Ford Falcon Problems

YOU'VE certainly had the runaround. Paint quality is a subjective thing. One person will think it's bad. Another will reckon it's fine. Take it to an independent paint specialist and ask them to give you a report on it.

SINCE we ran the letter relating to paint problems on the Falcon we have had a lot of responses. I'm asking Ford to confirm or deny a recall to correct paint issues.

KEEP the pressure on your dealer and Ford to fix this before it spreads and, you are right to be concerned about what lies beneath the paint that hasn't yet surfaced. The letter below suggests paint quality is shoddy.

TALKING to Bruce after getting his letter, he tells me the dealer replaced the hoses with later BF hoses, which appear different from the BA hoses taken from his ute. A staff member of the dealer's service department told him the hoses were to go back to Ford for testing. Bruce's son, who runs an Ultratune service centre, says when Falcons are jacked up and the wheels off the ground, the brake hoses are very taut, as if the suspension is hanging on them. Sounds much like the reason Ford gave for recalling the Territory, and adds to the evidence of a problem.

YOU'RE right, the Windsor is a great motor, but the love affair with the Cleveland dates back to the early 1970s and racing success of the Falcon GT HO 2 and 3. The Cleveland was a regular Bathurst winner but, unfortunately, the Windsor only made it on to the podium in 1967 in the XR GT. The Windsor's bottom end is renowned for being bulletproof, but the top end performance of the Cleveland made it a racetrack legend.

YOU'VE done your homework on the problem and come up with the answers, but you would need to be a ``roads scholar'' to keep on top of it. Good info, though.

We've had all sorts of fixes for the dreaded rattle. The goo, as you call it, is a common fix.

YOU are not alone. Many people say the Magna/Verada was a good car, but they had an image of it being boring. If Mitsubishi had somehow been able to race it against the Falcon or Commodore it might well have been able to change its reputation.

IT IS common for mechanics to machine the discs about 50,000km, then replace them at 80,000km or so. There was a time when the drums or discs on a car would last the life of the car, but it seems discs have become consumables like pads. Aftermarket disc rotors may be a way around it. They tend to be of a higher quality, but I have no first-hand knowledge of their service life.