andrewjameshoward2

I've just diagnosed and replaced a faulty Relay 30 as a result of an incredibly helpful suggestion on another thread - thought I'd post any useful detail here. I have a year 2000 2.3 Ghia Galaxy Mark II. The fascia looks a bit different from the photos here, but the instructions here were sufficiently close to what was needed to help me get to Relay 30. I had 2 problems (i) intermittently the engine would lose power at speed - felt as if it was missing or something like that. Just now and then. (ii) intermittently, the car wouldn't start. Turned over fine but didn't seem to fire. Or if it was firing, there was nothing to burn. Give it 10 minutes and it would start without a problem. I took out relay 30 and opened it up. Sure enough there was a dry joint. I got a replacement off fleabay (I tried soldering but it wouldn't stick - maybe I needed different flux. It's such a pain getting the thing out that I didn't want a bodged repair that might soon fail again). Strangely they seem to be cheaper under the VAG number. See details elsewhere on this thread. The only point I'd add to help others is the following. I've seen this described as a "power relay". It's quite confusing that in the failure condition (and I've tried this with the relay completely removed to confirm), the engine turns over - there is no obvious shortage of electrical power. Why does the little red light flash on the door? Who knows. My best guess was that the fuel pump needs this relay. As the guy who started the thread said - this site is the b*ll*x!

I am so much obliged. I had a dry joint in Relay 30. I will put a more detailed comment on the relay 30 thread.

I read about relay 30. The thread I read says that with an R30 fault, the engine won't even turn over. When I have the "won't start" problem, the engine still turns over fine. Does this mean it's not R30 after all?

The photo is slightly misleading. The cable wrapping is loose and not caught up with the gasket. I've cleaned the oil off and will see if the leak comes back. In itself, it doesn't seem much to worry about. I am interested in the comment about oil leaking internally onto the coil packs. I have an intermittent fault at the moment whereby (a) there can be temporary loss of power at speed (b) sometimes the car won't start, as if I have flooded it, when I'm pretty sure I haven't © once the engine cut out all together on the motorway. After 10 minutes I was able to start it again without any problem. I wondered about some electrical fault, but it turns over fine enough even if it won't start. So then I thought, maybe fuel is intermittently stopped from getting through. My best guess so far was that the engine management system was getting a dodgy message from somewhere, with a sticking brake pedal switch being my current suspect. Is there any chance an oil leak onto the coil packs might be causing it instead?

Oh, it's the valve cover not the cylinder head? So gasket replacement is a cheap and easy job not the £2k people tell me a head gasket costs? Much obliged for your input.

Sorry, I just realised I'd posted in the Mk III section instead of Mk II. I've re-posted there. If I could work out how to delete this one I would! Happy if a moderator does it for me.

This looks a tiny oil leak. I'm not using a lot of oil as far as I can see. The car is a well-maintained, owned from new petrol 2.3 Galaxy with about 60,000 miles on the clock. I am attempting to attach 3 photos, at different magnifications. There is a dark stain on the curved join in the centre of the photographs where it looks like something has been seeping out. I am practically-minded but a novice when it comes to car engines. I would have guessed that this join is at the cylinder head. But I'd expect that to be flat not curved. So what is it?

This looks a tiny oil leak. I'm not using a lot of oil as far as I can see. The car is a well-maintained, owned from new petrol 2.3 Galaxy with about 60,000 miles on the clock. I am attempting to attach 3 photos, at different magnifications. There is a dark stain on the curved join in the centre of the photographs where it looks like something has been seeping out. I am practically-minded but a novice when it comes to car engines. I would have guessed that this join is at the cylinder head. But I'd expect that to be flat not curved. So what is it?

I took it out and had a look. 2 vertical metal channels (stays I called them) hold the weight and are bolted to the inner door skin. Running in each channel is a big plastic clip - 2 clips with rubber inserts grasp the bottom of the glass. There are 3 cables. When the motor operates, one is wound of a spool, a 2nd is wound on. So the motor is either pulling the window down, cable to the bottom of 1 clip, or pulling it up, cable to the top of the other clip. The third cable joins the 2 clips - unpulled bottom to unpulled top. So there is a complete "circle" of cabling, wound either one way or the other depending on the direction of the motor - window up or down. Contrary to the TIS, on my 2.3 Ghia, the whole mechanism can be removed without taking out the window. I then found that the frontmost plastic clip had skipped out of the channel, one lug in one lug out. In that position it was probably fouling something - hence the intermittent fault - loosen everything up and it found a way to unfoul, screw it all back together and it fouled again. Plastic clip was quite loose (worn?) and also had a little crack. So whilst I might have been OK just to put it back in the channel, I have instead bought an ebay kit (about £15 for one which claimed to be a decent one) and replaced the one clip. All back together now and working, we shall see how long this lasts! The spool has grooves for the 2 cables and holds in fact several turns of cable. I expect the grooves could get damaged or the 2 cables on it interfere - not what happened with mine but what the op above was getting at.

Fair enough, mine's a Mk II. Though I thought the electric windows were the same as on the MK III. The kits I thought were for snapped and tangled cables. Whatever is wrong with mine seems to be correctable rather than a permanent fault with a cable. I do not understand what you mean by "the spool has overrun" and the "thread within is threaded". If we are coming to the conclusion that there is nothing to adjust and the only cure is replacement of parts, in an ideal world, since I have no garage or covered parking, I would buy the replacements before stripping the thing down and having a close look. There seem to be 3 kinds of item on ebay; (i) a £10ish kit which is mainly cables, but includes some clips and a white plastic spool (ii) a £20ish kit which includes a big chunky piece of black plastic which surrounds the white plastic spool and (iii) a £40ish replacement regulator which includes the stays and all parts but the motor. Is it possible to predict which I need to buy?

Ford Galaxy c. 2000. Had it from new. The electric front passenger window does not work. It is not the wiring to the door (I can here a little click from inside the door when the switch is actuated). If I take off the door card, remove the gooey edged piece of foam rubber beneath that, remove the 5 torque screws which hold the window stays in place, lever out the 2 metal lugs which fix the position of the stays relative to the door so everything is then a bit loose, then operate the switch, the window works fine. If I put it back together, it still works fine. If I leave it for a couple of days, the problem recurs. Not intermittently, but permanently, until i go through the whole procedure again. It is as if something is under tension which prevents the motor from operating. Release the tension and it works again. But then the tension is re-created. It is difficult to see (a) how the mechanism works, (b) whether there is any means of adjustment, or even © how to remove the motor/motor assembly, as it is all sandwiched between the metal door panels and difficult to see except through one of the apertures in the inside panel. There is presumably some mechanism in the motor which stops it running when the window is fully open or fully closed and I am guessing that this may be causing the problem. Anyone got any insights?