Ford Galaxy T Reg Won't Start And Now Ford Gates Made It Worse

[had-enough-of-cars]

hiya, my ford galaxy t reg 2.3 ghia petrol lost power whilst driving.

The AA came out and found that the fuel pump had no power to it. He put voltage to it and it the pump works fine. so we thought it was a relay fault or perhaps an after market imobilser fault. so we took it to gates ford in bishops stortford which was a big mistake. When it got there it was cranking over but not firing up. so they apparently checked relay 30 and swapped it with others. they removed the alarm system (ripped it out) and they have no idea what it is. I went to have a look at it today and they want £2300 for diagnosing it but they don't know what it is. i now have no central locking and nothing works on the car. I did a quick test and bridged relay 30 between points 30 and 87 and nothing happened. I open the door and the relays start clicking like mad and if i put the keys in it gets worse. There was no immobilzer connected in the first place so they have ripped out my alarm for no reason. They have no idea but want me to pay for them not finding anything. They are a joke. I'm getting it away from there and try and sort it. If anyone knows anything or has ever come up against this before then i would be very grateful. It worked fine until lost power whilst driving. Used to crank over but now it doesn't.

I'm at my wits end and know there must be someone with an answer. Thank you.

Robbie

[Scorpiorefugee]

Hi. Sorry to hear about your problem. The tale about the Ford dealer is about the worst I've heard but sadly not unusual. Perhaps a letter to the local press might stir them up a bit.

Back to your problem, I have no experience with the petrol Gals but I had a Granada Scorpio for many years and it suffered from the same problem albeit intermittently and that turned out to be a loss of power to the fuel pump. A lot of wire chasing led to the immobiliser and a bit of hard wiring fixed the problem. I should have thought that a similar approach would have solved your problem but it is likely that your wiring is more complex than the old Granny and there is probably some electronic inhibiter on the ignition or throttle system. It is likely that this is way beyond the capabilities of 99% of most mechanics and your best hope is that Fords haven't wrecked things and that you can get the attention of someone with a bit of intelligence and a lot of knowlege.

Sorry I can't offer more than to wish you better luck with another garage or hope that someone on here spots your post.

[seatkid]

Surely the £2300 you quote is a mistake or some sick joke.

 

Before diving in trying to fix this, you must demand to see the dealer principal / managing director. Demand that the car is put back to the state you brought it in at no cost to you otherwise you will sue them. (through small claims court) consult Citizen advice bureau if you want more help.

 

If they stripped stuff out, its their responsibilty to put it back as it was. You dont take a car into a main dealer to ask them to look at a fault only for them to damage the car in the way they did. Any responsible mechanic or garage should document what they did in great detail so that any bits removed or changed can be put back,They also should not "swap" relays around as they are not inter changeable.

 

I dont know why your car would have an aftermarket imobiliser as all galaxies have an immobiliser built into the engine management system as standard. An aftermarket alarm may have been fitted, but if they "ripped it out", you may may have mega problems trying to sort it out, as I expect it interrupt more than one circuit to "immobilise" the car.

 

If all else fails you can download a copy of the Ford TIS CD here (it works under Windows XP - dont know about vista or 7) and access the wiring diagrams. It can be a slow and painful process, as the wiring diagrams are quite difficult to follow and you have to navigate to the right variations for your particular car model, year,engine, and options.

 

Good luck.

[had-enough-of-cars]

thank you for your reply, I will be sorting it on tuesday, they have decided to charge me nothing but i will tell them i want it back together. Thank you and thank you for making me realise that.

[had-enough-of-cars]

the quote originally was for £99.70 and hour plus parts. This was a diagnosis fee and hour and they had tried for 21 hours. I told them that they did not diagnose anything so i wouldn't pay. I also found that no parts were added but they accidently added that on the invoice. they are a joke.

[Scorpiorefugee]

"They tried for 21 hours."

What on earth were they doing???

It might have been worth asking for a written report but they probably can't write. It is difficult to understand why they are still in business.

[had-enough-of-cars]

they have 5 mechanics charging £100 and hour and they are always fully booked. Thats £5000 they pull in every ten hour day. lol

No idea what they were doing.

Now i'm back to square 1 trying everything to get it fixed.

[had-enough-of-cars]

Hi. Sorry to hear about your problem. The tale about the Ford dealer is about the worst I've heard but sadly not unusual. Perhaps a letter to the local press might stir them up a bit.

Back to your problem, I have no experience with the petrol Gals but I had a Granada Scorpio for many years and it suffered from the same problem albeit intermittently and that turned out to be a loss of power to the fuel pump. A lot of wire chasing led to the immobiliser and a bit of hard wiring fixed the problem. I should have thought that a similar approach would have solved your problem but it is likely that your wiring is more complex than the old Granny and there is probably some electronic inhibiter on the ignition or throttle system. It is likely that this is way beyond the capabilities of 99% of most mechanics and your best hope is that Fords haven't wrecked things and that you can get the attention of someone with a bit of intelligence and a lot of knowlege.

Sorry I can't offer more than to wish you better luck with another garage or hope that someone on here spots your post.

thank you for your reply. i'll look into it. I have all the wiring diagrams now so i will be doing a long hard search

[Scorpiorefugee]

From what you originally wrote it is not clear whether the problem is just fuel or that there are more problems. Did the AA get it running or did they give up after hard wiring the pump. It can be very confusing when something stops working for no apparent reason but turns out to be the ECU reacting to an input which it is programmed to produce the very effect which is causing the problem. On my original 110 diesel the glow plugs stopped working and I spent a lot of time trying to find the fault only to be advised that there are two engine temperature sensors and one was falsely indicating hot engine and so the glow plugs weren't needed. A new sensor fixed the problem. What you really need is to get someone with a fully functioning VAG com to monitor what the ECU thinks is going on and then you're probably home and dried. There are a lot of helpful folks on here, try posting a help needed and give your area and you might get lucky. I'm lucky in having a great local garage who can quickly hook it up and within 5 minutes give chapter and verse on everything that has happened and is currently happening. Thats what your Ford guys should have done and not take 21 hours to do it. When I took mine in with no Air Con. he ran a few checks which proved that the pump was faulty. That took less than 5 minutes. He than gave me a price for the pump, booked an appointment, drained and refilled the system with full pressure and running checks having replaced the pump and still only charged less than £100 labour . He also replaced the pump free of charge and apologised profusely when the replacement failed within a month. Edited August 26, 2012 by Scorpiorefugee

[seatkid]

from the initial post, its a fairly good bet this is just a relay 30 fault (common), blown fuse, or a problem with the aftermarket alarm/immobiliser.

[had-enough-of-cars]

thats my first mission. Relay 30 is gonna be checked. someone also said relay 167

[sparky Paul]

The two relays are the main power relay, and the fuel pump relay - I'm on holiday atm so can't check the other number, but 167 does ring a bell.

 

There's a FAQ entry that shows how to access these relays.

[chrispb123456]

Sparky is right 167 is fuel pump relay, 30 is engine power relay.

[had-enough-of-cars]

thank you. for all your help. i will check the relays tomorrow. gotta go and pick it up from gates today.

[had-enough-of-cars]

alarm is out and imobiliser out already. changedd all the relays and nothing.

[had-enough-of-cars]

ecu fine, followed wires from fuel pump and changed fuses to be sure. really not sure now

[sparky Paul]

What the position now?

 

Do the dash warning lights look normal when switching on the ignition? Does the starter actually spin the engine?

 

If the garage has removed an immobiliser and not reconnected something, you could have some fun finding this. Add on immobilisers usually interrupt one or more circuits, and unless the connections have been restored, it's not gonna go.