Some Nasties

[xr6tee]

Hello folks,

This is my first post and therefore a bit of background about myself.

I have been regularly visiting this forum for almost one year now but I've only joined in September....shortly after taking the delivery of MKII XR6T (velocity in color, 18in wheels, premo sound, leather seats and the minor bits like scuff plates, mudspats, lower grille etc.).

So far the car has been real joy but today I uncovered few nasties that I feel compelled to share with you.

Today, I've had the car fitted with a DVD player and TV receiver which integrate quite nicely with the existing Color LCD of the 'premo' sound system. For those interested, I found the system on ebay and contacted the seller.

Falcon BA DVD Conversion Kit

After number of queries, we struck a deal which also included the installation.

You see, Joe happens to have close contacts in the right places and posseses internal knowledge on the workings of the Ford sound system. He also happens to be in Melbourne (...just like me) so there was not much hesitation

on that side either. Add to that that he has done it at least half a dozen of times....only last week to one of the very first BF F6s (with 6sp auto)....surely a member here? ;-) ...and there's no warranty voidance...so why

bother risking it yourself?

I have to say that Joe has done the job well and above my expectations and he was also the one that uncovered those nasties for me.

Nasty #1: During the installation he discovered large amount of water underneath the carpet on the passenger side. As reported by other members, this is most likely due to blocked aircon drainage hose but I do not discount water leaks from the outside either. Melbourne had a wild weather last night and I just happened to leave it outside...so leakage around some seals is a possibility (I just hope not). - At that point I was straight on the

phone to Etheridge Ford Service department and the car is booked for early Monday morning. The service rep did not sound entirely surprised. He told me that it's most likely the blocked aircon drainage hose (yes, I had the aircon

on last night for demisting)..... or less commonly the heating element/pipes leaking. Apparently some early examples occasionally had those problems..... but mine is Mar 2005 built....not that early I would think. I have had no damp smell in my car so it must have just happened. One other thing I want to point out is that you cannot feel it right on the carpet at all. The water is well down on the metal floor and one has to undo few screws, uncover the carpet and lift the felt to get down on the metal.

Nasty #2: Missing the rear subwoofer. I should have picked this up but I have not paid too much attention to the stereo as I was waiting for this installation to happen first....and even then I would've probably thought it's optional. Apparently it comes standard either with the premo or the prestigious sound systems so I will be enquiring about that too.

Nasty #3: I just discovered this one a short while ago. There's a very bright spot on the screen at one point. Coming from IT this tells me it's a bad pixel (not "dead" but always "turned on"). On large LCDs one or two dead/bad pixels are usually acceptable but the inbuilt color LCD is quite small and at times this is quite annoying. I just wondered whether anyone else have noticed any bad pixels on their color screens....look closely for very bright or black spots. - Now, I wonder what are my chances of having it replaced as well?

In comparison these are relatively minor issues to what others have experienced with their T's but nevertheless worth mentioning.

Yep, I have the driveline clunk and 'gear purring'....but it seems the majority of you (manual owners) have these too.

Wish me luck on Monday.

[4runner]

First off xr6tee to the forums and good luck with getting your nasties sorted. I also have a MKII 6-speed now with 40,000 kms and 1 year old.

Mine has the "live" pixel problem on the ICC display. You don't normally notice it with the normal ICC display but it shows up as a bright green pixel when receiving signal from the STB. I doubt that Ford would change it for 1 pixel but you never know your luck. Let us know how you get on with it.

[harvyk]

Welcome XR6Tee...

Sadly not the happiest first post, but I can probably let you know on point #3...

Unfortuantly LCD screens work on a percentage of inactive pixels before they are claimed to be dead (This seems to be standard across TV \ monitors \ car LCD screens etc...) I'm not quite sure of what the ratio of living vs dead pixels needs to be but I have heard of cases where all the dead pixels where in the one area causing a masive black spot in the middle of the screen and yet it wasn't replaced under warrenty because the percentage of dead pixels was not yet high enough...

I'd still give Ford warrenty a shot but you'll probably have very little recourse if they showed you the door...

Good luck with it...

[Blonk]

Yeh welcome....

And definately not the saddest first post either,,

Thanks for the link too

[nang3]

welcome to the club mate !!

  harvyk said:

Unfortuantly LCD screens work on a percentage of inactive pixels before they are claimed to be dead (This seems to be standard across TV \ monitors \ car LCD screens etc...) I'm not quite sure of what the ratio of living vs dead pixels needs to be but I have heard of cases where all the dead pixels where in the one area causing a masive black spot in the middle of the screen and yet it wasn't replaced under warrenty because the percentage of dead pixels was not yet high enough...

yeh that's true, I work in software engineering and have seen my fair share of dead and or lit or 'off' pixels...

It is up to the manufacturers discretion/warranty as to the number of defect pixels per panel.. It is a percentage of around 0.000005% of the total number of pixels so it is a tiny percentage but a 17" monitor has roughly 1.3million pixels and 0.000005% of 1.3mil = 6.5 pixels ..

its a pain in the a55 cause a lot of people expect LCD's to be perfect when they buy them and I hate explaining to them the new $300-2000 monitor they just bought is defective but within the allowable limits

[baboon]

  xr6tee said:

Nasty #2: Missing the rear subwoofer. I should have picked this up but I have not paid too much attention to the stereo as I was waiting for this installation to happen first....and even then I would've probably thought it's optional. Apparently it comes standard either with the premo or the prestigious sound systems so I will be enquiring about that too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes it does come with the premo sound pack. Man that's pretty dodgy by ford to miss that one. You checked you electric windows yet? Might be missing an electric motor too!

[DallasQLD]

If you saw a car atthe showroom without dead pixels then its right to assume that's what your entitled to. Press the pojt and you may get some satisfaction. I dotjn recall the warrantly excluding it.

The car is warranted to be feee from defects for the warranty periodregardless of how small the defect is. Be picky.

In a car a dead pixel at night could distract you and you could fly off the road......

[xr6tee]

ok folks,

here's more feedback on my original nasties.

#1: On Sunday I removed some of the plastic trim from the passenger floor and lifted the carpet + plus the felt (not really a felt as such but a rubbery like compound) to have it all dried up. Sunday Melbourne weather was great so it all dried up in about 4 hours. Once dry, I locked the car and gave it good hosing around the windscreen area but no matter how hard I've tried, I did not notice any water coming inside...which has given me some confidence. The aircon drainage being blocked seemed like the next plausible cause and as mentioned, this morning I had the car at the dealership and we looked underneath (I must say, even when hoisted up, it's a real b***h to even see the drainage hole as it's high up just.... above the g'box). It was all clear however on my car. According to the mechanic, on some cars the rubber-like drainage hole has a 'cross like section' (part of manufacturing process) which is supposed to be cut out but on some cars this is left in and consequently the water flow becomes restricted....anyway this so that you know.

Well, that makes me wonder how the water got in. May be during the assembly....the mechanic mentioned....but this would be going back as far as March (date of manufacture) ..and I guess there would be smell. To me this looks fresh..but I can't discount this possibility either as there's not much to decay on the rubbery underlay. ...In the end, I have decided to keep driving with the carpets lifted for a month or so and will be checking the area whenever I use the air/heater or when it's pouring rain. Bit of an iconvenience but I rather if I find the cause - so #1 nasty...stay tuned ;-)

Nasty #2: I have asked this question again in a separate post since Ford was inconclusive whether or not it should have been fitted in the first place but from what you folks say, it should have been there so I will hit the dealer again on this one. Not that it would break my bank if I had to get one but it's the principle and the fact that I bought a brand new car for which I paid premium.

Nasty #3: Oh yes, the 'live' pixel. Now this one really surprised me. I was not giving myself too many chances (and I still don't) but after showing this to the mechanic, he acknowledged the problem (the green pixel is quite visible, especially against the black background) and has placed order for a whole new sound unit...yeah, they can't just replace the screen but the whole sound system incl. the 6-cd stacker. Note that I say 'placed' the order, which means that someone high up will still have to approve it....... I sort of argued that now I have the tv tuner, it can get rather annoying...in particular on a small screen like that. .......so I'll just wait and see. Either they come back and ask me to book the car for replacement or I'll get the familiar 'it's within the norms'.

Thank you to all of you who provided some feedback for me on this thread.

[TRY29T]

Hi xr6tee,

Welcome, I own a MKII 6Spd Ute, 4000kms None of your problems yet Just the Norm.

Cheers

GC

[Antisocial]

  DallasQLD said:

If you saw a car atthe showroom without dead pixels then its right to assume that's what your entitled to. Press the pojt and you may get some satisfaction. I dotjn recall the warrantly excluding it.

The car is warranted to be feee from defects for the warranty periodregardless of how small the defect is.  Be picky.

In a car a dead pixel at night could distract you and you could fly off the road......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dude what is up with you today??

DO you have a link to a Dallas - English dictionary we can use with your posts...