Ford Problems

After being hauled over the coals for its handling of this transmission-failure fiasco (and fined millions of dollars by the ACCC) Ford Australia is taking subsequent cases of Powershift transmission failure on a case-by-case basis. Consideration will be given to the kilometres the vehicle has travelled and whether there was an extended warranty with it, among other things.

The best advice in your case is to sidestep the dealer and go straight to Ford's customer service department and spell out the situation. You might find there's some redress after all. There are no guarantees, of course, but Ford Australia is painfully aware of its responsibilities in this area, so it's definitely worth a shot.

These older Ford pick-ups are actually quite collectible now with a big following that is prepared to pay big money for the right example. The main factor in value these days is the overall condition of the F100. Specifically the body and whether it's rusty or not. Rust was the big killer of these vehicles which were originally designed and built for the throw-away North American domestic market. Throw in the fact that they were first sold as workhorses and you can understand why the ones that have survived are worth money.

The chassis must also be sound if the vehicle is to have a future and the driveline will determine value, too; the bigger the V8 engine, the more collectible the vehicle is.

With all that in mind, you might pay a few hundred dollars for a very rusty, incomplete box of bits, all the way to $60,000 or even more for a restored example in really nice condition. Values in the collector car market are continuing to fall post-Covid, but the arrival of the all-new Ford F-150 won't hurt the values of these old girls one bit.

The model you've nominated has a timing chain, which, in theory, should be good for the life of the engine. However, that's not always the case, and some specialists recommend changing the timing chain at intervals of 200,000km. That is still a pretty decent innings for a hard-working vehicle like a Transit and is longer than the change interval for most engines with toothed rubber timing belts.

There's certainly a class action under way in the USA and Canada regarding this issue. It appears to be centred around Ecoboost engines ranging from 1.5 to 2.0 litres in size, and manufactured between 2013 and 2019. But until there's a ruling from the courts, there's no way to know whether it will be successful or not.

We checked with Ford Australia and it seems no such class action has not been initiated here. Given the differences in consumer law in other countries, it's often the case that a class action in one jurisdiction doesn't make it to some others.

For the record, a Ford Australia spokesman told us: “No Australian sold vehicles are involved in the class action referred to and we otherwise do not comment on ongoing litigation.”.

Don't forget, too, that the Fords we see in Australia are often built in completely different plants to the North-American version of the same car. For example, the North American Focus ST was manufactured in Michigan in the US, while Australian-delivered Focus STs were made in Ford's plant in Germany.

If this problem was to result in an adverse (for Ford) class action decision or a recall, then Ford would be bound to take the appropriate steps to rectify the situation, regardless of whether the model in question was still for sale in new-car showrooms. For the record, Ford in Australia switched to a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty from May 1, 2018. So, many of the cars we're talking about here would still be covered by that warranty in this country.

The crucial number here is the towing capacity of the Transit. This model ranged form 2000kg to 2750kg (depending on body and wheelbase) so a Daihatsu car shouldn't take you anywhere near that limit. That, of course, is if you flat-tow the Daihatsu behind the motor-home. If, however, you tow the car on a trailer, then you might (depending on the trailer's size and construction) find you're getting close to that limit in some circumstances.

The other problems will be the same ones faced by anybody who tows a decent sized load; wear and tear on the mechanical components and the sheer cost of fuel, particularly diesel.

They might both be Ford Focuses, but they're a couple of generations apart meaning that they are not only physically different, they also used different transmissions to each other. Even if, by some miracle, the older gearbox would bolt to the newer engine, the car still wouldn't have the correct electronics to make the transmission work properly.

Even if the transmission in question was a manual which requires much less in the way of electronic control, the unit in the 2008 Focus was a five-speed, while the later car used a completely different six-speed. Even things like the clutch and flywheel would be incompatible. You'd probably even find the gear-shifter for each transmission enters the cabin in a physically different spot, meaning the interior trim would no longer fit.

Just for starters, the ZX4 is a four-door sedan, while the ZX3 body is the three-door hatchback. At the very least, that will mean differences in the wiring loom as regards door-courtesy and boot/tailgate lights. Cars will have different wiring looms depending on their transmission, too, so even if the engine is the same in both cars, the loom might not be.

Then there's the more basic question of whether they're actually the same model of Ford Focus. Ford Australia switched to the all-new second-gen Focus in April 2005, and if your 2005 Focus is that newer version, the wiring will not be compatible with the 2001 model. But even if they're from the same generation of Focus, swapping a wiring loom from one car to another involves many, many hours of work.

Good news; Ford Australia is indeed set to launch a new, limited edition run of the Everest Wildtrak very shortly. Although no firm sates have been set, the Wildtrak version of the Everest could be hitting showrooms in the next few weeks, maybe even sooner. The model has already been launched in New Zealand, South Africa and Thailand.

But while we don't have firm dates yet, what we can tell you is that the Wildtrak Everest will slot in between the Sport and Platinum trim levels and will use the 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine mated to the 10-speed automatic transmission. Price is expected to be $73,090 plus on-road costs.

By connecting the Ranger to a diagnostic computer, you should be able to work out what's constricting the engine power. Modern engines constantly monitor everything from boost pressure to fuel pressure, and transmission temperature to alternator output. Somewhere in those hundreds of parameters will be the problem and it should be fairly obvious to somebody who knows how to interpret the codes the car's computer will spit out.

Meantime, it could be that the engine's installation skipped hooking up a sensor or piece of wiring and that has caused the engine to go into limp-home mode which limits the power the car will produce in the interests of self preservation. On a really simple level, have you checked that all the turbocharger's plumbing is intact and the joints are tight post engine installation? Loose plumbing joints and cracked or split plastic tubing are a common way to lose turbo-boost pressure.

It sounds like you have a very odd vehicle, Ian. All the information I've ever seen tells me that the BA Falcon range was released on September 30 2002 (not October as many believe) and that the Boss 260-powered XR8 didn't hit showrooms until early (January) 2003. Which makes your BA XR8 with a 2001 build-date a real anomaly.

Possibilities include your car being a very early prototype that escaped the crusher (which was the fate of most prototypes) and is possibly an AU Falcon bodyshell that has been converted to BA Falcon panels. The two models shared a lot more metal than they appear to, which was the clever part of Ford's update of the AU to BA.

But here's another clue: From memory, the AU Falcon used a conventional compliance plate rivetted to the car's underbonnet. But the BA was (I think) the first to use a sticker rather than a stamped plate. If your car has a stamped plate rather than a sticker, that suggests it has AU Falcon origins.

The ULEASHED decal on the bonnet is another mystery and is unlikely to have been a Ford Australia addition. Which makes me wonder if perhaps the car wasn't an early BA Falcon XR8 mock-up that was used for promotional purposes, say, for a race-team.

You used to be able to contact Ford Australia and quote the car's VIN which would enable the car's origins to be traced, but I believe that service has been discontinued. There are also online VIN decoders that might give an answer, but since it appears this car is a one-off, maybe it won't recognise the VIN. It all sounds intriguing, so please keep us in the loop.