elize

another strange one for no reason at all the key in the drivers door does not operate any of the locks but all the windows Will come down THEN the remote butons on key will open all doors when siting in car windows wind down but will not go up again but with key in ignition with ignition on and a key in the ldrivers door lock turned to the unlock position windows will wind up again get out of car lock car with remote Key all doors lock apart from drivers door it does click a few times as if it is trying to THEN all doors lock and unlock with remote key but manual key locking still does not work seems as if it is not catching a mechanical link if there still is such a simple thing left in these cars today do i need to scrap this car ????? The ford dealer ship seams to lack any expierience expertese or knowledge that comes with mature and enthusiastic. they just seem to employ youths that are only capable of running up a lardge bill for you with no positive out come

seems to be a very common problem with these cars even the nearlynew ones on the forcourts all seemed to hav ea wet footwell and ford do not seem interested one bit. The anoying thing is you cannot hear or see where the water is getting in it just apears there and stinks after years of frustration and trying everything we removed the inner wing cover just a few torxs screws and a bit fidly to get it out with the wheel still on and found a build up of muck behind it at the very bottom cleared all this out and a small drain hole in the sill at the bottom of the wing right next to a nut and bolt and have not had a problem since and we have had a lot of heavy rain i rely do think this has cured this frustrating problem will keep an eye on this drain hole and keep it clear

have had same problem glow plug no brake lights etc Had this switch out a few times now and run servisol through it ,it was a Pig first time { doesnt want to fit properly does it } but easier after a few times, it also has some weird rachet mechanisim on the plunger {god Knows what for} i just cant understand why this dam thing needs to be so complex its only a switch for gods sake It is playing up again so will finaly get a new switch but have found to get you out of trouble when out and about Just pull over get out of the car press the brake pedal down with one hand run your finger up the top face of the pedal lever under the dash and your finger will be stoped by the switch plunger just pull this plunger back down onto the pedal lever with the end of your finger you will hear or and feel the rachet clicking and your brake lights are back in business

Hi we have exactly same problem with ABS light lots of posts and advice on these forums that may help you, Have not looked at ours yet but Seem to be another of many common wind you up no easy answers problems with this car Having said that the car is really worth its quirks Good luck 1999 Ttdi

REPLY....... Just one bleep , and it Does allways start first time from cold Must be just one of those things better to just live with it instead of {like the air con} wasting endless time strees and money trying to sort it The manual that comes with the car is as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike no mention of beeps in fact it is vague on every subject in there eg there is an aux heater somewhere around the premises of the car the manual mentions it but dosnt even say what its for Superb all purpose comfortable vehicle though, great MPG, would find ordinary car very hard to live with now, so worth puting up with all its anoying problems

We are having exactly the same problem with our 1999 TDI, intermitant at first and now it seems to happen nearly every time. When it finally starts an audible beep follows???? very strange, does anybody else hear this bleep Elize

The exhuast was leaking around the catylist joint advised by local exhaust fitters to weld the hole as catalylists rareley go faulty and a catalyst section alone would cost over 200 quid. Was also advised that the rest of the exhaust was in reasonable condition and was pretty sure it was all the original one fitted to the car when new. Have had so many vastly different quotes on fitted exhausts , and found catalyst sections to buy for under 40 quid and complete systems to buy around 100 quid or less, and with the original ford exhaust 7yrs ,120.000miles later, {with its

Hi Me and my other half regularly compete to see who can get the best mpg out of our gal (sad I know). Constantly amazed by ours (diesel 99reg). We normally average around 53 on most journeys though we have had it up to the 70s with a fair bit of coasting. My main arguement for not buying the gal was worries over fuel consumption upgrading from a very economical diesel escort. I am happy to of been proved wrong. Definately have the last laugh on all those squeezed into expensive petrol guzzling saloons. A friend has gone from a diesel gal to a very posh vauxhall vectra petrol saloon with three kids and two dogs. She is getting an average 28 mpg!!!! The husband choose the car and he's not very popular now. Having the mpg on the dash has definately changed the way I drive. I can think of a lot better things to spend money on than fuel especially with the latest 2p stealth tax "but that's another rant for another day".

we allways had water in the drivers footwell sogy carpet even splashing. Tried everything and looked every where, could not find the source of the leak ,everytime we bailed it and dryed it the next time it rained carpert soaked again then all of a sudden for what apeared to be no reason it stayed dry and has been dry ever since the only thing we have ever done is during a couple of days of dry weather decidedto straiten out crushed sills {yes we have them} with a pair of grips and filled a rough gap at the very bottom edge of the sill {is this between inner and outer sill?} and painted everything over with Hamerite smooth Silver Metalic paint exellent mathch far better than fords touch up I can only presume this has cured the wet foot well problem havent altered anything else and still bone dry. 1999 1.9 tdi Galaxy ghia

Gave up on ours, Ford dealers useles just employ uninterested kids, cost us alot of money for nothing and damaged our galaxy in the prosses we just open the rear windows in the lugage area and with the climate control managing the fan speed it copes not to bad at all will still look out for good enthusiastic ac engineer dont mind spending the money with somebody that is interested and keen to make the effort to help you

have allways used mobil 1 in my cars since early 90s and have never had any engine probs. apart from one jaguar all cars have been old bangers. changed the oil for the first time on my 1999 tdi galaxy discovered fords had cross threaded the sump plug suprise suprise inexperienced uninterested kids again managed to force sump plug back on again and filled with mobil 1 have noticed an average increace of around 4 to 5 mpg on my 12 mile run to work this may be due to the oil being new just hope this 0 w 40 oil is ok for the car elize

jackthehat Good luck in your search for a good galaxy. Other probs we had were: Radio would not code. Apparently it's not easy to replace with just any radio especially if you have the control stick on the steering wheel. We ended up at RDS in chester. They were fantastic but it was still

Hi Huge thanks to littledaz for his excellent advice on alternators and pulleys. Here's an update. We contacted E & M Motor factors in Aberystwyth and they could supply re-con alternator for

We have now removed alternator completely. Can spin the pulley both ways independantly from the internal fan. This is making that awful screech niose. There is also lots of red dust so I pressume this is definately the pully and pressume the alternator itself is fine. There seems to be a cartel getting a lot of money from us folks for unnessesary parts. Did you take yours for repair or fit part yourself. Can I ask cost? Thanks Elize P.S. As I live in the back of beyond getting parts or anything is near to impossible

Hi Driving in my 1.9tdi 99V ghia gal on round trip of about 14 miles. Could hear faint noise like birds tweeting coming from engine area. Noise got gradually louder and by time got home was louder, more freequent with a metalic clunking sound. Seems if I drive it much more something is going to go. Lifted bonnet noise seems to come from alternator area. Released the belt (used adjustable spanner to wrench tensioner, it is a tight pull). Alternator pulley seems to spin quite freely although there was a rubbing noise. Aircon pulley seems to be fine. Pulley on the tensioner arm does seem to have a little play (can rock it a couple of mil each way). So did suspect the tensioner. Next morning engine was cold, spun alternator pulley again and sometimes could hear tweeting bird noises so presume alternator is problem. I have 2 belts on mine. The power steering and water pump in on the other belt. Have tried test that littledaz recommended . Pulley is locked to fans in both directions. Fans are visible at both front and rear housing. Numbers on back are Bosch BR14-MO F OOM 145 225 on one part and 120A 14V 028 903 028 BOO 30/99 124 515 010 967 on the other whatever this means. Wondering if this is supposed to be a freewheeling pulley or not. Do not want to go to Frauds as they have damaged my car on 2 occasions (including cracking front grill panel and doing very dodgy looking repair). Cost me a fortune in time and money and still have not got jobs done I have paid for. Aaagh!!! Have a lot more faith in this site. Can anyone advise please??? I am going to remove the alternator now anyway and have a look at it. I will let u know how get on. ps. When revving the engine the noise dies down quite a lot and the alternator pulley appears to move outwards from the alternator by a few mil. When you drop the revs the pulley moves back in and the noise increases dramatically. With the belt removed the pulley and shaft can be pulled backwards and forwards a few mil in and out of the alternator. Is this of any relevance??

thankyou thankyou thankyou. Have just fitted speaker grills following your instructions and pics. These grills have been laying around the house for weeks and we were beginning to think we would have to brave taking door cards off. We soaked them in very hot water before bending the lugs to make them more pliable. Don't know if this made difference but they bent quite easily and non broke. Hardest part was removing old grills. Beware as these are incredibly sharp when they snap and I did cut myself. (lovely peace now husband has stopped ranting about stupid grills).

Thanks tiny. At last someone who knows there is a difference in different antifreeze colours. My car is a 99 Vreg TDi Ghia X. I can only presume that when ford changed the rad they have not flushed the whole of the system and have refilled using the super +. Presuming the original blue has already been partly diluted by the pink would it be enough to just drain and flush the rad side of the system and refill with super+ premium as it seems to be quite a mega job to flush the engine side as well, as it appears the power stearing pump etc has to come off to access the thermostat. Has anyone else had this prob with fords as I am surprised fords have so lilttle knowledge of my car.

Please help? I also have antifreeze dilema. Car had light blue tinted antifreeze. All I could buy was pink. Needed new radiator so asked ford to also flush system and fill with super plus premium. I have a bottle of this and it is pink. When got home and checked antifreeze in my car is still light blue. The invoice states the antifreeze as being the same part number as is on the super plus permium. Phoned ford to ask why it is still blue but they did not seem to have clue about what I was talking about. I think they are under impression I have a hang up about colours. As it states in the hand book colours or specs should never be mixed can anyone give me any advise as having spent over