Ford Problems

THE diff problem with the Falcon ute is well-known, and one that dealers should be familiar with. I know of several owners who have had to replace the diff, some more than once. Ford's policy seems to be that they will replace the diff with a new one if the vehicle is under warranty, and with a used one if it's out of warranty. The problem for you is that you bought a used vehicle out of warranty. And you don't have the history of it before you bought it. Talk to the previous owner if you can and find out if they have any knowledge of the problem existing when they owned it and, if so, did they report it to the dealer. Get as much information as possible and persist with Ford.

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.

WE'VE had complaints about the diff in the Holden, but not nearly so many from Ford owners. You probably could do the job if you're handy with tools, but if you're not, I wouldn't tackle it.

GHIA is a car-styling company that started in Italy in 1921 and built many fabulous cars on Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia chassis. Later the company designed the VW Karmann-Ghia, the Volvo P1800 and several special concept vehicles for Chrysler. Ford bought the company in 1970 and began using the name on its cars. It is generally used to denote the luxurious Fords.

BOTH have awesome performance, but I would put the Typhoon slightly ahead in that area. The Clubsport is smoother and a little more refined on the road. In terms of fuel consumption, really if you're planning to buy a performance car such as either of these, fuel consumption shouldn't be a consideration. But under normal driving I would expect both to return 15-16 litres/100km. Neither is particularly good in that area. In reliability terms, the Typhoon has had problems with the clutch and there's a question mark over the rear axle, so the Clubsport is probably the better there. Both are exhilarating to drive, the Typhoon perhaps slightly better.

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.

REPORT your experience to the oil company involved and ask it to check the fuel being sold at the outlet. If there is a problem, it's unlikely to be with the petrol being supplied by the oil company. I'm sure the oil company involved would be happy to check the fuel to make sure its product is not being tampered with.

BY YOUR description of the DVD player etc I assume it has been modified, so I can't make any assessment of what the modifications might be worth. Your figure of $46,500 is way above what I would expect it's worth. I would put it at $25,000-$30,000.

I AGREE it seems like a common problem. Perhaps other readers who have had the problem could let us know of their experiences before we go to Ford for an explanation.

I ASSUME the system was fitted by the Ford dealer, because Ford's LPG engine is a dedicated LPG system. Almost all dual-fuel systems fitted to cars after 2003 will be injection systems that start on petrol and switch to LPG after a minute or so of warming up, so yours sounds as if it's state-of-the-art. They operate that way to minimise the starting time and for smoother running during the warm-up phase.