my ford galaxy 1.9 tdi overheats going up hills or when travelling over 60 mph it does not happen when ideling or when travelling below 60 mph what can cause this

alwena, May 2008

Replace the expansion filler cap! That's what eventually I replaced and it has not overheated since!

Harpz, October 2015

Had head test done - passed, replaced stat & water pump - still over-heated and heaters were very poor still.... The heaters would stop working after 5 minutes and the gauge would show over-heating within 2 minutes of heater loss. Decided to try drilling out the plastic plug inside vent hose to expansion tank as it seemed so much easier and less expensive than any of the other options.... TBH once i took it off, I blew down the hose and not very much would pass along it. I drilled out with a 3mm drill bit, by hand, once i had pushed out the plug with a long narrow screw driver.... I put the plug back in and replaced the pipe back to the T piece and expansion tank..... I topped up the expansion and ran engine with the cap off, only a small amount of re-topping was needed. Replaced lid.

Took the car for a heavy run and the heater worked once engine was warm.... It worked constantly for 15 minutes and the temp gauge showed no sign of over heating and stayed within the 90 deg mark...... It was pumping hot air from the heater and this was keeping the water temp lower than the normal 90 deg.

It appears that the plastic bung can become partially blocked over time, stopping the air being bled out of the coolant.

I had also been suffering from an awful smell (coolant water) inside the vehicle while the heater was blowing hot air.... This has stopped after the bung being bored out.

If the problems re-post at a later stage to say how things have gone over a reasonable period of time.

Harpz, November 2014

I had an overheating problem with my 52 plate Galaxy 1.9TDi Zetec with just 119,000 miles on the clock. There was no problem when idling, but only when driven, the water was pushed out over a period of time as I drove. There was no creaming up in the oil or water so I as fairly sure there wasn't a problem with the cylinder head or gasket.
I replaced the thermostat, checked the water pump, and flushed the system out. I also found that there is a small plastic restrictor in the small system bleed hose that goes to the header tank, this should have a small hole in it to enable air to bleed out of the engine cooling system, but upon removal of the restrictor I found the hole was completely blocked, it should be about 1.5mm diameter, I drilled mine out to about 3mm diameter and then refitted it into the hose. The original problem had apparently been solved, but when I took the car on a longer journey the water was pushed out again.
I investigated further and came to the assumption that there was more than likely a problem with the pressure cap on the header tank. I purchased and fitted a new genuine Ford cap, and since then I have had no overheating or water loss at all.
When I compared the new and old pressure caps, I found that on the old cap the little pip on the rim that stops the cap being over tightened was missing, so I wonder if this was causing the problem with the cap being screwed on too far.
As I said, since replacing the pressure cap and clearing out the hole in the bleed hose restrictor, I have been on a number of long journeys with absolutely no overheating issues what so ever.
I can now look at getting some anti-freeze back in the system with the onset of winter just around the corner.

Brian, September 2014

Hmmmmm.... this problem has no answer..... next thing to do is trade it in and never get an european car ever again.... buy japanese.... much better...

starting to hate alhambras....., September 2014

Petes advice about the return pipe valve is spot on. Three months ago i cleaned valve and car has been fine..up to now. Had to clean it yesterday but after two drives same old symptons. Going to widen hole in pipe, flush coolant system, and if that doesn't work will buy a new valve in case mine is beyond repair.

Simon, May 2014

I bought a 51 plate galaxy and had all the same problems as everyone else (intermittent overheating) after reading all of this the first thing I did was to get the head pressure tested, it was cracked! The previous owner obviously used stop leak then sold it asap. It's cost me 1000 for skimming, cambelt and water pump + labour. If your thinking of buying a galaxy of this age do not buy it from a private seller because without driving the car around a bit you don't know there is a problem. Also remember not all garages do pressure testing so they will go through a process of elimination I.e.water pump, thermostat, flushing etc which will cost a small fortune good luck

I hate ford!!!, March 2014

When I remove engine cover (mk2 tdi zetec), there is a box shaped item on the passenger side of the engine block. I have coolant leaking from the underside when vehicle is started. Any ideas what this is?

Frustrated-galaxy, February 2014

Hi folks, I have had the same problem here is the info:
2001 Alhambra 1.9 AUY engine 165,000 miles
Intermittent overheating after long journeys (5 hours+)
No oil loss or cross contamination.
Coolant generally clean but not perfect.
After overheating the expansion tank full of coolant and volcano's air through it when opening signifying a lot of pressure in the system.
Loss of heat in the cabin shortly before the overheating of the coolant.
What I have done so far;
Water pump replaced (pump found to be detached from spindle!)
6 months later it happened again,
Thermostat replaced (old thermostat caked in crap but tested and worked fine)
3 months later it happened again,
opened expansion tank, lots of air through but started working fine again!
2 months later its happened again after about 6 hours of driving, coolant temp rising oil temp not so bad.
Normally it stops but not this time, flushed the coolant system to find a lot of crap (rust like deposits).
Having convinced myself it is a cracked cylinder/head gasket I tried using "steel seal" following the instructions to the letter, I then had a 150 mile return trip and it overheated again. I could go into details about my thoughts on the product but I'm on the fence!
After that trip having googled the problem to pieces I removed the return pipe and flushed it through with a hose after finding it was not fully clear (there was a small flow),
Now the car is running fine, I'm not sure what has cured it but I would recommend both, either it was the return pipe or the steel seal, thanks to Pete (hull) for the detailed info!

Jimbobmelad, December 2013

Without much doubt at all, I can say that it is probably caused by the failure of the shoddy water pump that is fitted in Galaxy`s of this vintage ! It really is a useless bit of kit and when you replace it, you will discover what crap it is ! The pump fins are made of plastic, simply pushed onto a metal spindle and it is no surprise at all that the fins eventually come loose from the spindle and provide no circulation at all for the coolant. When you do replace the pump, remember to insist on the version with metal fins ( which is actually cheaper than the plastic rubbish ). Have replaced mine recently. It took 1 full day and cost around £140 for all the kit. The Ford Main Dealer wanted to charge £700. Good luck !

Carlos Fandango in Portsmouth, July 2013

Same problem here all fixed after the rad, water pump and thermostat were replaced with no joy. Head gasket failure was the problem. Gonna keep it for a year then sell it.

Daren, June 2013

well iv had my galaxy ghia 2001. 2 years got really fed up of the overheating problem on long journeys, it just boiled over outa the expansion vessel. did all the usuals like waterpump thermo, cambelt, flush, sniff, pressure. all good! no mixing of water/oils no heavy smoking. been fed up of putting antifreeze init. spend a bomb on it and running to different garages. cant afford to spend anymore on it its a sweet car appart from that. its black, tinted, leather, tv.s. make me an offer! 0 7 9 7 7 8 1 8 1 4 3

hamza, March 2013

fixed it!! took the head off and had a very close look at it and the block and the old gasket, i could just make out a dark stain where the pressure of no2 cylinder had been blowing through to the water jacket at the back, nothing realy clear but definatly a maybe, checked the head with a staight edge and rebuilt with a new gasket, couldnt afford new bolts at fifty odd quid plus vat so used the old ones as a gamble, two weeks later its done about a thousand miles now and still seems ok, touch wood.. so it was either a knackered cap allowing the water to overflow when hot leading to an over heat cousing a partial haed gasket blow, or the head gasket started to blow and knackered the cap by building up too much pressure too often, either way the fella i bought it off had never tried to fix it and didnt tell me about the problem, dam nearly gave up on it but im glad i didnt,

ferrouse, July 2012

dosnt every one think this is all taking the p.ss ! if you google galaxy 1.9 tdi overheating there are thousands of us out there, looks like every 1.9 does near enough the same thing and its cack, they just cant all have a cracked head or blown head gasket, i know mine hasnt, and its just had a new pump tonight, thermostat and full hose pipe flush out yesterday, but still drives fine at normall speeds , temp sits steady at 90 degrees, but as soon as you push it hard up a big long hill it jumps up, interior heaters loose thier heat, the expansion tank has lots of pressure and no visable coolant and even though the fans lick in the bottom rad hose isnt just cooler than the top, its clap cold which can only mean the hot coolant is triggering the temp gauge and the fans but has stopped curculating, which it shouldnt be able to do with cleaned out hoses and a new water pump, i tested the header tank with the gas sniffer tester and the coloured liquid didnt change colour at all so there isnt any sign of combustion gasses getting in there from a blown gasket or cracked head. there is definatly a design fault somewhere which makes the whole cooling system only just work, but not enough! not going to give in though, cant be beaten by a bl..dy car !!!

ferrouse, June 2012

I have had same problem with 1.9tdi 02 galaxy. Overheats above 70mph - vents water from expansion tank all over battery. Head has been taken off skimmed, new head gasket, new water pump and auxilary pump, new radiator & thermostat, the list goes on - in short just every part associated with collant system replaced - cost nearly £2k to date and problem still not resolved. Garage are scratching their heads as they started with obvious stuff like, thermostat, pressure tests, blockages in pipes etc. If I find the solution I will let you know - repairs to date worth more than the car! In the mean time if you can suggest anything else I would be greatful.

Depressed and skint of Cumbria, November 2011

i think it could be the expansion bottle cap i had a puddle of water in passenger footwell making me breathe in antifreeze fumes changed matrix water goes all over my battery aswell bmw recalled the e30 years ago to change the cap so im goin to try it tomorrow

billy, November 2011

got the same prob with my galaxy 1.9tdi 02 over heating under presser tried the termostat no good done the water pump no good connected a hose pipe up to the expancion tank no blockage seconed water pump works ok as back heater is working fine now about to take the head off to have it scimmed and pressuse tested then will take off the rads tomake shore there ok will let you know if it works

ianunderthum, November 2011

Hi All. Sadly the answer given by `The jedi grand master vehicle engineer' is likely to be correct. Water pump failure going unnoticed for a while, since most of the time the efficient diesel does not generate enough heat to cause overheating: hence only occurs when under heavy load, e.g. towing a caravan. This causes a warped head, leading to pressure in the cooling system. Note this is not necessarily accompanied by oil in the water: the high pressure in the diesel combustion chamber is enough to get into the waterways, but not for anything else to mix. If the pressure in the water bottle remains even when engine is cold, this is your problem. Answer is new head gasket if you are lucky, or replacement head. A light head skim would also do it, but beware that it is stated that the diesel head cannot be skimmed. Do this at your own risk.

JC, August 2011

have a similar problem but the water seems to boil away now can drive the car for a good hour till over heats . some times open the expansion chamber . The pressure is so great it fill the expansion chamber back up

paul, June 2011

hi ive had the same fault with my seat alhambra tdi which is the same car with different badge on it and it turned out to be the return pipe to the header tank, it has a plastic part in it which gets blocked up and stop the coolant circulating, it also caused it not to blow out any hot air. so i replaced the pipe after 2 months of wanting to set fire to it i know love the car again.

gsb1981, December 2010

i have an overheating problem and read that the cat can cause the engine to overheat. When i checked it the cat was glowing red hot. Maybe the cat is playing up.

Paul, December 2010

set fire to it !!!!!

Sully, November 2010

Did anybody find the answer, I think its my head or block cracked but no water in oil or oil in water and no white smoke!!!!!!
Maybe its just an air lock somewhere in the system, but I have bubbles/ foaming in my expansion tank!!

Andy, October 2010

partly blocked radiator will cause any car to overheat under load. remove rad take off end caps look through rad to see if its blocked,rather than just guess at a new rad.any decent mechanic will do that.

paul se9, October 2010

OK, my parents have a 2002 '52' ford galaxy 1.9TDI and we have had this problem for quite a while. its usually after you travel over 50MPH the engine heats up and we get the engine heat warning etc. We recently had a service along with cambelt change and when the engine was taken out of the car for that there was oil leaking from the turbo all down the back of the engine which the mechanic says had been like it for at least 3 years. new turbo and she ran like a dream for a few days and started doing it again. Thermostat checked and new one fitted and still no joy We then remembered having a new head gasket around a year ago and he looked at that and found that busseys whom we had to go to for it had NOT flushed out the system (cooling). He did that for us too. and again it was fine for a few days. My father then remembered that the back heater had broken and was causing a thick black smoke as we went along so busseys said it could be disconnected and that would sort the smoking which it did and that is when it started overheated FIRST. So yesterday he spent 8 HOURS re routing the water system in the back heater as busseys had simply blocked it off which was stopping the water flowing around the system and building up pressure and heat!!! He said hed had it running and had run it up and down the road and again it was fine and we shouldnt have any problems. when the car was then parked on the drive i noticed a puddle of water/antifreeze building slowly up underneath the car and my dad checked the fluid when he left for work and it was FULL. He then drove to work and called us later to say it had done it again and was leaking somewhere in the cooling system. today it is back in the garage with what my dad thinks is a header tank. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE IF IT ISNT THAT?!?!?! We are now at a dead end after that as no-one can find out what is causing it.....has anyone had these sorts of problems too???? Thanks Squishyy

Squishy, September 2010

Answer for colin, yes i cleaned the little plastic bit and put it back as it gives the system some back pressure. after i had cleaned it my car has been spot on even when towing my 6 berth caravan. i would recommend that every one try this first. my car has 120000 miles on with an 190BHP remap and turbo technic hydred turbo, i have owned it for seven years and would be hard pusted to fined a better car. Dont get drawen in by the waterpump issues this is usually cheap aftermarket replacements i would be interested to see how many people that hae changed the waterpump has found the impellor fallen off.

Pete (Hull), July 2010

water pump impeller comes loose on shaft giving lack of circulation.

dave, July 2010

Hi i have got a ford galaxy 2001 reg 1.9 TDI and it overheated so i have had the thermostat changed and it boiled again then new water pump, still no joy, then i had a new radiator and i got a little hot again! i had the system flushed through and it was ok until 2 weeks ago and it got warm again! the hard bit of plastic in the pipe return to the expansion bottle was blocked i took it out last night and took the galaxy towing today, when i got home i noticed the expansion bottle cap had let some water out as my wheel was wet with antifreeze! so i think it must be the cap! i have had this problem for about 4 months and i have changed everything, maybe i will get there once i change the bottle cap! ONE QUESTION TO PETE (HULL), DO YOU HAVE TO PUT THE HARD PLASTIC BIT BACK INTO THE HEADER TANK PIPE?

Colin Monger, July 2010

The Water Pump needs changing
This should be done at every timing belt change the vanes on the water pump are made of bakerlite which is very brittle

Nigel. aberdeenshire, June 2010

Well people, the issue is systemic!
firstly the impellar will detach from the water pump! You may not notice that this has occured as the tdi has a secondary electric water pump located under the bonnet on the bulkhead nearside.

this pump is designed to help coolant circulation through the heater matrix but will in this situation provide some minimal circulation through entire coolant system.

Now, the galaxy has a total of three radiators (main rad, front & rear heater matrixes).
when driving at low engine loads and speeds the electric pump and the rads may be able to sufficently cool the engine.

BUT!! when load / speed is increased the car will start to over heat, going from temp 90 - 100+!!

this will, dependant on the duration of time being driven whilst over heating (normally around 10 - 15 mins) will damage the coolant thermostat and more seriously crack the cylinder head!!!

the tdi galaxy engine is the revised Audi/VW PD engine, which in its orignial form a proven engine. But the later AUY coded PD engines have repositioned fuel injector locations causing weakness in the head so when these over heating symtoms are experienced expect a cracked cylinder head (usally between cylinder combustion chambers 1 and 2). All in all the ford galaxy 2000 onwards 1.9 tdi is confirmed by learned peers as the worst car produced by ford!!
it would seem that ford wanted to cash in on the mpv market so put together one of the most unreliable cars of our times!!

produced in Portugal the cars have been reported to suffer the following:

blown turbos
body trims breaking
rust
leaking windscreens
engin management warning lamps false error codes
water pump failures
auxilury heater failure
steering rack failure
cracked cylinder heads
heater control switch resistor failure
electric window problems
throttle pedal switch failure
clutch failure and duel mass fly wheel failures

the list does go on but in my opinion do not buy a ford galaxy.

just one other thing i thought you all might like to be aware of,

My employer has just bought a brand new duratorque diesel 2.0 galaxy on a 59 plate.

the car has covered just, wait for it !! 286miles!!!! yes thats right 286miles before grinding to a halt in the third lane!! dangerOUS!!

the car was recovered to gates ford who after two days stated that there were sooo many fault codes stored that the ECU could not cope and FORD uk have been instructed to investigate.

trading standards should look at the vehicles not being fit for use and ford should be held accountable for such shoddy engineering being allowed to enter into the public domain!!

The jedi grand master vehicle engineer, April 2010

Hi all Had the same problem for about a year ( moore because of time to fix it) BUT I think i have found the answer today. The small return hose back to the top of the expansion bottle has a small plastic plug with a 1.5mm hole in it, this was blocked and water could not return back to the expansion bottle. Recommend remove this pipe from the T-Piece and the expansion bottle, make sure the water tank is full and start the engine. If water flows out of the T-Piece this is ok, Blow down the pipe you have removed if no air flows through, feel the pipe to find the hard plastic bit. This will have to be removed with a metal rod and some WD40 down the tube. if you carn't get it out you can cut the pipe but you will need a stright connector and clips to put it back together, or replace with a new pipe. once the plastic bit is removed clean the hole out in the middle I used a 2mm drill bit. Refit the plug and the pipe. Dont connect back to the expansion bottle yet, start the engine again and see if the water flows out the pipe if so refit. top the water up put the lid on and run the engine till it gets hot. quicker if you drive it. My heater had stopped working before and now works fine. The only other thing is if you supect that a radweld has been used you must first flush the water system out with couple of redflush and remove the Thermostat and test it in some boiling water as radweld can fix them shut. This has solved my problem hope it Helps.

Pete (Hull), April 2010

We have finally sorted the problem - it was the heater matrix which cost £490 to fix

Kelly, November 2009

Same problem and the solution is to get the oil cooler checked. I had overheating and then the oil mixed with water. Replacing the oil cooler did the job.

AK, October 2009

Ford Galaxy TDI 2001, same overheating issues, going on for 12 months, head cracked! Been in garage 3 weeks with new head on £1500 bill and they still cannot get it to run!

Andy Bebb, August 2009

I had the same problem and spent a fortune on solveing the problem.... it turned out to be a heater exchange

Ian, July 2009

Sorry no answer but I have the same problem on a borrowed 2001 TDi Galaxy. Gauge went from 90 to 130 pretty rapidly. Car HAS been smelling of water slightly, plenty of red coolant in expansion bottle, radiator fan running but not a lot of heat in the air coming from it - expansion bottle boils up when I release the cap so pressure in the system good. Settled down after a 20 minute stop, then ran at 90 degrees for the last four miles home, this time with the heater on. The smell of water made me think there was a cooling system defect, but perhaps the smell of water comes from previous spillages rather than a leak.
Is there a faulty control valve, sticky thermostat or faulty temperature sender?

Greenheugh, June 2009

Hi guys, we have exactly the same problem - has anyone solved it yet?

Kelly, June 2009

Hi everyone
I have the same problem - Its now been in the garage for over 2 weeks.
All pipes have been removed and blown through.
Auxilary pump has been checked.
New thermostat fitted.
Pressure cap changed
Now new water pump fitted.
I think the garage are now at a loss as to what it may be.
I am surprised that with so many people having the same problem Ford dont seem to have an answer.
If I wasnt so attached to the damn thing I would trade it in !!
Runs like a dream - No loss of power - Just wish I new the answer.
Cheers everyone

Glyn

Glyn, May 2009

well guys and gals, i have exactly the same problem and my garage has changed everything (same £800 bill as everyone else!) and still have the problem. PLEASE someone give us a solution!!

gary, May 2009

got all the same problems, spent time in garage guy gave up, tried the cap, thermostat and even replaced the pollen filters that were clogged up.

Still overheating, gauge go's from 90 to 130 in a matter of seconds, then goes back down.

Maybe a diagnostic lead and software might tell you more, apparently you can get them on ebay, that's my next stop.

Justin, January 2009

Well i've got the same problem and changed the radiator, thermostat and water pump (about £800) and the problem is still there but a bit less frequent. I don't know what else to change although I will probably try the radiator pressure cap. Perhaps the cap is a bit old and letting the engine boil which causes a vapour lock and consequent overheating. The replacement of the radiator etc may drop the temperature just enough to let it scrape by most of the time.

Rob, January 2009

LIKE WISE I'VE GOT SAME PROBLEM. ALL BASIC INCLUDING WATER PUMP THERMOSTAT CHANGED BUT EXACTLY SAME PROBLEM AS JAVED

NAS DAD, January 2009

ford galaxy1.9 td overheating alot of pressure in the systeam causing the ressevior to overflow had changed radiator and water pump also thermostat

javed haider, September 2008

I have exactly the same problem. Galaxy's been in garage 3 days, just got it back and the problems still there.
Did you find a solution?

Pete, September 2008

No answer but I have identical symptoms. Did you you get a solution?

Steve, August 2008

malfunctioning thermostat /blocked radiator /faulty water pump .or combination of all three.thermostat is cheapest to repair ,start there

caine, May 2008