BSUPC

On the 200k I have had to replace a wheel bearing, wheel hub, and the battery. The wheel hub was replaced only due to the tire shop breaking off a stud trying to tighten a lug nut with a impact gun. The igmo (cross between ignorant and moron) hit the thing with the impact and never let off of it till the stud snapped off. He was a really bright one. Instead of using a torque wrench the igmo tried to torque it with the impact gun. (His own words) On the 191k the radiator has developed a small leak in the drivers side bottom corner. Will be replacing this as soon as my new workshop is up and running. Cant wait to get the lift back up and running. The man thing I see to watch out for is the wheel bearings. They used regular sedan bearings on the 2012 instead of a good bearing. The bearings are very weak for the job they are forced to handle. Basically drive it like it is a 4 cylinder work van and not a sports, and keep up the maint. and they do pretty good. Been trying to convince a buddy of mine of this and he has yet to learn his lesson. His 2011 TC spends more time in the shop than on the road. But he drives it like it is a race car.

Change mine every 5k, do it myself, and only use Motorcraft oil and filter on both of my 2012's. I decided to stick with the Motorcraft brand all the way around for the simple fact that after tax I can buy a filter and gallon oil jug for the same price as just a jug of oil from the other brands. Just rolled over 191k miles last night on the way home, and no oil related problems yet. The other van is over 210k with no oil related issues, so I cant really complain.

Was the van part of a fleet for a company ? I ask this because from what I am seeing on google and what you are describing, this is a battery cutoff switch like they use in emergency vehicles. I know all of our firetrucks had them installed in the floor right beside the drivers seat. It is used to isolate all of the equipment from the battery while the vehicle is parked between calls so that the battery does not get drained. If this is the case, then you should just be able to trace the wires, remove the switch, and connect straight back to the battery.

I had this same question when I switched tires and wheels on my 2012's. Both the local Ford dealer and Discount Tire agreed that it was 70 ft lbs. But it seems like this as well as anything else to do with these vans, it all a guessing game.

Both of my 2012's are still going with the same work done to them as posted earlier. They are now at 154k and 230k. Not sure if we have been lucky, but so far so good on these two. I am a expedited bulk delivery driver for the New York Times here in North Carolina. These vans are on the road 6 days a week with highway and city miles each trip. I think the main thing is maint. I know it may be over kill, but each Saturday is maint. day for these 2. I check everything from top to bottom just to make sure each Sat., and change the oil every 5k miles. But I also have a little workshop in the back yard with a lift, so this is a little easier to do for me. But from what I have seen so far from mine, these are some tuff little vans.

mrtn is correct on them being nice and bright. Just wait till that one special car flys up behind you flashing and honking his horn, pull the switch out and watch Mr. I must do 75 in a 65 in the far right lane because I am special slam on his brakes and become a small dot in the rear view. Not that I have ever done this. lol

I have two 2012 Connects and have never seen a key like that.

The dealer told me on both of my 2012's that the switches both had to be in the defrost positions for the defroster to work. But I have had great success defrosting mine with just the selector switch in defrost and the fan selector not. Which of course this is the same dealer that spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to pop the hood to show me the engine. Sad when the customer has to do their job and open the hood out of pity. But none the less, that is the explanation I was given on the dual defrost emblems.

Sounds like the lock motor may be going out. Maybe ?

Are the transits front wheel drive or rear wheel drive ? I know the transit connects are front wheel drive.

Which way is the visor falling off ?

The sun visor should slide out on the rod a few inches and then stop. I am on the road right now in my van but am unable to tear it apart right now. Maybe you can post a picture of it so we can get an idea of what is happening ? I will also try and get a picture of mine for you when I get home tonight.

My local Police Dept. done a test last year on security systems for cars. They took 3 nice cars and placed them in 3 different very crowded shopping center parking lots. Then they had Officers in plain clothes break into the cars in broad day light. Not one single person called to report the vehicles being broken into. In fact they actually have on video a guy walking up to the Officer and asking him if he locked his keys in the vehicle. Officer responds yes as he is trying to bust the passenger window out and the alarm blasting. The nice man went to his truck and returned with a hammer for the Officer to bust the window out with. Crooks know that no one pays these alarms any attention and are not phased by them one bit. But I agree with bikinchris on unplugging the door locks. I myself have been worrying about how easy it is to gain access to the cargo are of my 2012. It is sad that we even have to have posts like this, but that is the world we live in. :(

I have two 2012 Connects. One has 120k and the other has 190k miles on them. The 190k one has only had to have 2 wheel bearings replaced so far and the 120k has had no work done to it so far. Both are used in the transportation field and carry the max weight 90% of the runs. It all boils down to how it is driven and how well the maint. is kept up on it. But from what I have seen from my two, these things are pretty good at holding together minus the wimpy wheel bearings that Ford chose to use.

You are lucky that you still have a local dealer. Just before my 45k mile oil change my local dealer locked the doors and sold off all their inventory to another dealership and went out of business. All of the customers were notified in the manner of you pull up to a deserted building and a empty lot. One day there was 40 cars setting on the lot and the building was full of stuff like normal, the very next morning all cars gone off the lot and the building was bare. Makes Ford look pretty pathetic when you have 30 customers lined up with your product to be serviced by the local Chevy Dealer. I now do my own service here at the house, which is why i purchased from a dealer so I would not have to do this. But the Chevy dealer will not purchase the Motorcraft products for us nor will they use what we purchase and bring to them.

That panel is for the third brake light that is used on the TC's overseas but removed when they are shipped to the US. I do not know the part number for the metal insert sorry. But here is a thread that was started on just what you are trying to do. Shows 2 methods of mounting the antenna, 1 of which is in the same spot but using the actual brake light instead of the metal insert. http://fordtransitconnectforum.com/topic/533-ham-cb-or-business-radio/?hl=antenna

My 2012 calls for 40 in the front and 49 in the rear on the sticker. So far this works fine for me.

There is a section just for this. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the forums. then count up 4 from the bottom looking for Maintenance, TSB's & Recalls. I missed it at first myself. Since I found I have been watching it for anything on the 2012's. So far nothing and I hope it stays that away. http://fordtransitconnectforum.com/forum/11-maintenance-tsbs-recalls/

And here is a picture of the bulb that was replaced. The bulb has no model number on it. It only says that it is a 14v 65ma. I was lucky and had some bulbs laying around the shop from a circular knitting machine from my dads old job.

This seems to be the best one that I took of the control panel while it was out.

Had this same problem with one of my 2012 Connects. Just got done replacing all 3 of the light bulbs. Just as soon as I get the pictures off the camera and figure out how to post them to this site they will be added. All 3 selector knobs were not burning but everything else was working fine. Fuse F132 was check prior to ripping the center console apart and was in working order. Pictures will follow.

You would think the manufactures of car audio products would get smart and add in a receiver for the atomic clock signals. It is really not that hard of a problem to solve. I mean my alarm clock has it, all cell phones have it, even my freakin wrist watch has it. But my car radio does not ?????