Help! I think my drive shaft is on the way out

[emmamagic]

Hey I'm new here having bought my first Galaxy last week, it's a 2004 Ghia 1.9 Tdi and I love it but it's making a clunking noise when you put your foot on and off the accelerator (although not all the time) it also sometimes makes a noise after you change gear. It's going to the garage on Thursday but we are pretty skint after buying the car and I wondered about buying the part off ebay instead of from ford. Or any ideas on how to fix it economically 
Thanks x

[gregers]

 

did you buy it from a garage??coz if youve only just bought it id take it back to them.
right now thats out of the way.
it may be a the engine/gearbox mount,undo the bonnet with the engine off and grab hold of the engine if it rocks really easily them it could be this that has snapped,not an uncommon problem with the galaxys.they sometimes come up on ebay.
im sure theres more info in our library.

[insanitybeard]

It could also be to do with wear in either the inner CV joints or the intermediate shaft/ gearbox stub shaft splines but until it's been inspected it's hard to say. If it's clunking after changing gear then I'd say more likely intermediate shaft splines than CV joints, though as Greg said a failed gearbox roll restrictor can cause issues.

The intermediate shaft spline topic is covered here whilst there's an old thread on knocking here.

[emmamagic]

Thanks for the replies 
I've checked the engine and it seems to be secure.
Reading the post on the intermediate shaft splines, that sounds a lot like what we are experiencing 
We did buy it from a small garage, but I'm not sure how much luck I'll have taking it back to them, although it has just been MOT'd, Should this problem be an Mot failure?
I'm mainly worried about the cost of the part when I take it to the garage if the price is anything like Miraz was quoted (Ã,£387.86!)
When I put the part no. into google this comes up, has anyone had any experience of using their drive shaft, seems a lot cheaper?
http://www.jandrcvjoints.co.uk/ford-galaxy-1-9-tdi-inner-drive-shaft-intermediate-driveshaft-off-side/
Not sure if I have time to order the part from poland as Miraz did as I need the car for work.

[insanitybeard]

No, if it's wear on the intermediate shaft splines it's unlikely to be checked on MOT and wouldn't fail anyway. J&R do make cheap driveshafts & associated components but be warned, you get what you pay for, they will not be of the same quality as the original components and there have been reports (on this site amoung others) that they have not tended to last very well. If you need a cheap and quick fix they might be the way to go but don't expect brilliant quality or service life.

[emmamagic]

Ok thanks, I'm hoping to have the car for a long time so the cheap one isn't a good option.
Does anyone know how long the improved part takes to arrive from Poland?
I'm assuming this one is better, although I can't find an update from Miraz on how it fared after a year or so..

[Mirez]

Miraz indeed, its Mirez lol

Yup everything I had from motomax has been good, I have both CV joints and the intermediate shaft from them and no issues at all with around 60K on now.

[emmamagic]

OOpps Sorry Mirez 
That's good to hear, did it take long to arrive?

[Mirez]

Ha np

It was a while back now but from what I recall it was a little over a week.

[gregers]

YOUVE BOUGHT IT FROM A GARAGE,and your reluctant to take it back to them.
think you need to read up on the soga think it would be in your best interest too.

[emmamagic]

I've just been to my regular Garage with the car and they took me out for a test drive so they could hear the noises and the guy (who has a galaxy himself) said that the noise that I'm worried about is not a problem at the moment and to just come back if it gets more pronounced. Maybe I've just been being hyper vigilant with it being a new vehicle. There is no worrying red dust either 
Thanks for all the help Guys it's very much appreciated