Beta Don

Most all of them will burn nearly anything flammable - Diesel, kerosene, alcohol, gasoline and probably even jet fuel which is just super refined kerosene. Burning gasoline in any of them would give me pause because the fumes are explosive, whereas diesel or kerosene are flammable, but not explosive under normal conditions. If I was mounting an air heater inside the van, I wouldn't consider using gasoline at all . . . . but, that's just me. Others may sleep just fine a foot or two from a gasoline fire Don

I see where you were going with this! Not so much the 'ventilation' but you wanted to run the Webasto for night-time heat too. They *are* great little heaters! We have two Mitsubishi electric cars and while the OEM electric heater is fine for us down here on the Gulf Coast, I know of at least half dozen owners of the same cars we have who live 'up north' and they have installed the Webasto's (or the Chinese made clones) with great success. Many hours of heat from just a quart of diesel or kerosene. They tie into the OEM heater in the car, heating the water (since we have no waste heat from an engine) and then the car goes lots farther on a charge because you're not 'wasting' any electricity heating the car FWIW, they do make diesel 'air heaters' which you can use inside a car or boat and one of those might be just what you need. They require very little 12 volt power, they have their own fan to circulate the air and the only outside connection is a 1" hole for the exhaust pipe. One EV owner in Slovakia installed that heater in his car because it was cheaper than the 'parking heaters' which is what the Webasto's are called - They were specifically designed to heat the cab of diesel 18 wheelers when parked for the night. Google 'diesel air heater' and see what you find Don

Are you wanting to run the OEM heater fan overnight? That fan draws a good bit of current for the amount of air it moves *and* it will be very expensive to replace when you wear it out. If you're using the van for camping, I think the Fantastic Fan would be a much better choice - They move a BUNCH of air and draw very little current. You could run that fan off the van battery without worrying that it would run your battery down Don

I hope the rear view mirror display works better for you than it did for me - Glare caused by light coming in the windows washes out the display and made it almost useless in the daytime. Works great at night though Don

I think they're referring to the Gen 1 armrest between the front seats My 2014 came with two - One between the front seats and a second one which folds up or down in the middle of the back seat - Down if you only need to carry two passengers and up if you're carrying three Don

I would guess some people are 'resting' more than just their arm on it If it was mine, rather than paying a ridiculous price for a new one from Ford which would likely suffer the same fate, I would look to buy an aftermarket armrest and install that in it's place. There are literally hundreds of them on the market, so you'd need to find one the correct size for the fitment and install that. When you find something that works and fits well, post it here and it will surely help others with the same problem Don

Going to a wider tire on a wider wheel with a different offset would likely exacerbate the problem and not solve it - The load on the bearings would be much higher with a wider tire on a wider track wheel But - The 'real problem' could be just the quality of the bearings themselves. If you pay someone to do the change and they have a choice of a $40 bearing, a $70 bearing or a $100 bearing, guess which one they'll probably buy for you? - $400 for labor to install a $40 bearing isn't any bargain www.rockauto.com lists 5 different wheel bearings ranging in price from about $40 to $117.00 http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2012,transit+connect,2.0l+l4,1501993,brake+&+wheel+hub,wheel+bearing,1672 Don

Welcome to the forum!! Lots of threads here about guys removing the panels and replacing them with all sorts of materials to convert 'work vans' into 'camper vans'. Browse around and read up a bit and I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for Don

The West Marine Nicro vents also come with a battery powered fan, recharged by a solar panel on top. You can either install a fan blade to pull air out of your van (or boat) or a fan blade which pulls air into your van. Install a pair of them, (one pulling air in and one pulling out) and you'll have 24/7 ventilation of your cargo area and that would likely reduce any fumes to next to nothing and you probably wouldn't need the partition. You do have to cut a 3" hole in the roof for each fan, (use a hole saw) but they don't leak a drop of water. I had a pair of them on a 35' sailboat for 12 or 14 years and they kept away the mold and mildew you usually get in closed up spaces which are subject to lots of moisture like boats are. I highly recommend them - They work GREAT. Change the rechargeable battery every 3 or 4 years and they literally run forever. They come with either a white plastic dome or for a few $$$ more, with a polished stainless dome Don

Water gets into the doors of just about all cars - There are drains in the bottom of the doors to let it run out. Rusting problems usually occur when those drains get plugged up and the water sits in the seam at the bottom of the door Don

I had a '66 Ford Cortina - 1.6L with twin side draft Webbers. Mine was rear wheel drive . . . . it would be a tough swap to put a FWD power plant in there IMO Now if you had a 2.0 with a 6 speed out of a Honda S2000 to swap in there, you'd really have something! Don

Too bad you can't put the engine/trans you take out of the van into the car and sell it as a running, driveable car - Probably cost more to do that than what you would get back though? Don

Looks like the FBI is probably using it to spy on us all! Don

You hardly see pick-ups anywhere except North America . . . . and here, they're used most often just to get the driver to wherever he's going - No passengers, no cargo and towing nothing - 4 doors, an 8 foot bed, weighing 6,000 pounds, nearly impossible to park and only being used for basic transportation. That's what $2 gas gets you Don

The first TC we drove was a van with the twin doors and we thought we would really prefer the twin doors - Love the way they open 270 degrees to lie flat against the side of the van Until we drove it, that is - The twin doors look very nice from the outside and you would never guess how big a visual obstruction the foot wide blank spot in the middle gives you when using the inside mirror - I couldn't see anything behind me with a quick glance in the mirror and it took my eyes off the road for way too long to make any sense of what I was seeing. The inside mirror is almost useless and I knew I'd never get used to that. After just a 10 or 15 minute drive, we both knew that the twin doors were NOT going to work for us, so we quit looking for used TC's which did not have the lift gate. After owning it for several months, we really like the lift gate - When it's raining, it's very nice to have a dry place to get under when loading or unloading and the door is high enough for even a 6 footer. Another plus - Only one window wiper! Don

Those panels look like an ideal solution - With them, you shouldn't need any vapor barrier at all on top of your foam. You could glue those foam and the van and not need any screws too Don

I wouldn't use any household insulation for this purpose. One, it can trap and hold moisture forever and two when you cram it into tight places it loses most of it's insulating value - It needs to remain very loose and full of air to give you a good R value. I've never seen anyone use it in an automotive application I would use the half inch rigid foam panels that you can find at Lowes or Home Depot. Cut them to fit exactly with no air space and glue them in place using Liquid Nails or something similar which is rated for use with foam. If you have room, add a second or third layer to fill in whatever space you will have behind your paneling. I think the Reflectix would be all the vapor barrier you would need Don

I agree - I love the wrap and I'll bet it's worth every penny in 'free' advertising. I say 'free' because where I live local ordinances may prevent you putting up a sign out on the road near your restaurant, but they can't say a thing about you parking your wrapped van by the road near your establishment The tire pressure problem is likely a bad battery in one of the sensors mounted inside the wheels. Buy a new set and change them out next time you need tires. The batteries typically last 4 or 5 years, depending on how you use the vehicle - They are only in use when the vehicle is moving, so delivery vans used in slower stop and go driving will wear out the batteries in fewer miles than those driven mostly on the freeways The big change happened for the 2014 model year - 2.5L engine standard and 6 speed select shift automatic helps it to get significantly better gas mileage than the earlier ones. I got 29 mpg with mine on our last trip Don

One thing I've found since buying mine is that very few employees at most Ford dealerships know anything at all about our TC's - They're made is Spain, relatively new to the market and most dealers don't sell many of them, so despite the fact that everything they would need to know is available in Ford's technical literature, nobody seems in any hurry to read much of it But, being the true 'car professionals' that they are, they'll never admit they don't know something - If you ask a question, you'll get an answer - It may be 180 degrees from the real answer in the tech manuals, but that doesn't bother anyone either. If you need factual information about the vehicle you drive, I would trust the Internet 10 to 1 over anything I'm told at the dealers Someday, (probably in another life) I'm going to ask a question at the dealer and someone will say "Gee, I don't know the answer to that - I'll have to look it up" Naw - I'm just dreaming Don

Modern engines with their much closer tolerances require the use of much thinner oil than we old guys are used to. The recommended 5W-20 oil is formulated to behave like 5 weight oil when it's cold to ensure the thicker cold oil gets into those tighter clearances so they don't starve for oil when the engine is cold. The '20' is what the oil is designed to behave like when it's hot, and they chose that number for a reason - Hot oil rated at a viscosity of 30 may be just enough thicker that it doesn't get into everywhere it needs to go I'm no oil expert and neither am I a mechanical engineer, so I've gotta believe that those much smarter than me chose 5W-20 for good reasons and I wouldn't recommend anyone to try 'outguessing' the experts, based on what we *think* is happening inside a hot engine. The engineers know the oil gets very hot and when it's hot they want it to behave like 20 weight oil, so that's what I would stick with. My 'guess' is that a heavier weight would be more likely to cause you problems than prevent them Don

I will watch this thread with great interest. When we bought our 2014, both of the hinge pins were missing and the glovebox door *does* practically fall on the floor! I fabricated something which works, but I would really like to have the OEM hinge pins Don

Agreed - 16" wheels/tires with 55 series sidewalls @ 42 psi doesn't seem overly firm to me. Keep in mind many Titanium passenger wagons came with 17" wheels and 50 series tires, so your van is already riding 'softer' than many premium models Don

From what I've learned so far - Two dealerships have told me that "If it didn't come with the car, it can't be installed later on" There are very few electronic dealer installed accessories (if any) that I've found. I do know that you cannot 'upgrade' the OEM stereo that came with your car to a newer, better version of an OEM stereo. At least that's what I've been told. I found the next better version of the OEM stereo on eBay and I thought I would just buy that, install it and then have the dealer reprogram the computer and I'd have the stereo I wanted. Good thing I checked first because two dealers told me it couldn't be done So far as I could determine, the only difference between a USA model TC without DRL's and a Canadian version with DRL's is . . . . just a change in the CanBus computer program, but when I went to the dealer specifically to pay them to turn on my DRL's, they told me it couldn't be done - My TC didn't come with them and that's that A big part of the problem is . . . . we're driving computer controlled cars and not every dealership has a computer literate person in the service bay - They all have the computer to hook to the car and make all sorts of changes, but few have anyone who knows how to do 10% of what can be done . . . . and they don't seem to be in any big hurry to get anyone trained. Easiest thing to do is to just tell everyone it can't be done, rather than just admit you don't know how to do it. It took the dealer a week to reprogram my power window so it worked correctly - First thing they did was change the power window motor, which did nothing . . . . but at least they got paid (under warranty) for taking the door apart and putting it back together The entire car is CanBus controlled. Signals to do anything and everything are put on a loop and whatever function needs the information picks it off the loop. The OEM car stereo gets 100% of everything it needs from the CanBus loop and the radio was designed that way - Aftermarket stereos are NOT designed to be CanBus compatible. They use wires to turn things on and not signals When I installed my Pioneer AVIC-NEX 6100 I thought "I've installed dozens of car stereos over the past 40 years or so . . . . I'll just get me a schematic for the car, find the wires I need and tap into them" - Can't be THAT hard, can it? Well, there are no 'wires' to tap into as it turns out. My Pioneer needs a switched 12 volt wire, an always hot 12 volt wire, a speed sensor wire, a parking brake wire and so on. Problem is, none of those 'wires' are available behind the dash For example, there is no switched 12 volt wire which turns on the OEM radio - The CanBus has a signal that turns it on and interestingly, it keeps the radio on after you shut off the car and remove the key. The radio doesn't turn off until you open a door . . . . and it's a CanBus signal that turns it off. There is no speed sensor wire - It's only a CanBus signal. The stereo control switches on your steering wheel are NOT connected to the stereo at all - They are CanBus input signals that the stereo then picks off the loop So, when you remove the OEM radio, you have to install an interface between the CanBus and your aftermarket radio, like the Axxess one you looked at previously or the iDatalink one you're looking at now. I have read some about the programmable ones like the iDatalink and it sounds like they can program (or reprogram) them for you to make it all happen correctly, so you may have found your 'solution' I would talk to someone (get his/her name) and tell them what you want and that you want to keep your OEM back-up camera working and you expect your steering wheel controls to work 100% and that you will need to return it for a refund if it can't do exactly what they promise you upfront that it can do . . . . and go from there Installing a new car radio ain't nothin' like it used to be . . . . for sure! Don

I took it to the second dealership because when I bought it the passenger window would only roll up or down in increments of about an inch and a half - It took 6 or 7 pushes of the button to get it all the way down and the same thing going up. It was pretty obvious to me that it was something to do with the CanBus programming - Quick fix, or so I thought. The rear wiper was also not working and I asked them to check that out too I called to make an appointment and explained what was going on and she said to bring it in first thing in the morning and they would get right to it. I showed up at 7:30 and waited until about 1PM when she told me they weren't going to get to it that day and I would need to leave the car there. Brought it back the next day and left it, she called the day after that and said they were going to have to order a new window motor. Two days later, she calls and says the new motor didn't fix it and hey would need another day. Then the bombshell - The rear wiper had a blown fuse . . . . and fuses aren't covered under the warranty. I would have to pay a $99 'diagnostic fee' for changing the fuse. What's the 'diagnostic fee' for I asked. We have to diagnose it to find out why the fuse blew. Well, what did my $99 diagnosis tell us? We don't know - We replaced the fuse and it didn't blow again. So I said that I didn't actually get any 'diagnosis' at all - I just paid $99 to have the fuse changed? She says, I guess you could look at it that way. I said I don't see any other way we could look at it Two days later, someone who can read the book found out what to change in the computer program and the 15 minute fix for the window problem was done. Since it took them a full week instead of 15 minutes (the day I first brought it in) they graciously waived the $99 fee for changing the fuse - I saved them twice that when I told them upfront I didn't really need a loaner car . . . . for what turned out to be a full week So - I'm down two dealers I won't be visiting again. One more like these two and I'll need to go out of state to get anything done. TC's weren't made here and in my experience, some dealers don't know much about them and they aren't in any hurry to learn. I had 'planned' (for the first time in my life) to just take my new Ford to the dealer and let them do all the routine maintenance, but with the underpan on the engine I'm not at all convinced that for an oil change they may just pump out the old through the dipstick and to heck with changing the filter, so I've revised my plans - Nobody from Ford is going to touch my car if I can help it. It may be a pain for me to do it all with my ramps, but at least I'll know it was done correctly when it's finished My daughter took her brand new Hyundai to the dealer for an oil change. A day or two later, she's smelling something and then her check engine light comes on - The dealer had neglected to put the oil filler cap back on. They kept the car for three days to steam clean everything and gave her a loaner car, but it may be a year or two before she knows if it did any damage to the engine - She'll probably find out just after the warranty runs out Think I'll give her a set of ramps for her birthday Don

My dealer wasn't very co-operative either. They have a 'No Returns On Special Order Items' policy. When mine arrived it was pretty obvious that it had been opened and re-taped closed several times . . . . I wasn't the first unfortunate person to waste my time and money on this particular broken accessory. When I discovered it was broken and took it back they told me they would order me another one. I told them don't bother, as it's obviously not a quality product and not worth the money - Just give me a refund. We can't do that, the parts guy told me - No refunds on special order parts. I asked to talk to the dealership manager and he basically said the same thing. I told him that it's broken and must be returned anyway, but he still refused. I told him them that he just scored a really great deal then - He's got my $135 and he also has the piece of junk I ordered and I left and went home He called me the next day and said he was going to refund 80% of my money. Why 80% and not 100% I asked? There's a 20% 'restocking fee' he says. I told him I certainly hope you're not 'restocking' it because it's broken - Looking at all the tape on the box, it's already been 'restocked' and returned several times. Anyway, out of the goodness of his heart, I got 80% of my money back and he 'restocked' the broken cover once again . . . . maybe one of the broken ones you got was my 'restocked' one? Way to go Ford! The worst thing about this whole mess is that I now have to drive much further for recalls and such as I'm not going back to this guy, for sure. He 'earns' probably 20% or so on every special order item he sells and he wasn't willing to give up his $27 'profit' to just send in the broken item back and refund the purchase price, so now he's got one less customer for however many years I own this vehicle . . . . and I have to drive about 15 miles farther to another dealer. Unfortunately, the other dealer isn't any better, but that's an even longer story . . . . This is my first Ford - Are all their dealers this bad? Don