seatkid

I would say your symptoms are classic glowplug failure. Its easy to check the glowplugs if you have a meter! First pull off the glowplug busbar off each plug (its tight - needs a good tug!) then using the meter, measure resistance to the engine block - IIRC it should be around 0.3 ohms. If you dont have a meter, use a 12v light bulb in series with the glowplug connector and 12v - it should light brightly. If the glowplug is duff they are usually more or less open circuit. I got premium brand NGK from my Delphi stockists at

I thought all modern cars are fitted with non corroding alloy piping and not steel. IMO Its a common trick for some MOT stations to claim corroding pipes when all the matter is the pipes are covered in road salt. A good wipe down with an oily rag would fix that. The flexi pipes are the bits that deteriorate and the fluid should be replaced every 2 - 3 years. Why not go to another MOT station e.g. Kwikfit for a second opinion - Kwikfit will do a brake check for free and allow you to look for yourself. Could save

OK - Fault fixed. Just to recap..... Fault: Car won't start if left over the weekend. Solution: Replace car.... seems foolproof.... :P

Ah! Could this be the secret to a quiet life? :P FWIW All car batteries are made with "Pb" (lead) - "Pb-Ca" (lead-calcium alloy) plates are used in modern maintenance free batteries (no need to top up water). The older Lead-Antimony alloy type requires topping up with water, although they have other advantages/disadvantages and are still available as "leisure" batteries - the kind used in boats and caravans. The Calcium or Antimony is used to strengthen/reinforce the Lead grids.

The wear limit IIRC for a track rod end is only 0.3mm, i.e. very little. Basically any free play and its an MOT failure. The reason for this is that free play will usually lead to rapid further wear and a dangerous level of play. You would not normally notice 0.3mm of play as a driver - maybe just a tendency for the vehicle to wander. One way to check, is to rock the front wheel in question in the left/right direction, you should be able to determine if there is "slack" (could be only 2-3mm at the wheel), its done easier with the wheel jacked or on one of those rotating plates they have at MOT stations. Track rod ends do seem to wear quickly on a Galaxy, probably because of the front end weight.

I agree, the "Car Mechanics" :lol: reference to 5mA is total toss. Most modern cars have a residual current drain of anything between 20 and 200mA - Remote, alarm, ECU, clock, etc. Even 200mA should only drain a fully charged 90Ah battery to a serious degree (50%) after 9 days. The solution to Greenfingers problem is probably to toss the "Numax" and fit a proper battery.

Scorpiorefugee is bang on, pre-made leads, especially the thin white ones are absolute

6p connection fee......0845/0870 up to 600% more than standard BT rates...locked out of indirect carrier access.......yup..... guess someone needs some new glasses to read the small print..... :lol:

A decent aerial will fix Andrew T's problem. SKY is for people with more money than sense, Cable is for the seriously stupid i.e those who pay

WARNING! :wacko: Low flying pigs at 12 o'clock! ;)

:lol:

Blow the man down...... :lol:

The problem with Belmont is the frequency allocation of the the multiplexes is spread widely. Your existing (probably group A) aerial needs to be changed for a wideband (group W) aerial - many source online if you search.

On the diesels, its a known problem. When an engine undertray has not been refitted (usually following a service), water can be sprayed by the wheel onto the power steering belt, causing it to slip and lose all power assistance momentarily. Check the undertray is fitted. If its not, get it fitted and go threaten whoever left it off with a lawsuit as its pretty dangerous.

Seesh....this thread is getting like one of those MO4 threads... :D Don't read too much into the minutiae of Voltage readings - those 0.10 volts are not that significant. Voltage on a car battery varies with lots of things..... temperature, state of charge, load, and time - when a load is removed, the voltage will rise over many minutes, when charging is stopped the voltage will fall over a hour or so. Seatkid has an Exide Ultra W017TE battery fitted (850A CCA, 95Ah, 4 year warranty plus an extra year negoiated and signed for...cost

Your "new" battery has internal (electrical) leakage - probably one cell...... Several possibilties:- Your "new" battery may have been on the shelf for some time before you got it. If it was stored "wet", these must be kept trickle charged to ensure they dont deteriorate. They also must not be dropped or subject to shock - this damages cells. Numax Batteries may be an inferior cheaper brand

Nah....red herring...27VAC with the engine off? I think not....you've either got a dicky meter or you're reading millivolts!

Open the rear door and place on seat..........next question? :ph34r:

Glove box light? Disconnect the alternator - In the dark distant past I have known these to drain batteries Its time to get the TIS wiring diagrams out and plan a sequence of attack starting at the battery and working back. My MK1 has several wires connected to the main battery terminal, maybe I would start by disconnecting these........

Do you have illuminated vanity mirrors? These often break and don't switch off when closed.......

Now, I can't edit my posts any more - theres no edit button! The avatars have disappeared, instead of smileys there are wierd (IMG:Frustratedmo4typelook) strings. I'm running Firefox 2.0 but the problem is the same in IE6

(Mods.....Whats happened to the edit key?) Even if your resting current is 200mA, your battery will discharge in approx 2 weeks not 3 days.

First of all, double check those ammeter figures, is it really 0.5A (500mA) dropping to 0.2A (200mA) when pulling the "central electrics" fuse? Is it an autoranging meter? Check the position of that decimal point......what I'm trying to say is that 50.0mA dropping to 20.0mA would be perfectly correct, but 0.5A dropping to 0.2A would imply two (or more) faults which I would say is unlikely. A volt drop test purely tests whether all cells are working, however it may be that the battery is still self discharging. The way to check this 1. fully charge the battery, 2. disconnect the battery from the vehicle, after 20 mins check the voltage, it should be approx 12.8V. 3. come back after 24-48hrs, and the voltage should still be about the same. Believe me, its not unusual to be sold a duff battery, they are rarely stored correctly by sellers.......

If youve had your remote key open (eg to change the battery) then theres a good possibility the immobiliser chip has fallen out. The immobiliser chip is seperateto the remote, it is a tiny thing (pictures are somewhere on this forum) and does not require batteries. The other possibility is that the immobiliser code in the key does not match the the stored code in the ECU for some reason.

Grab a rosary, quick ten hail marys, sing 2 verses of "Whiteout", and then a visit to the local "Idontbelieveitsatyredepot" and fit some decent tyres (Conti sport contacts)..... :lol: