Jim

The wipers on 'er indoor's Gal have been just about going on full speed for a while. Today I finally got around to fixing it. The drivers side spindle came out not problem. Passeneger side required a vice and a bit of pulling and hauling. Once both were out, spraying some WD40 and 2-3 turns they were both moving freely - the real effort seems to be getting the spindles out. Anyhow, a bit of a clean and some copper grease and everything seems to be more or less working normally. It still sticks the odd time on intermittent wash, but the windscreen is bone dry (sun is shining in Belfast today!) so that probably doesn't help. Thanks to all the contributors for their help.

Thanks again NikpV Looks like these key things come in handy! Jim

What key? :D I assume they are talking about the one and only key for the lock - the one that my wife lost? I shall have a go in the next day or two and hopefully will be able to remove it without the key! I'll try and have a chat with the locksmith when I'm there on Thursday (hopefully) when he's cutting me another remote ignition key. Yes, my intention is to give him the handle and HE will remove and repin the barrel to my ignition key. He did mention having to break something to get the barrel out of the handle and then get a replacement part from Ford to fit it again?

Cheers - yes definitely front door. Need to get something done with the barrel

Maybe I have to remove the door card to disconnect the lock somehow. :blink:

Cheers NikpV Looks complicated stuff - :blink: When I loosen screw 1, is it likely to fall into the door frame never to return? Also, what is part 3? This is good news as it looks like I don't have to remove the door card after all ! OH! Just spotted. Is this for the front door? Does the lock/barrel not attached to something?

I've search for over an hour trying to find this! How do I remove the exterior passenger door handle on a Mk II ? I have to take it to a locksmith to have the lock repinned to the same as the rest of the car. There is a torx screw on the side of the door, but removing it didn't seem to acheive much? I did find the door card removal thread, so I know how to do that if I have to.

I shall ban the use of the cop holders! Only things is, how do I enforce it when I'm in my passat (with the cup holders stupidly positioned below the radio). :lol:

I have the same thumping into 3rd gear. This only happens when the car is cold AND when accelerating a little harder than normal (both together). Having said that it is easy to reproduce when cold. Problem is, that by the time I get to a ford dealer the car has warmed up and changes are fine. They've looked at it a few times and tell me nothing is wrong, but I've also been told that certain mechanical problems willnot show up on the diagnostics? Other folk who are having this trouble. 1. Has anyone managed to get it resolved? 2. Does it only happen when cold, or on every 2nd --> 3rd change?

I would just like to congratulate whoever it was in the Galaxy design team that decided it would be a good idea to have cup holders above the radio (and other electical switches etc). After my wife told me the radio was behaving funny, I looked and found the front of the radio sticky - this was shortly after her visit to McDs with the kids. Thankfully it has now dried out and seems OK.

I like two blind spot mirrors for my Gal! These should come as standard.

They should initially beep once or twice when reverse gear is engaged. Then as you reverse towards an object, the beeps should get closer together, until eventually you get so close that it becomes a single constant beep. Hope thats what you meant in your question? Not that if you are a few metres away from anything, they should not beep at all after the initial couple of beeps. (I think the initial beeps are just to let you know they are working). Does your mate have a towbar fitted - some of these can confuse the sensors?

Hi Nimrod. My intentions is to use the spade/bayonet fittings inside the car in the cubby hole you describe. I am thinking of soldering some cables about 8 inches long onto the "circuit board" and then connecting these to the 7 core cable fed into the cubby hole from outside. Sorry if I had not described that clearly. I am trying to avoid cutting into the existing cables if possible, so that in the event of other electrical problems, the towbar electrics can be removed without trace - I want to remove a get out clause for my fraud protect warranty. :lol: How did you get the 7 core cable into the cubby hole you describe? At the moment, any trailer/light boards I have do not have fog lamps, so the wire would be redundant, but thanks for the tip anyway. Thanks, Jim

Unfortunately there is no socket in the rear of post facelift Gals. I know what you mean about scotch locks - I am not a fan either, but the area is limited for space to work in. I think what I may do is solder wires directly onto the "circiut board" of the lamp housing - where the bulbs plug into to. I will then connect these wires to the towbar electrics using bayonet and spade fittings. This definitely means there will be one (should be two) also coming from the passenger side of the car for the indicator (and side light). Is there any access to the passenger side indicator wiring from the driver side?? As for access into the car, the vent does look like an option, but this would mean the vent being left partially open with the wire in it. Will this cause a problem? Is there another way in, or does anyone know how the ford towbar electrics gain access to the car? I think I will just skip the wire for the fog lamps.

Did a search through posts, but couldn't find answer to my questions. I have fitted a Brink towbar and everything went OK there. I am now looking to finish the jobs a and connect (single) electrics - not the Ford one! I have a few questions for those of you who have already done this. 1. How do I get the wiring into the car. I have found some grommets under the car, but I am not sure these go to the correct place? 2. Do I have a splice (scotch lock) into the wiring on both sides of the car. What I mean is feed the seven core wire into the rear drivers side and do most of the splicing there, and then have a feed for the passenger side indicator coming from the passenger side of the car to the drivers side to make the final connection with the seven core cable? I am assuming there is no feed for the passenger side indicator in the rear drivers side. 3. I can open the conduit running below the jack and seen lots of wires (no room near the plug for the lights). Which wires in the conduit connect with the seven wires in the towbar wiring? Thanks, Jim

One would hope so - its a VW engine!

Sounds very expensive not to make a warranty claim. I know my Ford Protect extended warranty covers me in Europe, so why would your Ford warranty from Belgium not cover you in the UK????

New compressor being fitted on Monday - thank goodness for Ford Protect extended warranty. I guess that counts as a total failure!!

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If there was a problem the towbar manufacturers would not get EC type approval.

I removed the crash bar when I fitted my Brink towbar on my Galaxy. I also removed the crash bar when I fiited a Witter towbar to my Passat.

Mine's in on Monday to have a new compressor fitted - thank goodness for the 3 year extended ford protect warranty - thats's now easily paid for itself!!!!

email sent.

After my initial task of fitting a Brink towbar, my next task will be to do the electrics - single 12N socket for trailer lights. I know I will need an audible relay, as I couldn't be bothered with going to the dealer and having them attempt to enable the dashbord light. However, I am unsure what relay (if any) I will require. The questions I have are 1. Does my car have a buld failure system? I don't think it does as when I disconnect one side of the rear lights, no warning lights are shown on the dashboard. 2. Does my car have mutliplex wiring? In fact what exactly does this mean? 3. If I do need a relay, then which one? There are quite a few availble - http://www.towsure.com/shop/product_type.asp?TypeID=131 When I fitted a towbar to my 98 Passat, I used no relay and everything worked fine.

Totally confused me, but here's the Brink manual for fitting. I assume, like me, you had the original crash bar left over. There was no way the bumper would go back on for me with the original crash bar still attached to the bumper.