cmdwedge

No unfortunately, I have another iPod mini though (my partner's) which I will try out. I have actually had a 3.5mm cable running from the Aux jack for 14 months now (since the day I bought it) without removing it ever - so I don't know how I would have worn the jack out! My dealer is now calling Ford to confirm that it's a stereo input on the Aux connector.. oh man! Had a last sort of resort possibility - that the iPod was clipping sound at extreme volume levels, so I just plugged it into a pair of little powered PC desktop speakers, wound the iPod up to full, and played the song. And sure enough, the guitar was there in the right hand channel. There's no question that it's something to do with the Aux jack, the wiring between the Aux and ICC, or the ICC itself (as the original CD's play fine - it's not the speakers). And they're screwing me around on the phone over a $5 part!

Hi all, Just took my car to Ford again this morning for a handful of little issues. The main one was picked up on the way from Melbourne to Canberra. I was listening to Powderfinger's 'Vulture Street' through the iPod into the Ford Aux connector (all factory fitted). And a few tracks sounded weird.. particularly track 7 'Stumblin' (you might know the song from the ad with the AU Falcon slamming into a car if you're in Vic). Anyway, in the first 30 seconds of the song, there is a big guitar riff which is only from the right hand channel. Playing it on the ICC, I was thinking 'this sounds weird.. isn't there a guitar there?'. So I unplugged the iPod, and plugged in my earphones.. sure enough, guitar through the right hand channel. Back into the ICC, no guitar (just drums from the left channel). Weird! This weekend, I popped in the original CD of Vulture Street, played track 7, and the guitar is there. So I took it to Ford this morning, they ring back and say 'oh, to use an iPod through the Aux connector, you need to set your iPod to mono'. Problem 1: bullsh*t, this isn't the 70's and I'm not using mono sound. Problem 2: there is no mono setting on the iPod. So now I'm stuck.. off to do my own research to find out what's wrong. I changed over the 3.5mm cable between the iPod and the Aux jack (the one I've had under the tissue box has been working fine for a year), but exactly the same sound comes out (no guitar in the right channel). I'm at a bit of a loss! 13FORD were no help, the girl said that they were not technical in any way and I would have to go through the dealer. Surprise. Anyone had any issues with sound running from an iPod (aside from the usual need to crack the iPod to maximum!!). Thanks guys! wedge

I have a mate with a VY SS ute too and he has only had the one problem with it - steering knock like the Fords get. Oh, and one other problem he has - he keeps getting booked for speeding. Another mate has a VX SS sedan and has had nothing but trouble - has had it for six months or so and it has been in the workshop (140km away from his home) at least half it's life - NOT a happy camper. I don't know what dealer in Canberra you have been using - have you tried MS700's place of employ? They were doing a good job of working through Cro's problems with his previous T - and there were plenty of 'em! Alternatively if you are willing to drive to the eastern suburbs of Canberra I can introduce you personally to my service guys. It may be a 145 km drive but, just getting to drive up and down the Clyde makes it worthwhile, and if you can get some of your probs fixed that a bonus eh <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Do you know who MS700 works for? Perhaps PM the details if we cannot say in the thread. And by 'Canberra's Eastern suburbs' do you mean Bateman's Bay? I would seriously be happy to drive down the Clyde early one weekday morning if it meant that I would have a working car again!

Dare I say it - my mate has a VY SS ute, and I love it. I'm not a Ford-guy or Holden-guy. But he never has anything to complain about with it, it just starts and goes like it should each and every day; and he really boots it around sometimes (I treat my car with a lot of due care!). Is there a decent service department near Canberra? I don't know of one within the borders. I may need to drive out to Sydney one day maybe.

Hi Rota.. On point one - I can see where you're coming from. However, for the first 6 months of owning the car, I kept telling my mates and girlfriend that it was just 'new car blues' and everything would eventually get sorted out. My brother hopped in the car the other day and immediately said 'diff sounds loud again'. Ford service agrees. I actually said, upon hearing that it would be 8-10 weeks to replace, that 'at least the car's still drivable'. Then the service manager said 'yeah, but it's going to get worse until it gets replaced'. I'm not a whinger, honestly. I try to save up a bunch of problems before taking it in for warranty work, rather than for one thing each time. The steering really has been shuddering for 9-12 months. Everyone who hops into my car can feel it when we park the car. This coming diff will be #3 - Ford wouldn't have replaced the 1st one if I was just being pedantic. It was really genuinely noisy (many other forum members have the same problem). The handbrake could be heard from a mile away when it started scraping away, and it's now backed off to the point that if I put the car on even a slight incline, put it in park, pull on the handbrake to the full extent that I can, then drop it back into neutral, the car will roll. I'm really believing that the warranty work just isn't paying for their supper and that my car is always last priority. In the last two days, they have replaced the handbrake cover and little all else, despite having it for approx 16 working hours. Grr.

Looks like I forgot to mention that the quoted turnaround for a new diff (#3) is 8-10 weeks. Beauty. I guess I can just keep inching the volume on the stereo up each day to drown out the sound. What number does it go up to? I figure that that's the number of days I have before the new diff arrives (or my eardrums explode). There are only 2 dealers in Canberra, and 4 service places. I'm taking it to the one recommended by a certain old-time FXR6T.com board member, he swears by them. And it's hopeless. Best service I ever got was in Frankston, Victoria. When I drove down to see the family and the handbrake shat itself down there. Took 3 hours and fixed the problem for 4500km (best record ever).

Hi all, Well I've had my T for about 13 months now. I will try and give you a quick rundown of the problems I've had. Handbrake scraping (6 times). Backed off to the point that it now doesn't hold the car much at all. At least it stopped scraping. Diff whine at 95km/h. I'm on my 2nd diff now, just got told by my dealer last week that I will need another one again (about 6 months later). It's now whining from 30km/h to 75km/h, and gets louder each day. Wind noise - dealer adjusted doors 4 times before conceding defeat (each time, doors were out of alignment by 3/4 of an inch). Had to take it to their panel shop, and it was fixed. Radiator died somewhere in the last 4000km. During the warranty work last week, dealer reported that the radiator had spat a load of coolant out. No damage to radiator though, replaced under warranty. Shuddering steering at low speed. Reported it about 6 times, never fixed. Still ongoing. Steering clunk going from lock to lock, across the centrepoint (where the wheels sit straight again). Air bubble in the gearshift surround. Replaced last week, then took a chunk out of the scuff plate with a screwdriver on the driver's side. (Replaced under warranty). Overboost, fixed with reflash. Metallic 'jingling' sound in engine bay from day one. I suspect a dodgy alternator, but I'm no mechanic (hell, neither is my dealer). Sounds like it's from that area. And it just goes on. Last week, dealer had my car 3/5 days. Asked them to fix metallic jingling sound, air bubble in gearshift surround, rattling heat shield, steering shudder. Got it back on Friday, rattle still there, though they replaced a pulley and my radiator. Scuff plate damaged. Since pulley replacement, on cold mornings, car sounds like a 1980 Corolla with a bad fan belt, but after 20 minutes that sound goes away. This week, they're going for 4/4 (just rang them, they need it for another day). They replaced my scuff plate on Tuesday, and for some reason, when replacing the centre console gearshift surround, the handbrake popped out of the centre console. I can see the guts of the console quite easily, brake lowered or raised. Dealer agreed on Friday that it was rooted, so I brought it in on Tuesday. Picked up Tuesday night. 'We fixed it'. Hopped into car, and it was basically untouched. Walked back in, Service Manager comes out, says 'we tried everything', hops into my car and says 'yeah, that's not right'. We look at a bunch of other BA's, they're all OK (handbrake cover sits INSIDE console, no gap). Agrees to fix on Wednesday, I say 'keep it till Thursday so you can fire it up first thing in the morning while it's cold'. I rang them today, they had tried a new handbrake cover, didn't work. That's about it. In 2 days, they replaced my handbrake cover and not much else. I'm over it. This car is a lemon, it'll never be fixed. I'm tired of Canberra dealers and I'm tired of Canberra Ford service. I've put up with this piece of crap for long enough. Unfortunately, a 3 year lease means that I'm stuck with it. Let's pray that it's stolen or some grandma writes it off for me. I hate this car.

Raced my mate's VY SS ute (manual) against my XR6 Turbo (automagic). He couldn't keep the rear end down, it started fishtailing like crazy, and then the boost kicked in on the XR and the race was over. Had a P plater in a little Colt race up to wave to me, and give me the thumbs up, which was very cool.

My heart leaped into my throat when I saw that pick. My HgAg beast is in a carpark right now (parked away from all the other cars, of course). It was in Woden? I haven't been to Woden in about 2 months, so it wasn't me. Whew!

Dear god, no. I think we need to see it in the context of the whole car though, not just a close up.

rednut99: Sorry mate, I just cannot agree with you about the handbrake. It's not normal (not every BA Falcon does it, just a 'significant number'). And they can 'fix' it for a period of time, so surely something is wrong? Have you had the sound yourself? It's REALLY loud and really embarassing in carparks (sorry, that sounds really snobby of me, but it does). And the wind sound was annoying but I let it go for 20000K's because I figured that it wasn't such a big deal (just crank up the stereo), but I mentioned it to my lease provider, and they submitted it as a fault to my local dealership. I agree with you in principle, there will be niggles about a new car, and it won't be perfect ever, but most of the things I've complained about are really annoying considering my sh*tty little 14 yr old 626 didn't have that many problems. And the sheer number of times I've had to return for the SAME PROBLEM is really what I'm talking about, not the number of problems. I know that there are guys here with undriveable cars being towed in, and I'm thankful that my problems have been minor and mainly cosmetic in nature.

Hi all, I've now had my first ever 'new' car, a BA Falcon XR6 Turbo (in Mercury Silver, awesome!) for 6 months/20000 km's. It just seems that I have problem after problem, my car seems to spend an inordinate amount of time at the dealer, and they don't seem to give a hoot about the number of times I've been returning there. Not sure whether I can name the dealership, so I'll just say 'I live in Canberra and work in the city'. I've had: Handbrake scraping sound (x 5). - happened at 4500km's and I happened to be in Victoria at the time, had Wignall Ford of Mornington sort it out, it was nice and quiet until 14500km's. - 14,500km's, let the noise go until the 15000 service (at my local dealership). Asked for the noise to be fixed and mentioned that Wignall had sorted it out for 10000km's. Got the car back, still made the noise, the service manager said that it would take 1000km's to 'bed in'. - 16,000km's, the noise was still as apparent as ever, took it back to local dealership, they 'adjusted' it again, and the same guy said 'give it 1000km's to bed in' again. - 18,000km's, sound still there (the whole time from 16-18K), happened to be in Victoria again, took it back to Wignall's in Frankston this time, drove our, dead silence. - 18,800km's, sound returns (lasted 1800km's this time!). Let it go to 20200 until I took it to local dealership. Made them aware that this was my 5th trip back in 20000k's (4th in the last 5000). Was actually told by another service manager that the 'let it bed in' spiel was actually a lie. Heatshield rattle (x 3). - from day 1, had the heatshield rattle. It's lasted no more than a week each time it has been fixed. Dead fuel pump. - from day 1, had a whistling/sucking sound from the engine bay, told that the fuel pump was faulty, replaced under warranty. Shuddering steering (x 3). - this just seems to happen after almost every service. Told to remove the cap on the steering fluid bottle overnight to let the air bubbles out. Then told last week that this was 'made up by the service manager' (this was from one of the local dealerships techs). Wind noise - OK had this sorted just this Monday. They pulled the doors in tighter against the rubber seal, but when I picked up the car, it was difficult to open the doors, and I had to slam them to close them (they used to just drop closed) - Took it back on Tuesday, had the seals lubricated and the doors were once again 'adjusted'. Now the wind noise is mostly gone, the doors open OK (still hard to close) but they're REALLY out of alignment, the centre rubber strip between the doors is about three times the distance from the front door than it is in the back door, and the front door is about a 1/4" higher than the back. Noticeable from 20 metres away. - Took it back yesterday, they said that they'd get the doors even, got back at 5 and picked up the car, I took the manager out and said 'this looks like it hasn't been touched' and he agreed that the doors were way out of alignment (FFS!). Given the card for their panel beating shop to have the doors properly aligned (!). Booked it in this morning for this coming Monday. Windows 'sticking' in cold weather - had this since day one but never bothered to mention it until this last Monday, it's now all good (they lubricated the windows or something) Metal-on-metal sound when braking after 30 minutes of driving - found this new problem last night when I got home. Didn't have the problem when the car was cold this morning. Will see how it goes Diff whine at 95km/h - new diff now ordered Massive feedback when headlights are on, sound through Premium Sound system - spliced the earth at dealership but didn't make any difference, it's terrible when driving at night, sound goes up and down with engine revs. It's possible that they didn't do a damn thing, of course. Blew an indicator bulb, had to book the car in for a week and a half's time to have it replaced. - eventually spoke to someone with a clue, they replaced it in 5 minutes That's all I can think of so far. My 14 year old Mazda 626 Turbo didn't have these sort of problems! Oh, and the woman at the service desk is a cow, she always treats me like sh*te whenever I rock up (and I've always been polite and quiet when having the car in for the nth time - I don't want to make a scene and have them deliberately scratch the car or something). Time to change dealerships, I think, but are there any good ones in Canberra? 30,000 service is getting done elsewhere, that's for sure. Cheers all, thanks for letting me get it all off my chest!

How much are replacement 17's worth? I found a set of 4 on ebay for $875, but don't need four of them... I could certainly stand to have a spare and ditch the steel wheel, if it's not much more than the $200-odd I'm paying already.

OK, took it in for them to have a look at it. The girl was very reassuring and said that my scratch was nothing compared to some of them that they do. They still do the repairs in-house - the only instance where they will send it off to Sydney is if it needs to be machined (and our 17" rims have no machining so do not need to be sent away). Car is booked it for Monday, 5 working days to fix. Hopefully my lease company will part with the cash for it though - $197.

It's all booked it to be looked at today. They will take that wheel off and pop my spare on the car (ick - it's not an alloy, is it?? I haven't looked yet. Probably a steel one). It will take 5 working days to be repaired, which sounds like they are sending to Sydney, as mentioned above. I don't care if it gets sent to Mars, as long as it gets fixed. Thanks all.

Thank you guys. See, every cent that I donated to this forum has paid for itself over and over again. Cheers! I owe you both a beer when this is all over

Oh thank God! Has anyone had their standard 17" rims scratched, then repaired? Do they come out OK? Thanks man, I'm stressing 50% less now How long does it usually take? Is there paint on my rims, or will they just polish them? Man.. my heart rate slowed down just reading your post ms...

Hi all, Well I've gone and done it, at low speed I've scratched one of my standard 17" rims. The scratching is only on the very edge and doesn't go up the side of the rim, and isn't deep. Is there such thing as a rim repair service? Or do I just have to deal with the scratch marks? Please tell me that they can be repaired, I'm beside myself with worry. And if there is such a service, can anyone recommend a place in Canberra that can fix them? God I'm stressing out at the moment!!! Helllllp!

Lord Cyric - I had a fuel pump problem when I bought my T. There was a whistling, high-pitched sort of sound from somewhere underneath the car at all times, very obvious at idle. Ford told me it was a dead fuel pump, and replaced it, after which the sound went away. Didn't effect the driving though (certainly not a dead T).

I test drove an XY SS before test driving the XR8 (then the XR6T). I wasn't overly impressed with the SS - but at that stage, I was actually pretty confident that I'd be buying a Holden, I liked the outside shape and the V8 sound. During the drive (in a manual) it made weird clunking noises when changing gears and some other oddities - I asked the salesguy if it was normal and he said that it was 'for a performance car'. I then went to Ford and told them that I had driven the SS that day, but felt that I should at least give the BA Falcon a go before making such an expensive purchase. The dealer actually said 'you drove an SS at lunchtime? This will be easy' and laughed. He was my girlfriend's dad so I didn't think it too arrogant, just thought that he was kidding. The XR8 hammered the SS in every way, except that it felt very front-heavy. Then I drove the T, which was the same as the XR8 minus the front heaviness (it felt more nimble). Done deal, bought the T.

JB - cheers mate, that would be fantastic!! vik - from reading the forums, I had an inkling that it might be the heatshield rattle reported by several others. No biggie. diggah - I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to mention names. There are three to choose from, one in Belconnen, one in Phillip and one in the city. I suppose whichever is closest. Having said that, the one I go to have been nothing but helpful, friendly and professional. And haven't taken a minute longer than they've estimated each time. So given that.. if I'm allowed to mention the name of my dealership, I will. Mods?

Hi all, First and foremost, let me say what a wonderful forum this is. I donated even before I got my T - I had learned so much from the posts here. Keep up the good work, everyone! I have had my T for about 5 weeks now. I've had a few problems here and there but I'm 99% happy with the beast. Week 1 - whining/whistling sound from underneath car. Salesguy said it's the turbo, but it was most loud when I was idling. I thought that only racecars produce boost at idle? Anyway - turns out that it was a faulty fuel pump. Apparently. Well they replaced it and the sound went away. Also notice a lot of white noise from the Premium Sound when it's in Aux mode, but that's probably my fault. Turning the volume below 10 makes it mostly inaudible, or actually USING the Aux mode (with my iPod) clears it up. Only happens when iPod isn't plugged in. Radio/CD is fine. Week 2 - brakes felt spongy. They still worked so I let it go until week 3, my 3000km service (yes, I've been driving a lot). Turns out that there was air in the rear lines, bled em, fantastic brakes after that. Week 3/4 - There was a sort of 'rubbing' sound from the wheels, like a brake pad rubbing against a warped disc? Rub two bits of paper together, and that's the sound. Braking would stop the sound, so I guessed it was a brake issue. Took it to a dealer in Frankston, they said 'Ford in Canberra have overadjusted your handbrake' and fixed it. Ford in Canberra said 'we didn't touch your handbrake, so no idea why that happened' Week 4 - Brakes are crappy again, but not as bad as when I first got the car. They work OK, but not as grippy as after the rear brakeline bleed. To be fixed. Week 5 - There's a rattling sort of sound underneath the car. It's either a loose washer or something like that (metallic, high pitched rattle) or gas escaping from a tiny hole. Heard only at idle and only in the quiet of my garage, road noise covers the sound. To be fixed. It's not loud, but it's certainly there. Here's the killer though - my drivers side rear indicator died. I rang my dealer and they said that they couldn't look at it for over a week. Rang the other 2 dealers in Canberra, they could do it in 1 weeks time. Rang Ford, they couldn't do anything. I thought 'it's flashing really quickly, it's just a dead globe, like in my first 3 cars'. Rang Ford dealer and said 'I think it's just a globe, it'll take 5 minutes, can they do it in the morning?'. No - it will be an electrical fault. Grr. OK, rang my Lease supplier, spoke to their service guy. Told him what was happening - he diagnosed a dead bulb too. Sweet. Went in to Dealer, told them - service manager was sitting nearby and said 'what does it do?'. I said that it was flashing really fast, so he said 'it's a dead bulb'. I said 'I know, but you guys can't look at it for a week and a half and I can't drive it until it's fixed'. He said 'bring it in tomorrow morning' and I did. Service guy fixed it in 5 minutes. He actually mentioned 'I've never seen this happen in any car since the AU series 1'. Which isn't reassuring but I'm sure it was a one-off. So that's it - rattle sound and the brakes might need adjusting. Oh, and the handbrake used to take like, 4-5 clicks to hold the car; now it take 7. 4-5 clicks and the car will roll onto the park gear. I wish they actually told you what they're doing to your car when it's serviced! I'm not that stupid, they can explain it and I'll follow what they're saying. Almost there! Ford

yeec - I strongly agree. Just 'wear' (haha) the fact that your car will cop some stone chip damage, get it sorted out once a year, and get on with your life. They look awful, and they cover (especially on the T) the front of a gorgeous car - half the look of the T is the nose. Every time I look at the front of my baby, I get excited. Has there ever been a tougher, more agressive looking front end on an Aussie car? No! So in conclusion, no car bra.