johnb80

Hi Debbie, Have you tried Ebay ? I've just purchased some additional mats for my Galaxy Ghia and the quality was first class, better than the standard Ford items. There's loads of sellers on there who make mats for all makes of vehicle. Regards - John

It seems that there are quite a few people on here that have gone the DIY route for multimedia with potentially better results. I have been in one galaxy that had full 5.1 dolby sound which was very good. I have seen a few mails here where people have installed roof mounted screens which seem better than the small headrest ones and everyone in the back can see it. I'll wait a few weeks before exploring that avenue in my nice new Galaxy. I know what you mean about the brakes, I drive four vehicles on a regular basis - Transit Van, Ultime, Smart Cabrolet and the Galaxy. I go out in the Tranny and the Smart and panic cos the brakes don't seem to be doing anything, get back in the Galaxy and kiss the winscreen as I try to slow down a little. Early days yet, hope I get used to it soon but the brakes do seem over powerfull. Regards - John

Glad to be of help, I thought the RAC inspections had some form of compensation if they missed something i.e. the cost of repairs etc. ? Give em hell, at the end of the day they have not provided what they were contracted to do. What do you think to thye Galaxy so far ? What model / engine have you got ? I've just had mine a week now, new 115 TDi/Ghia/Xenons/SatNav/Auto Regards - JB

Hi Phil, If you have climate control (CC), to change display on the CC unit, press and hold AUTO and ECON buttons together OR you could try pressing the small pin sized button that should be visible on the climate control panel. This should also change the display on the dash. Regards - JB

Nope, the Rangie had single mixer but a twin evaporator unit and was run closed loop. It switched to gas as soon as the engine started (even when cold) and the switchover between gas and petrol was absolutely seemless at any speed. The most important part of the copnversion was the dual ignition timing 8 deg BTDC petrol and over 40 deg BTDC gas. LPG has a very slow flame front compared to petrol and therefore needs igniting much earlier, my ECU was modified to have two sets of timing (switching automatically) the difference was incredible. Most people experience a slight loss in performance but a smoother running engine on LPG, with the timing advanced you get the performance back as well. The Rangie's 0-60 time on LPG with normal timing was some 2.2 seconds slower, with the timing advanced it was only down by 0.52 seconds. RPi engineering provided all the kit and I installed it under their expert supervision. Regards - JB

Howard, I couldn't agree with you more, I too drive very slowly around estate roads, unfortunately not everyone does the same, we have an old lady round the corner that has overtaken me on 3 occassions whilst I was taking extreme care due to loads of kids being about. No fool like an old fool !!!! Regards - JB

>>But it is not the case that a car with bullbars driven by a responsible driver is much much safer that a car without bars driven by an irresponsible driver<< What you say is true but not a real comparison, would you not agree that:- 1) Drivers having bull bars fitted to road going MPV's fall into the category of irresponsible and therefore you have a worst case scenario 2) Being hit by a vehicle with bull bars is going to hurt you more than being hit with the same vehicle in the same conditions without the bull bars (especially children) If you agree with the above I rest my case M'Lud Caio - JB

>>The real way to save with LPG is to get an account with Countrywide, 30.5 pence per litre, compared to my local BP station price of 39.9.<< If you get your own tank you can get it much cheaper than this though you do have to have space for it and the relevant distances from boundries etc. When I had my Range Rover a couple of years ago I was paying 21-23p per litre. Airboxes going are common, with the bosh type clips it's easy to mod by fitting tension springs instead the lid then simply lifts when the inlet gas has ignited. Usually if the ignition system is in good order backfires don't happen, when they do they can be devastating for air flow meters, manifolds etc. I did over 120,000 miles in my Rangie and only ever had one backfire and that was my fault - turned the key, into gear, pedal to the metal (in a slight hurry, bad day etc) and BANG. The noise was incredible, everyone was looking in my direction, kids screaming, dogs barking. I looked under the bonnet, everything looked OK with a deep intake of breath I turned the key again and was rewarded by the gentle hum of the V8 running on gas. I never did floor it again from a standing start. Regards - JB

Hi, Do the careful maths first on the amount of money you'll save by converting to LPG versus what it costs to convert. Don't be fooled about the enhanced resale value either. I converted my 4.2 litre Range Rover which was superb and I got my money back in 7 months which made it very suitable for conversion, especially since the gas tanks were underneath so there was no loss of interior space. Consider selling your existing Galaxy and getting a diesel which in my opinion is a much better approach. If you do go the gas route your ignition system needs to be 120% in order, the voltages for LPG are much higher, make sure you haven't got a plastic inlet manifold (these shatter nicely if you get a backfire - Ford Exploders are well known for it) and if you can you need to adjust mega amounts of advance on the ignition timing (my Rangie needed 40 deg BTDC) to get best performance. Regards - JB

Clearly he didn't/doesn't understand that by witholding the relevant information you ARE helping him and all of the rest of us, well done !! Regards - JB

I've just done a 210 mile trip in my new 115 TDi Galaxy Auto and managed 52.6 MPG. This was NOT on motorways but windy Lincolnshire roads (Gainsborough to Wisbech and back) the car is Auto and I was sticking to a maximum of 60 with gentle acceleration. My driving style is to drive smoothly and not to use the brakes (waste of fuel) but to anticipate whats ahead. Mega impressed with this vehicle, should get better as things run in. Regards - JB

Its still a 3 star see http://www.euroncap.com/details.php3?id=vw_sharan_1999. From the towing point of view there's shed loads of low down torque, if you compare figures for the ST220 Mondeo for instance its something like 270Nm@4400 rpm the 130 TDi has 330Nm@1800 rpm. (Please note these figures are from my aging memory which sometimes gets it a little wrong but I'm not far off) Regards - JB

At long last I've been told that my new Galaxy is ready for collection tonight so I should be able to get the SatNav pictures up here over the weekend. 115/TDi/Auto/Ghia/Front & Rear Aircon/Clarion SatNav/Xenons. Caio - JB

Oh dear, sorry, bad day, very sensitive subject and I've now made a complete prat of myself. Having read it properly, yes it's quite funny, I obviously just saw certain keywords and got into rant and soap box mode.... Sorry ! Regards - JB

I'm sure if you can get the Ford TIS :rolleyes: then that would be the way to go, from the horses mouth so to speak. Not sure about the availability though, Ebay maybe ?? :P

I've always beleived in rebuild what you've got. You know the history etc unless of course it has an undesireable history :-)

It's not just Ford and Audi's, my mate has a

If you call in at your local Halfords store they have a huge range of converter leads which will adapt almost any radio to any car. Dunno about what equipment it should have had in before though. Regards - JB

The reversing lights coming on when braking is most likely to be caused by a bad earth on one of the rear light clusters, double check all the connections on the plugs and sockets around the rearlight, make sure non of them are corroded, a good spray with WD40 and wobbling the plug around usually does the trick. This *MAY* also affect the cruise control because voltage may be fed backup the brakelight circuit which makes the cruise thing the brake pedal has been pushed, I don't have a circuit diagram so I can't be sure on this one, if both faults appeared at the same time then it is quite likely. Have you tried some silicone spray in the Window channels ? If the window detects an obstruction then it reverses and winds down, if the glass doesn't move freely in the runners this can be sensed as an obstruction, try assisting the window on it's way up and see if it closes properly then, if it does you know where to look. HTH - Regards - JB

I think that sounds a good move, loads of the Cosworth Ultima's have had problems with the chain guides breaking up as well as tensioner problems. When they've been ignored because it's only for a couple of seconds at startup several have had catastrophic failures when the cam chain jumps a couple of teeth allowing the pistons to get intimate with the valves. Do it sooner rather than later and keep the revs down. Caio - JB

If it only does it first thing in the morning, start it up after lunch ! Seriously, it sounds like oil pressure being slow to build up, I had a similar problem on a Cosworth Granada, it sounded awful for a couple of seconds and it was caused by the timing chain tensioner not having oil pressure to tension the chain, the chain was rattling on the engine casing. Ford provided a modified tensioner with a non return valve which stopped the oil draining back overnight, I beleive that on many engines a non return valve is incuded in the oil filter, did you fir O/E oil filter ? Does it take time for the oil warning light to go out ? Regards - JB

Nice to know that people don't give a sh*t about anyone else, hope you don't get knocked down by the drunken driver, exceeding the speed limit whilst using his mobile phone in his bull bar equipped death machine.

Well it seems to me if the only thing that gets complained about are the clock, speaker grills and the auxilary heater then tha Galaxy ain't a bad motor to have. :) Regards - JB

I too find it incredible that the whole of the UK and additional information can be stored in such a small space, the programmers must have done a very good job with data compression. Any of the SatNav systems will recalculate your route after a wrong turning or leaving the planned route after an accident etc, the really cool way is with TMC. This system allows the SatNav to guide you around the hold up automatically BEFORE you see there's a problem ahead. I accept totally that the system works and works very well BUT I still say that the pukka units like the MS5000 are better. If you lose the satellites the MS5000 can keep going based on gyro and speed signal daya and is suprisingly accurate in these situations, I went from Gainsborough to Bristol with No Sat Data after the first 5 miles and still was guided to my destination without a problem. It really does depend on the application, ambulances in Lincolnshire use the MS5000 as standard equipment after a lot of research done nationally, there must be some differences or surely they would have gone the much cheaper route ? My new Galaxy is having a Clarion Sat Nav fitted, I'll report on that when I get it, I'm also buying an HP PDA / Tomtom II for occasional use in the Smart car but I will, just for fun, put it in the Galaxy and do a direct comparison between the two. Regards - JB