Ford Falcon Problems

ACCORDING to Mark Lynch of Carcool Airconditioning, the problem is caused by a small vacuum leak in the heater control system. When driving normally the engine supplies enough vacuum to overcome the leak. But when you accelerate hard the engine vacuum drops to zero, which allows the system to default to demist. Firstly, try driving the car with the heater set to warm. If it is OK the fault is in the heater tap, if not it is behind the dash. A quick fix can sometimes be achieved by fitting a vac check valve at the engine supply hose.

DEFINITELY tow it in Drive, and I would think of adding a transmission oil cooler. It's also a good idea to service the transmission and replace the fluid.

WHAT conditions produce the vibration? Does it occur at certain speeds, under acceleration, while at constant speed, even slowing? If the dealer, having checked or replaced everything possible, cannot find the cause, I would suggest you pursue it directly with Ford. Call its customer-help people.

THERE was a time when a car was thought to be worn out and worthless when it had done 100,000 miles or 160,000km, but technology has come a long way since those days and cars last much longer than they once did. While the average annual mileage on this car is low, it has still accumulated more than 250,000km, and that in my mind is high mileage. Cars don't wear out with time, its a function of kilometres covered, and this particular car has covered plenty of kilometres. It might still be a good car in good condition, but it's still well on its way to the end of the road. I would consider 100,000km or so to be low mileage on this car.

THE BA Falcon should do the job. It is rated to tow up to 2300kg with the auto and the Ford tow pack. I wouldn't recommend the manual, as it isn't rated as high as the auto. As far as the Subaru goes, I would think it should cope with the load you want to move without any drama. The Ford is more solidly built than the Subaru, but I wouldn't advise you against the Outback.

I WOULDN'T agree with rodding out the radiator every six months or so, I would rather try to eliminate the problem. If it is casting sand then I would have thought it would have been flushed out by now. Talk to a cooling system/radiator specialist and try to have the sand flushed out. There shouldn't be any affect on the lubrication system.

YOURS is not an unusual problem. The Falcon radiator has plastic tanks and they usually split, requiring replacement. Taxi operators usually run the heavy-duty radiator that doesn't have plastic tanks.

NOT necessarily. Your car was tuned for unleaded so running it on premium unleaded may not make a difference, though I'm surprised consumption increased so much. PULP works on some cars because they have systems that can detect ignition knock and adjust timing accordingly. On these cars PULP will allow it to run on a higher advance, which means better fuel figures.

CarsGuide approached Ford for its help in solving Stephen's problem, and it sent an engineer to assess the car. A new set of brake pads was fitted and the car was given back to Stephen, apparently fixed. He thought otherwise and asked us to drive the car. The noise we heard was a swishing noise rather than a squeal. There are a couple of possible causes: a warped disc, or the park brake pads rubbing against the disc while driving along. The PBR park brake has a problem which allows the pads to drop out of position and rub on the disc. This can be checked by gently applying the park brake a notch or two while driving -- enough to reposition the park brake pads. If that's the cause, the noise will stop for a short time until the pads drop out of position again. If the noise does cease when the park brake is applied, there isn't a fix. If it doesn't go away, look for a warped rotor. The best fix is to install better quality rotors from a company such as Disc Brakes Australia.

THE AU 3 XR8, introduced in May 2001, had a sportier body kit, 220kW V8 engine, clear side indicator lenses and a dot matrix windscreen. The TE50 was built by Tickford, the predecessor of today's Ford Performance Racing. Its V8 engine was stroked to produce 5.6 litres, and it put out 250kW and 500Nm. The model released in tandem with the Series III Falcon had new front and rear styling, a chrome grille, side skirts and a rear bumper.