Leaderboard

As part of an ongoing stereo upgrade project, I finished the speaker upgrade. I have a 2016 XLT with 6 factory speakers ( 4 door, 2 tweeters). I installed 6.5 inch 2 way speakers in the rear doors and 6.5 inch component speakers up front. I think most 6.5 inch speakers will fit the TC and there seems to be plenty of depth for the speaker magnets. I used the factory wiring. It is too much hassle to rewire the entire van even though the sound quality may be better with larger gauge wires. The stock speakers have an integral mounting ring and electrical connector. I used these plastic mounting rings to mount the new speakers. 1.First check the polarity of the speaker connections using a 9v battery (see youtube). Mark the connector because both wires are black . 2. Cut the speaker cone out of the stock speaker. You were going to save this cappy speaker only to throw it away years later. 3. Cut and grind the plastic speaker supports away from the mounting ring . Check for sizing on the new speaker. The plastic is easy to manipulate. 4. Mount the ring to the new speaker with small scews. 5. Solder two short wires from the integral connector to the new speakers. Now you have a upgraded speaker that mounts and connects like OEM. The tweeters were more work. You will have to see how your tweeters fit in the OEM bracket that has 3 locking tabs around the circumference of the tweeter. I notched my tweeter mounting ring to match the mounting tabs. I added a dab of glue to keep things from rattling. Disconnect and secure the stock connector and wire. Splice speaker wire at the back of the head unit (see other posts for wire colors). You are connecting in parallel to the wires going to each front door speaker. Install the crossovers in the void below the head unit and run wires over to each tweeter. The sound with the new speakers is significantly better than stock. The stock head unit has enough power to deliver good sound. But I need more power and will install a digital signal processor (dsp), amp and sub in the near future. I am waiting for the 2017 audio products. I will probably pre-wire the van while I am waiting. The amp will require 4 sets of speaker wires to and from the head unit. The amp and sub will need separate power wiring. So there is plenty to do while I wait.

Here's how I responded to my unpleasant buying experience with my RAV4. I knew you had to be careful to not say things that were potentially actionable. I know if you suggest criminality or what people did or did not do that it could be something you need to try to prove in court. So I was very careful to just say how I felt after what happened rather than make charges about their actions. I hope I'm not jinxing it, but I did get a better response from Ford corporate. I called the recall number who then redirected me to Ford Customer Satisfaction and after explaining the situation, and a short wait while they checked the records or talking to the higher ups or whatever, they came back and said Ford would help on the issue as long as when they contacted the dealer that the issue was not due to neglect or abuse on my part. The said it could be another 2 days for that process to complete before a final yes/no determination could be made. It's not even about the money at this point, as shown by the fact that I'll pay extra for a spare part for the passengers side, but rather that a recall repair should actually fix the problem for longer than a year. I have an even better label maker now, I don't think Ford will like the extra size and attention getting graphics that will end up plastered on my back window if they stick with this poor recall repair failing after 13 months and no fix.

If you have a Northern Tool Store near you ... check them out. They sell LOTS of single item sockets and bits for ratchets.

Think rooftop unit.

So I wonder what the effect would be of someone passing you pushing a couple kw? I haven't had a CB in the vehicle since the 70s.

Just got the word, and apparently the prior good news was just words. After waiting 5 days for my car to even make it into the service bay, and that's 5 days after the appointment I was given with AutoMax Ford of Killeen TX, I got the call late yesterday that it was indeed the latch that had been replaced during the recall that had failed. But yesterday they said they were submitting a request to Ford to cover it and it usually takes 24-48 hours to get an answer. I just got off the phone with the dealer and the answer was NO! The reason given was that the recall parts were only warrantied for a year after install. So for the exact failure that generated a fleetwide recall that happened 4 days outside the standard 3yr/36000mi warranty and 1 month outside the warranty on the installed recall repair parts, Ford will do nothing. It's really making me rethink my plans to do a custom order Transit Connect van next July once my TC Wagon is paid off. It also has me rethinking the trade in vs keep it if the recall repair is only lasting 13 months. So it's going to be $550 for the repair. I made sure to tell them to give me tho old failed drivers side part. I am actually going to increase that cost a bit and get the same part for the passengers side since they were both part of the recall repair and I want to be prepared for a repeat failure on the other side. But if it does happen, I'll see if the repair is DIY or take it somewhere else if I have to. All in I expect to be out around $700, not too bad, but I shouldn't be paying anything for a repeat repair of recall issue. After I finish this post I do intend to do a little more fighting. Starting with calling the Ford phone number listed on the recall notice. I still strongly suspect the recall wasn't properly installed. I also made sure to tell AutoMax Ford of Killeen to make sure to keep the old parts, even if it involved an extra core charge (which it turns out it doesn't) so that I would have evidence if needed when I file a report with NHTSA (? or other appropriate governement recall agency) that the recall repair has the same failure with the new part as was failing on the old part. I drove around for years with my poor puchase experience on a Toyota RAV4 shown on the back for all to read, I guess I can do the same with the poor recall repair experience on the TC posted all over that big back hatch for all to read until I upgrade next year. I guess I'll also have to start doing some more serious research into making that replacement possibly be a Mercedes Metris instead of a Ford Transit Connect.