sparky Paul

That's a shame, but I can understand where you are coming from. At the end of the day, it is a 13 year old car, so things are going to start failing... Not sure of the miles on yours, but 70-80,000 miles and you are running into dangerous territory with the auto boxes - they are definitely a weak link on the Galaxy.

First of all, check that the brake lights work. I know this sounds a bit odd, but the gearbox uses the brake light switch signal and this can cause some weird issues. Once you have proved everything there is working, you could be looking at a problem with the gearbox itself. The VCDS fault could possibly be as a result of the symptoms. Losing reverse is a common failure with these Jatco boxes, and the most prevalent cause is a cracked reverse clutch piston. If that is the problem, the only good news is that replacement does not require complete dismantling of the gearbox, as far as I can work out. There are some on Rover forums that have repaired this fault on the Jatco gearbox in the Rover 75 while the gearbox is still in the car, but I suspect the gearbox may have to come out of the Galaxy to get the end cover off and gain access. I'm no expert on this, so there may be other options to explore, but the reverse piston seems to be the weakness.

Any symptoms similar to heater plug failure, i.e unburnt diesel from the exhaust when starting? Leaky injector/s can give similar symptoms.

Good news. As chromedome says, the loom wiring and connectors on these is a weakness - similar issues have cropped up several times before. As you have found, these faults can also result in a great deal of head scratching.

First thing of course, check all the fuses to make sure the gearbox ECU is getting power. If vagcom cannot communicate with it, then the likelihood is that it is either not powered up for some external reason, or the ECU is not well. Hopefully, someone else will be along soon who know something about the wiring loom problems - IIRC the problems occur around the gearbox multiconnector.

I doubt you will get a response from the op, he hasn't been active on here for over 18 months. What problem do you have, something similar?

Welcome to the forum, by the way B)

There's a handy FAQ post pinned at the top of this section, the answers to many of life's Galaxy-related problems are to be found in there... You'll need this bit... http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php?showtopic=1485;) Hope it helps!

As above, on 2.3 petrol you will see fast flashing of the door led, engine spins but doesn't make any attempt to fire.

The failure to start could be relay 30, as above. This tends to give complete ignition failure, either permanent, temporary or momentary. If the power loss is more like a misfire, most common problem is plugs - these must be changed every 40,000 miles, they are pretty much shot by then and can give ignition problems before that. If the plugs are okay, check coil/s and then HT leads.

The wiring is also poor quality and the sheathing goes brittle, VWs of the same sort of age seem to be similarly afflicted.

Definitely not head gasket, that's much lower down - below the exhaust manifold, which is the lump hanging out of the front of the engine with the heat shield over it. The 2.3 is a great engine, bomb proof if serviced properly.

I wouldn't worry too much about that, it doesn't look wet - it might even be a bit of oil tracking around the gasket from spills at the oil filler end, finding the lowest point. I would clean it off first, see if anything develops. The dangly bit looks like a bit of cable binding trapped under the valve cover, I reckon the valve cover gasket itself is rubber. If you did want to replace the gasket, it isn't a hard job. It comes in two pieces, one to go around the circumference of the cover, and another piece with 4 holes in for the spark plug holes.

Yes, the Ford engines have chain driven cams. Mines done 140,000-plus and still sounds sweet. The rust will always be a problem, unless you find one that has been looked after meticulously... but it is fixable. I had to fend it off this year, around the front body outriggers and a few bits on the bodyshell - front wing bottoms and a few bits around the tailgate, it looks great now. The problem with the coating on the Galaxy is that once the wet gets in, it remains trapped and rots away merrily. At the first sign of any lifting of the underbody coating, the best thing to do is scrape it off and blast it with body Schutz.

I would think the most reliable mk.2 combination is always going to be the 2.3 petrol with the 5 speed VTX75 gearbox - both are pretty bomb proof. Autos are a disaster waiting to happen, and all of the manual VW-engined mk.2s are fitted with the 6-speed VW box, which can give problems. Not bad, but not as reliable as the Ford box. On the other hand... you could repair quite a few gearboxes with the fuel costs saved driving a diesel.

As BrianH says above, take the disk off, you should get that out with mole grips or small stillsons/footprints etc.. Once the bolt head is snapped off, the tension is off the bolt threads and it should come out after a good soak.

Not sure what it's like to get the heater out of a mk.2, but it could be a major op. Mine squeaks on lower speeds, but it's done it for years and I can't bring myself to attempt to get to it. Too many other problems to worry about... Might sound a daft question, but is the fuse fitted of the correct rating? I think it should be a 30A, if I remember correctly? If the fuse is correct, my guess would be a faulty or stiff blower motor.

Usual resistor pack failure symptom is no fan on 1/2/3 settings or any combination, 4 usually works okay as it bypasses the resistors. If the fuse blows on speed 4, I would check that the fan turns freely and is not seizing, and that there are no blockages. Do you get good air flow on 4 before the fuse goes pop? Does engaging recirculate make any difference?

Mine's been missing the spring for several years now without any problems. The spring tensions the front cable so that you don't notice the slack on the handle before it pulls on the calipers, and so that the equaliser doesn't hang down. My handbrake lever feels a bit loose right at the bottom.

It doesn't. :(

Just to add, if it's not obvious - if you do go down the stickyboot route, put the boot on the shaft before disturbing the old split boot, and well away from it. Once you have it successfully glued together, then cut the old boot off, clean the joint, re-grease and slide the new boot up the shaft.

I've never fitted one myself, but I have watched folk performing with stickyboots before. They do work, but you have to be meticulously careful not to get any grease onto the glueing surface, or you've had it. As above, it might be a bodge to get you away at MOT time, but I'm not sure if it's easier to take the shaft off, split it and put a standard boot on.

The heater is there to bring the sensor up to working temperature quickly on cold starts. The sensor may otherwise function correctly, but any fault detected may cause the ECU to revert to a failsafe running mode which ignores the sensor and runs the engine on a lean mix, to avoid damaging the cat. The lean mix is usually obvious on the emissions test, with a high lambda reading at idle, and will have an effect on fuel economy. The other alternative is that the ECU continues to run happily on the information from the sensor, and the false readings on cold starts may cause damage to the cat. To be honest, I would take any emissions fault seriously as a type approved cat on later cars can be expensive to replace.

Steering rack gaiter pretty straightforward. Remove track rod end, taking care to leave adjustment lock nut in place as a marker, replace gaiter and replace TRE. Headlamp aim is a mystery to me too, my man often tweaks them at MOT time, no charge. Sometimes get maladjusted up when left wound down on the electric adjust. Only the one fog lamp. Don't know what the MOT tester was thinking of there, requirement is only for one.

BTW You shouldn't need to disconnect the battery, so long as you don't do anything stupid.