Ford Problems

This could be caused by something inside the engine bay rattling or vibrating, but could also be linked to the exhaust system or its heat-shielding doing the same thing. When you hit the accelerator up a hill, the engine and driveline (and exhaust) are suddenly put under a lot of stress which can be passed along any mechanical link or fixture, making things flex or vibrate that don’t normally do so when they aren’t subjected to the same stresses and loads.

When the engine is cold, have a feel around the engine bay to find anything loose or poorly mounted that could contribute to such vibrations. It could be as simple as a poorly located clamp of a loose piece of trunking or internal panelling vibrating against another part. Often these noises will be conveyed into the cabin via the fresh air vents, making them sound even louder.

Just be sure not to confuse a rattle with the normal cacophony of noises a modern turbo-diesel produces as part of operating under load.

The Ford Puma is built in Craiova, Romania.

I can see why the internet cohort might be confused by this question (and why your mate at the pub may or may not know what he’s talking about) because it’s a bit of a weird one. For reasons of friction reduction (efficiency) and reliability, the camshafts in the Ford Bi-turbo are driven by a rubber toothed belt. But – and here’s the strange bit – the belt is partially submerged in the oil in the engine’s sump, so it’s a 'wet' timing belt. While the vast majority of other rubber, toothed timing belts run in a 'dry' environment.

Ford reckons this gives the engine the low noise of a conventional rubber timing belt, combined with the low friction running of a conventional `wet’ timing chain. But the high-strength cords and the oil-resistant rubber the belt is made from, says Ford, also mean that it should last a lot longer than a conventional timing belt. While conventional belts should be changed between 80,000 and 120,000km (roughly speaking) the Ford belt is said to be good for 230,000km.

For the record, the Bi-turbo’s oil pump is driven by a second belt of the same construction.

No, the new Ranger is code-named PY, while the vehicle in question is a PX. Admittedly, it’s a very late-build PX (a Series 3, if you like) which got a revised look and extra tech, but it’s not a 'Next Gen'. The real giveaway is that it has the five-cylinder 3.2-litre engine fitted. This engine was dropped for the newer models, Ford electing to stick with the 2.0-litre bi-turbo and 3.0 V6 diesel engines and the twin-turbo 3.0-litre petrol unit for the Raptor.

Noisy tappets (also known as hydraulic lifters) are relatively common on engines that have done their fair share of work. By using oil pressure generated from the engine’s oil pump, the hydraulic lifter can adjust to maintain the perfect gap between itself and the engine’s intake and exhaust valves. This improves efficiency and reduces engine wear, so it’s an important job.

Over time, the lifters may become a bit lazy (or weak) and may not be able to maintain that correct gap. At which point the extra clearance causes the tapping sound we associate with worn lifters. Replacement is the solution, and best practice says replace them all at once on the basis that if one lifter is already weak, the rest won’t be too clever either.

However, there’s one thing you can try before that, and that is to give the engine an oil change with a high-detergent (as most diesel engine oils are) content oil and a clean filter. Sometimes, fresh oil will clear out a small piece of grit or rubbish that is blocking the oil flow to a lifter and restore it to full health.

Believe it or not, this is perfectly normal behaviour from many modern vehicles with eight, nine or even 10-speed automatic transmissions. It’s even more common with torquey turbo-diesel engines which can jump one or even two gears on a light throttle without affecting performance. Put simply, there are more gears on offer than the vehicle actually needs. Don’t forget, once upon a time, a three-speed transmission was quite common.

So why have nine or ten gears in the first place? Because when the vehicle is heavily loaded or towing three tonnes of caravan, those extra gears come in very handy for keeping the engine in its torque zone and ensuring it can still go up hills at highways speeds and take off from a red light without over-exerting itself. And when cruising on the highway, the vehicle can select a really high gear and lower its engine speed, which reduces fuel consumption markedly.

Unless you’ve been the victim of a cruel twist of fate where something else has gone wrong at the exact moment you fitted the new neutral safety switch, it stands to reason that the new switch is not playing the game. You say you’ve tightened the selector linkage, but did you make sure the new switch was located precisely so that it could detect when the car was not in neutral (and, therefore, prevent it from starting)? By tightening the linkage, you may have moved the trigger for the safety switch to a position where it isn’t allowing the switch to make contact and let the engine crank.

In the meantime, try this: If the engine won’t turn with the gearbox in Park, move the selector to Neutral and see if that changes anything. If the car suddenly starts, you know that the new switch is working but needs adjustment to get it into the correct position.

This sounds like a body computer problem. The body computer is the brains that controls a huge range of features but, tellingly, also the climate control and entertainment systems, as well as functions such as the wipers, central locking and much more. These computers can sometimes fail and require replacement, but sometimes they can be rebooted or 'returned to factory settings’ to use an IT term.

The easiest way to do this – not to mention the cheapest – is to disconnect the car’s battery and leave it overnight. It sounds odd, but this will sometimes force the reboot it needs to begin operating properly again. It doesn’t always works and even if it does, the effects may not be permanent. But it’s well worth a try before you take it to an auto electrician or specialist.

1350 units of the second generation Ford GT were be assembled at Ford's facility in Ontario, Canada, while 4038 examples of the first generation were built.