jrm223

Just FYI, which I'm surprised no one has gotten onto you about (I've seen it here before many times, lol), the load rating on those tires are lower than stock, so keep the reduced load capacity in mind. Personally, I went with General Grabber AT2's in 215/65R16, higher load rating than stock but at a lower air pressure - I run 43PSI all-around. The van will still spin them on pavement too easily in first gear coming off a stop, although not quite as bad as the OEM Conti's did. Talk to any off-roader and they'll tell you to follow the right line and all is good. I've taken my van on washed-out "roads" that most people would look at & turn around immediately, even if they were in a 4x4 truck - most people, aka "normal" ones, lol. One of my buddies has a driveway that could nearly half-swallow a Smart car in some areas - one in particular could hold a few bodies as a "shallow grave", to give an idea of overall size - and I can take a couple of different paths through or around the craters so I don't scrape anything underneath, no lift.

Not likely on an AAT, must have been a different sensor, who knows. Mine just randomly started giving me wrong temperatures, but never a CEL for it. The dash would say it was like -20*F, then gradually go up in random increments, like -2*F/8*F/20*F and eventually made it's way back to 93*F or whatever the actual temp was at the time. So it was just random temperatures and it wasn't quite consistent at first, but after it happened a couple days in a row towards the end of that week, I brought it into Ford for repair. When the AAT reports below a certain temperature, the A/C compressor will not kick-on at all to prevent freezing the lines or compressor - not a big deal for me, since I don't use A/C, but that's another thing for people to know about with it. And, like the cylinder head temp sensor, the AAT is used for air-fuel ratio, so mine would have been using some extra fuel until it figured out the real air temperature was almost 120*F warmer than the AAT originally said - although not nearly as much fuel as kruss77 van at -177*F.

It looks to be under the driver side headlight for us Americans - passenger side for the Brits & some others, lol. The place I found this pic insinuates that dual-tone is an option, not standard. My '15 XL LWB cargo only seems to make one tone that I can recall - anemic, at that, as most car horns are, haha. Does your original dealer window sticker indicate that you have dual-tone horns? I might take a look at my dealer sticker this weekend if I can remember to; I still have it in the glove compartment with the purchase paperwork from 4.5 years ago.

Just wait until the "ambient air temperature sensor" goes out, lol. Mine went at something like 33K miles, I believe. I have a 2015, also, but it's at 114K miles now. The whole front bumper needs to be removed to get at that sensor, but at least mine was under warranty when it failed. Many FoMoCo vehicles have the same sensor and other forums report the same issue with the AAT. This is the first I've ever heard about the cylinder head temp sensor, though.

Leading edge of the hood doesn't surprise me much. It can catch stones, rocks, road debris, bugs and the paint can chip a lot easier on an edge versus the flat section of a panel.

Saying it's in another post doesn't help me or anyone else, I'm certainly not going looking and I don't read every single thread on the forum. All that was needed was saying where he's near.

Keywords "another post". So helpful.

Shipping on that would be insane, so you should let us know at least your general location, lol. Awesome looking setup, though. I've actually been keeping my eyes open for a super cheap cargo slide to do a custom build on to suit my own needs. If I were you, I'd sell just the toolbox and slatwall setup locally on Craigslist, keep the slide for easier loading & unloading of your Pelican cases or road cases - just add some extra tie down points on the slide. Unless your lighting cases are the bigger like 2x2x3' cases on wheels? In which case a folding ramp would be much easier than the slide.

A toll transponder wouldn't be labeled FoMoCo and have wiring coming out of it, though. I've had different styles and they're always self-contained, whether the plastic box like IL I-Pass uses or the sticker kind with a small RFID chip inside like OK PikePass, TX NTTA, etc.

Just as an FYI, no they will not. They turn off after 10 minutes, lol. But, definitely do the Perimeter Lights disable if you want them permanently off, I love it.

You should be looking at Focus forums. Our vans are built on a modified Focus uni-chassis & hardware. Fusion does have the same engine/trans (except V6 models, naturally), but the rest is different. I'd be kind of curious to find out if a Focus programmer will work on a TC, but I don't care enough to spend my own money on the experiment and any potential problems that might come up. One member used Focus aftermarket air suspension on the front of his van to drop it down since the parts are externally the same (internal is a different story because of intended load weights, damping, etc), but the rear axle suspension is completely different. If you want to go extreme, there was a build in the forum here awhile back and they were swapping a wrecked Focus ST or RS into a gen 2 TC, complete with the manual trans. I don't recall if the project ever got finished, but they were real deep into it.

My OEM Conti's lasted over 70K miles and I still have them at home, tire shop gave them back instead of charging me disposal because they still have a little life left - my old tire thread here says one pair at the wear bars, the other pair still a bit above the bars. Funny thing is that Walmart tried to tell me the General Grabber AT2's don't have a high enough load-rating, so between that and the larger diameter, they're not allowed to mount them. The AT2's are 98 and the OEM are 97 load index, what a bunch of geniuses, lol. But, the max tire pressure on the AT2's is lower; I run them about 42-43 all around since I'm not carrying anywhere close to full capacity loads. I've got less than 300lbs in back, for sure, perhaps even closer to 200-225lbs (plus myself at 170-185). No warnings from TPMS, either, except when a tire happens to go below the warning threshold.

Lots of bad & crappy OBD2 adapters out there. Being a computer tech, people are always somehow surprised at my preference for a physical wire instead of wireless anything. A wire has much less firmware required and thus less to go wrong - especially compatibility issues between different devices. But, wires are not a viable option for cell phone use, either, since they don't support USB connection. I no longer have a touchscreen smartphone as my regular daily device (Sonim XP5S with Android 8.1.0, no touchscreen, no Play Store, sideloaded PDA.Net for hotspot), so I don't care about that aspect myself. That's likely a faulty device that requires replacement. I think some other members have used OHP, but I don't recall if they were troublesome or worked fine. Actually, I just looked at my Amazon, my own OBD2 adapter is OHP, but obviously a wired model. I've never had any of the issues that other members have had with various adapters they've bought. I'll have to look into Torque sometime, just to play with it. It's so rare that I even use Forscan anymore, that I end up having to get a new extended license almost every time I do use it, haha.

I'm pretty happy overall with my Lasfit LED bulbs. They're dual-color 3000K/6000K switchback and the only part I'm not too happy about is that the 6000K white beam shines too high on the road. I have the lights adjusted all the way down, with low-moderate weight in the back of the van (maybe 125lbs right behind the seats and another 100-150lbs at the back doors in a toolbox), and they shine a bit higher down the road than I'd like - I don't want to blind people, but I've never been flashed for them, come to think of it. I usually use the 3000K, anyway, since I prefer yellow headlights, but it's nice to have the option to just turn them off-on real quick to change colors, when needed. I've even seen some tri-colors available these days, like 3000K/4300K/6000K or something. Here's the dual-color Lasfit that I bought. For anyone wondering, 6000K is the first color when turning the lights on after they've been off for at least 5 seconds, then I can switch them on-off-on within a 5 second span (usually like 0.5 seconds for me) to change to the other color. I have straight-white 6000K bulbs in my F350 and the light pattern is much better. That truck of course has low/high on the same bulb, so dual-color was not available for it and that also means the white LED's could be placed in the right spot instead of sharing real estate with the yellow LED COB. I saw some old discussion about the Canadian DRL's (and American, for the few vans/wagons here that have them); those are an option via Forscan, so I would bet they can be disabled via programming since the BCM controls the lights. I hate them for my vehicles, so I've never tried turning them on as an experiment, lol.

OEM factory dark tint is typically in the 20-25% overall range. The front light tinted windows will be around 70-75%, so a 35% film will generally get you about 30% overall light blockage in front. (Percents are not added up when layered, the factory windows allow about 70% through and then the film allows only 35% or whatever of what gets through the factory light tint)

I've actually never removed the shrink wrap from mine, lmao. Quite some time back, someone had posted the link for the digital copy, so I downloaded that since it's instantly searchable via computer. Also grabbed the body builders book, so I know where the "do not modify" areas are and stuff like that. I attached the 2015 owners manual here, I don't recall what year yours is. But 2014-18 is nearly all the same, anyway. 2015-Transit-Connect-Owners-Manual.pdf

This is from the owners manual for gen 2.

I haven't researched it here in Texas (I have a cargo van with no windows or center mirror, so what do I really care, lol), but I know Illinois has a law that nothing - air fresheners included - is allowed to hang from the center mirror. But, that's just an add-on ticket up there, not a cause to pull over the driver in the first place. I'd bet that most states have a similar statute - and rarely ever enforced, as Eddy Kilowatt said.

For the fuzzy dice in a cargo van (not that I'm a fan), how about a simple adhesive-backed wire clip on the bottom of the shelf; something like this? lol Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

I have LED up front & sides, also, except for the "city lights" (in the headlights, I believe 194 bulbs). There weren't many choices when I did it, so I ended up going with yellow instead of amber, which is just fine. Hazard switch does not monitor bulb amperage, so that's why it doesn't hyper-flash like the turn signals do. The inline resistors I have, somewhere, are 50W each and they should be enough to eliminate hyper-flash with front & rear LED signals, based on the combined rating of factory bulbs (45W together, 50W including the side marker that I also switched to LED).

I have Philips back-up lights, but "Alla Lighting" tail/brake & turn signals in back, from Amazon. The lights have been in since second half of September 2016 and the only real problem is hyper-flash because I haven't gotten around to installing resistors on the turn signals, lol. Based on that timeframe, these bulbs have been in-use for something like 50-60K miles now, so I'd say they're actually doing pretty great for cheap Chinese lights.

Nearly at 111K miles now on my 2015 bought in June that year, but if I hadn't moved to Texas, the van would probably be close to 200K+ already. I moved in November 2016 with around 55-60K already on the van and it had 3 miles when I bought it. Apparently I'm the only one that waited until 102K miles before getting the trans flushed, lol. I don't know what color came out since Ford did it, but I'm also easy on the van - except the suspension, I tend to go through curves like I'm on a race track and have already done the front struts once because RF blew.

I do hold the record for largest diameter (not that's it's all that much larger, lol), but they're still on OEM steel wheels, haha. Another member was thinking of running the same tires as me, can't recall who it was now. In your shoes, I'd go with those 235/45R17 if the particular tire you want to run is available in that size. You're still moving them outward, but it may cause the least amount of other problems?

I have the Curt class 3 hitch. I keep a hitch ball in mine and it's never scraped on any driveways that I've noticed - even though the front bumper will scrape some of the driveways, the hitch doesn't. I haven't dropped the spare tire, so I couldn't say if it would cause an issue, but I can say that my spare tire still has clearance all around. Even with the hitch ball in, I haven't hit my shins on anything, but I've also had lots of trucks in my past, so I'm maybe more accustomed to it (knee knockers on about half of the trucks I've had and I'm 6ft tall). Even for light use, I don't think I'd bother with a class 2 and it's itty-bitty 1.25" receiver.

Seems like you're the wheel & tire trailblazer here, so you'll have to let the rest of us know what happens, lol.