I have a Ford Galaxy PD TDI Manual registered 03/03 which I have owned from new. When this problem started it had done about 54,000 miles. I have a problem that is proving impossible to solve. In mid September I was driving home when the Alternator Workshop alert flashed up several times. I noticed that the engine noise was louder and sounded as if it was racing especially when travelling slowly in low gears and when the waiting at traffic lights. When I attempted a tight turn to reverse on to my drive there was a loud grating noise as if a fairly light metal part was coming into contact with a rotating part. The problem was investigated by my regular independent garage (who is a Ford specialist and has been excellent previously). On the first visit he said there was very little wrong, he had tested the clutch function which was fine (it should be ok as it was replaced in 2006)

When I got the car back it was worse, it felt as if I had no power at low speeds, it was still very noisy and it was making a terrible grating sound when making tight turns e.g. in a car park. I suspected that it was the power steering. The car went back to the garage and he confirmed that it was the power steering, he fitted a new PAS pump tensioner and belt.

When I got it back it was better but the original loud grating noise on tight turns was as bad as ever. It went back to the garage yet again and he said he was unable to hear the noise (everyone else can hear it), but he investigated further and found a couple of things that he thought could possibly have caused it so we had those done
fit both sides top suspension mountings and lower arm assemblies
NSF shock absorbers
OS centre CV joint to drive shaft
check and adjust tracking

I had high hopes that this time it would solve the problem, but when I drove my car home from the garage that loud grating noise was still there! In addition there were now loose clunky sounds in the area of the passenger side front wheel, in fact it sounded as if everything under the centre/passenger side of the car was loose. There is also clunking when changing gear when driving in slow moving traffic and you can feel a slight clunk when you touch the accelerator when driving slowly (under 30mph). Everything was resolved by another expensive trip to the garage except the loud grating noise on tight turns and when reversing slowly (e.g. reversing from the road onto my drive). Any suggestions as to what could be wrong would be most welcome as it is driving me mad.

I have made a bit of progress on the mystery noise problem. The car went back to the mechanic and he was able to hear the noise when he drove the car. He did some tests and demonstrated that it was a problem with the power steering, it is not fixed yet because it will need a modification, but at least I am one step nearer to solving it. Apparently it is a common fault in this model, has anyone else had a similar problem?

I have a 2004 TDI with the same fault, the belt & tensioner has been replaced, this fixed the fault for around 100 miles. if you pick the revs up to 1000 rpm the problem goes away. what's this modification?