John D

Thanks! - will give that a look-at too.

Great tip - thanks, will do that.

Planning to replace my failing ABS reluctor rings shortly and was heading to eBay to but a scissor ball joint splitter to get the suspension ball joints parted. However, I see there are many size ranges to be had and was wondering if anyone knows which one to get? (20-45mm; 30-50mm, etc) - or are the 'prong' types adequate?

Thanks - had a good inspection yesterday and no cracks or breaks to be seen. However, the CV joint is badly corroded (can gouge lumps off with a screwdriver) so pretty sure now that the problem is corrosion lifting/stretching the ring.

So, had both front shocks & springs replaced by local garage a little while back, and since doing so I get the ABS cutting in sometimes when at very low speeds - like 3-4mph when just coming to a halt. No ABS light coming on at the dashboard so pretty happy that the sensors are OK. However, on inspection of the sensors and ABS rings I can see when spinning the wheels the ABS rings (& hub that they sit on) are running eccentrically somehow. In fact, so much that at one point of a full turn of each wheel the ring is actually contacting the sensor and wearing it, while at the other side of the turn the airgap between ring and sensor is about 4-5mm which I think is too large. It makes sense to me that at higher speeds I do not get a problem as the time over which the sensor is getting an out-of-range signal (either too high or too low voltage presumably) is so short that it does not matter. However, at low speeds the poor signal duration is sufficiently long that the ABS system declares different wheel speeds and sets off the ABS. Well that's my thinking anyhow. Question is, what the heck causes the ABS rings to run eccentrically, and is it anything to do with having the hub assembly dismantled for the shock & spring replacement? Have not gone back to the garage yet on this, want to get better informed first....

Had the same with my 1999 Galaxy. Replaced relay 30 and problem has been fine for past 3 months. I opened and inspected the old relay and to my surprise it looked fine inside. I suspect there may be a design fault with these relays as the ford dealer I bought the new one from had a hefty stock and commented they were "very popular"!

If it's the same pipe I'm thinking of, that pipe has failed twice on mine, corroding where it crosses the chassis leg and comes out of the engine undertray. I'm surprised Ford no longer stock these, that's not good news... I had one supplied a while ago from FordpartsUK - you could try there. After the second failure, I too am now without aircon again. I need to look at repair options for the second failed pipe - even if a new replacement pipe is obtainable, they are not cheap. I would be very interested to hear how you get on with the VW dealer... Depending on where the leak is located, it can be repairable. I had a leak in the pipe at the top of the condensor and managed to repair it by clamping a bit of 15mm split copper pipe around it with jub-clips - using araldite as a sealant. Re-charged with Halfords re-charge bottle and it's been fine for some couple of months now.

Halfords do a free refridgerant check where they connect a pressure gauge to the air-con charging point. This effectively tests your pump/compressor - and it's free!

OK - just sat in the car and locked the doors with remote and waited a few mins. Tried to open door but of course the levers are de-activated and will not open the doors until unlocked with remote. So with everything still locked I tried the ignition and to my surprise the car started. No alarms amongst any of this..... Something sounds wrong to me here....?

No - nothing like that there. Does this mean I have no alarm?

Yes, my Gal MkI flashes both on remote locking and unlocking.

Had my MkI for many years now (2.3 GhiaX) and have never much investigated if it has an alarm. I do get a little red light flashing on the door when locked, but in many years I've never had the alarm go off - which is unusual for me with cars! Can anyone confirm if I do have an alarm - and if so how I can test it - would just be good to hear it sound and know it's working if it's there...!

Had the same ABS 'light on' problem. Was one of the front wheel sensors. Detected which one quite easily by testing with multimeter (showed open circuit - i.e. infinite resistance). Got a new sensor of eBay (

Thanks Geoff - I've had that thing lose before and think I've fixed it, but worth another check. John D

I've got a really annoying intermittent rattle/vibration coming from somewhere in the recess where the electric sunroof slides. If I push up, or pull down, the black-out slide thingy it stops the rattle but then comes back as soon as I let go of it. I've done all the obvious probing with torches and sticks etc., but failed to find the cause. Sometims it goes away for a few weeks, but always returns....any ideas? Cheers, John D

Two weasels sat on stools in a bar. First weasel prods the other one in the arm and says "I slept with your mother last night" .... no response from other weasel, so first weasel prods a bit harder and says "hey, did you hear me?" "I said I had sex with your mother last night".......still no response from other weasel, so first weasel goes to prod even harder when the second weasel gets up off his stool and says "OK, you've had too much to drink - time to go home Dad"

Just fitted three yesterday (odd isn't it that the driver door grille which gets most exposure does not get damaged....?) and a real easy job. I used a small spot of araldite on each of the lugs to secure the grills - no movement in them at all. Interestingly I noticed how much more brittle the old ones were compared to the new ones. Presumably the plastic degrades a little with time/light causing it to become brittle and then more likely to crack/break. Anyhow, BIG HSE note: MAKE SURE YOU WEAR GOGGLES WHEN REMOVING THE OLD GRILLES - when snapping of the old bits with pointy nose pliers lots of little pieces going pinging through the air. And although I did use pliers I still managed to draw blood as the broken pieces are very jagged.