seatkid

hmmm....someone will, no doubt, be along shortly to advise you further.....

Check the wiring in all 4 door and the tailgate rubber gaitors. THe wires break and/or the insulation goes brittle and drops off allowing shorts. It is a very common problem and leads to all sorts of symptoms with windows/locks/speakers etc. It is covered in detail with pictures in the technical FAQ (31,43,44) Damn, Chris beat me to it!

Wrong section - search /repost in the MKIII section

Its a mechanical (spring loaded) tensioner/pulley and should be be replaced when the belt is changed.

Probably the wires in the rubber door gaitor are broken. Common problem. Check the technical FAQ 31,43 and 44 for guides on how to fix them.

Once turned on, they run continually. Only the petrol ford engines (galaxy 2.0/2.3L) have a icing stat on the evaporator which can switch the compressor off if the evaporator gets too cold (i.e. iced up)

if you look here you will see 2 things -the kits seem to include a control unit and for your Galaxy the words "dealer coding compulsory" appear - that implies that the ECU needs to be coded to enable trailer socket wiring - remember its a CANBUS system and it has current sensing on the bulbs.

Yes. The key has a PATS transponder chip. If the key you have is a remote type, then check you didnt lose this if you opened the key to change batteries (it drops out very easily). The car will not start without the PATS chip.

Point 6 - There are zips on the seat covers at the rear bottom - I think its possible to remove the seat covers (and bung them into a washing machine) Point 2 - loud squealing from the engine when running is often the alternator belt slipping - solution is to tighten belt (and replace if its falling to bits)

Do yourself a favour and check the brake vacuum pipe to the manifold. The engine rocks fore and aft under varying load. These pipes split and move because they are stiff plastic and the other end is fixed to the bulkhead. It will cost you nothing to check before you start throwing big money at the problem.

Good point by Silverbeast - check the spare tyre is secure first. otherwise one of the following: rear arm bush(es) rear subframe bush or mount (you have to remove the spare wheel to check this) rear anti roll bar bushes all pretty easy and cheap to fix If you take the car to somewhere like kwikfit they will have a look and tell you what needs changing (it will be cheaper to get it done at an independent) These are the bits in question

googoogoogle

And there I thought these things were plug and play nowadays, just plugin straight into the loom. Maybe I imagined that.

IIRC Remove the 2? pozidrive screws located in the top of the cluster (over the clocks) - cant remember if there are any more - anyway the cluster then pulls out - at the back you'll see access to 2 x 5w bulbs - similar to the rear parking bulbs - easy to change. Although my memory is vague I do recall it only took 2 or 3 minutes in total to do.

What I should have said was "dont trust guys who use just dyes" Firstly I dont think dye is a good thing to have in your system, its just a contaminant that cant be removed once its in. Secondly my experience when the dealer lobbed in 3 lots of dye, it didnt help them find the leak, most posters who've gone this route seem to have a similar experience. You end up paying for something and getting nothing.

Sorry to hear about that. Yours being a Mk2 there is a good possibility the leak is at the dryer - see here - Unfortunately the dryer is integrated with the condenser so you have to change both. A specialist with sniffer gear should be able to check/locate the leak - dont trust guys who use dyes.

No. a single check shouldnt make much difference - but if its like me when I check the tyres, I always seem to let a fair bit of pressure out in my bungling to get the gauge to fit right. There are a number of possibilities I think. I assume you have a reasonably clean pollen filter i.e. its not completely blocked One is the temperature flap is not driving fully to the lo position - sticking flaps are a known problem but they usually throw up a fault code/flashing display. You can try exercising the flap by changing the temperature from LO to HI ot LO several times - you need to wait about 30 seconds in between each change to wait for the flap to move (it moves slowly) Another is the internal seals in the compressor are ineffective so the compressor isnt pumping effectively. However as it was working well earlier, I dont think it would deteriorate that quickly. Another possibilty is a blockage due to debris etc. This can happen at the expansion valve and also in the receiver dryer. I would check the outlet temperature (face vents) with a digital thermometer, using your hand is not very scientific and its easy to think its not doing its job - and dont expect an old system to get down much below about 10 degrees - just be happy with that. Also remember the a/c only works at the front - the rear blower is just a recirc heater and that usually blows warm even when its turned to LO. If your not happy with the temp, then have a word with Kwikfit, they dont charge you if the regas doesnt improve the temperature by 10% (provided it was warmish to start with) - they may agree to regas it at a reduced price if youve recently done it with them. You will they know how much gas precisely was lost and it may also remove any contaminant (water) that may have (but shouldnt have) been left in the system. They also put in another 10ml of oil, which will help the seals swell and may increase its effectiveness.

I think this is usually due to the O ring missing or damaged on the T piece that sits in the fuel filter (secured by the mickey mouse style clip)

bsi? british standards institute? :)

The compressor compresses the gas and the gas changes state under pressure to liquid - in the process releasing heat. The liquified gas passes through the condenser (mounted in front of the radiator) to cool it to near ambient. It then travels round to the bulkhead and enters the evaporator (mounted in the dash) through an expansion valve (basically just a constriction device). On the other side of the valve is the evaporator which is at low pressure. The liquified gas changes state (boils) back into a gas because of the pressure drop. In the process, due to latent heat of evaporation, the gas cools and voila you have a cold evaporator - which is basically a radiator over which the fan blows air to provide cool air. The gas then travels back to the compressor back via the receiver/dryer which is basically a filter come reservoir. Therefore you have a high pressure (liquid) side and a low pressure (gas) side when the system is working normally. Because of the design of the compressor (a one way device) and expansion valve (a device that needs a minimum amount of pressure to open) the pressure will not necessarily equalise even after the system has been switched off a while (dependent on bypass leakage). Everytime you plug in your gauge, you release some gas (technically this is illegal). If you release just say 10 - 20g of gas each time, you will find the system cooling will start to drop dramatically after several such releases.

Could be a misfire has triggered it. If the fault clears, it takes a day or two and a few restarts before it clears the light IIRC. Check your spark plugs/leads/coilpaks are all in good condition and working properly.

What are these systems?

Stop messing about with it! Every time you connect your gauge you lose a bit of gas, if only takes a relatively small amount lost to affect its performance. The pressure varies depending on many things, and you cant measure the amount of gas directly from pressure readings. Because its climate control, it will be trying to maintain a constant temperature unless you set it to LO. Even then I personally find the performance of CC is dependent on external temperature (the hotter outside, the cooler the air) and the fan speed. As long as the compressors working, you have sufficient gas in your system. Just keep it running and see how long it lasts.

Take it to Kwikfit - £49 to regas - if it doesn't work or has a leak then it'll cost you nothing - they'll tell you how much was in and leave you with the correct amount in even it doesn't work - unless of course if you've got a leak then the machine will not fill it up. (no cost)

Have you checked the spark plugs/leads/coilpaks? Could just be misfiring. Next thing to check is for air leaks around inlet manifold - maybe a pipe is not on properly or the brake vacuum pipe that goes from the servo to the inlet manifold is split (common). As for crud in your fuel, it will be trapped in the fuel filter - but I would think symptoms (lack of power) would occur under load and speed rather than pulling away from start.