justind

Don't know the width but the mirrors do fold away

That is what I was saying the article stated that the load rating must be maintained but speed rating could change. Along with slight size changes etc. If the load rating is different then it could have long term effects on suspension steering and the like. I don't belive everything I read but it did make sense to me and is probably worth investigating further.

There was an article in yesterdays herald Sun (Melbourne) about the cost of replacement tires for performance vehicles. One thing I did get from the article was that the load rating was more important. Speed rating is important when it is the difference between 140 and 200 but when the speed rating is 200 or 270 why pay the extra if you are not going to do those speeds. Just a thought.

Mine wouldn't downshift 5th to 3rd. I had it replaced then the new box only had 2,000kms and started to crunch into 5th and all gears are loose. approx 30mm slack in all gears.

Thanks for that info. Although both the dealer and pannel shop said they did try what you described first. The confusion to me is that the two parties are giving conflicting stories and the dealership had a more convincing argument than the pannel shop. Either way I never fully trust either of them. As for the second point as I am not paying for it as the accident was not my fault I personally don't care how much they charge the Insurance co so long as they have installed all the components on the final invoice but you are probably right they did the damage themselves and are trying to cover it up.

Update on my issue. Incompetant morons that about says it all. Spoke to the service manager at Ford to find out the real story about my car. 1st problem (apparent loss of memory to the computer BULLSH*T) The panel shop pushed in one of the connectors when connecting up the wiring loom. Not a complete circut it won't go 5min fix 2nd Problem (apparent air bag light due to first problem again BULLSH*T) All Air bag Crash sensors by law are required to be replaced in the event of an accident even if air bag is not deployed. Saftey mechnism of the car illuminates the light. This is law and common on most cars so they would have known this. When Ford went to replace sensors they found pannel shop had incorrectly laid the wiring to the sensors and had to pull the radiator out to relay the wires in the correct location. For Christ sake how stupid can you be if you can't even lay the wires back correctly.

Sorry to hear about your woes but unfortunatly on the 23 of Dec I had my own problems as well. I was stopped at a red light minding my own business when two cars on the other side of the road(highway) collided and came straight accross the median strip(don't know if I spelt it right you know that big grass area that divideds the highway) and one of them hit the front of my T. Fortunatly I was able to drive it (just, as the front bumper was pushed in and only mm away from the tyre) I was also able to lodge the claim and take it to the pannel shop for quote/ booking in. The final quote was alot cheaper than I expected. They are replacing the drivers front gaurd, front bumper, headlight and driving light(which I replaced about two months ago from a flying stone) $2180. They also heated the bumper and pushed it out for me so I could drive it properly. Apart from the support for the headlight nothing else was damaged. Problem was they were closed for Christmas and the earliest they could get it in was 12/01/04. On Thurs they called me saying there was a problem with the T and asked if I had some theft protection on the car as when they reconnected the battery on the premium sound screen was the words "SHUTDOWN MODE" and nothing would work no ignition nothing. They flatbedded it to a Ford dealer who claimed due to the battery being disconnected for a long period of time the computer lost it's memory so they flashed it with the latest update and all was well. When the pannel shop got it back the Air bag light would not go out so they took it back to the dealer who now is replacing the modual. I will be lucky to get it back by Wed next week. Has anyone else has this kind of problem or did they fry the computer when they reconnected the battery and are giving me the run around??????

Love the car. Wife loves the car. Kids are the envy of all the school and hence love the car. Reality is with a good service centre all the problems both big and small are soon taken care of. I have had my fair share of problems mainly the common ones like brake shudder, coolant 'o'-ring but never an agument from the dealer just "no worries we will fix it under warantee as quickly a possible for you" Good car and Good service from the dealer you can't get it any better. For those who unfortunatly have dealers who argue with you and are reluctant to fix you beast I can understand your frustration. Just take it somewhere else it is worth the drive for the correct service.

I have had the gearbox supliers out to look at mine and they changed the gearbox because it would not change from 5th to 3rd on a quick downchange. The new box got the 5th grinding problem after 2000kms and is loose in all gears. they are going to rebuild it. The oil change is a waste of time and will only frustrate you.

I had similar problems about 2 ltrs before 3,000kms. I told the dealer about it, but I also had clouds of smoke comming out the exhaust when I started the car. At the 3k service(which was done at 5k as they couldn't fit me in) They said they had checked everything topped up the oil and couldn't find anything wrong with it no smoke nothing.(it smoked when I drove it there) For about 3 days after it still smoked when starting then mysteriously it dissapeared and it hasent used a drop since. I now have 20k on the clock and did the 15k service at about 17k (same again couldn't fit me in) still no smoke or oil usage but I am still checking and a bit on the weary side as they may have used additives to get it to stop smoking.

Great day Great trip Great company great photos Good to meet all of you and hopefully we can get together again.

confirm my place in this event. My wife and spoiled brats are also comming along for the ride. By the way for the color count Acid Rush

I don' t think there is anything wrong with the amount of fuel that went in. The tank is only 68 litres and you have to leave some room for expansion. Commy's have a 75 litre tank and only rarely can I get more then 60-63l into it. Do you think we are running LPG??? That is more than 15% expansion. On petrol this figure should be less then 5%. Expansion in petrol is mainly vapour and is vented into the atomosphere when filling up. On a fill, especially if you fill up approx 45litres, there should be no varience at all. Allow 5% and it's miles out. My previous car got 10Km per litre with a 55litre tank and to my shame when I had 545kms on the clock I filled up 54.5 litres on several occasions. When I had 450kms I filled 45litres. Exact every time. This may be minor but it still isn't good enough in my books.It needs to be a little bit more accurate otherwise why have it at all? Oh...you're not running LPG? How silly of me. Are you assuming that because you couldn't put more than 59 litres in that there must be extra fuel in the tank because its capacity is 68l? Can't fuel expand AFTER you've filled the tank? Tell you what, next time your DTE reaches 2 km, keep driving it and let us know what happens. If you come to an abrupt stop not too far after that, then you can be sure that your trip computer is doing its job. FWIW, I do think the petrol tank could have been a bit larger to extend range but its positioning may have had something to do with it. Personally, I'd be a happy owner if this was the only thing I could pick as a fault. Don't get me wrong I am very happy with my Turbo. I also have a great attitude towards life. It cost what it cost so why worry about it. I don't care about the economy the cost of petrol or any other related costs otherwise I would have bought a dawoo or suzuki. I wouldn't even care if the car didn't have the trip computer, but if it is installed then it must work. Pretty simple. My worksheet not only shows DTE is theoretically out by a long shot but so is the Average consumption out by an average of 1ltr per 100. This effects the DTE as well. I personally think the whole system is out by a long shot. I would like to try out what you suggest but as a general habit I fill up alot earlier and that was just a one off to prove my point. The manual says the light should come on when you have 10ltr left. In theory the light should have only just bearly gone on with 9ltr left. This is the first car I have ever had any noticable varience and I find it difficult to swallow that this is normal after so many years of proof on many different cars proving otherwise. Simply put If it is there it must work end of story.

I don' t think there is anything wrong with the amount of fuel that went in. The tank is only 68 litres and you have to leave some room for expansion. Commy's have a 75 litre tank and only rarely can I get more then 60-63l into it. Do you think we are running LPG??? That is more than 15% expansion. On petrol this figure should be less then 5%. Expansion in petrol is mainly vapour and is vented into the atomosphere when filling up. On a fill, especially if you fill up approx 45litres, there should be no varience at all. Allow 5% and it's miles out. My previous car got 10Km per litre with a 55litre tank and to my shame when I had 545kms on the clock I filled up 54.5 litres on several occasions. When I had 450kms I filled 45litres. Exact every time. This may be minor but it still isn't good enough in my books.It needs to be a little bit more accurate otherwise why have it at all?

Problems I've had 1.Clunk on changing gears(manual transmission)they tell me drive through it everything is within tolerences. I will complain about it every service till they fix it. 2.Smoke and oil consumption. They said they couldn't find anything wrong but after the 3,000 service it dissapeared just like that. I suspect they put an addative it it like wynns stop smoke. Will know after the next service as I have relocated and will be going to a diferent dealer. 3.Trip computer inaccurate. They recalibrated it but still not acceptable so I have started a worksheet. I even ran the tank down to 2km left on the range and only filled up 59lts 4. front disc warp at 9,800 km still to take it to the dealer. Here is a pic of worksheet for your ref.

Please let me know what comes of it. As I am expecting it to start blowing smoke and using oil again after the next service. Shuch a dramatic change in my situation could only be from addatives that the service dept put in.

I have had similar problems. At about 2,300 I noticed large clouds of smoke (blue/grey) comming from the exhaust when starting. This was not everytime nor more noticable in heat just random. Also sometime between 1,500km when I previously checked the oil it had dropped from full to almost the add line. When I took it in for the 3,000km service they topped up the oil and sent me away(something about being double booked) At 5,000km when I got it done (finally) It was back to the add line. They told me that it was in normal usage levels. Max Tolerance is 4ltr for the first 10,000km during run in period for the turbo. They said they could not find anything wrong with it, topped it up and sent me on my way. It continued to do it for approx 500kms more then stopped. I now have 11,500km and is still nearly full at the dipstick.(about 1/6th down) Maybe they put an additive in it like wynns stop smoke????? will know after the next service as I have relocated and will be going to a new dealer.