sparky Paul

Just out of curiosity... how do you enable/disable the service indicators? :unsure: The reason I ask is that our Galaxy has never shown these over the 6 years we have had it. It's never bothered me, the car has been serviced on the dot, but never seen any service ln01, ln02, etc.... Car had complete Ford service history when we got it, and was a very low mileage ex-motability car.

There's quite a gap between the rubber on the top cup and the suspension turret, it does look odd... but the gap is usually around half to

Same mail sent to me too... I got left out last time. ;)

Not 100% certain, but I am fairly convinced they are the same part... Not sure if this is why you are asking, but there is a second hand one off a 2.0 on fleabay. I would not go for a used one. If your budget is tight, I would get a new idler pulley from the dealer and fit it to your old tensioner.

As mikej says, with a bit of fiddling it is possible to use the idler pulley to replace the one on the tensioner. Both of mine had had it. I found a complete new tensioner cheap on fleabay, and IIRC, I paid around

Belt tensioner or idler pulley. :rolleyes:

I'd still double check the drop links again, using the method I described above, it may show up something else on the suspension. Next port of call for me would be to check all the ARB bushes, followed by the remaining joints and bushes on the suspension. If you cannot replicate the noise by rocking the car body, you could have something loose, as seatkid suggests. Check the exhaust mount brackets, these are prone to breaking off the front pipe. Anything to do with driveshafts/gearbox tends to give a different reaction depending upon load, acceleration, steering input, etc., and as you say it does it all the time, these things would be low down my suspect list. Not impossible of course, but I would say less likely than say a bush, etc.. Problems with engine mounts should be shown up by blipping the throttle under load.

That's great George, thanks! :unsure:

Drop links are always favourite, and the symptoms you describe are classic for drop link failure. Track rod ends don't sound so bad, and you only tend to hear them at low speeds over potholes etc.. Rock the car with the roof rails and see it you can make any knocking/clicking noises, this really shows the drop links up. If you hear something, get someone else underneath feeling the suspension joints for movement, particularly the drop links. Make sure the all the nylocs on the drop links are tight.

That sounds very sensible to me. As an owner of a 2.3 with increasing miles, I look forward to hearing how you get on... and good luck again. :P One a brighter note, and completely OT, mine passed the MOT today with back discs and front tyres as advisories. :unsure:

I've got TIS, but I was hoping someone had had one before and knew what Ford called the actual bush. VW list it as a seperate part, and the same one for all engine/gearboxes, but with it being a Ford petrol I thought I would be better off making sure I get the right one from Ford, and there's no VW dealer nearby anyway. So long as the restrictor is secure, I can't see it being a problem for the MOT, the gearbox end is well hidden by the undertray. ;) MOT for mine tomorrow... :lol:

Whilst under the Galaxy for other reasons (track rod end, oil change, exhaust heatshield hanging off), I noticed that the bush around the bolt attaching the engine roll restrictor to the gearbox is splitting. I presume this is a precursor to the bolt being able to move, and consequently snapping. Does anyone know what Ford call this bit, and/or the part number? According to ETKA, VW call this bush an 'Adjusting Piece', which sounds a bit cryptic... :lol:

Wow... that doesn't sound very good. :( The fact that the plug which has been ejected is showing damage would point to something in there that shouldn't be there... like seatkid, I'm also thinking a piece of valve is the most likely candidate, probably now embedded in the piston. With a good cylinder head gasket, problems affecting 2 or more cylinders would always point me towards the valve gear, and the lack of compression on 1 is most likely connected. If valves are broken, expect some damage to head and piston crowns. I would think the best place to start would be to whip the rocker cover off, so you can see what is happening to both cams as the engine is turned by hand. As the inlet cam is turning, it could be that something has happened to the exhaust cam. If all looks reasonably normal, have a look at the lobe clearances to see if any valves are stuck out, a sure sign something is damaged. I don't think taking the head off should be particularly difficult, theres a fair amount of room to work around the head, and I would think 2-3 hours careful dismantling should see the head on the bench. Try to be logical in approach, make notes and take a few pics of the pipework/wiring if possible. I hope it's not too bad, good luck! :lol:

Well, the simplest thing was worth a try. :unsure: The alternatives aren't too good... as you suspect, it is likely that the compression pressures are pumping up the cooling system, and that a blown head gasket, or cracked head, is the most likely candidate for this. The best diagnosis would be a compression test on each of the cylinders, followed by removal of the head if a problem is indicated. If the head gasket looks good, the next step would be pressure testing the head for cracks. First of all though, smell the header tank for compression gases... does it smell of exhaust fumes? The fact that you have no oil in the coolant is not a reliable indicator, the head gasket may only be blown between one or more of the cylinders and the cooling jacket, but not through into the oil ways. If the blow is only slight, you may or may not detect coolant steam in the exhaust. Similarly, a crack may just be through into the water jacket. So long as the head in undamaged, a head gasket replacement shouldn't be more than

These problems are usually caused by the wiring breaking down in the flexible rubber conduits on the four side doors. If you have intermittant locking problems, check the ones on the front doors and tailgate.

They all have the little flashing light, it's connected to the immobiliser and is nothing to do with remote locking. ;) I thought a Ghia might have had remote locking as standard, but I could be wrong. It was an option on my '99 Zetec.

There's a relief valve in the cap which should stay closed under normal conditions, it sounds like yours may have failed. Replace the cap with a new one, this should fix your problem. :D

Not at all... If you don't know, you don't know - and you can only learn more by asking questions. :D

Welcome to the forum! ;) Several applications of Colour Magic polish works quite well for light scratches, and it comes with a coloured wax crayon for filling deeper scratches. I found CM when our little cherubs decided to 'decorate' the Gal one day by drawing patterns on it with a couple of sharp stones... bonnet... front wing... two doors... back wing... tailgate... grrr! ;) Ours is a metallic, I cut the laquer back a little with compound before applying the CM, but some of the scratches were quite bad. The scratches can still be found if you examine closely, but from a normal distance they look fine. Has to be re-applied every few months to keep the scratches hidden.

Turk's right, my fault for not reading the thread fully. Immobiliser will not stop the starter cranking. Fuse F26, and relay R26 (starter power) are the first things to check. R26 is marked '100' on the actual panel IIRC.

The transponder chips in the key have been known to fail... I've not heard of many problems with the Galaxy specifically, but Renaults are well known for intermittant starting because of this problem. It is worth trying a second key if you have one. What is the LED on the driver's door doing when you insert the key?

Sounds like an immobiliser issue. Have you got another key to try?

Should be fine then. :o I would look at that oil cooler very carefully, look for the lump on the block where the oil filter fits, there should be coolant pipes connected to it. If you have a search around the forum, you should find a few threads about this. Good luck!

Not sure about these engines specifically, but the only way to know the extent of the damage for sure is to whip the head off. Even badly overheated heads can sometimes be saved, and occasionally minor overheating can do irrepairable damage. One thing I would say is that I would NOT refit a head without a light skim and pressure test, unless you are absolutely certain it is perfect. For what it costs, it often saves doing the job again soon down the line. I think there is an oil cooler on some/all of the Galaxy diesels which needs to be checked, this is a common failure and leads to lots of oil in the header tank. You shouldn't see as much oil in the header tank for a blown head gasket. One other thing... how far did you drive with the oil pressure light on? :o