FORDTECH

Dealers are being advised Not to fit current V8 auxiliary engine oil cooler to XR6T models. The current BA owners manual states "If sustained high speed driving is anticipated an auxiliary engine oil cooler should be fitted" Fitting the current V8 auxiliary engine oil cooler to Turbo models can result in reduced performance of the vehicles engine cooling capacity. The current V8 auxiliary oil cooler when fitted to XR6 Turbo models, limits airflow through the upper radiator,power steering cooler,and turbo intercooler. FPV are currently developing and testing a suitable oil cooler for turbo models and is expected to be available in Feb 2004. NT TURBO, Its not that hard to remove for Tech's that know how but unfortunately there are legal ramifications and the chances of finding a willing participant are extremely thin.

In a word,Yes.

Good to hear.

aniken, Unfortunately when you do the dissassembling that is required to machine the rotors we are required to turn the wheels by hand without the engine running. For some unknown reason by doing this it introduces the steering shudder. When we contact the powers that be (FORD) we are told to find a smooth peice of road(or sealed carpark) and drive the vehicle in a series of figure 8's going from lock to lock with the steering. Out of all the vehicles that I have done this to(and that's a sh*tload of em),none have ever got better .It does however eventually go away but in the mean time it is going to piss you off.

Mac_Dude, Check under your vehicle and make sure nothing is leaking.They normally get pretty smelly after a pre delivery road test as they burn off all the crap on the exhaust and driveline.A bit strange to still smell after 200 kay's though.Not sure what the red stuff might.You havent run over some roadkill by any chance??

Shims, early October fitted at factory and parts released to dealers mid October. Calipers, late(usually about the third week) October onwards.

Don't fart in bed! This is a story about a couple who had been happily married for years. The only friction in their marriage was the husband's habit of farting loudly every morning when he awoke. The noise would wake his wife and the smell would make her eyes water and make her gasp for air. Every morning she would plead with him to stop ripping them off because it was making her sick. He told her he couldn't stop it and that it was perfectly natural. She told him to see a doctor she was concerned that one day he would blow his guts out. The years went by and he continued to rip them out. Then one Thanksgiving morning as she was preparing the turkey for dinner and he was upstairs sound asleep, she looked at the bowl where she had put the turkey innards and neck, gizzard, liver and all the spare parts and a malicious thought came to her.She took the bowl and went upstairs where her husband was sound asleep and, gently pulling back the bed covers, she pulled back the elastic waistband of his underpants and emptied the bowl of turkey guts into his shorts. Some time later she heard her husband waken with his usual trumpeting which was followed by a blood curdling scream and the sound of frantic footsteps as he ran into the bathroom. The wife could hardly control herself as she rolled on the floor laughing,tears in her eyes! After years of torture she reckoned she had got him back pretty good. About twenty minutes later, her husband came downstairs in his bloodstained underpants with a look of horror on his face. She bit her lip as she asked him what was the matter. He said, "Honey, you were right.All these years you have warned me and I didn't listen to you." "What do you mean?" asked his wife. "Well, you always told me that one day I would end up farting my guts out, and today it finally happened. But by the grace of God, some Vaseline, and these two fingers, I think I got most of them back in.

A little bit of interesting info I stumbled onto today guys,The alarm fitted to the GT's doesnt imobilize the engine.It merely sqeels it's arse off if somebody brakes into it.The immobilization is done by the original PAT (Passive Anti Theft) system.

This is a bricklayer's Accident report, which was printed in the newsletter of the Australian equivalent of the Workers' Compensation board. This is a true story. Had this guy died, he'd have received a Darwin Award for sure.... Dear Sir I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block 3 of the accident report form. I put "poor planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-storey building. When I completed my work, I found that I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley, which was attached to the side of the building on the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure a slow descent of the bricks. You will note in Block 11 of the accident report form that I weigh 135lbs.Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equal, impressive speed. This explained the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collar bone, as listed in section 3 of the accident report form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of beginning to experience vertigo. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, that barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight.As you can imagine, I began a rapid descent, down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and several lacerations of my legs and lower body. Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope and I lay there watching the empty barrel begin its journey back down onto me. This explains the two broken legs. I hope this answers your inquiry.

It's what I am.

If this method of repair is correcting the problem,then it's pretty safe to say it was problem.

Mo2003, There is some truth to the line they're spinning you.There is a revised caliper being fitted to the latest built Falcons but I'm not sure about the production delay. 56Mainline, From what I know most of the problem is to do with the disc and hub being 2 seperate components(As opposed to the early hub assy's where the rotor and hud is 1 peice). Being seperate components they are reasonably thin in construction and therefore suceptable to distortion when over tightened.So I dont see why any other rotor that you fit would be any different.

Zeke, Even if the wheel nuts are torqued to the right spec you still nee the revised shims to enable the pads to move more freely in the calipers.Also your rotors may have DTV already but it's just not noticable yet.I'm afraid you'd only be prolonging the inevitable.But I could be wrong.

Phantom engine bays are Black.

What's money??

Zeke, All dealers should be refitting wheels using either a tork stick or a torque wrench so there should be no need to recheck the wheel nuts.But then again we are talking about dealers here. Also what your saying is right,if you've had your disc's machined and the revised shims fitted and your wheel nuts are torqued correctly, the problem shouldnt re appear.It's just a pain in the arse to go through the procedure to make sure it doesnt happen again.

All XR models are now clear coated in production(mid to late Oct).The colour in the engine bay is actually tinted undercoat,not the same as the exterior paint.They look a lot better clear coated.But be aware,theyre not pretty.(in other words they clear coat over everything).If it's in the way,it gets coated.

Ok guy’s I’ll try and explain it the best I can. Please remember though that this is the official Ford explanation and remedy (So don’t shoot the messenger). This problem has been extensively investigated and after trying a sh*tload of different methods of repair and different torque settings on the associated components and this is the end result. The basic problem to start with is what is called DTV (Disc Thickness Variation), which is caused by excessive runout of the front rotors. The excessive runout is caused by inconsistent wheel nut torque. What actually happens when the wheel nuts are tightened the disc and hub distort (or warp), causing the excessive runout. While the vehicle is being driven the disc brake pads can no longer maintain the air gap from the rotor because the rotor is no longer spinning true (it now wobbles like a buckled rim, but not as exaggerated). Now ordinarily the disc pad would be forced back into the pad retainers of the calliper. But there in lies the problem (hence the revised shims). The shim that is already fitted to the callipers doesn’t allow the pad to move far enough away from the rotor, so it slowly machines the high spots off the rotor until eventually the thickness variation in the diameter of the rotor is that inconsistent that when you apply the brakes you now apply pressure to a rotor that is thinner in certain spots, and voila, Brake shudder. Now the fix that every Ford dealer in Oz should know is as follows: First you have to remove the calliper and rotor, remove the ABS sensors, clean both mating surfaces of the disc and hub, refit the disc to the vehicle making sure the phase marks on both are aligned correctly (Yellow paint on 1 wheel stud and a date stamp on the rotor near the relevant stud hole), attach the on car lathe adapter to the hub and torque the retaining nuts to 50nm, attach the lathe to the adapter and start machine, allow machine to calibrate itself before starting to cut the rotor, once calibrated start machining the rotor, once the machining is completed and before removing the lathe hub adapter attach the digital dial indicator and measure the TIR(Total Indicated Runout), it should measure 40microns or less (the procut lathes that are used have been calibrated to 20microns (25.4microns = 1 thousandth of an inch), remove the lathe hub and remove all the metal swarf from around the rotor and hub area, refit the ABS sensors, refit the brake callipers, remove the bottom main calliper body retaining bolt and pivot body out of the way, remove both pads and retaining shims, fit new level shims and refit both pads, replace main calliper body and refit wheels, tighten wheel nuts in a star patter using a 135nm tork stick, or using a tension wrench and socket torque the wheel nuts to 135nm. The unfortunate thing about this is that if you get a flat tyre or if you have had other wheels fitted and the nuts are not re torqued to specification then you reintroduce the problem. So while this may be a permanent fix at the dealerships it can become a problem as soon as certain circumstances arise. Hope this helps FORDTECH P.S This procedure should not effect your pedal travel in anyway. If it doesnt feel right take it back.

Please elaborate.

Just to clarify the whole speed limiter thing guys,No police Ford vehicles(XT,XR6T & XR8),irrespective of state,have the speed limiter disabled.

Just a quick question guys, to save me reading through every post in this topic, has anyone actually posted the real reason for the brake shudder or is everyone just guessing about what they think might be the problem?

To explain it simply,all the KAM does is store the adaptive tables and Diagnostic codes.What this means is that while you are driving along the road the engine computer adapts itself to the way you drive the vehicle(Adaptive strategy).It then stores these settings in the KAM so that next time you drive the car it drives the way you like it.You may notice after the battery has been disconnected that the car doesnt go the same as before,untill it re adapts itself to your driving style.(Yes, it's as simple as disconnecting your battery to reset the KAM).

It is quite normal to fill the cooling system back up using tap water.However after it has been refilled the engine should be ran until it reaches normal operating temperature.Then the coolant concentration level should be tested (should be -18 deg or 33%concentration) and then drained and refilled with the required amount of coolant to restore the specified concentration.This is covered by your new car warranty.Settle for nothing less. Also,you might be interested to know that there is now a permanent fix for this problem.It involves fitting a collar in the end of the pipe that makes it impossible for the pipe to be fitted incorrectly which in turn stops the "o" ring from distorting.But then again they also said they had a permanent fix for the brake shudder We'll all just keep our fingers crossed.

NO. Once it's gone,it's gone. As for the rev limiter, It cannot be removed. As most guys here say,why bother. There's no real advantage.

Ford are not going to recall any effected vehicles.If the dealers check the vehicles that are presented for servicing on the Ford computer system they figure that they'll pick up all the effected vehicles before or when they reach 15000km.