Beta Don

If it's a white TC, it's actually pretty common - Google 'Ford White Paint Flaking Off" and you can read for a week! Don

Those are a real improvement over the el cheapo plastic wheelcovers! Congratulations!! Don

Is one of the bulbs shorted? Sometimes when a bulb blows out you'll get a short. Replacing the bulb solves the problem. Remove the headlight bulbs and check them both with an ohm meter to see if you have a shorted one. While you have the bulbs out, replace the fuse and see if it blows again Don

My Rhinos are yellow plastic, very solid and rated at 12,000 pounds. I've had 3/4 ton diesel trucks on them several times, so the TC is no load at all for them. They still look near new after more than 20 years Those wooden ones look very solid too, but my Rhinos lift the vehicle several inches higher than those do Don

I also use a pair of yellow Rhino Ramps that I bought about 20 years ago. I store them hanging from two nails driven in the wall of my garage, but if you don't have a garage, they would store just as easily hanging from nails in the back of a closet, out of sight. They don't weigh much and take up very little room. They've been used with everything I drive for a long time and are easily worth 10X what I paid for them. For servicing the trans, I drive up on the ramps and then raise the rear up to an equal height using a jack and jack stands. While I don't LIKE getting under cars any more at my age, I just don't trust anyone else. My daughter bought a new Hyundai which came with free oil changes for two years and the dealer left the oil fill cap off and by the time she got home she had a huge cloud of smoke everywhere. They flat bed towed it back to the dealer where it took them 3 days to clean up the mess! At least she got a loaner car to use We bought our '14 used with 13K on it and 2 years of factory warranty remaining. When we got it, the passenger window would only roll up or down about an inch and a half with every press of the switch and then it would stop and you'd have to press the switch again. 5 or 6 presses of the switch to roll it up or down. Also, the rear wiper didn't work. Took it to the dealer and they had it for 8 days. Ordered a new motor for the window and had to wait for that to be delivered and then installed . . . . and when that didn't fix it, (same exact symptoms) they decided maybe they better read the book. All it needed to fix the window issue was a 5 minute reprogram of the computer. The rear wiper was just a fuse. When I finally got it back, the bill was $99. - That was for changing the fuse, as fuses aren't covered by the warranty. "$99 to change a fuse seems kinda steep" I complained. "Well, we have to troubleshoot it to find WHY the fuse blew". the service manager tells me. "Well, what did your troubleshooting tell you about why it blew?" - "We don't know - We replaced the fuse and it didn't blow again". When I pointed out to him that they had offered me a loaner vehicle for what turned out to be 8 days because their troubleshooting of the window wasn't done any differently than the fuse, but I told them I had another vehicle to drive, they agreed to drop the $99 charge I've never been back there - They proved to me that if I want to drive a trouble-free vehicle, I need to keep it out of their garage!! So, I dusted off my Rhino Ramps and am STILL doing my own maintenance. Thankfully with all synthetic fluids, the 'TC doesn't require me to get under it all that often and since we rarely drive it locally (we have 3 electric cars) it doesn't get many miles unless we are traveling out of state Don

I have the XLT leather equipped passenger version and mine sure doesn't ride like a Soap Box Derby racer - It's a modified car platform and while it is stiff (which I love, coming from a Miata which is much stiffer) it handles more like a car than a van, which I also love I'm 70+ and had planned to have the dealer do all my service work when I bought it, but neither of the dealers near me proved to be worthy of doing anything to my van, so I've been doing it all myself - It's not THAT hard. I wish the trans was easier to service, but I've even managed to do my own fluid changes to it - Oil changes are no harder than any other car I've owned No rattles in my doors, but if I had one, I'm sure I could find it and fix it myself - I've had the doors of everything I've owned apart to upgrade speakers and this van is no harder to take apart than any of the others. Sounds to me as your dealers mechanics are just about as competent to fix things as the ones I've dealt with From my experience, passenger TC's are much quieter inside than cargo versions - I would be amazed if they weren't. It may not tip the scales as 'luxurious' but my wife likes traveling long distances in it (which is what we bought it for) and she sure wouldn't describe it as 'commercial breeding' - Ours is a van and not a truck No vehicle is perfect in every regard . . . . but with all the plusses you list, it seems this one serves you better than most for what you need - I would get to work on your list of minuses and do what's reasonably easy to fix most of those. Taking the splash pan off below the engine to do an oil change is a 2 or 3 minute job and then there's easy access to everything. If a feeble old man like me can do it, so can you! Don

Some of the replies here are from owners who don't own (and have probably never driven) the Titanium version of the TC, which is better insulated and MUCH quieter than the 'work vans' they have - Go drive a newer Titanium for yourself and see If the 'accountants math' doesn't add up for your wife . . . . well, she probably deserves to own a Pacifica ? Don

What did you buy?? Gen1 or Gen2?? What year?? Don

I have no idea how it works on the new TC, but on my 2017 Volt it's amazing and I use it in city traffic all the time. Set your speed 5 or 10 mph above the posted speed limit and it follows the speed of whatever cars are in front of you. Slows to a stop when they do, brief touch of the accelerator to get you moving again and you follow traffic at their speed everywhere you go. I love it!! I'll never buy another new car without it Don

They do make the claim that the transmission is 'lifetime' maintenance free - Your link is the first I've seen where they recommend a fluid change . . . . and at 150K! Good luck with that!! There are many documented transmission failures, nearly all of them with fewer miles than 150K. I changed my fluid at 25K and will do it several more times before 150K 'Lifetime' means different things to people. A failure at 100K must be a 'lifetime' to Ford That said, I'm all about buying used vehicles and low mileage ones are my favorite. A 2 or 3 year old vehicle with 10 or 15K on it can represent a significant savings. The 2003 Mazda Protege 5 that our '14 TC replaced was bought in 2011 with 55K on it for 1/4th the new price. We drove it 4 years, more than doubled the mileage on it and 'lost' only $2K when we sold it. The guy we bought it from 'lost' about $.25 per mile for the miles he put on it - We 'lost less than a nickel for the miles we put on it. You can't do that when you buy new Don

"Fill plug"?? You fill it from the breather vent on the top of the trans It would be nigh on to impossible to add any fluid at that side port you're calling the 'fill plug' - The only function of that hole in the trans case is to check the fluid level - Make sure then engine is running, in Park and your van is level both fore and aft and side to side when checking the level It's not impossible to do a fairly complete flush - It just takes lots of fluid. I got about a 95% change using 16 quarts when I flushed mine using Castrol full synthetic at 25,000 miles. Now the plan is to drain and refill 4 quarts every oil change . . . . and check the level every time Don

True, engineers anticipate more these days than they used to, for sure In the 'good old days' some auto trans shift selectors were different - 'Reverse' was not up next to 'Park', but it was at the opposite end, just beyond 'Low', so you had to be a bit more careful - One time while driving a '56 Chevy V8 with Powerglide, while descending a hill at about 40 mph, I tried shifting from 'Drive' down into 'Low' to use the engine to slow the car, but I went one click too far, into 'Reverse' - The transmission actually went into Reverse with much screeching and tire smoke as the wheels rotated in the wrong direction for a short time . . . . until the engine died. Luckily it was an old cast iron Powerglide which were just about indestructible, so a quick shift into 'Neutral' (old cars would start in either Neutral or Park) and I got it going again while coasting down the hill and luckily, everything was fine - It wasn't my car. I never drove (or owned) anything with an automatic back in the day. Scared the heck out of me though, I can tell you that!! Don

Our forum has officially gone to the dogs!! Don

302 and 350 crate engines are popular (and are big sellers) because they fit into so many '50's, '60's and '70's cars which so many Baby Boomers are restoring. I just don't see Ford or Chevy marketing a small 4 cylinder crate engine which would only fit a handful of modern vehicles like our TC 's - They'd be lucky to sell a dozen of them per year Dave replaced his TC engine with a used $350 low mileage unit - I doubt he would have been interested in a brand new $3K engine, even if one was available Don

Well, you sure showed her! She's (not surprisingly) no longer Mrs Fifty-150!! Don

Oil brands are one thing - You can use any you like. Oil weight on the other hand is MUCH more important - Engines are designed from the ground up to utilize a certain weight of oil and going against the weight the engineers specified for your engine is asking for expensive problems, IMO Don

I have a SWB 2014 and at steady speeds of 65 to 70, I get right at 30 mpg, give or take 1 or 2 Don

A Mustang II and then a Le Car??? Gotta blame that on something I suppose . . . . Jimmy Carter s as good as any I guess, but I'll BET he's never driven either, let alone bought one!! Don

I think "SWMBO" is short for She Who Must Be Obeyed Gas here s now $1.95 a gallon while diesel is $2.69 - Even if the diesel gets much better mileage, it's still gonna cost more to operate at those prices Don

But . . . . who would put any synthetic blend in their TC? Don

You need to have the engine and trans (and fluid) warmed up and in Park, the engine running and the van level front to back and side to side and then you remove the plug and begin adding fluid. When it begins to trickle out, replace the plug and the level is correct Don

There is a way to fill it and there is also a way to check the fluid level - Ford just wants you to let the dealer do it for a couple hundred bucks, but the owner can do it too. I did mine at 25K and will continue to service it at regular intervals. I would probably let my local Ford dealer do it too, but both of them have proven that they're not to be trusted touching my van Don

That depends - If you think the Gen 2 trans is a 'lifetime, maintenance-free' thing as Ford advertises, then you may find it's 'lifetime' is less than 100K. But, if you drain and refill all the fluid in it (not easy to do, I'll admit) every 25K or so with a quality synthetic ATF, I'm thinking (hoping, really) it may last several times that long. Nothing lasts forever, but well maintained things tend to last longer than others. It is a shame Ford made it so hard to service - No dipstick and not even a fill port to add fluid, but a determined owner can find work arounds for those omissions Don

After 25,000 miles with my 2014 SWB 2.5, my lifetime mpg is higher than that. I think the driver has more to do with it than the van Don

No way I'll ever get to 150K with my 2014 - I'm at 25K now and am averaging about 5K per year Don