Ford Fairmont Problems

IT SOUNDS like a wonderful car, one any early Falcon enthusiast would love. From your description, and the fact it was owned by a Ford employee before your father, it could be a special-build car, which makes it hard to put a fair value on it.  An XY Fairmont is worth $25,000-$35,000 depending on the options and condition. A Fairmont GS is highly prized and worth $45,000-$55,000. Yours appears to be an optioned-up Fairmont, and I believe it could be worth $35,000-$45,000. I understand your frustration at being asked if you want to sell it every time you take it out; a have the same feeling every time I drive my XW GT HO.

FIRSTLY, you have a responsibility to read and understand the warranty that comes with the new car, which covers it for three years or 100,000km, whichever comes first. There's no point arguing the toss later when the car is outside the time boundary of the warranty. Ford has also come to the party by covering part of the cost of the second repair, so they have honoured their part of the deal. That said I do have a problem with the way many car companies deliver service. They do seem to have an us-versus-them attitude once you've bought the car. You appear to have been messed around by the dealer who couldn't solve the issue with the gearbox.

YOU don't say whether it has throttle body injection or multi-point fuel injection, but it sounds to be a fuel-supply problem. It could be an intermittent fault with the fuel pump, or even a blockage in a filter or pickup. If it is the fuel-injected engine I'd have the injectors cleaned.

IT'S not a problem, but normal wear and tear I would suggest. I would guess your discs are in need of machining, or even replacement.

IT'S unusual to have the rear brakes wearing out before the front, which do most of the stopping work, so I'd first be making sure the brake system is functioning correctly. If it is, there is good reason to pressure VW to replace the worn components under warranty, and you're correct that all manufacturers, carmakers and others, have a duty to provide a product that is fit for the purpose it's being sold for.

THE Falcon converts well to LPG so there won't be a problem with valve recession in the short or medium term, but remember that all cars suffer from valve recession, whether they run on leaded petrol, unleaded or LPG. It's only the rate of valve recession that changes, and the Falcon has shown over many years that it copes with LPG well in standard form. The only system available to you for the EL is a venturi-mixer system, which is old technology compared with the injection systems now being used on more modern cars. Sprint Gas actually uses Italian components, like just about every LPG manufacturer, but it develops the systems here in Australia. The company has been around for a long time and has a good reputation. When the installer says he will dyno-tune the car and start it from cold to make sure everything is working OK, every installer should do that. There will be some degradation in the way the car runs when fitted with LPG, but that's the price you pay for the cheaper fuel.

IT'S nice to know your Ford dealer is looking after your interests. It's unusual to find a dealer as forthright as yours appears to be, and helpful to boot.

THE consumption works out to be 23.9 litres/100km, or 11.9 miles a gallon in the old money, which is pretty high. That said you have to expect higher fuel consumption when towing, how high depends heavily on the weight of the caravan, the front it presents to the wind, and the sort of road you're towing over. A recent trip to the Northern Territory in a Subaru Outback towing various sized camper trailers saw the Outback's normally good fuel consumption climb 30 per cent with an 800kg camper trailer on the back, and more than 60 per cent when towing a 1200kg poptop caravan.

YOURS is the sort of car private buyers seek and are often prepared to pay a little extra for, but don't expect to get any more from a dealer than you would for a higher-mileage car in lesser condition. If you advertise it privately, try for $17,500 -- a dealer would probably offer you $12,000 as a trade-in.

THE XF six-cylinder had an alloy cylinder head on a cast-iron block, a combination that was prone to corrosion, which makes it important to use a corrosion inhibitor and not just plain water. Ford recommends that 300ml of inhibitor be added to the cooling system every 12,000km, and that the coolant be drained and replaced every 46,000km, at which time you should add 600ml of inhibitor.