sparky Paul

Looking at your old posts, it looks like you have a diesel - it helps if you stick your car spec in your signature, so it appears at the foot of each post. Level 2 is behind the panel of fuses you see when you open the fusebox. This post in the FAQ section will show you how to gain access. I would suggest using the search function on here for 'overheating', there are a number of issues which could cause your problem. It's not normal for the diesel to overheat even without a fan, and I doubt that the fan is your problem if this occured during normal driving. You could be looking at anything from a bad thermostat to faulty water pump, or even head gasket if there are other symptoms.

Welcome to the forum! B) You will find the remote coding procedure for both mk.I and mk.II Galaxys in the FAQ section here http://www.fordgalax...ndpost__p__9914 The red LED you are looking for is on the door - it's the IR receiver in the clock module on the early cars. As yours is an S reg, it could have the IR system or the later RF remote locking. Another point to note is that the Zetec did not come with central locking as standard - it was an option and came with a rear load cover. If your car hasn't got the load cover, or at least the fixings for the load cover behind the middle row of seats, it probably hasn't got remote locking either. It might seem odd if the car came with a remote key, but so did my Zetec and it hasn't got remote locking. Hope this helps!

Could have been a Police spec vehicle... is it white?B)

The Alhambra//Sharan is almost identical to the Galaxy mechanically, and much of the Haynes book applies to both cars - apart from the petrol engines. The VW diesels are covered in detail in the Galaxy manual, but the Galaxy was fitted the with Ford 2.0 and 2.3 petrol engines. The VW 2.0 petrol engine (ADY) and anciliiary components fitted to the Sharan/Alhambra is a VW unit and is not covered at all. The 2.0 petrol engine (ADY) in the Alhambra/Sharan is covered in the VW Passat book, Haynes number 3498. The Haynes book for the Galaxy does not cover the VW 2.8 V6 petrol engine either. The other problem with the Haynes book is that the electrical diagrams can be confusing, and this applies to early Galaxy owners too. There were major changes to the electrical systems on late '98 onwards cars, and I suspect the Haynes diagrams are based on those from a later mk.I car.

If it's the valve seats that are corroded, it's a bit trickier to get at... but any tyre fitter worth his salt will have the valve seat cleaned up in a few minutes. As the others have said above, an application of bead sealer such as Rimseal or RimTite between each cleaned up valve seat and valve stem will fix the problem.

Good to hear a happy ending.;)

I'm afraid to say that the gearbox has to come off. It's a concentric slave cylinder which completely encircles the input shaft of the gearbox. What a stupid idea.

Yes, there's lots of members on here with VWs/Seats. As above, the diesels and V6 petrol engined cars are pretty much identical mechanically, the main differences being the external cosmetics.

I was thinking about swapping for something cheaper to run, not the other way round!

At least you found something before something nasty happened, it could all have gone horribly wrong had the other bolt snapped too. The bolt shank left in the head will be loose and could have wound itself in with the vibration. Once you take the rocker off and extract the bit, check it against the length of a new bolt, as you suggest.

I would. If there's definitely a hole, grease will have escaped, and a rubber boot is a lot cheaper than a new joint.

Not too bad really, not sure if you have actually had the car done and tested, but here's an idea of costs... Bulb - 50p Track rod end -

Ant roll bar links are straightforward job, 10 minutes and

Did you have any joy with this? Don't forget to feed back success or failure to the forum, it may be of help to someone else with a similar problem.:)

Link works fine for me too.:)

I'm not too familiar with the VW diesel engines, but I believe the rocker assemblies drive the injectors. The eight valves are directly under the camshaft, and the tappets/lifters are driven directly by the camshaft lobes. Unfortunately, this can be difficult to diagnose tappet problems without removal of the camshaft and tappets, as the tappets rely on engine oil pressure to maintain the adjustment, although a stuck lifter my be obvious by a large clearance between the lobe and tappet when the valve is closed. Once the oil has drained from the tappets, you should be able to feel the spring if you push each tappet down. Don't know if this might help with diagnosis... http://www.myturbodi...lace-vw-tdi.htm

Welcome to the forum! :) The 'load reduction relay' K149 is common to those items, as the fault was intermittant at first, I would try replacing that. On your early model with the original type fusebox, it should be on the middle row up of relays, fourth one from the left - position R4. It should be marked 18 or 100. Hope this helps!

Although the term 'followers' is sometimes used to refer to tappet inserts, 'cam followers' are more accurately the roller bearing part of the rocker arms found on some OHC engines with offset cam/valve arrangements. The cam lobes on your engine push directly onto the hydraulic tappet insert, which is a cartridge which fits into the head casting, sitting between each valve stem and the camshaft.

Could be a sticky/worn hydraulic tappet? IIRC the camshaft is directly over the valves on these, so no followers to go bad... on the other hand, it means the camshaft has to come out to get to the hydraulic tappets.

It's a messy old job, and not for a complete novice, but you've done the discs/pads and I wouldn't say it's much more difficult than that. Just make sure the garage fits a new driveshaft end bolt. Refitting a pre-stretched bolt may not maintain the correct tension on the wheel bearing and give you problems later on.

The clonking is most likely to be worn anti-roll bar links. A split outer CV boot is a MOT fail, but replacement is a relatively straightforward, if messy, job. First, loosen the driveshaft bolt and wheel bolts, before jacking up and removing the wheel. Support the car on axle stands. Undo the two caphead bolts holding the bottom balljoint, and split the joint to release the suspension leg and hub. Very carefully, use the old driveshaft bolt screwed into the thread to push the driveshaft from the wheel hub. Once the driveshaft is free of the hub, pull back the old boot from the CV joint, and using a hammer and a small block of wood against the centre of the joint, knock the joint off the end of the shaft. It is held by a C ring type circlip on the end of the shaft, and will need quite a sharp tap, but take care not to pull the shaft from the gearbox - you may need assistance with this. Recover the circlip, the plastic spacer and the dished washer from the shaft, noting the orientation. Examine the CV joint. If the joint has been open for some time and the grease is contaminated with grit, it is advisable to wash the joint out completely with paraffin and repack with 120g of new CV grease - you may need more than is supplied with a boot kit. If there is still plenty of grease and it is clean, add the grease supplied in the kit. Remove the old boot from the shaft and fit the new boot. Replace the dished washer and spacer on the shaft, and then fit a new circlip. Refit the CV joint by tapping it back onto the shaft, make sure the circlip is correctly seated and the CV joint is firmly attached to the driveshaft. Fix the new boot to the joint and shaft with the new fixings supplied. Clean the mating faces of the wheel bearing and CV joint, oil the driveshaft splines liberally, then refit the driveshaft into the hub - fit a new hub bolt and tighten to remove any slack in the assembly. Refit the bottom balljoint. The driveshaft end bolt is a stretch bolt and must be replaced. Refit the wheel, lower to the ground and torque the new driveshaft bolt to 111lbf ft, then angle tighten a further 90° I think that's about it, hope this helps.

Indeed...and a whole raft of other stuff. What about biennial tests, what do you think of that idea? :lol:

That does seem very odd. My 1999 Gal also has 105K on the clock, and has never had a CV boot replaced, and they seem in good order. You might suggest that the replacements are of poor quality, even the main dealer parts, but 7 boots sounds a bit far fetched. How are you fitting them, and how are they failing? Splits in the creases, or at the fixings? The only good thing is that inner CV joints are not testable, according to my tester man.

A replacement auto box is always going to be hard to find due to the failure rate, and when they do appear, they fetch good money. If you would prefer to fix the car, one option would be to look for a damaged or MOT failure car on auction sites. I saw a vandalised mkII automatic with reasonable mileage go for around £500 not long ago, there was no mention of the box being faulty, athough this would of course have to be confirmed. Once you have liberated the parts you need, the shell plus any scrap parts would weigh in for £300, maybe a bit more if you weigh any alloys and/or cat/s in separately.