fedupwithjunk

I spent months trying to find anyone selling replacement parking sensors and eventually got one from a scrap yard only to discover a different sort of error - a long beep immediately upon putting it in reverse. Not got round to plugging in the vag com (BTW Sophos tells me Vag-com is a virus) so not sure if if this is another sensor down or what. How Ford get away with saking

Drove the S-max 2.0 TDCi zetec today and it ticked all the boxes. Smooth, quiet and somehow not as "rolly" as the Gal without giving a harder ride. Performance is way up, I was breaking the speed limit before I even glanced at the speedo. 5 of the seats are very comfortable but had that "sporty" feel. I don't know how this will feel on long journeys compared to the Gals armchairs. The back row is hard and really only suitable for kids because of a lower roof height and the roof slopes down. There is no lip to the loading area which is quite low and looks well designed - only a few seconds to folds seats down and there is a great big flat load space which maybe bigger than the gal (but definately lacks height -the S-max is 127mm longer and 12mm wider but 120mm lower) Overall it does feel more sporty and modern but the wife said immediately "it feels low". (probably have to look at a Hummer then? ;) )

I can confirm that my auto averages 43-44 mpg throughout the year and can easily do over 50mpg on a good day. I think it does better than the manuall mainly because of driving style of auto drivers

Looking to replace my Gal now and have tried just about everything. Compared to tdi gal the voyager / espace / sedona have crap mpg (experienced it myself so I don't know how some people are measuring theirs) and wallow across the road especially at speed. Had 2 experiences of electrical failure with zafiras. seats feel like wooden benches Father in law has a Touran which is fine - good drive and mpg, but like most other mid size mpv the seats are nothing like as comfy as the Gal and has no spare wheel or even a boot when 7 seats are up. A chap down the road has a new citroen grand picasso and absolutley loves it. I test drove one and it wasn't as tacky as I expected it to be. Again the seats are not as good but do the clever folding thing. Gall III seems small in comparison, seat height a disapointment and I don't think I can stick 2-3 mountain bikes in the back for weekends away. Hopefully trying a S-max this week - not got the space but apparently is the best mpv to drive and unlike a lot of the competition it looks pretty smart. Good MPG, good reviews, less tax and more 21st century... I just hope it lives up to my expectations Forgot to mention, just spent the summer in Oz driving a Previa - huge, loads of space, suspension seemed soft and seats looked like they would be uncomfortable but nobody moaned about the ride over 4 weeks. Petrol version so mpg was crap - a friend has a avensis verso (ugly in and out) diesel and gets over 50mpg so theres hope for the oil burner. Only problem is they don't sell the thing in the Uk anymore and I am wary of the clocked imports.

There has been a lot of similar posts if you search the forum. The most common conclusion was head gasket which seemed to cure it for some people. I have had 3 thermostats changed to no avail. Eventually a second gas test revealed exhaust gas in the header tank. (search my previous posts and you'll see the multitude of tests and work I have had done) But after a dose of K-seal it has been driving fine for a year like this except I have to keep an eye on the coolant level and my heater blows cold half the time. My garage are pretty sure its not the head gasket and in consulation with Ford uk they think that it is actually a cracked turbo. The car is now 8 years old and is not worth the investigation any longer and I am going to chop it in for a new one. Maybe and S-max?

Well I put the K-Seal in and things got better but not perfect. It stopped overheating immediately but the expansion tank is still pressurising from the second the engine starts. K-Seal recommend using more than one bottle on cars with large cooling systems - I have now used 3 bottles and the coolant looks very pretty with all those flecks of copper floating around but I am having to add up to a Litre of water every time I use the car. No sign of a leak anywhere but the exhaust has started to look a little smoky (steam?) on start up. The temp did rise under acceleration up a very long hill in France but cooled quickly when I backed off. So K-seal helped a bit but has not been the wonder cure some people claim.

We had the low pressure sensor error when we bought our Gal a couple of years ago and it was fixed by the garage under warranty. (Again no leak found and they determined it was the switch) Its just done it again and I am hoping its a faulty switch again. Can anyone tell me exactly where the low pressure switch is?

I am struggling with the idea of selling / trading in a faulty car so I might have one last go at it myself. Can anyone advise on the difficulty of changing head gasket myself (I have done a couple of older cars in the past)- any special tools needed, what was that about an engine locking kit? Also if you found a crack in the head, exactly where was it? And MikePrice - when you put pipes back on with the hose still filling the system where was the hose connected? And Sepulchrave - where can you get "cheap" cyclinder heads? anything in the Peterborough area? BTW I found an error code on the aux heater - "over temp"?

Well the K-seal seemed to have a positive effect - everything seemed pretty good for about a week then I went to France and after driving 200 miles we were just about to stop for a coffee and the "STOP" warning re-appeared. Highly pressurised and low expansion tank needed topping up. ( and again ten minutes later) 200 miles later did the same, then every trip I notice the water was getting lower each time and needed topping up. Can anyone who traded theirs in tell me if the garages do any checking of the vehicle first (ie will I be able to trade it in?) I can't face spending any more money on the thing. BTW it drives fine and averaged 48mpg on the french trip.

Seeing as the topic of coolant loss is very popular - the last post on it quickly ran over 1000 views (and I think previous ones did too) I wondered how many of you have tried K-Seal? Its a more modern version of RadWeld and some claim it works perfectly but a few reports (mainly non specific) say steer clear. Facing

After looking around the internet and asking a few more mechanics I think I bought a dud. I think the oily deposit in my expansion tank is the remains of a rad weld type fix the previous owner must have done and the stuff has worked its way loose. My problems appeared about a year after buying the car and have steadily got worse over the year. Having spent over

Can you tell us what sort of figure we are talking about for replacing the head with a new / recon?

This is driving me nuts now. Today I checked it was topped up and drove 90 miles without problem. Then a couple of hours later drove 3 miles and the coolant warning STOP came on. I left it for 20 minutes without doing anything to it and it now drives fine again. Its not a sensor error - the water level is actually going down / being forced down? I am pretty sure air is being forced in somehow but if its not the HG what is it?

The Gal went back to the garage and they have had it for 3 days and have just called me to say they didn't do the head gasket because they are sure that that is not the problem? They did put a new cap on the expansion tank and replaced the pipe on the expansion tank for one without a restricter in it. Test drove it for 25 miles and it sat at a a steady 90 degrees. They are quoting

Can anyone reccomend Vag Com type diag kit that works on a 51 Galaxy 1.9 tdi Ebay have things that are as cheap as