Beta Don

Transit or Transit Connect? Don

Not true for the Gen 2's with short wheelbase - The rear 60/40 bench seats in my 2014 are quickly and easily removable without using any tools Don

That still wouldn't get you the rear windows. I hear you - I don't think I've ever run across a Gen 1 passenger model What's the thinking that makes you want a Gen 1 over a Gen 2 true passenger van? The Gen 2 is a superior vehicle all around with the 6 speed auto, better gas mileage, much better suspension (you won't be regularly replacing wheel bearings) disc brakes on all 4 wheels and used passenger models are fairly plentiful. I wanted the short wheelbase passenger model and they are a bit harder to find - It seems most passenger models were long wheelbase with seating for 7, which I didn't need - But the SWB models ARE out there is you hunt long enough After a few months of research and looking at what's out there, we confined our search to only 2014's and newer models Don

If you could see the rear bench set-up in the Gen 2 SWB TC's, you would be green with envy - Why they never offered this in the long wheelbase version, I'll never know because it's the cat's meow of removable seating systems. My van has a 60/40 split rear bench and the seat backs fold flat with the tug on a lanyard and then with the tug on a second one, they flip vertically to stow just touching the backs of the front buckets. Need even more room? Flip a pair of levers and you can lift either the 60 side or the 40 side completely out of the van. When you take both of them out, you essentially have a cargo van . . . . but only with a short wheelbase. It takes less than 5 minutes to take both out and you don't need any tools. Takes a couple minutes longer than that to put them back in . . . . and the 60 side is pretty darned heavy - It contains both halves of the center seatbelt built into the seat I think you could probably find a rear bench seat from an older van which mounts with 4 or 6 bolts through the floor pan and adapt that to your cargo van easily enough by drilling a few holes. You would need to get the seatbelts as well Don

If there is a meaningful improvement in both horsepower and fuel economy just by changing a $5 computer chip, shame, shame on the idiot engineers who designed your car!! With all the extra money they spent on induction and exhaust systems to get the power and economy the car came with, how in the world did they miss out on the "tremendous" improvement they could have had with just a $5 chip?? - Actually, once the tuning on the chip is designed by the engineers, it's probably closer to a $2 chip! There's really nothing left to gain there, which is probably why sales of such things dried up and you can't find them anymore Really? Even J C Whitney doesn't sell one? I remember the days when spending $20 each on ten different gadgets which each gave you a 10% gain in power and fuel economy would have you with a car which had double the power and twice the fuel economy!! If J C Whitney doesn't sell them anymore, they must not exist ? Don

You've certainly replaced all the expensive parts. Since the only code you have involves the brakes, why not try a new pair of rotors up front? Cheap and quick enough to do with some rotors from Rock Auto Don

. . . . and it will do so at about half throttle! - If you're in a hurry from a standing stop, you've got to be reaaaallllly careful!! Don

For something that must be removed and reinstalled during every oil change for the life of the vehicle, it's hard to imagine why they chose to use such pi$$ poor fasteners. Choices like this make me think they PLANNED it that way on purpose so the dealer can jack up the cost of your oil changes by selling you a new set after every other oil change, otherwise the darned thing would probably fall off . . . . . and that makes me think maybe buying another one of their vehicles in the future isn't really a good idea C'mon Ford - A high school dropout could do better than your overpaid engineer did here! Don

There's certainly lots to like about the climate of the southern part of the west coast . . . . unfortunately, to take advantage of it means you would have to live in California, so I'll pass Don

Welcome to the forum! While the taller roof of the Gen 1's (2010 -2013) can be nice, the Gen 2's are a much improved vehicle. Early Gen 1's had front wheel bearing problems, often requiring replacement every 50 to 75K. The Gen2's have 4 wheel disc brakes and a 6 speed automatic and get better gas mileage with fewer maintenance issues, IMO. We didn't even look at a Gen 1 no matter how good the deal was and we found a pretty great deal on a dealer demo 2014 with only 12,000 miles on it and plenty of factory warranty left Don

You *might* be able to remove the wheel and then take the plastic inner fender out and get to the marker light without having to mess with the bumper cover. I installed new Fog/DRL light housings doing it that way. I don't know how hard it is to get the bumper cover off, but getting the fender liners out wasn't that big of a job . . . . once you have the wheel off Don

Me too - Mine reads "14 TC XLT" Don

I agree - Makes perfect sense to me. I can easily and clearly see both of the A pillars in our van while looking straight ahead without turning my head at all, but you do have to take your eyes way off the road to see either mirror Don

At least it can be done by the owner and at home with no expensive test equipment - Not all cars make it so simple to do I put a new set of wider wheels and tires on one of our electric Mitsubishi's - Would you believe it came with a 145/65R15 on a 4 inch wide wheel on the front?? I bought new TPMS sensors for the new wheels and the guy at the tire store used his $1800 TPMS tool to try to get my car to 'learn' the new sensors after he installed them. Over the period of a week, he tried three different times. Since it never did work, he didn't charge me anything After many e-mails and 6 or 7 phone calls with the company that sold me the sensors on Amazon, I finally got them to research a local shop and send me there to get the car programmed to work with the sensors - It could only be done with a specific brand of equipment, or so they said, so they sent me to a Goodyear shop who said they had that brand. The process should take less than 10 minutes, but it was an hour before I got my car back - They tried the 'correct' equipment several times and then another one they had a couple times and finally accomplished the task with a device that had only been used successfully on one other car. Mitsubishi REALLY wants you to go to the dealer for this . . . . at a half hour labor charge - Usually about $75. Really an expensive headache for those changing to winter wheels/tires and back every year . . . . there goes $150 you shouldn't be forced to spend Take may word for it, relearning sensors on a TC is a piece of cake . . . . comparatively speaking anyway Don

You win . . . . the award for replying to your own replies over the longest period of time . . . . without interruption by any other poster - 2+ years!!! Gotta get those post counts up! Don

Advance Auto still sells in online - Their regular price is $9.99, but I got a 25% discount coupon for all online orders when I clicked on it. The $5 'super sale' I got still runs from time to time, I think. What was amazing was . . . . free shipping for all orders of $50 or more, so I bought 16 and then later on, 12 more Pepboys has it for about the same price , $7.81 - No need to be paying Fords ridiculous price!! https://www.pepboys.com/castrol-transmax-full-synthetic-multi-vehicle-transmission-fluid-1-qt-/product/832809 They call it 'multi-vehicle' because it goes in any Ford requiring LV and also in any GM trans made and any Toyota. Don't confuse it with Trans-max Import multi-vehicle which is completely different stuff Don

The optional alloy wheels which came stock on '14 TC's were 17's and not 16 like the steelies, so if you used the factory tire size (215/50R17) your speedometer would still be correct - Less than 0.5 mph difference at 60 Don

. . . . and changing it 3 times actually only gets you to about 85% new fluid in the system. I changed mine 4 times to get it closer to 100%, but theoretically you could change it 20 times and never actually get to 100%. I used Castrol TransMax Full Synthetic Multi-vehicle which is Ford approved for Mercon LV applications. Believe it or not, I found it on-line for just $5 per quart with FREE shipping from Advance Auto Parts. I initially bought 16 quarts for my first change and later ordered 12 more so I can do a 4 quart change every 10,000 miles when I do my oil changes, so I've got enough for another 30,000 miles. At $5 each, I shoulda bought more as I know I'll never find it for that price again. I paid less than $5 more for 16 quarts, than you paid for 3!! Don

Bought a set of 2012 Focus wheels (at least I think that's what they came from) on eBay a couple years ago for $400. Sure look better on my TC than the steelies with vinyl hubcaps

Glad you were able to make good use of my old steering wheel - As I said, it was just laying on a shelf in the garage after I upgraded mine to a leather wrapped one with audio controls . . . . I was never going to do anything with it, and now Joe has Cruise Control!!! Great!! Don

I have a 1994 Mazda Miata that I've owned for 20 years. It had 11,000 miles on it when I bought it and it only has 60,000 on it now. Lived in a garage (with the top down) every day of it's life . . . . the ragtop and plastic back window both look pretty much brand new. Since it's a convertible, I almost always drove it with the top down only on sunny days - In 'non-convertible weather' I drove something else Don

So long as the wheel offset remains the same, wider tires shouldn't affect steering at all - The center of both the wide and narrow tires are both in the same place, geometrically - Track width hasn't changed at all. Changing the wheel offset can widen the track and that messes up steering. When you steer, the inside tire turns sharper than the outside tire and that difference is set to be correct for the track width the vehicle was designed with. When you change the track width by even a small amount, you would need to change that ratio of how much tighter the inside wheel turns than the outside one, but there is no way to do that - It's a built in parameter If you take a pick-up truck where the wheel offset has been changed by a bunch and turn the wheels all the way to one side and then try to push it when it's sitting on level ground, you will learn a couple things. First, it's really hard to get it to move at all . . . . you've gotta push it really hard. Second, since you're pushing it and the engine isn't running, you will actually be able to hear and feel the front tires scrubbing on the pavement. This is because the steering geometry is all messed up and you are actually sliding the tires sideways. that kills your gas mileage and it doesn't make your tires last very long either Don

I Googled '2012 Transit Connect Transmission Fluid Capacity' and got an answer from the pdf of the 2013 owners manual - Should be the same transmission https://cdn.dealereprocess.net/cdn/servicemanuals/ford/2013-transitconnect.pdf Page 245 says it holds 7.1 quarts. I'm pretty sure this is the 'total capacity' which would include the fluid trapped in the torque converter and that's usually half or more of the total. If you're just draining the trans itself and not the torque converter, I suspect you'll get less than 4 quarts out of it . . . . but it that's all you're changing, you will lave less than 50% new fluid in the trans after one drain and refill There's a chart online somewhere which shows how many quarts you would have to drain and refill to get a 80% or 90% or 95% fill of new fluid - Close to a complete change. I used 18 quarts of synthetic ATF in my 2014 when I did the first change. I plan to drain and refill 4 quarts every 10,000 miles from here on in Don

The only 'pro' is peace of mind - Your plan may not even cover what breaks, but until it does break, you don't know that, so you feel 'protected' The 'con' of course is the price - Maybe 5% or less of those who buy plans come out ahead money-wise in the end, which is why dealers LOVE selling them - It's profit, profit, profit without them having to earn any of it. There isn't a more lucrative deal out there from the dealer's prospective Don

Andreas - The last post to this thread was more than 7 years ago. Pretty unlikely you'll get a reply from any of those who discussed this way back then . . . . doubtful any of them still own their TC's Don