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I just got quotes for the multipla through a price comparison site, cheapest was

It was me who used a dremmel, closely followed by a hammer and chisel! My threads were completely shot, so even if I hadn't clobbered the threads with the hammer I would of replaced the shocks regardless. IIRC the galaxy does not need compressors to remove the strut but does need them to replace the shock (ie remove the spring from the shock). Ive done so many struts/spings/shockers in the last couple of years I really can't remember the full "deconstruction procedure" with the Galaxy!

Ok Mike, keep it going and a thread soon turns into an argument, adding comments such as WTF just lower the tone of respectable forums and detract from the validity of any persons posts. You posted "If you try starting your car , don't drive it just turn the wheel, if it creaks" and afterwards I posted "Mine would creak stationary, moving, engine running, engine off" so that you don't convince somebody to follow a particular route if more than one fault could give the same syptoms. I also stated that I wasn't saying that your diagnosis was wrong nor did I say you were offering bad advice, but hey you chose to ignore that and carry on with an argument that really needn't be. Try reading both of our posts carefully without adjusting the context of mine. Now if you don't mind I won't post on this thread again, I am finding this rather tiresome.

If the head gasket is gone between the cylinder(s) and water jacket there will be no emulsification of oil but the water system will pressurise forcing water from the weakest point in the system. This is most often the expansion tank cap which has a pressure relief valve built in. Worst case senario a warped or cracked head, did it overheat when the pipe burst? You mention it slowing up and stopping which does sound rather serious, a simple loss of coolant should not do that until the car has overheated quite severely. A "sniff" test will either rule out or confirm the above, its a simple chemical test that can be done at a garage that will detect hydrocarbons in the coolant. In the meantime, with the engine COLD, try starting it with the expansion tank cap off and cover the opening with your hand to see if there is any pressure there, with the engine cold there should be nothing at all. Does the coolant smell of exhaust gases or petrol? If so this could prove quite costly. I hope you find its something less serious, please keep us posted ,the Mondeo section of the forum is a little underpopulated!

Mine would creak stationary, moving, engine running, engine off, and it was loud enough to be so damned annoying I simply couldn't put up with it. Have a search for previous posts on the matter there are a few here and elsewhere. Mike, im not trying to start an argument, but if you re-read your first post it says- "Seized bearing on the strut top mount, mine has been doing the same for over a year now, very very common" theres no -it could be or perhaps about it, im not saying it isn't but when we all give advice it must be balanced in such a way that we do not start someone down a long arduous (and quite costly) road without considering all other possibilities, thats why all I said was "not necessarily". It was advice (in my case bad advice!) like this that started me down the route of changing the top mounts to absolutely no avail! I also had to change the shocks due to corrosion on the upper threads, total cost about

Not necessarily! Drop links are a very common source of this sort of creaking, I had it twice. Before you go to the trouble of changing the top mounts you should have a look at the drop links. As they are only a 5 minute job to remove, whip them off and see if the creaking dissapears. Non OEM links are made to wildly varying standards, whilst most of the time they simply wear and start to knock, they also can loose their lubrication and start to creak loudly. Im my experience the ones off ebay are a waste of money. I bought a set off ebay (zeldautos IIRC) and they started to creak within a month. It took me ages to track down the noise as the links were the last thing I checked because they were new(I changed both top mounts AND shocks whilst trying to cure the creaking). The next set from a factors didnt last long either. Apparently the latest ones from Ford & VAG are much improved and whilst at least twice the price it can be worth the expense if you dont have to change them again.

Secondary air pump dead, common 2.0 emissions failure, do a forum search, quite a few have been here before.

Thanks everyone - I'm convinced. Found one on ebay for

Theres a very strong possibility that your head gasket is gone between the water jacket and cylinder, this would not result in emulsification of the engine oil or contamination of the coolant with oil. The cooling system over pressurises forcing coolant out of the "weakest link" which is usually the expansion tank cap which basically has an inbuilt over pressure relief valve to prevent damage to other components. What this will result in is hydrocarbons in the coolant, take it to a garage for a sniff test. This basically tests the coolant for presence of hydrocarbons by using a chemical that changes colour if hydrocarbons are present. Do it ASAP because you will wreck your engine if the head gasket is gone.

What about relay 30?

Many moons ago there was a member on here who fitted a scorpio engine, IIRC it sounded like a pig of a job as various mounting points were wrong. Use the search button, if it helps I think it was about 3 years ago. EDIT I got bored and searched for the thread myself, turns out my memory is a little patchy to say the least, it was the 2.0 engine the op was transplanting. Still, it is a good indicator on how different the same basic engine can be across different applications. CLICK ME

Cheers, however the problem was the ARB links (cheap nasty ebay ones) and I cured it nearly 3 years ago on a car that has long since left my possesion. :lol: Never mind, it wasnt you who breathed life into a long dead post!

His statement that "its a 50mph dual carriageway" Kind of blows any hope of being able to argue that he needed to speed to perform the manoeuver safely though! No need to speed if theres two lanes going in the same direction.

Nope, a mate of mine has just been done for 34 in a 30!