Ex-Galaxy person

Thanks Stevoo. Just another question. I've noticed that the cooling system is pressurized even when cold - there's a loud hiss when I undo the cap on the expansion tank and the coolant level actually goes up in the expansion tank. I'm sure it never happened on any other car I've owned, except when the engine is warm - never when stone cold. Is the cooling system supposed to be pressurized when cold? Just wondering if the expansion tank cap is faulty...which has caused excess pressure....which has caused the leak......

My suspicions about a gradual coolant loss were confirmed today when the low level warning came up on the dash - only a couple of weeks after ensuring the expansion tank was topped up because the light had come on previously........ investigation with a torch showed some pools of coolant sitting on top of the gearbox casing (it was blue/green - not rainwater!). I'm just pleased it's not the water pump! So this weekend's job is to pull out the battery and tray and take a look. It's not overheating and the fuel economy/performance is still good, so I'm also fairly sure it's nothing more serious. I've not really had to pull many things apart on this car, so my main question to those who have is whether there's a common issue with the cooling system that manifests itself in this area? It's collecting on the gearbox casing, so I must be relatively high in the engine bay. TIA

What is this strange language :lol: Only kidding - I have old money in my post office book.......it might even still be there!

I don't know exact height - measured once and I have the figure 185cm in my head but I know it's less than this. This seems to be a "standard" height and the car passes under the council refuse site restriction, which is 185cm, and the Channel Tunnel, also 185cm (for ordinary height vehicles). I know I'm safe at 185 - any lower and I don't take the risk. Mine is a Zetec with alloys - not sure if other models have different tyres/suspension, which might make a difference. Phillip

Oddly enough, I had to top up the coolant today - even though it's fairly accessible, the angle of the expansion tank meant using a funnel to avoid spilling on the battery. I remember thinking that you can't top anything up except using a funnel! (except the washer bottle). IMHO, I don't think that anything can be done about this (or the brake fluid reservoir location) - I don't even blame poor design - it's just how it is. Phillip

Does this mean you can get paint that will do the job? I'm after some for my Mark 1. I tried to buy a few bits of trim from local Frauds just after I got the car, and they indicated that you couldn't get some bits any more (e.g. seat side panels, interior handles). Mine are that deep blue colour.

To test this, bridge the sensor that's found on the near/side wiper linkage - this will force the aux heater to come on regardless of the outside air temp (unless the coolant is already up to temperature, in which case it won't). I've bridged mine as it had to be really cold before mine cut in - too cold for comfort (for me anyway!). By bridging and forcing it to come on, you might make it settle down quicker. Phillip

Following on from my last post - it seems that there aren't any purpose designed "clip-on" beam deflectors. To avoid hassle, I'm going to pick up a second set of headlight protectors and put the adaptors on those, so I'm not messing around with sticky stuff when I want to go over the channel - I'll just swap them over. The really annoying thing is that I've just missed a dirt cheap pair on eBay ^_^ .

Mine does this occasionally - when it does happen it's always on a cold morning. It's happened once in the last couple of weeks, and once or twice last winter. I'd always assumed it was some kind of cold warning. I couldn't find anything in the manual - however, your experience of it not happening when it's been -10 seems to suggest it's some kind of battery warning - and we all know that cold weather finds the bad batteries anyway. As mine is only occasional, I'm not going to worry about replacing my battery yet, but a regular occurance would make me do so. Not sure if this helps! Phillip

I've got plastic headlight protectors on my Galaxy - last time I went to France I stuck the headlight adaptors to the protector - and then took the protectors off to clean them up and get all the sticky stuff off. This made me think - surely someone has made clip-on adaptors that would work in the same way to the headlight protectors? No messing about with tape or trying to line things up - just clip on and clip off. Has anyone seen anything like this on the market? It seems so simple that it must have been done already. Phillip

Just change it. This applies to any car with a cam belt with unknown history, or if you have any doubts at all. I had mine done earlier in the year - non-dealer garage, about

So is the heated windscreen a Ford "patented" feature? I don't ever remember seeing it on any other car, but I do remember that Ford has had them for a number of years. I assume that if it is a patent it will run out soon and they will be more common. Anyone know anything else about this? Just idle curiosity really! As to the original post - 2 miles isn't enough for the car to get warm even with a working booster heater (IMHO). Phillip

Got mine off eBay - genuine part and cost

I've bridged the sensor on mine this year, as it rarely fired up before. However, even though it now always fires up when cold, it also always cuts out after about 10-20 seconds; then it fires up again about a minute after that, and runs OK until the coolant temperature gets up to normal, at which point it shuts down as it's supposed to Anyone know why it might always cut out initially? It's not a huge problem, 'cos it always fires up again and stays on. Just curious really. Phillip

Sorry - meant the pollen filter on the other side of the bulkhead - not the air temp sensor.

<moan mode> So, I've just done my pollen filter...and what an absolute sod of a job that was. Blood, sweat, scraped fingers. I actually broke the filter frame getting it out. The old filter was filthy - I'm wondering if it has ever been done (car is 7 years old). Anyway, filter is now held in the housing with duct tape, whilst I think about buying a new frame for it, and try to summon up the energy and enthusiasm to replace it. The duct tape might just stay ;) I bypassed the temperature sensor for the booster heater whilst I was there; for some reason mine never fired up unless it was actually freezing, but it kicked in nicely today. I'm no car designer - but I'd love to meet the people who said "I know - let's bury a service part in a really inaccessible place, behind the wiper mechanism, with lots of knobbly bits sticking out waiting to snag it when you get it out". OK I know they probably never said this, but I just can't believe they put it there - why not on the other side of the bulkhead. Anyway, thanks to SeatKid for posting the original pictures - and for everyone else who posted - at least I know it's not just me. I'm wondering if there's some kind of flexible sprung trim that might clip to the edge of the pollen filter housing to hold it in - might have a browse around eBay. I'm sure there's any easier way than that frame! </moan mode>

Hi Seatkid, So I decided to pull the car off the drive and check the oil on level ground...and it's actually been overfilled, which I know isn't good. I know overfilling will make the engine work harder, but I'm not sure what the other implications are; I'm assuming that overfilling on its own won't make it leak (don't think it's a huge overfill). Back to Kwik-Fit after work tomorrow.....thanks for the advice. Phillip

Hi All, I posted about getting a good price for an oil/filter change recently, from Kwik-Fit...anyway, there now appears to be a slight oil leak - but only when the car is facing slightly uphill. Our drive slopes gently down to the road - I normally reverse on to the drive, so the car faces slightly downhill. When I do this, it doesn't leak. However, a couple of times I've parked it forwards, facing slightly uphill, and when I do this it leaks a little bit of oil. It doesn't seem to do this when level. I've jacked the car up and had a look with a torch - can't see where it might be coming from. I did notice that the sump is protected by a plastic cover. Unfortunately, I didn't really have the time to whip it off and have a look. Here's my question: is it likely that there is old oil sitting inside this plastic cover, that only drips out when the car is uphill - maybe leaking around the edge of the where the drain plug is (which is actually angled backwards)? As I've never had this off (I've not actually taken much apart on this car yet!) I've got no idea whether this is a reasonable deduction. I know there are hundreds of places where oil can leak from - but I've never come across an oil leak that only happens when the car is at an angle. Anyone else had this? It'll be going back to Kwik-Fit anyway (the branch I use is generally quite good), but I wondered if anyone else had experienced an oil leak like this. cheers, Phillip

Thanks for this - I've seen the elsbett site, but I don't think I want to go the SVO conversion route. I've read other sources on the web where people are mixing SVO with ordinary diesel with some success - one of these was on a PD engine. Received wisdom is that some engines take SVO no problem at all; others (more modern) require mixing with petro diesel and this should only be done during the summer months. I'm more interested in the home produced biodiesel route - my research to date indicated that you didn't need to mix it with petro diesel - I'm therefore interested to know why you do this - I guess it has to do with the process used. The kit from http://www.etruk.com seems to remove the glycerine from the waste veg oil, which would obviously reduce the viscosity. As I understand it, it's the relative viscosity of biodiesel that's the big issue. Does your process reduce the viscosity at all? I'm assuming it's the viscosity issue that makes it desirable to mix it with petro-diesel? cheers, Phillip

Hi All, Mine didn't fire up this morning...but this is the second winter we've had it and it had to be really cold for it to fire up last year. Anyway, I've just bought a new pollen filter so I'll probably bridge the sensor whilst I'm in that neck of the woods......... Phillip

I thought that the received wisdom about diesel oil change frequency was 6K miles max between changes; my handbook states 10K for my Mk1 Galaxy, and in fact it was 10K since the last change (kind of crept up on me!). However, at

Hi All, OK, I've not read all this thread (only some), but thought I'd share what I think is a good deal..... Was going to change the oil myself this weekend; out of interest I rang Kwik-Fit (round the corner from me). They did me an oil/filter change, using Mobil1 5/30 oil and a Unipart filter for

Just to add further research to my original post... I came across a German database that had records of people who have run or are running their Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra diesels on a Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) mix. Here's the link: Link to German SVO database This link goes directly to a Ford Galaxy record; note that this is a Google translated page (as is the whole database); it's amusing to read just for the translation! Interestingly, this record was the only one I found with any indication of any problems - and this seemed to be related to the conversion and not the use of the SVO. Other who were just using a mix (with no conversion) seemed to report no problems (others being Alhambra/Sharan drivers that I quickly looked at). To view other vehicles, just use the links at the top of the page - you'll have to scroll through pages per marque - there doesn't seem to be a search facility for particular models. If I get time I'll do a thorough search and post links for each record.

Hi All, Apologies to those who have already read this - I did post within another thread, but I think the question was at a bit of a tangent to the thread - or maybe nobody replied 'cos nobody is doing this! I've done a couple of seaches on the forum, but given the recent discussion on PPO/Biodiesel/Veg oil, and reading that some folks are using 33% mix or 55% mix of veg oil to fossil diesel on other cars, I just wanted to confirm whether anyone was using veg oil in their Galaxy, either from purified recycled veg oil, or straight out of the container from a supermarket. I've got a Mk1 TDi (110 bhp engine) - it's not the PD engine. I'm seriously interested in going the veg oil route, but don't want to screw the engine up! So, anyone using a veg oil mix on their Mk1 diesel (NOT PD engine)? If so, for how long (mileage/time) and is there a major difference in performance or fuel economy? cheers, Phillip

Hi All, I've done a couple of seaches on the forum about this, but given the recent discussion on PPO/Biodiesel/Veg oil, and reading that some folks are using 33% mix or 55% mix of veg oil to fossil diesel on other cars, I just wanted to confirm whether anyone was using veg oil in their Galaxy, either from purified recycled veg oil, or straight out of the container from a supermarket. I've got a Mk1 TDi (110 bhp engine) - it's not the PD engine. I'm seriously interested in going the veg oil route, but don't want to screw the engine up! So, anyone using a veg oil mix on their Mk1 diesel (NOT PD engine)? If so, for how long (mileage/time) and is there a major difference in performance or fuel economy? cheers, Phillip