sparky Paul

Any nipping of the gasket is easiest to see around the bores, the used gasket should be a perfectly even thickness around each pot. The machine shop will have taken a small skim to resurface the head, and a further skim because this immediately shows up the presence of any warp. Personally, I would go with TIS procedure, but the difference won't be that significant - it's the 180

Also bear in mind that the central locking module on early cars is under the front passenger seat, and it prone to damage from any water ingress into the passenger footwell, such as from blocked sunroof drains, blocked scuttle drains, failed heater matrix, and of course the very common split rear wash/wipe pipe at the sill edge.

To be honest, I wouldn't think that the difference between tightening to 35 or 54Nm at stage two would make a vast amount of difference, it's the final angle tightening of the stretch bolts which pulls down the head. That said, unwinding the bolts after initial seating is a fairly common method with stretch head bolts. Did you find any failure points on the old gasket?

The early (pre-98) cars only have a single layer to the fuse/relay box, that's it in the pic you have posted above. However, there is an additional relay box stuffed up the side of the fusebox, and an additional auxiliary fusebox under the bonnet. The Haynes electrical drawings relate to the later (98-on) electrical system, so much of it will not tally with your car. From an original mk.I owner's manual, the fuses you may need to look at are... F14 - Reversing lights,automatic transmission, interior lights - 15A F16 - Digital clock, front interior light, instrument cluster - 3A F21 - Interior lights, front/rear, digital clock, vanity mirror lights, luggage compartment light, radio, instrument cluster - 10A F30 - Central locking - 10A F31 - Horn (anti-theft alarm system) - 10A F32 - Hazard flasher (anti-theft alarm system) - 10A These are all in the main fusebox. Can't see any mention of anthing sunroof related. However, as cyborg says, most electrical faults are in the doors and tailgate wiring where it passes through the flexible rubber gaiters, particularly when related to internal and external lighting, central locking, alarm, etc.. At the very least, check the driver's door and tailgate - I would be surprised if you don't find some damaged wires or insulation, or previous repairs which have failed again.

Mine were worn out well before they rotted, I replaced with Monroe at around 100K. They were still passing MOTs, but a bit of a twitchy moment during an evasive manoevre at speed convinced me to drop the shockers and check them - they were very uneven, with a slack spot in the centre. I hadn't really noticed that rear end becoming more lively over time, and the new shockers improved handing significantly, particularly in corners.

I agree 100% with Chris. It sounds like either damage to the surface of the head as suggested, or warped head. It's not easy to determine whether the head has warped without getting it on a surface plate, the smallest high spot in the wrong place will pinch the new head gasket and cause it to fail again. I would take the head off, and if there's no obvious damage to the surface, get a skim taken off it.

I don't think the joints are available separately, but other members have improvised repairs as above, or similar. It might be worth having a search of the site, and looking through the windscreen wiper repair bits in th FAQ section. As for mk I or II, yours is a pre-2000 mk I car, but the windscreen wiper assembly was changed in 1998 - so yours could be the early type with 4 mounting bolts, or the later type with 3.

Yes, so long as no air gets in, you can leave the abs modulator well alone. Work from shortest to longest pipe route, with ABS that's NSF - OSF - OSR - NSR.

Could be the relay 30 problem, there's a good entry in the FAQ section Relay 30 FAQ entry If the key no longer starts the car, you probably lost the PATS chip for the immobiliser when the key came apart. Try to remember where the key came apart, and look for the little black chip, see here. The remote locking is a different issue, and the procedure for coding the keys to the car is also in the FAQ section.

It's a bit fiddly, but it's down the back below the inlet manifold, and accessible from the top. I stuff a rag below the oil filter before unscrewing, to catch the oil that would otherwise drop onto the exhaust.

I believe faulty lambda readings can indeed cause the engine and/or auto gearbox to go into limp mode. There was a thread very recently where a hole in the cat caused all sorts of problems with the auto gearbox. A VAG-COM cable is a very worthwhile investment, IIRC I paid about

The only reason I mention shockers is that mine were kaput when I checked them. What made me investigate was a simple manoeuvre to avoid a tractor sticking it's nose out of a gate, a bit of a swerve across the white line which caused my car to get all out of shape at the back end... not a brown-trouser moment, but more than a little disconcerting. A new set of Monroe shock absorbers transformed the handling of the car, I hadn't realised how lively the back end had become in corners.

While the shockers are disconnected, if you compress them they should feel fairly even throughout the travel. If there is a bit in the centre of the travel that is very easy to push through, then consider changing them.

You should be able to bar the arm down to give just enough clearance, but as nbd says, it's easier to drop both together - and a good idea to replace both sides. While they're disconnected, also check the condition of the shock absorbers - the rear ones do a lot of work on the Galaxy.

You should be able to bleed just the one caliper, if you minimise fluid loss - cling film the reservoir, and maybe wrap some around the end of the pipe if left open for any length of time. It's a good idea to minimise any loss anyway, as you don't want air in the ABS pump - you need VAG-COM to bleed the ABS pump properly. If you do need to bleed the lot, the sequence is - front LH - front RH - rear RH - rear LH. Brakes International (BrakeParts) get quite a few mentions on here and very are useful for these sorts of parts, they have the rear calipers for

As above, if you car is fitted with 288mm discs, you need 288mm replacement discs. The 300mm discs will not fit. Many catalogues state that 300mm discs are fitted with 16" wheels, this is totally incorrect. Later mk.II cars were all fitted with 300mm discs, but the early mk.IIs can be either.

Welcome to the forum. :) Could be either on a '98, that was the changeover year IIRC. Only way to tell for sure is to pop the bonnet. If you haven't already, also check the FAQ section, and in particular items 45, 60 and 68. For some reason the FAQ section gives problems with Internet Explorer, it's best viewed using Firefox or Chrome.

There's certainly no need to feel stupid, it is indeed virtually impossible on the late mk.I models fitted with the later 3 mounting hole wiper assembly. There simply isn't enough room to slide the filter out straight without moving the wiper assembly forwards. For some reason, it doesn't seem to be a problem on the mk.2 cars, and on the earlier mk.Is, the different wiper assembly gives more clearance. What I do is remove the centre and nearside mounting bolts for the wiper assembly, and loosen the offside one. You can then tilt the wiper assembly far enough forward to give you just enough room to remove and replace the pollen filter.

Getting the codes read may save you a lot of head scratching, and possibly money, in the long run. If you can't bear to hand over hard cash to the garage, consider investing a few quid in a VAG-COM cable from that well known auction site, so you can do it yourself.

Yes, the pipe routing is different on the mk.II, and the problems around the receiver/dryer don't apply. I believe all of the pipes on both the mk.I and mk.II cars can be replaced with a bit of 'persuasion'. Which joint is the problem? If it's one of the springlock couplings, you must have the correct tool to split them.

Is yours a mk.I or mk.II car? The aicon pipework and other components are different. Speaking from my experience of the mk.I and that particular pipe on mine, the pipe can be replaced in situ, but it can be tricky and the replacement pipes sometimes need to be 'modified' very slightly to persuade them around the tight bits. Plenty of twisting and turning is involved too, and you need to make sure that the new pipe is correctly routed around the other stuff in the engine bay. I got the old one out in one piece and knew that the new old should go back in the same way. If the problem joint is the one on the receiver/dryer at the front of the o/s wheelarch (mk.I only), you may find that the bracket fixing it is also corroded, and this is part of the pipe which goes behind the bumper to the condensor. If the system has been open for any length of time, you also need to consider replacing the receiver/dryer.

Good to hear that your problem was fixed, but welcome to the forum anyway. To be fair, they are a pretty helpful bunch on here. It is possible that no one replied because no one who saw your thread could help - and once it drops off the first page of replies, it disappears off the horizon... it's worth bumping it up yourself (by posting a reply) to make sure as many of the regular posters as possible see it. Some members, myself included, only visit every couple of days or so, so new unanswered threads can be easily missed. I would also suggest to anyone with a problem to try to make full use of the search function, and look through the extensive FAQ section for common issues, and add a post where the information has helped you. Thanks for coming back and explaining the successful fix for your problem, I'm sure it will be very helpful for future reference. :rolleyes:

The indicator coming on with the fan is normal, sounds like you may need regassing as seatkid said earlier. If regassing shows a leak, the common failure point on the mk.I system is where the aluminium aircon pipe runs under the chassis member at the front of the o/s wheel arch. When you push the round button on the dash, you should here the rear blower start - the fan speed and temperature can be adjusted with the controls above the door. The vents near the handbrake come from the front blower, the other vents in the rear compartment are from the rear heater.

The 2.3 petrol engine is bomb proof if serviced regularly, but the auto box is not... a quick scan of the Technical section will reveal a large number of threads regarding auto gearbox failures. Rectification of these problems by a specialist can be expensive, and because of the failure rate, good secondhand units are thin on the ground and command good prices. Most reliable choices are the 2.3 petrol or a diesel, with manual gearbox. Welcome to the forum, by the way. :rolleyes:

First port of call is to check the gearbox fluid level. FAQ section, No.3