sparky Paul

Which engine? As a general stab in the dark, could be oil pump, oil pump drive, blocked oil strainer in sump, or kaput main bearings.

This one's a bit cheaper... http://www.ebay.co.u...9-/330753371108 or you could get one from GSF, who are very reputable... http://www.ebay.co.u...s-/280905235590

You need VAG-COM for the airbag/SRS system. One of the cheap cables from that well known auction site will do the trick, search for 'vag com usb' and you should find some shipped from the UK for around 7 quid.

I've been using fully synthetic oil in the Galaxy for many years. It does on the whole have the best and most durable lubrication qualities, but there are issues to consider. Putting fully synthetic into an older and/or high mileage engine can free oilway deposits into the oil, clogging oil jets and contaminating bearing surfaces. This 'cleaning' of the engine also has the habit of starting minor oil leaks, and may induce oil usage. There should be no problem putting synthetic oil in any engine from new, or low mileage engines. I find that the oil filter is easy enough to access from above, a small belt strap wrench is all I use to free the filter. I've never jacked up to do the oil change either, using the method I described, the only tricky bit is reaching the back two undertray nuts. I also replace the sump plug seal every time... for what they cost, it's daft not to. Reusing the old seal just tempts people to over-tighten the sump plug.

Good luck with the search, dealers can be quite helpful if they think you are a prospective customer. :) You probably aready know this, but you can see the last 5 years mot passes/fails/advisories, mileages and place of mot here... http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp ...sometimes helps when piecing a cars history together. You can usually work out some of the jobs that have been carried out.

I'm amazed someone hasn't taken this by now, I just hope it goes to someone genuine.

AFAIK it's a low acid (non-acetic) silicone sealant, you should be able to get an equivalent from a good motor factor, e.g. Permatex Black.

£16 :) What a very generous gesture, I really hope someone gets some enjoyment out of your old car. B)

The 207s are 5W tail, the 380s are 21W/5W stop/tail.

I would agree with SB about using a decent aircon specialist, there's a good chance that any damaged pipes can be repaired or re-made. You are unlikely to find new replacement aircon pipes other than genuine Ford or VW parts, and there have been occasions when even the main dealer has had difficulty obtaining some of the obsolete pipes.

Possibly a get-out for not checking for missing egr valves or other missing or modified components? Under the new MOT rules this year, they have to check that none of the emissions related bits have not been removed, and that there have been no performance enhancing mods added.

100% agree with seatkid, too many of these places simply cannot balance wheels properly. It should be child's play with the equipment they have, I can't work out if they don't know what they're doing, or if they don't know how to recalibrate the machines. If balancing improved the situation significantly, then the wheels must have been out of balance before... and I would guess probably still out of balance.

Arrrr... they they always say that! ;)

Haynes also do a mk.I manual of course - no.3984. The one for the mk.II has only just come out.

By BSi unit, I assume you mean the Body Control Module. Problems with these are extremely rare, and faults are almost always due to the the wiring on the car. Replacing sections of loom for untested secondhand parts seems like a lot of work to me, with the risk of introducing further unrelated problems. If you can localise the faults, which are normally concentrated in a small number of areas on the Galaxy, the best fix is to splice in new flexible cables to replace the damaged parts, using solder joints and shrink sleeving, preferably the glue lined type. Also note that the loom and electrical systems were completely changed during the '98 model year, and the loom and modules fitted to '95-'98 vehicles are very different to '98-on models.

I agree, that's how I would interpret the schematic too.

The pinch bolt is reusable if it's in good condition, but both sides on mine were corroded, totally kaput. Lots of heat was needed to extract the bolts without them shearing.

The bearing and rubber are separate, but often come together as part of a kit. If you are changing the struts, you will also need a new driveshaft bolt and a pinch bolt for the hub. The driveshaft bolt is a single use stretch bolt, and the pinch bolt corrodes in the gap and are prone to shearing - so take care when removing.

At least you found something definitely wrong in the end, it sounds like you have it cracked. The chain certainly can slip on the crank sprocket, that's the main reason I was quizzing you about the position of No.1 TDC when aligning the marks - as. The best way for sure is to align the three sets of copper links on all three sprockets. As for the rough idle, I would eliminate the idle control valve first, it's a simple job to clean it and it's worth eliminating as a possible cause. They can go sticky when the car has been stood. I would guess that the lambda sensor is probably okay from the sensor output above, but the quickest way to tell for sure would be to get a emissions test. You don't usually see any fault codes unless the sensor heater is burnt off.

Don't normally read through diesel engine threads, but just read through this saga... trying to bump up the price after starting the job is bad enough, but the crushed sills is a real sickener, and from a main dealer too. Appalling! From your post above, I guess they are refusing to accept liability for the sill damage or aircon fault? Grrrr!

...says the chap with the sarcastic opener. :)

Dealer only part I'm afraid, IIRC they were about £4+VAT each when I bought a pair a few years ago. Ford part number is 7201835 - Front Strut top Cover. You can also buy the top nut separately, but the top covers I received had nuts affixed to them.

Most modern engines are designed to have the oil extracted by vacuum, so the lowest point is under the dipstick tube and very little is left in the sump. I just wish my pump would work with the 2.3 petrol, all the gubbins in the sump stops you getting the pipe to the bottom.

Those lambda figures do look a bit all over the place, but as I said earlier you can't tell if the sensor is kaput or if it's accurately reporting emissions problems stemming from other faults... an emission test may confirm. A fixed or slow output from the sensor is obviously a duff sensor, but anything else is a grey area. I've never had limp mode with a lambda fault, the engine defaults to a lean running mode but otherwise runs quite normally, although it would be down fractionally on power. You often don't realise there's a problem until the emission test for the MOT. Something else to consider after headgasket failure is a partially blocked cat, which would make the engine struggle to breathe at higher revs. Also, I reckon I mentioned this earlier, but are you sure there are no manifold leaks, inlet and exhaust? Removing the battery for a few minutes then reconnecting resets certain learnt parameters, but I don't think it would account for the sort of power loss you seem to be describing. In any case, I assume the battery would have been disconnected during the HG work.

Perhaps the 40 odd thread views may have been people looking for the same advice, or maybe had a passing interest in the subject, or maybe had nothing better to do. As a rule, most people who don't reply have no relevant advice to give. Personally, I never even saw the thread. I don't come here every day, I have other things to do, and only scan this section occasionally anyway. As for autos, I would say that a good guide as to the reliability of units is the availability of good secondhand units, and the prices which are driven by demand. All Galaxy auto gearboxes seem to be fairly scarce secondhand, and command good prices.