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Tyres when manufactured are not of a perfectly uniform weight around their diameter (hence the need for balancing), nor for that matter are they perfectly round(radial runout). They are usually marked with red or yellow dots to highlight specific points in the tyre. A red dot (when applied) typically denotes the high point in the tyres circumference. If the rim has a marking showing that it has a low spot (rims are often not round either!) then the red dot should line up with the rim marking. The radial runout of a tyre howver is so minute that it will probably not be noticed, were talking microscopic measurements here. The yellow dot ussually denotes the lightest point around the tyre and this should be lined up with the valve as this is typically the area where the rim is heaviest once the valve is fitted and the tyre should therefore need the least amount of balancing. If the tyre has both markings, the red dot should be fitted to the low spot in a rim if applicable and the yellow dot ignored. If no low point is marked in the rim then the tyre would be mounted according to the yellow dot. I believe that some manufacturers use different coloured dots just to add more confusion to the mix! Many tyres can be fitted in any position on the vehicle and run of the mill tyres tend to be of this style, they are a general purpose "compromise" tyre giving a balance of performance characteristics, wet/dry performance, handling, wear etc. There are however several other types of tyre that offer improved performance in various different areas. Are your tyres asymetrical? Look at the tread patern, if it is not symetrical accross the tyres width then the tyre should be marked with "Inner" or "outer" to ensure the tyres are fitted the right way round. they can be fitted in any position on the vehicle so lang as the "inner and outer" markings are adhered to. A directional tyre on the other hand must be fitted in the direction of travel in this case the tyre will be marked with the direction of travel, typically with an arrow and the word "rotation". These tyres once fitted to a wheel can only be mounted on one side of the vehicle. Tyres can also be asymetrical and directional in which case the tyre will be marked with the direction of travel AND "inside or outside". Such tyres must be fitted the right way round and in the correct direction of travel. These tyres are typically top end or high performance tyres.

It should be a Ca battery if the manufacture date (not the registration date) is after 09-99 (build code XT) The following document gives what information I could find without TIS Noteworthy is the fact that it is dangerous to have a battery that is not clamped in, and a definite MOT fail! TSB..txt

Now thats a reply!

And remember NEVER EVER be tempted to use any form of gasket sealant anywhere inline (exhaust side) between the head and turbo. Residue can break away and destroy a turbo, always use new gaskets!

When i was in the trade I used SCM Turbomotive. Cant fault their service and have never had a problem with the turbo's either. SCM OOP's Just noticed they are trade only!

I ended up cutting off one of the nuts on my struts with a dremmel, but having already been at it with a chisel I'd nackered the threads already. The usual problem is that on a siezed strut top nut, you end up rounding off the 7mm in-hex (allen type) head on the strut.

Probably slightly optimistic with the town driving, low to mid 20's with mine but admittedly im no slouch. I think mine is in the (very) low 30's on a run, but ive not really worked it out that accurately. Are you certain you need to change your strut top mounts? They do look like they will have a lot of play (up and down) when the car is parked, I changed mine rather unnecessarily last year and I can tell you its a pig of a job getting the top nuts off. If you are certain they need to be changed, start soaking them with WD40 well in advance. The galaxy and its variants are very prone to wearing out the drop links, do a search on the forum and you will see what i mean, the symptoms are a knocking from the front, and possibly a creaking if they have been replaced with cheapo ebay replacements!

No. it was your second post. In your first post you simply gave the misleading statement that "The Auto are much better than the manuals in all other aspects". A point that i have tried to redress. But the overidding fact and indeed the main reason that autos are not "much better" than manuals on the galaxy and its variants is the reliability issue. Look on this forum and on the internet in general and you will see the mount of horror stories where people have had to pay

Are you turning this into another petrol vs diesel argument? Auto's tend to be driven more sedately? That is surely your assumption rather than an argument based on fact, why else would you get an auto Porshe? For it to be driven sedately? I doubt it. The facts are, in the large part Auto's cost more to run. You shouldn't try and bring driving styles into the equation because for the sake of a controlled comparison you must look at the same driver in both vehicles, or do you want to compare a 17 year old boy racer in a manual against an old age flat capper in an auto? Teeny bit of mpg? Readily available information puts this difference at upto 7mpg (15.91%) But your about to say thats wrong aren't you? 1.9 TDi Ghia (110ps) 5d (7 Seat) 43 mpg 176 g/km 1.9 TDi Ghia (110ps) 5d Auto (7 Seat) 36 mpg 211 g/km At todays fuel prices thats hardly teeny is it? Then theres the ecological aspect of the increased CO2 emmisions Also noteworthy is the fact that the manual and auto derivatives have vastly differing acceleration times, the manual is over 2 seconds quicker 0-60 than the equivalent auto, try telling anyone that drives alot on A or B roads that quicker accelaration during overtaking isn't important. 1.9 TDi Ghia (110ps) 5d (7 Seat) 13.7 s 107 mph 1.9 TDi Ghia (110ps) 5d Auto (7 Seat) 15.9 s 105 mph So lets review this, The auto galaxy costs significantly more to buy new. The auto galaxy is much less reliable than the equivalent manual variant. The automatic galaxy transmission cost significantly more to repair the equivalent manual variant. The automatic galaxy is slower to accelerate than the equivalent manual (in some models much slower) The auto galaxy costs more to run than the equivalent manual variant. The auto galaxy has higher CO2 emissions than the equivalent manual variant equalling more ecological damage. Oh and I forgot, have you ever tried to bump start an auto?? Hmm, I would say that the above detracts somewhat from you suggestion that the auto is "much better" than the manual. In fact i would say the complete opposite is true!

"The only benefit the manual has over the Auto is reliability which with the age of the vehicle would not really be an issue" Just wondering why reliability is not an issue just because one vehicle is older than another? Surely reliability is important regardless of vehicle age. And also "The Auto are much better than the manuals in all other aspects" How do you come to that conclusion? Apart from the horrendous reliability of the auto boxes (do a search on the forum if you want evidence of this-also have a look at the amount of Gal's with faulty auto boxes on ebay) there is the issue of economy which is typically worse across the range for auto's, and CO2 emmisions which are higher on the auto's (figures backed up by the parkers website) .Then there is the fact that in a manual you have precise control of the gearing at all times unlike the auto which gives you the gear the ECU thinks you should have. So ive got to disagree with you- The manual is better than the auto in all respects.

Most modern cars do not have traditional "bumpers". What you can see on the outside tends to be no more than a plastic skin, the real bumper is a metal panel underneath that is designed to absorb some of the impact of a collision by deforming. After the "bumper" has taken the impact, the crumple zones take over and dissipate the force of impact by deforming, thereby protecting the passenger compartment. It is unlikely that your car has suffered any damage with sutch a minor shunt, but it is important with newer vehicles to get the car checked out by a competent person. You should always exchange insurance details and contact your insurance to let them know of the incident so that you can get it checked out. Unfortunately it is no longer a case of getting out and looking for dings in your chrome bumper.

Possibly had an RS2000 or late scorpio head fitted. The I4 engine is only an 8 valve in standard guise. When the MK5 escort RS2000 was launched they fitted it with the I4 engine but with a modified 16v head. This engine was also used in the last of the scorpios. The RS was roughly 150bhp

Surely now that you have seperated the Mk3 from 1 & 2, you now have to move the Customising your car, caravan and touring & dealer service and reliability sections to the "general Area" or are these areas specific to the earlier models but not the Mk3? After all they are listed in the Mk1&2 specific area.

I personally think its unnecessary. By seperating the classes of vehicle you are lessening the chances of people with common knowledge of all the variants seeing all the posts unless they specifically browse all the areas of the site. Less of a problem now, but as the MK3 becomes more prevalent then owners will tend to look in their "areas" of the site, or those that specifically interest them at the expense of others. A theoretical scenario could be- A Mk3 owner who has had earlier Galaxies sticking to the areas of the site that cover the MK3 only as those are the areas that interest him. and as a result misses the opportunity to answer the call for help from a Mk1/2 owner who has had a problem that the Mk3 owner has previously dealt with and would have been able to offer assistance with. IMO you are spreading the site out way too much.

Just like I told you in your last post!

(I deleted this post coz I realized i was talking sh1te!)

Ask the seller who the "main agents" are that are listed under service history. Should give you an indication of where its from. BTW the interior is awful.

I personally use avast by alwil software. Again its a free one and I have had no issues with it whatsoever.

Ive just fitted a OSR door to my MK1,

These are the ones I bought, had to change them after 3 months because i couldn't stand the creaking noise from them. Theres another thread on here somewhere dedicated to these links AVOID!

Are they doing the job twice? The 2.0 Petrol (as per your older posts) is an 8 valve. At around

I work in a factory which employs around 900 highly skilled and dedicated, well paid employees. several years ago the company started outsourcing the more menial tasks to agency workers. For various reasons this outsourcing was accepted by the unions and the workforce. but very recently this policy has brought us to the verge of strike action as our employer attempts to outsource more and more positions within the factory. the jobs now under threat are not just the menial less skilled jobs but those of our highly trained and experienced workforce. But this is not the reason for my post, up until 2 years ago the agency workers were almost all (if not totally) british nationals. today there are only a handful of british nationals left. The rest are a mix of european nationalities, mostly polish. so what has happened to the 100 or so british workers they have replaced? in our area there has been an increase in minimum wage jobs. It is an area of traditionally low unemployment and as a result employers have paid premium wages for staff (especially in manufacturing). Now with the influx of cheap foriegn labour the need to pay decent wages is gone. Agency staff are replacing traditional employees in all the local factories, and the migrant workers are flocking to the area to take up these positions. locals are struggling to find work as a result. Local authority housing has recently been handed over to private housing associations who are filling empty properties with the migrant workforce, and private landlords are increasing their portfolios to cash in on this "boom" As a result house prices are up resulting in people being unable to get on the property ladder. Forcing them to rent and in turn fueling the buy to let market. I see a vicious circle appearing here. Vote Labour? Not on your life mate. But not voting biscuit? You should, even if just to get a message across that the british people have had enough of subsidising europes weak links. There are alternatives to mainstream parties that may not offer a viable alternative to the current government, but a vote for them can be seen as a protest against our current regime. Apathy will change nothing. A missed vote counts for nothing but a vote in the right place will lessen the hold of our unelected leader and his party of self serving "europeanists" Quote- "I cant be blamed for helping the get the incompetant pillocks into No10" Unfortunately the exact opposite is true!

You will find that VAG-COM wont work on a mondeo (after all its a real ford!). BTW the last post on this thread (before yours) was over a year ago.

That sounds rather dodgy!

As far as your heated rear screen goes, I had a similar problem a few years ago on an XR3i but I lost radio signal too as the element is also the aerial. The solution was some "silver loaded" epoxy resin which IIRC came from RS Components. Basically it is an electrically conductive epoxy glue. Similar product, click me!!