Tee

G'day, I've just returned from Ford after having my LSD replaced for whine, anyway the first thing I noticed when I went to pick it up was that there was noticably more wheel arch gap at the back and it was now sitting higher at the rear, by about an inch. Used to be about 2 fingers width gap, it's now 4 fingers I asked the service person and they asked the mecho and they said it was because the entire rear end 'cradle' had been removed to do the job, which had decompressed the springs, shocks etc, so it will take some time to settle back down... Is this normal, or am I being fed a BS story to get me to go away? Thanks for any help

God forbid they might improve the build quality...

Check the warranty agreement in your manual, and see what it says. Make sure you're 100% clear on what it covers, hopefully this will be to your advantage when going back to the dealer as I doubt surface finish is excluded. As an example, my headlight lenses developed heat cracking where the beam passes through. I took the car to Ford, showed them the problem and that the other cars in the lot didn't have the same problem and that it looked unsightly, and within 48 hours I had new lights installed. They noted the defect as 'heat cracking' and that was fine for Ford to warrant the replacement, so paint peeling off has a pretty good chance of being accepted as a fault.

I had heat shield rattle, took it to the dealer to fix, first time failed, second time they fixed it (well pretty much) by putting about 8 hose clamps all over the bl00dy thing, haha. Every now and then there is a minor hum when cold, but its basically all gone now.

Good news, I'm bringing this up with the service department ASAP. The warmer months are on the way, I'd rather cruise with the windows down and WITHOUT the shh shh!

I have a question: What cases that thump sound in the 4-spd auto when going from park into reverse? It doesn't always happen, but simply rolling the car forward a bit means I can always reproduce it. I can tell when it's going to happen because the selector feels tighter as I start to move it out of P and into R. It sounds aweful and is pretty loud. I've had someone outside confirm the thump is coming from underneath the car, under where the gear selector is. Can this be fixed? Does it indicate damage elsewhere? Cheers

My headlights are cracking/bubbling where the light beam goes through, on both sides. I've looked at other cars and none seem to have it. Another thing to get them to look at.

Did you need to cut a hole in the carpet to let the sub box fit inside the spare wheel?

Biggest thing that bugs me... Painted bodywork visibile INSIDE the cabin. I mean for f*^ sake, this is a trademark of a utility or economy vehicle, not a $45k performance sedan Couldn't they extend the door trims a bit further to cover this? It's aweful and unexcusable

I bought my T only 12 months old and saved 15 grand. Near-new is where the bargains are

Let us know how you go with that diff, still waiting for mine to arrive. As for warranty work, the worst part of the ordeal is having to drive a Focus around, haha. I turned up to work with it and a rumour started that I might have been demoted The T feels like a Bentley when you get back in

And no REDLINE on the tacho!

No window auto-up (dangerous to do it manual coming out of tolls) No illuminated steering wheel controls (yeah I know it has braille) No headlights-on when you unlock car (like the Holdens have) No blue illumination of electric window switches (to match dash) No plastic shroud for fuel filler cap (looks and feels cheap) Speed dependent volume and wipers don't seem to work much Doubling up of centre brake lights (both rear deck & spoiler) Cup holders interfere with gear selector

Just thought I'd share a warranty victory... I had that bl00dy annoying heat shield rattle under the car which made the thing sound like a jackhammer while it was warming up Went to the dealer for the first attempt, where they added 2 extra clamps - next morning I start the car to warm it up, the noise was not only still there, it was louder and had changed pitch! So took it back again for the second attempt where they were supposed to replace the whole exhaust section, but the wrong part was sent. So instead (as luck would have it) they put even more clamps around the heatshield. LOTS and LOTS of them, haha, spread all along the area where the shield wraps around the cat. Rattling has now disappeared! Now just the sweet sound of the engine purring in the mornings. Much better way to start the day Moral of the story: An extra 2 clamps is not enough, get em to go to town!

Sorry to drag an old thread up, but just thought I'd let people know that on the 4th attempt Ford managed to fix the steering creak and it's all gone They applied TSB 78/04 which I believe involved shimming both sides of the rack where the bolts pass through to remove all play. The workshop foreman had the car for the whole day which I think is what did the trick. In any case, my steering is silent and I'm happy!

I found a couple of swirl marks on my bonnet on the weekend that showed up in the sun, got stuck into them with Meguiars 'Scratch-X' applied with a foam applicator, then finished off with a coat of caranuba wax. Swirls all gone You will ALWAYS get minor surface abrasion on any paint, but the notisable swirls can be removed as above.

Actually, I'm currently addressing a similar rattle in the glovebox right now, and making progress. I had a suspicion that the glovebox lid was too loose because it would only rattle when there was weight inside, so to test the theory I wedged some foam inbetween the dash and glovebox lid as I closed it, then went for a drive, and it seems to have stopped the wobbly rattle - so now all I need to do is make permanent pads for it. You can see the little rubber 'stoppers' Ford put on the corners for this purpose, but they obviously don't always do the trick. Only rattle near the glovebox that is left now is coming from the silver dash strip, gunna try that same foam trick with that one to see if I can isolate which part is vibrating

I had my T in at the dealers 4 TIMES to correct the steering creak. On the fourth go they fixed it - well for now at least!

What is the billing structure like? As in, did it cost you per dent, or is there a rate for an entire panel if you have several dents? Sounds good

Only the small 'xr' letters illuminate, at least that's how mine is. I wondered the same thing too, haha.

I've been waiting almost a month for my new diff to arrive under warranty, should arrive any time now. The 80-100 whine is annoying because it happens at typical motorway speeds around town where you're stuck on cruise control. The LSD is great, awesome traction, just poor QC.

Around town 400km with sedate driving and the occassional squirt. But there's always about 10 litres of fuel left in the tank when I fill up, so the range would be a bit more than that. Dunno what the highway range is, but will be testing it soon

I've got the 4-speed auto, and the first gear whines - but I thought that was normal for all auto Falcons? Doesn't bother me either way. Diff whine, well that's another story haha.

NICE Is it visible in your rear view mirror? Any rattles or noise problems?

I had my handbrake adjusted twice under warranty due to a 'hissing' sound coming from the back of the car, they did't fix the problem but didn't charge me to adjust the handbrake either.