2010 Ford Territory Pricing and Specs

It’s serious inasmuch as it’s pointing to a problem with the car’s anti-lock brakes which are a critical safety system on any car. It could be caused by a faulty ABS module (which is the component that physically modulates the brake pressure to avoid the wheels locking up). But it could also be the fault of a sensor somewhere on the car. You may even find something as random as low battery voltage can trigger this sort of alert.

It could even be a simple leak in the system that has allowed the brake fluid to fall below the minimum level. So start with that and check the contents of the brake master cylinder under the bonnet. If that’s okay, a brake specialist is probably your best bet.

Unfortunately, while there are aftermarket specialists who could potentially engineer a towing-mass upgrade, there’s no legal way to increase a vehicle’s towing limit. That’s because the towing limit is based on calculations made by the manufacturer (Ford in this case) and it’s set in stone, I’m afraid. Some states and territories would once consider such an upgrade on an individual basis, but all the authorities have backed away from this approach now. Fundamentally, if you want to tow a heavier load, you need a car that is rated to do so.

Ignoring the towing limit and hitching up a bigger load is also asking for trouble. The police are red hot on overloaded vehicles right now, and if the worst was to happen and you were in a crash where somebody was injured or worse, you might find yourself in a whole heap of legal and insurance hassle.

The other alternative, of course, is to find a lighter trailer or caravan or whatever it is you wish to tow.

With the recent flooding across so much of Australia, there's a serious push by the government to convince people that they shouldn't drive through floodwater of any depth, let alone water that is a deep as the patch you've tackled.

The first thing to do is not drive the car any further. If there really is an oil pressure or level problem, permanent damage may already have been done. This needs to be checked by a workshop. However, since you seem to have already driven the car with the oil light flashing, here's the reality.

If the car still runs and drives as it did before, it's unlikely that the water has damaged the engine per se. The problem is more likely to involve the pressure of the water damaging a sensor or switch (or the wiring associated with it) that is designed to warn you of low oil pressure or low oil level. If the engine is running properly and there's oil on the dipstick, the next thing to do is have the vehicle scanned which should throw up a fault code that will lead you to the cause of the problem.

Floodwater is terrible stuff. It's full of silt and contaminants and as well as damaging an engine that ingests it, it can also destroy the gearbox or differential (by entering through the breather) and ruin electronics if it gets inside the cabin. The silt content can even act as an abrasive and wear out wheel bearings in short order.

That said, you could have a legitimate oil-pressure problem that happened to coincide with the water crossing. Stranger things have happened. A scan is the answer.