Ford Problems

I think you have every right to complain given that Ford couldn't supply you with a replacement part for three days. You were effectively forced to use a non-genuine part, although it seems that the only non-genuine thing about the replacement pump was the packaging. I think the very least Ford could do it to reimburse you for the part if not the labour involved. Remember that although Ford's warranty might not cover the situation you found yourself in they have to honour the statutory warranty that is part of our consumer laws and I reckon you would have a claim against them under that law.

Yes, we understand that the problem is still occurring. We also understand that Ford has an external cooler to fix it. Talk to a Ford dealer about it.

I'll start by assuming the fuel consumption figures you quote are in L/100 km, not km per litre. The quoted fuel consumption figure is 7.7-8.0 L/100 km, but remember that this is a guide only based on a laboratory test and not real life. While the real life consumption should be somewhere near the quoted lab test number it depends on a number of factors, from the way you drive, the driving conditions, tyre inflation pressures, state of tune of your car etc. It should be better than it appears to be, so I would talk to the dealer and ask what can be done to reduce the consumption to a more acceptable level.

The design of the oil cooler was changed in the BF II Falcon to eradicate the potentially expensive failure of the cooler, but we are now seeing enough to say that the problem hasn't really been fixed. We'd like to hear from anyone else who has had troubles with their Falcons in this regard.

If you're not sure whether it's coming from the diff or the auto trans you need to get some help to isolate it before you have any chance of finding the cause. Changing the diff oil would have been the first thing I would have suggested if it was the diff, the next would to suggest it could be a bearing, but that needs a specialist to sort it out. An auto transmission expert would say you should change the trans oil every 25,000 km or so, or every year, and there's good reason to do that if you do a lot of towing. They would also say you should do a full service every 100,000 km or so, and again it's more important to do that if you tow a lot.

No, I think you have a good case, particularly as you are not asking for the whole cost to be covered. Flexplates do crack, more on performance cars because of the extra loads they have to endure, but if it does crack it's a poor design in the first place.

I can understand your frustration, but you can only bear with it for the moment, as Ford is attempting to fix the issue. It's when a company stops trying to fix a dud product that you have some power to demand more action. In this case, your options are limited. The only thing you could do is express your frustration in a way that they are left in no doubt about it.

Changes were made in the BFII model and they seem to have fixed the problem. We don't get reports of it happening on these later models, but the changes don't affect your car. If you intend to keep the car for a long period it would be worth making the modification, but the car is now eight years old so you might think it's not needed.

It's likely to be a fuelling issue, so check the fuel pump and injectors. Common-rail diesels often have issues with the injectors as they wear. To get a better reading on it I would suggest taking it to an experienced diesel mechanic.