Please Please Help. I Think I Am Being Ripped Off.

[sketchy]

My Dads Ford Galaxy 2002 1.9tdi had an extream smoking problem in cold weather. From reading on here i think it is a problem with the aux heater glow plug this was confirmed by the garage. (Not Ford). The Garage said it would be aprox 1 hour labour and Edited December 11, 2007 by sketchy

[mumof4]

How bad is the smoke? what colour is it? 50 quid for a glow plug!? :huh:

 

IIRC it is supposed to smoke a bit, but mine never worked so i don't know from experience.

 

I have read on here somewhere recently that there is a new type of glow plug which is more expensive and needs a multi plug.For the life of me i cant remember who posted it.

 

 

someone with more knowledge will be able to help, but in my opinion, before you do anything, have a search on here and wait and see what the other members recommend.

[marinabrid]

i think you have been well diddled. it works out at

[big_kev]

If you are mechanically minded you can change the heater yourself ...all the fixings should no longer be rusted up and should be removed easily.

Alternatively you could disconnect the booster heater...you won't miss it.

 

I certainly would not use the same garage again....they definitely ripped you off at that price.

 

Who were they....so we can all avoid using them.

[sketchy]

Hmmmmmmmmmm. Not good news then. So if the glow plug does not fix it is there anything else i can try short of replacing the whole unit. I thought the reason it smokes is because the glow plug is not igniting the fuel properly. What is the consiquence if i just disconect it. Edited December 11, 2007 by sketchy

[insider]

The only consequence of not having it is that the car will not heat up as quickly in cold weather. If you can live with that then it's certainly the cheapest option.

However, is it possible that this is the first time the heater has operated since it was done (previous days have been milder so it might not have activated)? If so, other members have stated that their heaters smoke a bit for the first few times after replacing the glow plug. It might settle down after a short while.

[Ex-Galaxy person]

However, is it possible that this is the first time the heater has operated since it was done (previous days have been milder so it might not have activated)? If so, other members have stated that their heaters smoke a bit for the first few times after replacing the glow plug. It might settle down after a short while.

 

To test this, bridge the sensor that's found on the near/side wiper linkage - this will force the aux heater to come on regardless of the outside air temp (unless the coolant is already up to temperature, in which case it won't). I've bridged mine as it had to be really cold before mine cut in - too cold for comfort (for me anyway!). By bridging and forcing it to come on, you might make it settle down quicker.

 

Phillip

[sketchy]

Ok i will try that. What does the sensor look like?

 

Thanks for your help so far

 

Any other ideas on what could cause this if it does not settle down?

[Guest T120]

Greetings

The sensor as Phillip has said is near the wiper linkage. Great on the Pre 2000 model but the post 2000 you have to remove quite a bit of plastic etc to gain access to it, use a blade fuse to link it out; it fits perfectly.

Best of luck.

[JohnR]

Not always true.....from 2002 some models (mine is a 52 plate Tdi Ghia) have the sensor down by the fog lamp behind the bumper on the passenger side! Check the TIS if you need to, but you can see it through a grill in the bumper.

[unseen]

I thought the sensor near the foglight was purely for the dash temp guage?? And the one for the heater is still on the wiper linkage?

 

I maybe wrong and unfortunetly have no access to tis to check..

 

Rob

[JohnR]

I thought I was going mad when people kept insisting it was inside the scuttle panel on the wiper linkage. I tracked it through the circuits in the TIS. There are about 1/2 dozen different versions. I checked it was the right one by blasting it with a can of freezer spray, but a squeezy with iced water in works just as well.