rwtomkins

There was a thread a few months back on how to fit roofbars to a Gal that doesn't already have them, but I can't remember if it said where you get them from. You could try searching for that. Otherwise, if you can afford it, why not wait for the new chrome roof bars to come out and buy them from Ford?

I've always got the impression from reading this forum that loss of power and lack of acceleration were classic symptoms of a failed MAF sensor. So just of curiosity, what is it makes you experts think it's the coil pack in this case? Is it the black smoke? Seems to me it could be an expensive (or at least time consuming) mistake to fix the wrong thing and so a diagnostic would be the sensible route. But hey, what do I know?

Thanks for that advice, seatkid. Evidently the problem is you can't properly charge a silver-calcium Gal battery with an ordinary battery charger. I never knew that, and I can't believe they don't tell you in the owner's manual. I do seem to be getting some kind of a charge into it, though, so I think I'll just persist in the hope of getting enough amps in to fire up the engine, then go on a long drive. Meanwhile, looks like I need to invest in a pair of jump leads.

Is there something weird about Gal batteries that means ordinary battery chargers don't work properly on them? The handbook says they have a silver calcium battery, whatever that is, and my Hilka heavy-duty battery charger/engine starter says it is only to be used on lead/acid batteries. In any event, I managed to completely flatten the car battery on Saturday night and on hooking up the charger on Sunday, got very weird readings. The charger seemed to be working but it was as if the battery didn't want to take the charge - the meter on the charger didn't seem to lift off zero. After spending most of the day on the charger, the voltage across the terminals was only 7.3 volts. I disconnected the charger overnight but when I came back to look at in the morning, it was reading 10.5 volts across the terminals! So I've hooked up the charger again to see what happens and come into work. Just don't understand what's going on. By the way the battery itself looks weird - it doesn't seem to have any manufacturer's brand on it and doesn't have the little letters Ca on it, unlike the picture in the owner's handoobk. It's been perfectly OK up till no, though. Only 1 year old.

So we're back to Ford SD 5W40 or Millers XFE-PD 5W40! On page one of this thread, gazza007 suggested saving yourself some money by choosing the Millers product at

Yes, same question - you've got the kiddies all strapped up in the car and you just want to leave them there for a minute while you dash into a shop or something, keeping them within eyesight in case the car spontaneously combusts. You can't put the alarm on because their movements inside the car will set it off. So how do you lock the doors without switching the alarm on?

I must admit I'm a bit dubious about these gadgets, though I've no facts to go on. But let's suppose shararnman's right and the manufacturer develops a fuel map that satisfies all people on all occasions. If you tweak that map to provide yourself with advantages in some circumstances, surely you're also going to create disadvantages in other circumstances? It's got to be swings and roundabouts, hasn't it? Otherwise, as others have pointed out before, why on earth wouldn't the manufacturer tune the engine to give the superior all-round performance that these gadgets claim? Or maybe this is just sour grapes...

Very entertaining story. To be safe, I really would recommend just sticking to the Ford or VW product designed for this engine, which is a semi-synthetic 5W40, or the Millers XFE-PD, also designed for this engine. Of course, the real fun and games will come when you take the vehicle in for its first service. Even if you take it to a Ford dealer, when you give it to the service dept, they'll almost certainly put their one-size-fits-all rubbish in it when they change the oil, which probably doesn't meet VW505.01. If you really love your engine you'll go round to the parts dept, get a 5-litre can of Ford SD 5W40, and insist they use that oil when they do the oil change instead of their own stuff. You should also insist they return to you the 1 litre that should be left in the can if they have filled the sump to its correct capacity. Who knows, this may even discourage them from over-filling the sump, though I wouldn't bank on it.

in my opinion the safest thing you can do is go to your ford dealer's parts dept and pick up a can of the oil recommended for your vehicle in the handbook, which is the Ford Formula SD 5W40 (a semi-synthetic designed for this engine and meeting VW505.01). if for some reason you don't want to do this, then as the others say above, it's very important you use an oil that meets VW505.01. what i certainly wouldn't do is go to your garage's service dept and ask them to top it up with their own stuff. they will use some one-size-fits-all rubbish that probably won't kill your engine overnight but is very unlikely to conform with VW505.01 so won't exactly do it much good. maybe some people will think this is being over-cautious but you've got a nearly new vehicle there and i'm sure you want to take good care of it.

It's not quite as bad as I made it sound. My gal's kept in the basement car park of a tower block and like some other residents I wash the car inside the car park by naughtily using the emergency fire hose. This time of year I try to make sure I'm getting all the salty road spray out of every nook and cranny, spraying the underside, radiator grill etc, but I only use the hose on fairly low pressure.

Where is the pollen filter? Is there a danger of wetting it by enthusiastically blasting the radiator grill with a fire hose, as I did last Sunday afternoon?

Can anyone supply the text of TSB 55/2003, the bulletin referred to by elj? I'm amazed to hear Ford's offering a fix for the ticking noise. I think I might go for it since my gal's under warranty - but first, does anyone know what the fix is?

There's something I've never really understood about the previous threads discussing whether such-and-such oil is okay for the Gal. Why don't we all just use the Ford product specified in the vehicle handbook? Is it because non-Ford oils are cheaper, or because non-Ford oils are better, or just because it's too inconvenient to get to the dealer? I've got a 1.9TDI and this morning I took it in for its first service. I went round to the parts department and bought 5 litres of Ford Formula SD 5w40, the oil specified in the handbook, and told the service department to use that, not their own stuff. Formula SD is a semi-synthetic designed to meet VW 505.01 spec so it sounds as good as it gets. It cost

surely a lot depends on whether our old friend the auxiliary heater fires up? despite the operating parameters laid down in the handbook and/or CD, these units seem to have a mind of their own and are quite unpredictable in whether they decide to fire up or not. on a cool day when the aux heater isn't in the mood, i wouldn't be surprised if it took quite a few miles of driving to get the coolant up to a temperature where you are getting much pleasure from the interior heater. similarly, without any help from the aux heater, i wouldn't say ross's experience - 8 miles to reach 90 degrees - sounds particularly worrying or unusual. not in my experience, anyway.

for what it's worth, mine's a 1.9TDI, and it was an import, and it said "service now" at about 2,800 miles even though it was only about eight months old at the time. (yes, i know, i only do a low mileage.) i just ignored it and i'm about to book it in for its first annual service right now. i wouldn't worry about it, Taliska - my suggestion is just wait till it reaches 10,000 miles or its first birthday, whichever is the sooner. just like the handbook says.

i was thinking of putting my ghia's fabric mats in the washing machine. anyone ever tried this?

none of my business really but unless i completely mis-read him, richmond was taking the p***. unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a clickable smilie for irony

Well noise is a very subjective thing so we can't expect everyone to be equally annoyed or even annoyed at all. I'm one who does find it a bit annoying - it seems a bit daft for Ford to go to all the trouble of making a quiet car and then allow the clicking to spoil it. Anyway, it sounds from what Fordy and Jeff115 say that Ford have found a fix, so the only question is, will they retrofit? I'll be interested to hear how you get on, elj. By the way, Howard, I entirely agree with you, they should damn well fix the more serious things! But that doesn't mean they can't fix the little things, too!

Hi Jeff115, it's very strange you're not getting the tick tick tick noise from the aux heater fuel pump. Anyone else with a new diesel galaxy not getting it? All I can say is lucky you. Though if I remember right from last winter, if you stop and switch off the Gal for a while, then fire her up again, the ticking is often a lot quieter than before.

Just kidding, Sher, sorry if I upset you. I agree we should all make up our own minds about this and I presume there's nothing illegal in tweaking the Gal to increase it's NOx emissions. I don't think it's for me, though, so I hope someone can tell me how to ungum my inlet manifold when the time comes!

That's all fine and dandy but don't you risk murdering your fellow countrymen with your newly enhanced output of noxious fumes? I'm sure there's some would not be missed but you can't exactly pick and choose

Great advice as always. For those of us who fail to follow it, is it a practical proposition just to have your inlet manifold un-gummed from time to time? What's involved and is it a DIY job or an expensive visit to the dealer?

Yeah, that's the smell, a bit like napalm in the morning. Jeff, I've no reason to believe there's a fault with mine. The only thing wrong with it is the clicking noise of the aux fuel pump which is an annoying design fault rather than a malfunction. Once the aux heater comes on, I think it should stay on until the coolant temperature is close to normal operating level (presumably, anything over 85 degrees centigrade). At that point is should shut off UNLESS the ambient temerature is below, from memory, 7 degrees centigrade, in which case it will carry on forever. Again, anyone know how to acccess the archive so's Jeff can look up the old string?

As a flash CC git, I'm still a bit worried about this. I mean, if you've got CC and the heater's operating, how do you know whether the aircon is operating or not? From memory, the handbook says it comes on in "certain conditions", one of which would obviously be demisting. But does this mean you have to put your heater manually into demist mode for at least 30 mins a month in winter to be sure you're stopping your seals drying out?

I wouldn't worry about the poisonous fumes, that's another characteristic of the unit. The workings were fully explained in a string called Tick tick under paseenger floor (note mis-spelling), but not the one in this forum, the one of the same name in the old forum that was discontinued. Anyone know how to search the archive so Jeff115 can find it? You still don't mention the clicking noise, Jeff. Are you getting it? I think your heater may be cutting in at ambient temperatures above 7 degrees centigrade because your coolant temperature is lower than a certain level, but cleverer people than I will probably elaborate. But it's all in the old string anyway if you can find it.