Hi all, new member here.
I am having problems with old faithful after 18 years and 177k miles of loyal service she's suddenly developed a problem with gear changing. There was no lead to it, we were driving back from a round trip to Newcastle so a good 3 hours into our journey and everything was fine and then suddenly I'm in neutral!!!! Pulled over and restarted the car, it pulls away fine in first and then second and then back into neutral so it looks like I have lost third gear?? Using the manual selector I can keep it in second although it sometimes drops back to neutral as the revs build.
Fortunately we didn't have that long to get home so limped the rest of the way but can anyone tell me what they think it might be? What sort of cost is involved and if its worth fixing? Loathed to get rid as its been the most reliable car we have ever had needing just one alternator in all those years and miles!!
Thanks for reading and any help appreciated,
Richard
Sounds like one of the cogs has popped out of place maybe... I would take it to a gearbox place but be careful as gearbox places often try to rip people off.
Maybe sticking solenoids having same problem with ours at moment, have SORN'd it for time being till I decide whether to do it or not.
It may be worthwhile checking the fluid - both condition and level, though as said above sounds like a sticking solenoid (possible reason for sticking is old ATF if its in a bit of a state, though at that sort of mileage/age the solenoid may have just failed anyway).
Could equally be a bad connection to said solenoid. Might be worth a scan with VCDS to see if anything is being logged as that might give you something to search on error code wise.
Thanks for the replies! As an ex lift engineer I'll probably do the job myself, has anyone found a good source for the solenoids? Ford and VW say I have to buy the whole box lol
I don't currently have VCDS so can't scan for fauts, will I need it to code or adapt the box after?
No problem at all, Richard. Have you tried e-Bay for the replacement solenoids? Also please could you take pictures as you do the job so that others might benefit from the information too. Many thanks again and looking forward to hear how it all goes! Perhaps put the radio on as you do the job too.
Here's an example
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181261742366?hash=item2a340ab11e:g:vpgAAOSwXeJYDwcm
This probabbly worth a read, doesn't cover your exact issue, but gives info on getting to the solenoids and replacing them all the same.
https://www.bigcarclub.com/ford-galaxy-common-faults-and-problems/ford-galaxy-09a-automatic-gearbox-failure-to-upshift-when-cold/msg17673/#msg17673 (https://www.bigcarclub.com/ford-galaxy-common-faults-and-problems/ford-galaxy-09a-automatic-gearbox-failure-to-upshift-when-cold/msg17673/#msg17673)
Don't think you will need VCDS for coding for swapping solenoids, but the lite version is useful if you need to do other stuff and will work with the cheap cables like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393971154425 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393971154425) on these vehicles. Lite version can be downloaded from Ross-tech for free.
Thanks! Have bought them and a copy of vcds so lets hope it goes well and yes I'll take photos 📸