spongebob_antspants

I believe that the compressor is only turned OFF if you select the ECON mode on the climate control, otherwise it will be on all the time, regardless of the temperature setting on the cc.

To be fair to the garage who replaced my condenser, it was certainly punctured by a stone that had kicked up from the road. After they replaced the condenser, thay had the car running for about an hour on their rig to monitor temperature, it was all running fine when they handed it back to me. However, that was a cool day and the problem I'm experiencing seems to only kick in when the air gets above a certain temperature (about 23 degrees, going by today's experiment).

Ooops - a quick bit of googling leads me to believe that unauthorised tinkering and release of refirgerant in this manner could be both environmentally damaging and illegal, so maybe more to this than meets to eye. Does this mean I need to take the car back to an authorised garage who can vent the system legally and safely?

I have an air conditioning problem that seems to be a combination of the symptoms experienced by BigDave and markie. Situation is as follows and I'd welcome an advice on what to do next. - climate control aircon, air conditioning stopped working about 6 weeks ago. - I took the Galaxy to a local aircon specialist, he diagnosed a leak in the condenser (stone damage). He replaced the condenser and all seemed to be well, cold air was restored. - however since the condenser was replaced, the aircon has worked intermittently and this seems to be related to the ambient air temperature, as reported by BigDave1972. When the air temperature is cool then the compressor kicks in no problem and all is OK. In this condition I've got a cold low pressure pipe on the left hand side (condensation forms on it) and a hot high pressure pipe on the right (very hot to the touch). - when the air temperature rises above 23 degrees (as shown on the dashboard thermometer), then the compressor seems to stop working. In this condition I get no cold air in the cabin on the car with the control in the "LO" setting, the left hand pipe is now not cold but the right hand pipe is still hot. - I've tested this today; all through this morning the aircon has worked fine, until the air temperature warmed up at lunchtime and now it's not working again. The aircon specialist who replaced the condenser has quoted me for a replacement compressor as well - very expensive and I'd really rather not have to fork out for that, having only recently paid for a new condenser. Therefore I'm thinking about trying BigDave's technique of releasing some gas pressure - only I'm not sure how to do that, can anyone educate me? There is a valve at the front of the engine on the hot/high pressure side of the condenser, is it just a case of poking down the top of the valve with a screwdriver?

To complete this story of my air conditioning problems.... As described above, no joy with any garages in diagnosing what the fundamental problem was. I was directed to a garage some miles away, the guy there is apparently a specialist in air conditioning. I spoke to him on the phone and got booked in. However I had to wait several weeks as he spends a lot of his time now training other garages on how to maintain and repair vehicle air conditioning systems, both in the UK and abroard, so he did seem to be well qualified. On the morning that I took my Galaxy in to his garage I had a chat to him and he repeated that it was necessary to have specialist training in air conditioning, pointed to his various certificates around the wall showing his qualifications in this field. Anyway, I returned at the end of the day to hear what he'd found. He was adamant that the compressor was not working, the motor appeared to be turning but no compressed air was being generated. He showed me a cutaway model of a compressor to illustrate what he thought had happened - very ingenious piece of engineering, that compressor, I must say, but mine was apparently broken beyond repair. Cost of replacement for a reconditioned compressor, plus flushing the system, plus labour, plus VAT....

Hello everyone I apologise for bringing up what appears to be an old chestnut, air conditioning problems on my Galaxy Mk II. I have read the FAQs and various threads on this subject from other members, however I'm still unsure what the root cause of my problem is. Situation and symptoms are as follows: - flashing LCD panel when turning on ignition, unless I leave the air conditioning in "ECON" mode in which case it does not flash, presumably because the compressor is not turned on when in "ECON" mode - very feeble air flow from the vents, again this changes when in "ECON" mode and the air flow strength improves. - took the Galaxy to Kwik-Fit to try and get it re-gassed, they said they could get no pressure at all and believe that there is a leak in the system. (To their credit they didn't charge me anything). - took the car into a local garage, the guy there is well meaning and familiar with vehicle air conditioning in general but is not an expert on the Galaxy. He's done a vacuum & dye test and can find no leaks. He reckons that the compressor is working OK, however he's felt the pipe from the compressor to the condenser and it is only luke warm. He believes that this pipe should be quite hot when operating correctly, on the principle that compressed air does heat up (like a bike pump when pumping up a bike tyre). So for some reason, the compressor does not appear to be pumping out the air that it's compressed. My local garage mechanic is stumped, he reckons that it may need a new compressor (expensive) but I'm not convinced. Also, he reckons to remove the compressor would also mean a complete system flush-out would be needed, in case foreign objects have got into the system - again I'm not convinced about this, having read other threads on this forum. I read the topic on the link below, this sounds to me like a possible cause except my Galaxy is a 53 plate (late 2003) and this thread appears to relate to Mk II Galaxys up to 2002 only. http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.ph...13221&st=30 Any ideas or suggestions for my next steps in diagnosis would be much appreciated - thanks!

Just thought I would update this with what happened.... Before I actually got around to replacing the one sensor that was not "ticking", I found the other day that, as if by magic, the sensors are all working fine again. I can't explain this, I can't put the temporary failure down to anything specific...maybe the earthquake rocked it back into position???

I don't believe that the rear washer reservoir has ever leaked into the passemger footwell. The joint where the hose was connected to the bottle is down beside the front of the wheel arch and well away from the passenger footwell. In fact when parked I could see the wet area on the road where the water was jetting straight out from the bottle onto the road. I've now been down on my hands & knees with my ear close to the sensors...they are all clicking away merrily apart from one on the front bumber, on the opposite side to where the water bottle sits. So it seems to me that it's a problem with that one sensor in particular, rather than with the central control unit - can anyone confirm that please? Does it mean that I definitely need a replacement sensor, or could it be a fuse problem? Is each sensor separately fused? (seems unlikely I know but I'm trying to investigate all avenues before shelling out for a replacement sensor).

Hi all I recently had the well documented problem of the rear washer water jet not working. In my case it turned out to be a simple fix, the hose connected to the water reservoir bottle had become detached. All I had to do was to remove the panel on the inside of the wheel arch and reattach it, now the rear washer is working fine. However, I've now found that the parking sensors are not working, I get the 3 second high pitched "beep" whenever I start the engine, followed by a the light on the parking sensor switch on the dashboard flashing. According the handbook, this indicates a parking sensor "malfunction" (non specific!). Having searched on this forum I found that in many cases the parking sensor problem was associated to the rear washer problem, where water had leaked into the front passenger seat footwell, which is where the parking sensor control unit sits. So I looked under the front passenger seat - it's bone dry in there, I don't believe that there has been any leakage into that area from the water reservoir. Can anyone offer any ideas to what the problem with the parking sensors could be? I've read some posts about checking for the sensors "clicking", how do I do that? Do I just leave the engine running with the car in nuetral then walk around listening closely? That is to say, should the sensors click all time that the car is running? Any help much appreciated!

Guys, thanks for your responses. I tried turning on the aircon (haven't done so throughout the winter months) and it seems that it's not working - airflow is only a dribble and it's not cold, so it seems a regas is required. The annoying thing is that I paid for it to be regassed at its last major service (80k) only 8 months ago. Is it common to need to regas so soon after last time it was done? Does this indicate some sort of leak somewhere?

About 1 week ago, the LED display below my radio has started flashing on and off when I turn on the ignition. This is the LED display that shows the temperature and has a "bar" display for the strength of the fans etc. The display flashes with strange characters then after about 30 seconds it settles down and displays correctly again. This doesn't appear to be a major problem but it's never done it before and I'm concerned that it may indicate some other, more fundamental problem. Has anyone else noticed this symptom and is there any way to fix it?

I've got a similar noise on my Galaxy, similar to the symptoms described by Jimbo73 and davethecabbie. I've also been getting attention from supermarket security cameras as I drive around their car park in tight circles! The noise is a vibration/rattle that only occurs when the steering lock is absolutely fully on. However I don't think it can be the CV joints because it happens even when the car is stationary and in neutral. I took it to a local garage (not a Ford dealer but a small backstreet garage that's done good work on my wife's car in the past). The guy there had a look and reckons it's the "serpentine belt", which he's recommended that I get changed. However he can't guarantee that this will fix the problem, he also suggested it could be something to do with the power steering pump. Any thoughts or comments anyone please? I'm tempted to get the garage to go ahead and replace the serpentine belt but that could be a waste of money if it doesn't fix the problem!

Thanks for the input everyone. jkspoff, there is a Nationwide garage very close to me so I'll give them a call on Monday to discuss and get a quote, will let you know what I decide. On a similar topic, what about general servicing being undertaken by independent garages? I've had my Galaxy serviced by a Ford dealer every 10k since I got it (with 13k on the clock). However, I've found various independent garages and national chains (e.g. KwikFit) offering service and MOT (due next month) for significantly cheaper prices than what I've been quoted by the Ford main dealer. I did this on the reasoning that a service history with Ford main dealer stamps all the way through would keep the resale value up but is that really the case? Again, any advice much appreciated.

Thanks mumof4, I've updated my profile with the details of my Galaxy. As for word of mouth, I don't happen to know anyone locally with another Galaxy (or even another Ford, come to think of it). I plan to call around some local garages in the Yellow Pages on Monday. I'm not sure if it's permitted to give recommendations of individual garages on this forum but if it is, does anyone know of any reliable garages in the South Manchester / Stockport area that could do this job for me?

Good evening all Having chanced on this useful forum this evening, I've read all the threads about the 40k/60k cambelt change question. As my Galaxy is due for its 60k service next week I reckon that having the work done is pretty much a given. The local Ford main dealer have informed me that the cambelt is long overdue for changing and have quoted me