Ford Problems

Before you jump to any conclusions I would do an old-fashioned fuel economy check by actually measuring the fuel used over a distance, which would give you a pretty good guide to what your car is really doing. Ford claimed a combined average of 10.1 L/100 km. Now, I wouldn't assume that your car would get the same, as the Ford figure is established in a laboratory and yours would be a real-life number, and they could easily be different. But you should get a figure that is reasonably close to Ford's. If you get more than 14 L/100 km on your test I would suspect something is wrong. When doing your test take the car on a reasonably long run, your short stop-start driving cycle might be the reason for your apparent poor economy.

It's most likely a software problem, so you should think about taking back to the dealer to see if they might have a fix available for it. Another possibility we were told about by our auto trans expert, Andrew Williams, is to disconnect the battery and leave it sit overnight or so. There's no guarantee it will work, but that way it might be possible to reset the adaptive learning of the transmission and start from scratch.

It's unlikely that exhaust fumes are being sucked back that far up the car, so it's more likely to be fumes blowing back from the engine and probably coming in through the air vents in the dash. Next time you drive with the sunroof open close the vents and see if that stops the flow of the fumes. The dealer is the only person who can fix it for you, so persist with him, and perhaps ask for a meeting with the service manager so you can explain your frustration to him and urge him to solve the problem.

It sounds as if the fan is coming on when it shouldn't, so have the dealer check the temperature when it does kick in, or simply have the fan replaced.

In a word, no. Ford replaced the engine under warranty, so you're not really out of pocket on the deal.

It's most likely the brake booster, which is a known problem on Falcons of that era. The brakes are not completely releasing. Adjusting the rod between the brake master cylinder and the booster, or replacing the booster can fix it.

It could be a number of things causing it. Take it to an automatic transmission specialist and have them check it for you.

Take it back to your dealer and ask him to reset the computer to soften the gear selection.  He should have a recalibration available to do it for you.