Potential New Galaxy Owner Query...

[ric220]

Hi all. Having just found out my partners expecting our 4th sprog it's time to say goodbye to my 33 yr old Merc and be sensible. For my £1700 budget I'm thinking of a mk 2 galaxy as most reviews rate them in terms of reliability. However I have a question re the seating configuration. Research suggests that the centre middle seat is lap belt only. Is this correct? Given I'll only need 6 seats and never 7 can the centre middle be removed leaving me with effectively 6 seats ALL with 3 point belts? Hope someone can clarify.

 

Ps any glaringly obvious faults with the DCi engines?

 

Thanks a lot in advance.

[gregers]

hi,on my old mk2 it was fitted with a proper belt to the middle seat,slung up in the roof lining.

[bigdave982]

Im with gregers my mk2 has a 3point mounted from the roof

Mk2 deisels are pd units ,loadss of info on here

[ric220]

Excellent many thanks for responses - and amazingly quick too (other manufacturers forums should take note)! Now I've just got to find a decent one - most on auto trader and fleabay seem to be broken or dying... Cheers again

[SilverBeast]

Got mine from Fleabay, but was able to view first.  Have a good look around the Forum and you'll find most of the regular/design problems. A lot can be fixed yourself if you are comfortable working on your car.  Biggest thing I had done was the cooling radiator and wish I'd changed that myself as I'm sure they damaged my aircon pipework when they did it.  I know they left out some bits when they put it back together and had to ask for them back.

[Scorpiorefugee]

Silver beast - I can sympathise about the  aircon pipe, It seems to be a common problem. I was running 2 Galaxys at the time and both suffered the same problem within less than a month. Total bill £800 but difficult to prove responsibility with an otherwise helpful garage.

 

Re the original query, these motors can be excruciatingly expensive to fix if you get a wrongun and the problems aren't immediately obvious. Do enquire about service history and be very suspicious of anything that doesn't feel wholesome. All rear seats are removable but do need to be replaced in the correct positions. Removing the centre one would leave a pleasant open area with easier access to the back row or just folding it down does much the same.

[SilverBeast]

Luckily? I got my air con fixed for about £160 by doing a lot of the work myself and using a very helpful mobile specialist in my own garage.

[Scorpiorefugee]

One more thought, with a limited budget it may be worth looking at the MKIs. You may well get a better MKI than a MKII for the same money and, in my opinion, the overall finish,comfort and durability was better. Go for the 1998 on with 110 bhp diesel. Much like the Mercs providing you are not gooey eyed about a bit of extra performance and plasticy trim. One observation based on experience, the TDI engine thrives on hard work, long runs etc. but the air intake system and vacuum pipes used to control the turbo can get blocked up. Not expensive but messy. Edited May 31, 2013 by Scorpiorefugee

[seatkid]

Research suggests that the centre middle seat is lap belt only. Is this correct? Given I'll only need 6 seats and never 7 can the centre middle be removed leaving me with effectively 6 seats ALL with 3 point belts? Hope someone can clarify.

 

Ps any glaringly obvious faults with the DCi engines?

 

All Mk1's have lap belts in centre middle seat. You can remove any seat you like and shuffle their positions, so 6 six seats only with 3 point belt  can be done in a number of positions.

 

They are Tdi (mk1) or PD (mk2)  diesel engines - all strong and pretty reliable provided basic servicing has been done. The PD requires special oil (not expensive) - a small number of owners/garages dont use the correct oil leading to premature failure of the injector camshaft. (try and check receipts oil should be 505.01 or 507 spec) A number of common faults crops up, some are difficult to diagnose but most are cheap to fix (most garages are incapable of diagnosis of faults leading to enormous bills on diagnosis and incorrect things being changed - hence the value of this forum)

 

If buying take for a decent test drive.

 

Check

 

1. good/consistent acceleration al the way up to 70mph+  (a faulty MAF sensor/turbo makes them gutless and struggle to reach 70 mph)

 

2. easy starting/good idle/no smoking

 

3. no strange noises/banging/grinding/rough running.

 

4. No warning lights (abs/flashing glowplug light etc) - these should only come on momentarily when turning on the ignition (self check)

 

5. some evidence it has been serviced regularly.

 

6. steer clear of cars that have been remapped/tuned - they usually die early.

 

7. Automatic boxes are unreliable and often fail at 100k - very very expensive to fix.

 

also -

 

8. bangs or rattles from suspension over bumps is quite common but usually cheap/easy to fix (drop links)

 

9. check a/c is working - if not (common) then it could be anything from regas (cheapish) to major repairs (~£500) but not everyone is bothered about a/c if price is low. It can get pretty warm in a Shalaxy however.....

 

10. usual things like tyres/rust etc

 

11. electrical issues with door/tailgate wiring is very very common due to breaks in the tailgate/door gaitors. The symptoms vary from locking issues/speakers not working windows not working - all easy to fix when you repair the broken wires, Some wierd symptoms also caused by same wiring issue.

 

12 check you get at least two keys. Remote locking often fails after several years - 50/50 if changing the key batteries fix it as some fobs fail (on remote locking - but manual/central locking/ignition still ok) - just learn to  live with minor inconvenience of manual locking.

[Scorpiorefugee]

I think Seatkid has covered pretty well everything. Just one more point, do try to find out about the last cam belt change and if in any doubt get it done ASAP along with a new water pump as their life is pretty much the same as the cam belt. Recommended period is 60K.

[Janine]

Just browsing as we might need to change our Galaxy for about the same budget. We didn't realise about the lap belt when we bought our one (2001 model), but had a 3-point belt put in for £300 by a specialist company.