mrtn

I heard he personally forbid Ford ever selling a 2-door van in the US.

You get snow? There is no all-season tire that would work both, in summer and winter. Only a dedicated snow tire is safe enough.

This is correct. I remember parking my old Lada in front of the University in a predominantly Russian part of the town and a thief knocked on my window offering used wipers from a plastic bag. So I threw my wipers and the radio under the seat and went to the class. Still today the same people steal mirrors, ding protectors, headlights and parking sensors from cars.

Thanks for the update. It'll remain in the back of the mind (and the forum database).

Don't think so. It's a rather compact unit with the latch mechanism and the key barrel all in one place.

Regardless my experience I have not head about this problem. Did you try pressing down slightly while turning the key? Turning one way unlocks, the other way unlatches the security hook.

I kept my first Connect for 10 years. Living in the rust belt I think I saw the worst it could get. Rocker panels are the most sensitive area prone to rust due to rock chips. Mud flaps like yours would help a lot, mine wasn't equipped. Also had the bonnet's front edge (inside) quite rusty before replacing it due to a traffic accident. The underbody (apart from the abovementioned areas) was good at 10 years/300,000 km, just some surface rust. Replaced the exhaust once but that's probably normal. So, I suggest you have the obvious parts protected and you'll be fine. It's a beautiful and functional car, enjoyed the hell out of mine.

Start with the obvious connection issues.

Yes, disconnect the battery first.

I always remove the panels when the car is new and soak the enclosures in cavity protection wax until it drips out of the drains.

The rapidly flashing red immobilizer light means it is unable to read the transponder code from the key. The curious part is having several error lights on. Are you sure the battery is good? You should try another one or jump start.

Clean the sliding door contacts with alcohol. I had to do this on mine several times.

You might have more luck in transit connect'ed facebook group with that question. There are almost six thousand members and lots of diesel knowledge there.

The LIDARs are off. It couldn't drive itself blind.

The reason you didn't get the "Euro" mirrors in the US is that all US cargo vans were actually passenger vans imported and converted to cargo vans to avoid chicken tax. European passenger vans have the same, small mirrors. Cargo vans have the large mirrors from the factory.

Well, luckily you can have a direct rear view camera and a "rear view mirror" screen mounted.

Transporting illegals?

You can have those with the correct badge too. You hardly see a pickup truck in construction business over here because of the limited payload and size.

Perhaps you could benefit from the Euro van mirrors, with convex lens in the bottom:

They're not as effective as the large mirrors on Mk1 (vs the small ones). So don't worry about it.

I had the one that replaced the rear license plate light, it was okay as a camera but the LED started flickering quite soon:

I can appreciate that. I'm in sign supply business so a nice wrap is always fun to look at.

I think I have seen one on this board.

Sure, total mileage impressive but even more impressive per annum. The newer one seems to have been doing 50K/year.