Beta Don

I bought one of these from my local Ford dealer for $165 shortly after I bought my 2014 SWB van - I returned it to them less than a week later. The red circle you see in the photos is to remind you not to sit anything on top of it, because it's really flimsy! I had the factory cargo covers for 2 of my Mazda wagons and I *assumed* the Ford one would be similar, but they're not - You could sit a small child on the Mazda covers and not bend anything - Don't try more than 4 or 5 pounds on the Ford cover Don

I've just never wanted something so specific that I felt the need to special order it new. I much prefer to find 2, 3 or 4 year old really low miles vehicles and save $10K or so rather than pay a fortune for the privilege of ordering something brand new When we bought our TC, I wanted the short wheelbase and had to hunt quite awhile to find the 'right' one, but we got a 2014 in 2017 with only 12,000 miles on it and we saved $12K . . . . a dollar a mile! It was at a dealer in Georgia, 350 miles away. Turned out, we were the first owners too! The dealer had let it sit on his lot unsold for more than a year and then he titled it and used it as a dealer loaner vehicle for about 18 months and then we bought it When we bought our 2017 Chevy Volt, I got way more 'specific' than I've ever done in the past. I wanted the White Pearl paint with the black & brandy interior. It had to be fully equipped with every option so I could make sure it had Adaptive Cruise Control. I eventually found that exact one owner car with 20K on it and bought it for $16K off the sticker. That one was in Iowa, 1,100 miles away, so we flew up to pick it up and made a week long vacation out of bringing it home It'll definitely be a long time before I buy another brand new car again - I've only done it twice before. Once when I ordered a VW GTI while I was stationed in Germany and we picked it up when we arrived stateside and last time was when we bought our first EV, a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiEv and we got a $7.5K tax credit buying it new Don

You do realize . . . . that was more than 6 years ago . . . . right? Don

It's always best (cheapest) to buy any vehicle from the dealer who has it sitting on his lot and not asking another dealer to have it shipped to you - BOTH dealers will expect to make $$$ for their time and trouble. In your case, since you're looking for the hen's teeth of all TC's, both dealers will know you're desperate and expect to make a bunch of $$$ from you, because all three of you know how rare this particular vehicle is . . . . whereas, if you were to show up at the dealer who has the vehicle, asking about a Titanium TC and they show you the red one you really want, you could say "Red, huh? Don't you have it in a better color??" Then, you could probably make a deal on the red one that he's had sitting unsold on his lot for a month or two - He was thinking it might be very hard to sell, so he gives you a break, rather than you pointing out that he has the only red one in all the USA and you've got to have a RED one! Don

I agree - I'm 98% sure the damp, salty gear is the source of your problem . . . . and I doubt a 'paint warranty' would be honored for the inside of your van. Even if it was, their repair might be worse looking than what you have now Don

For any synthetic worth a hoot, 5K is way too soon to be changing your oil - Way, WAY too soon! Ford and most synthetic manufacturers recommend 12K changes. I use Castrol Edge Extended Performance fully synthetic and Castrol says it is good for 20K changes I typically change at 10 to 12K on mine because I don't drive it that many miles each year . . . . without the oil change reminder recommending me to change it sooner. But . . . . if you don't reset the change reminder each and every time you do a change, then the change reminder is never going to give you good information . . . . it's eventually going to tell you to change it at some point, and that may end up being only 2 or 3K after your last change. Read the manual on how to reset it after you do a change, even though it has never gone off and told you a change was necessary. Reset the change reminder every single time, regardless . . . . especially if you intend to use it as recommended If yours was reset when a change was done and then you went 5K and changed it without resetting it and you got a change notice 4K later, it's actually telling you that you needed a change at 9K and not at 5K when you last did it . . . . or, more likely, you probably missed resetting it twice and what it's actually telling you is that it should be changed at 14K - Mine never says a change is needed before 12K . . . . but I reset it every time At any rate, 5K changes with fully synthetic oil is certainly a waste of time, money and natural resources. Google and read all about modern oil, modern engines and synthetic oil change mileage recommendations Don

That's because Ford advertises it as 'Lifetime Fluid' which lasts the lifetime of the transmission . . . . . unfortunately, sometimes the transmission lifetime is only 75,000 miles Don

Unless you drained and filled it 3+ times, you didn't really 'change' anything - Most of the trans fluid is trapped in the torque converter and there's no way to drain the torque converter on this model. I did four drain and refills when I changed my fluid. Even doing it that many times only gets you a 90%+ 'change' to new fluid. One drain and refill and you still have more old fluid in there than new "Not a difficult job at all?" That's not how I would describe a complete fluid exchange Don

I'm trying to picture what sort of wheels those might be - I *thought* you could put a wheel sensor into just about *any* wheel. There are only three basic types of tire fill valves out there - The standard rubber 'snap in' valves, the high pressure snap in's and the high pressure metal clamp in's and there are sensor mounts to fit all 3, so no matter if your wheels are steel, some type of alloy or paper mache, if they utilize any one of the standard fill valves, there are sensors made which will fit them I too like the direct readout of individual pressures on my 2017 Volt, but the OEM system on my TC suits my needs just fine as it is. When i bought my set of Ford Focus alloys ro replace my stock steel wheels, the stock Ford snap in valves were still in the wheels, so transferring over the sensors took about 30 seconds each - Remove one screw from the stock wheel and install the sensor with that same screw into the 'new' alloys. The tire installer installed 4 new valves and viola!, my TPMS system still works as it always has Don

What's NOT wrong is . . . . if you check your tires once a month, or twice a month or once a week, at least you will know exactly what your pressures are . . . . that day - That's much better than most of the driving public, so you're slightly ahead of the game But, with some tires now costing upwards of $200 per corner it would be very nice to know when you've picked up a nail that's now causing a slow leak . . . . before you've driven far enough on the low tire to destroy it's structure. *If* you discover that low tire during one of your weekly/monthly tire pressure checks, of course you immediately air it up and go looking for someone to patch the leak. *If* they dismount the tire from the wheel to do a proper repair from the inside, a quick inspection will tell them if you've already destroyed the tire or not . . . . but many places will just offer you the quick $15 tire plug repair, air it up and send you on your way. When the tire comes apart without any warning a month or so later, *maybe* you'll be able to keep it right side up and on the road and all you'll need is a tow back to the tire shop and a new tire The other downside is, very few of us actually religiously keep to our own schedule of monthly/weekly tire pressure checks, even though we know how important they are, so our odds of catching the slow leak before it ruins a $200 tire are even slimmer than they might appear What's really *nice* it to get behind the wheel, flick a switch on the steering wheel and see an actual readout of the pressure in all 4 tires before we even start the car. Instead of a 'couple minutes of easy work' once a month, it's 5 seconds of no work at all every time you start the car. There's nothing safer than that and the cost is less than replacing one tire. If your car's system isn't that elaborate, at least knowing all 4 tires have enough air in them to keep the warning light from coming on is the next best thing - I still do my manual checks about once a month to replace the pound or two that usually leaks away every month . . . . but that low tire light NOT flashing on the dash is also VERY reassuring, at least it is to me Don

Ford had huge tire load rating problems with the early Explorers which didn't end well for anybody, but it sure alerted manufacturers, insurers, accident investigators and the legal community as to how important tire load ratings actually are - Each vehicle manufactured has a tire load rating requirement and it should always be a prime factor when selecting new rubber If you went to any respectable tire retailer, they would flat out refuse to sell or mount tires which do not meet the load rating requirement for your vehicle and the reason they're all so nit picky about it is . . . . legal liability. After the accident, the sleuths would come looking to see who mounted the sub-standard tires and they would be included in the lawsuit and it could cost them their business and much more It's just not worth it . . . . especially if the only plus side to the argument is a little more ground clearance. There are safer ways to get that result Don

I would most certainly look for a tire the size you need with the proper load rating - Using anything less opens up a huge can of worms. If you had a tire related accident, your insurance could be voided & you could be on the hook for damages or injuries to others. Not worth it just to try to get an extra inch of ground clearance Don

I have no idea what you're up against - Likely though it probably means installing a rebuilt transmission We hear on this forum from time to time about transmission failures with less than 100k miles and that has prompted many of us to do a transmission drain and flush every 25,000 miles - I understand this 6F35 trans is very hard on it's fluid and regular changes are the key to a long transmission life Please, when you find out what's wrong and what the fix is, come back here and update your thread - We can all learn from these early failures Don

My 2014 XLT doesn't honk the horn when I lock it . . . . unless I press the lock button twice. One press, it locks the doors and flashes the lights, two pushes it locks, flashes and honks, but just once So . . . . it must be programmable - I'd check with a Ford dealer Don

I believe all USA Gen 1 TC's with the 2.0 use a timing chain, not a belt Don

Just a thought - Limiting yourself to one specific color - Especially a color as scarce as RED - Will greatly affect the price vs quality of the vehicles you'll find. A really great deal on a red cargo van might be impossible to find Christmas colors are red and white (snow & Santa's coat trim & his beard) so you might want to consider a white one and then have a red vinyl wrap of your own custom design put on it - You could probably make it look even more like a sleigh than if you had an all red one. If you're looking for a low mileage, like new used cargo van, finding a white one might save you more than the cost of the vinyl wrap . . . . and you'd have what you're really looking for - A like new XLT cargo van at a great price!! I sure wouldn't give up all that just to stay stuck on RED! Don

I think it might prove to be a fairly hard sell for either one in Europe - A USA spec van, modified to suit your taste would find limited interest there I suspect, so if you go that way, keep in mind that whatever mods you make should be kept as 'generic' as possible, so as to appeal to the largest number of potential buyers - I'm assuming when you go to sell it, you don;t want to be spending weeks or months looking for a buyer Most trailers made in the USA don't conform to European requirements - Maybe, those made in Canada do?? I'm not that familiar with how they do things north of the border. Here, few small trailers (anything less than 1500 pounds) have any brakes at all and the larger ones that do almost always use electric brakes actuated by a brake controller in the tow vehicle. Unless things have recently changed, that doesn't meet the laws in Europe. ALL trailers, regardless of size must have brakes and the brakes must be self actuating, so they almost always use hydraulic surge brakes which apply themselves when the tow vehicle begins to slow down - The trailer begins to push the car and that actuates a hydraulic brake cylinder which applies the brakes Selling a trailer designed to USA standards might prove very difficult to do Good luck with your project - I envy your trip. It's been a long time since we toured Europe and we'd love to be doing it again Don

Many of us driving EV's use Webasto's or similar heaters because electric heat in an EV is a real range killer. I know those heaters can burn gas, diesel, alcohol, kerosene or even JP4, but the idea of a gasoline burner still scares the heck out of me!! - GM used gas powered heaters in the early Corvairs and there were several reports of major problems with them - When the heater flooded and didn't start up when it should, the resulting explosion blew the trunk deck lid off more than one car. The heater was mounted just in front of the windshield, in the front trunk cargo area If I was mounting one in a TC, I would choose diesel over gas - They burn so little fuel a 1 gallon tankful might last you several days and diesel would be soooo much safer. If I absolutely had to choose gas (can't imagine why I would) I would still use a small separate tank to hold the fuel and keep it completely separate from the 15 gallons of high explosive located under my TC Don

My telling you he lives in LA wasn't 'helpful'?? Guess I shouldn't have bothered! Don

I would want to know much more than just the story line the seller was using to get his van sold! - That light could mean something serious and I'd want to know exactly what it means . . . . and before it was discovered during an accident reconstruction. *If* you lived where there was a comprehensive vehicle inspection program in place, that van would have to be parked until it was fixed . . . . . for the safety of the general public, as well as it's owner Don

The tire pressure warning light is probably a bad sensor in one of the wheels - Thy are battery powered and the batteries usually go bad after 7 or 8 years. Buy a new set of 4 the next time you need new tires (since changing them requires dismounting the tire from the wheel) and that problem will be solved The ABS/Brake warning light could be any of half a dozen different things - I would find out exactly what it is and get it fixed though before I drove it anywhere. It could be serious and a warning light should be ignored at your peril Don

Your battery has 'died' (twice) and both times, you've had problems after you bump started it. Going forward, I would make sure I always kept a good battery in it . . . . even if that means buying a new one every 2 or 3 years . . . . before it 'dies' on you again Don

Well, he did say (in another post) that he lives in Los Angeles Don

If you're not careful, there's already more there than the front wheels can handle from a standing start - Much, much different from a RWD Mustang or Miata With most modern fuel injected cars, there's very little extra power to be had without spending considerable money - If it was easy or cheap, Ford would have added it as standard equipment

*Usually* aftermarket engine mounts create *more* NVH because their primary aim is to hold the engine/trans so it can hardly move at all, which results in the engine vibrations more closely coupled to the chassis - Great for race cars where the driver appreciates the 'feel' of what's happening with the car, but not so great if you're driving 3 or 4 hundred miles per day The smoothest, least NVH in a car is from an electric car . . . . and they don't need a 'transmission' because they don't shift. My TC shares a garage with 3 EV's Don