all the same. All they will want to do is see if there are any error codes and if not then they will tell me that all is fine - but it is not. Thanks for all your help.

Hi all, After my recent spate of dealer intervention - they changed the main power boot relay due to intermittant failure and they reset the ECU, I seem to struggle a little to get past 70mph in 5th gear. Where as the Galaxy would easily cruise up to and beyond 70, I seem to have to make the engine take me to this speed and the accelerator is almost planted to the floor. The only other thing I have noticed is that the engine seems to be a little...well how can I say... lumpy...not as smooth as it was before all this happened in all gears. Please could someone tell me the most likely culpret so I can go to the dealer with a list of things to check as the car is still under warranty. I was thinking maybe the MAF is on it's way out, but don't these normally go on the TDI's? Or is this fault also common on the petrol engines? If it is the MAF does it log a fault code? If it is not the MAF does the Gal need new air filter, plugs and leads? Many thanks,

Thanks for the reply dave_m. Please correct me if I am wrong but I thought that the VAG-COM would not fully communicate with a Ford Galaxy but would with a VW Sharan. As I have a Galaxy, I want to ensure that it will work before I spend. Many thanks,

I would like the ability to check for error codes on my 2003 Galaxy 2.3 16v DOHC Ghia. What equipment do I need? Where can I get it from? How much does it cost? Many thanks.

Does anyone know if you can buy a replacement blind spot mirror glass for a Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra for the driver side? I have looked in Halfrauds but non listed and I do not want one of those stick on dooberries. Also, can you get a passenger side mirror glass where the bottom portion of the glass looks down to the road/kerb like they have on trucks etc? My brother has this on his Mitsubushi Shogun Sport and it is very handy when reverse parking, stops you scuffing the alloys. I know you can tilt down the electric wing mirrors but it takes too long when you are trying to park and there is a que of traffic building up behing you.

I have a 2003 2.3 16v (DOHC) Galaxy Ghia. I know that when the wipers are on intermittent and you come to a stop, the intermitency drops down a level to give a longer pause between the cycles of wipe and pause. I noticed today that during very heavy rain, with the wipers set at stage 1 constant (normal constant speed - not flat out) I came to a stop at some traffic lights and the wipers decided to drop down to intermittent. Is this normal as I thought this only happened when the wipers were on intermittent to begin with? Cheers.

All the service manager would say is that they were advised by Ford Technical Support to change the main power boot relay. He did not identify the relay at fault by any number or code (relay 27/30 or K108) but he did say that it was part of the ignition circuit and that he was aware of instances on TDI engined Galaxy's where this relay had failed and that he was unaware of this failure in the petrol engined Galaxy's. I had mentioned this common fault when the Galaxy first went in to be looked at, which he instantly dismissed. I think I will give them the link to this forum for future reference ;) Maybe someone with TIS could find the relay in question and post more details about it.

:huh: RESULT!!! :D I am well chuffed, the local fraud dealer have fixed it...as far as I know. This is what the service manager told me. 1. They connected to the ECU and discovered a "U" code (whatever that means as he did not explain). 2. They then phoned Ford Technical Support with the U code, who suggested that it was a communication problem between the ECU and the main power boot relay. 3. Ford Tech Support recommended changing the faulty relay which they have done. And so far so good. I dont know if this relay is covered in the handbook but it is worth having a look if you experience similar problems as described in my previous posts. On the mkII Galaxy 2.3 DOHC Ghia the relay (amongst others) can be found behind the main fuse panel, bottom right of the steering column. You need to remove the fuse panel to gain access. According to a reply to one of my previous posts, if you find you have a stuck relay, drop it 12" on to a hard surface to un-stick it. This might not be good for the relay but it is worth a shot if it means the difference between you getting home or having to call out the RAC etc. Thank you to all who have replied to my posts.

I cannot find any common conditions that trigger this fault. The first time it happened is was a nice sunny day with the climate control on and the sat nav plugged in the front cigar lighter and the cruise control set at 70 and in 5th gear. Yesterday I had the headlights on, climate control, sat nav, windscreen wipers and rear screen/mirror heater on doing about 70 - 75 in 5th gear. The fault has also occurred whilst doing 30 mph in 3rd gear.

Thanks for your reply. When the engine cuts out, the rev counter shows 0 revs and the Engine warning light comes on (yellow engine light) When I put the gear into neutral, the rev counter shows 1000 RPM (or there abouts) idle speed and the Engine warning light goes off. As far a I know the starter does not initialise the re-ignition of the engine....it just starts again. Maybe the car needs a priest not a mechanic...well a grumpy bloke with a laptop!!! I do not bump start it as all I do is put the gear in to neutral, while putting on the hazard warning lights and trying to get around the truck I was overtaking in the rain and get on to the hard shoulder.

As per my previous post Click Here! the engine is cutting out again. The Ford dealer had updated the ECU which has improved the mpg but the fault still remains. The only difference now is that when the engine cuts out, if I put the gear in to neutral while the Galaxy is still moving, the engine fires back up again all on it's own. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is please??? The car is booked in for Thursday but the Ford dealer don't know what the problem is and don't seem to know what else to do if the ECU does not provide them with a fault code...which it wont as it is an intermittent fault. In my mind this fault is very dangerous as it has mainly happened (happened once at about 30 mph in 3rd) whilst on the motorway and I have my 18 month daughters safety to consider. The Ford dealer have been very obstructive and rude on the phone, any advice on how to handle them would also be appreciated as I dont want to blow my head gasket until they have found and fixed the problem.

Anyone know how to check the earth connections and where the earth connections are on a 2003 2.3 DOHC 16v Ghia? I'm desperate to find and correct this fault. Thanks.

The dealer has reset the ECU in an attempt to solve the problem. The evening before the dealer looked at the car, and before the dealer told me about starting the engine could clear the fault code - the nice bloke from the tow truck that brought me, the other half and my not very amused 18 month daughter (she screamed a bit) the 220 miles back home, dropped the car off the truck and then looked at the car and did start the engine and therefore could have inadvertently cleared the code. The dealer did tell me that they would push the car in to the service bay to preserve any fault codes that might have been logged and this is what they did as far as I know. In a reply to my original post a faulty earth connection was mentioned. Does anyone know how I can check this please? Thanks for all your replies and suggestions.

My local Ford dealer informed me that by inserting the key and attempting to start a 2003 Galaxy 2.3 16v DOHC Ghia (26k miles) with a problem as mentioned in my previous post Here!!! will clear the fault code and they won't be able to find anything wrong. Is this true or are they just fobbing me off until my warranty expires? Thanks.