Fifty150

Could you imagine if you did that manually? I don't see turning the engine on & off repeatedly as something I would want to do. But it must be great for posting those MPG numbers on the window sticker.

What kind of camera did you install?

And since oil changes are always a hot topic, here are a couple of things I found online. http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3240/confessions-of-a-car-dealership-service-manager-6311261/ Confessions of a Car Dealership Service Manager If you've ever felt you got a raw deal taking your car in for service at the dealer, our anonymous service manager says that may well be true. But he also cites a number of reasons to take your car to the dealer for work anyway—and tells how not to get the short end of the stick when you do. He should know. He's spent 23 years as a manager for brands as varied as Nissan, Ford and Mitsubishi, and has also served as a warranty administrator and customer relations manager for multiple dealerships. MOST POPULAR The Making Of The Mighty Terrascout Gigantic Remote-Control Fighter Jet Explodes In Midair How A Navy Destroyer Can Beat A Missile Attack What's a good reason to take your car to the dealer for routine maintenance, rather than to the guy with two bays and a private shop? Let's use Ford as an example. If you own a Ford vehicle, the Ford dealership will have Ford-trained technicians who work on Ford vehicles 95 to 100 percent of the time. During that time they will use Ford resources and Ford training to repair your vehicle correctly, and (ideally) they take Ford classes and attend Ford schools to keep up on their knowledge. With the other guy, it's a tossuphe may work on two Fords one week and not see another for a month. Also, on regular maintenance it can sometimes be cheaper, not more expensive. To get an oil change and tire rotation where I live, the Ford dealer is $38.95 plus tax, and Sears wants $75. So it's not necessarily more expensive, and they know more about your car. Any other reason? Often times at Jiffy Lube or wherever they're paid by the hour, and they're not necessarily trained to know your vehicle. And that can cost you your engine. If I could get half of what I've charged customers to replace engines that were screwed up by Jiffy Lube and Walmart, for such things as not enough oil, too much oil, the wrong weight of oil, wrong filter, loose filter or any combination of the above, I could have retired a long time ago. There's no point to spending $30,000 to $40,000 on a new vehicle and then trying to go cheap on the maintenance. What's an example of a common tactic by dealers to pad the bill? So-called shop supplies. That is, and always has been, the biggest crock of crap I've ever seen, and it's been going on for years! It is essentially similar to going to a nice restaurant, getting your check and finding you've been billed for napkins and silverware, which are necessary costs of the food service business. Shop supplies include, but are not limited to, shop rags, lubricantsthis isn't the motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid and steering fluid they might put in your carand the cost of disposing of used oil. These are just some of the necessary costs of doing the auto repair business. Some dealers do not charge for them, but most do, and what is considered shop supplies is at the discretion of each individual dealer. I've seen a customer get billed for $30 in shop supplieson top of their estimatefor the use of three shop rags! For that price, I can buy 20 rolls of shop towels at Auto Zone. If you got a bill that had shop supplies on it, what would you do? Ask to see exactly what that means. Ask to see the precise items they actually used. Challenge them on it. You might not get them to knock it off your bill, but you should try. You also said that dealer service departments too often recommend fluid flushes and replacements that aren't called for by the owner's manual. The dealers cite the "severe use" schedule that doesn't apply to the vast majority of us. Should drivers simply veto a service or fluid replacement that isn't recommendedin the owner's manualunder the normal or light-duty service requirements? Yes, you should go by what the owner's manual recommends for normal use. And, yes, this is a common practice, and I hate to admit that. When I was a customer relations manager, I had a service manager who would [bate people into buying the fluid changes] by showing new fluid versus used fluid. She made more than I did just in flush commissions, but had the worst customer satisfaction surveys. I have always stuck to the manufacturer recommendations, and my Escape has over 310,000 miles on it. Less than five percent of drivers operate their cars under conditions that would be deemed "severe." The ones who do are usually taxi or pizza-delivery drivers, or those who frequently take their SUV or truck off-road. What's the single best piece of advice you'd offer to a friend about servicing his car at the dealer? A dealer won't come right out and say it, but if you have your regular service work done at the dealer... (because warranty work pays the dealer a lot less than service work), your value to the dealership increases. Here's an example: Suppose your vehicle goes out of warranty and a week later you have a catastrophic failure. If you have shown loyalty to the dealership by using them for regular service work, they will be more inclined to help youas opposed to the person who buys a car there and takes it somewhere else for regular service, and only brings it in for warranty work. So it's about building a relationship with the dealer? Yes. You need to know that dealers make very little on car sales. And warranty service doesn't pay as much as regular maintenance. But if they see that record that you've been loyal to them, they'll likely be loyal to you. What's a sign that a dealership doesn't value that relationship? Constant turnover at the service desk. You should get the name of the person at the desk. You should ask for him or her. If that person's different every time, it's not a good sign. Good auto service work starts with a relationship between the advisor and the customer, and that cannot be obtained when the customer sees a new advisor every time he comes in. I always knew the person's car, I pulled up its history, and that's something people appreciate. But if that person is new or is always changing, they don't know you or your car stuff gets missed, and that's typically not good for you or your car. How come a dealer might charge you 30 percent more for a part than you can find it for at AutoZone? It's one of the hang-ups I've always had about domestic automakers. You can often buy their parts cheaper at the auto parts store than you can at the dealership parts counter. And the dealer knows this, but he can't do anything about it. The problem is that even though that's true, the dealer doesn't want to install a part that he didn't source, because if it fails, how does he warranty it? So what do you do as the customer? There's not a lot you can do. They can install the part if you went out and bought it, but most won't. Speaking of AutoZone, you can take your car there to have them read what a Check Engine light means. How accurate will that reading be? Check Engine lights are big moneymakers for dealers and also the bane of a service manager's existence. Anyone can use a code reader. But what does the code mean? For every code there need to be additional diagnostics. I've had customers come in and tell me to swap some part, because they're sure it's the problem. But all that is is a really expensive guess. They might be right 10 to 20 percent of the time, close 20 percent of the time, and dead wrong 60 percent of the time. I had a customer go through six oxygen sensors when all it was was a shorted wire. What's the smartest thing you can buy from the dealer? A brand-name extended service contract. So if you're buying a Ford, get a Ford contract. If it's a Toyota, buy the Toyota contract. The opposite is also true. Never buy the extended service contract that's generically offered through the dealer but isn't backed by the brand of car they sell. How come? Because the people who fulfill the generic contracts are paid by how little service they have to do. So they fight the dealer on every penny. They'll want to see the entire labor record on the car. They won't want to pay for parts. They'll fight on the cost of the labor. In the end, the customer is going to have to eat some of that cost, even though the contract supposedly covers the car. What's the worst day of the week to get your car serviced? Friday afternoon after lunch, because the service department is trying to push out as many vehicles as possible. Maybe a car has been there since Monday waiting on parts. Maybe there are a few cars like that. Then people pour in around lunchtime wanting oil changes. And there are the cars there already with appointments, and everyone's in a rush to get it all done. Make an appointment for a Monday morning as early as possible. It's a lot more orderly, and they'll do a better job. http://www.ourridelife.com/2014/06/05/how-a-40-oil-change-at-a-ford-dealer-cost-240-and-how-to-avoid-it/ Doing Oil Changes Yourself is One Way to Avoid Being Taken My wife recently took our family car to get a $40 oil change (I always change the oil in my Porschemyself, but haven’t done it on our family car). The car is a 2013 Ford Explorer that we have been taking to the dealer for such maintenance since new (the place where we bought the car offered all maintenance for free, but we have since moved out of the area, so now pay for it). To get the oil changed she went to Future Ford in Clovis, California. The service was for 20,000 mile maintenance. While there they recommended changing the air filter (which was fine) and they mentioned that the car missed its 15,000 mile Fuel Induction Cleaning. She agreed to all of this thinking that the Fuel Induction Cleaning was a Ford recommended maintenance item. She did not know what the cleaning actually did and thought that they were taking apart the fuel system and cleaning everything by hand. Of course when I heard of this I said, “we needed what?” In case you aren’t familiar with a Fuel Induction Cleaning (sometimes also called Fuel Injector Cleaning), the dealership ran some product through the engine that is supposed to clean off carbon deposits, etc. It is questionable what affects this “snake oil” actually has on the engine, either negative or positive. By the time I heard about this the service had already been done and that $40 oil change had quickly become over $240. $170 of this price was for the Fuel Induction Cleaning. After getting all the information, I contacted Future Ford and let then know my wife was led to believe that this was a Ford maintenance item, but after a check in the owner’s manual I verified that this was not Ford recommended. I also included my intentions to write about this situation (and thanks for reading it). I contacted them through their website and apparently I got their attention as they responded that evening letting me know they would look into it the next day. The next morning we were notified that they would be refunding the Fuel Induction Cleaning in full and the service manager clarified that it was a dealer recommended service, not manufacture recommended. This problem isn’t just with Ford dealerships, either. A friend of mine had a similar thing happen when he took his Chevrolet to a GM dealership. Once he realized what it was he wanted a refund, but didn’t get anywhere with that. We reached out to the Ford Motor Company to get a statement as to what they think of such service being represented as if it is a factory recommendation. Below is their response to our request. I do want to point out that this is not an issue with all dealerships. We bought our SUV at Perry Ford in San Luis Obispo, California and nothing like this was ever mentioned when doing recommended maintenance. Beyond that they offered a three year 36,000 mile all maintenance package, so we never had to pay for maintenance. Owning a Porsche I have also dealt with quite a few great dealerships, such as Porsche of Fresno. I have had topnotch service whenever I have needed to take my car to the dealership (it does cost more, but the service is second to none and I do most maintenance myself on the Porsche). We are happy to get the refund, but what of other people that don’t have a popular blog or press contacts to use to help get such results? What can you do to guard from this? Do all the maintenance you can yourself: If you are able to then do most maintenance on your car yourself. There may be cases, such as some leases, where you must use a dealer’s service department. However, if at all possible, doing the job yourself is always best. Take your owner’s manual into the shop: Your owner’s manual outlines the recommended maintenance, so bring it with you and check that what is being recommend is in the book. Bring a knowledgable car enthusiasts: If you don’t know much about cars it is best to bring someone who does. If I had gone with my wife, then I would have said no to this service in the first place. This whole thing turned out fine for us, but if you don’t have a blog with 30,000+ regular readers and a bunch of industry contacts what can you do after something like this has already happened? Well, we are here to help. Just contact us using our contact form with all the details of your automotive shop issue and we’ll work hard to get everything resolved for you. All we ask is that we are able to write about what happened. So, be careful when you take your car to any shop and double check everything that you are told. And if you find a good honest shop, keep going there as they are worth their weight in gold.

Funny how there is always a coupon for an oil change, and tires are always on sale. Cars Crossovers & SUVs Trucks & Vans Shopping Tools Owner Find a Dealer Saved Items Search YOUR VEHICLE SERVICE & MAINTENANCE SYNC & VEHICLE FEATURES FORD CREDIT Register/Sign In Service Coupons & Offers Redeem or check the status of a rebate Find a participating dealer Expires 12/31/2016 BUY FOUR SELECT TIRES, GET A $140 REBATE BY MAIL WHEN YOU USE THE FORD SERVICE CREDIT CARD.* On these name brands: Goodyear, Dunlop, Continental, Hankook, Pirelli,® Bridgestone and Yokohama® Print * Dealer-installed retail purchases only. Limit one redemption per customer. $70 Goodyear, Dunlop, Michelin, Continental, Pirelli, Hankook, Yokohama and Bridgestone tire rebate by prepaid debit card or apply to an active Owner Advantage Rewards® account. $70 credit card rebate by prepaid debit card only. Subject to credit approval. Complete purchase must be made on the Ford Service Credit Card. Offer valid 10/01/16 to 12/31/16. Submit rebate by 1/31/17 by mail-in rebate form or online at fordowner.com. Cannot be combined with any other tire manufacturer-sponsored or Ford Service Credit Card rebate/offer. See participating U.S. dealership for vehicle applications, rebate and account details. Expires 12/31/2016 BUY FOUR SELECT TIRES, AND GET A $70 REBATE BY MAIL.* On these name brands: Michelin,® Goodyear, Dunlop, Continental, Hankook, Pirelli,® Bridgestone and Yokohama® Print * Dealer-installed retail purchases only. Limit one redemption per customer. $70 tire rebate by prepaid debit card or apply to an active Owner Advantage Rewards® account. Offer valid 10/01/16 to 12/31/16. Submit rebate by 1/31/17 by mail-in rebate form or online at fordowner.com. Cannot be combined with any other tire manufacturer-sponsored rebate/offer. See participating U.S. dealership for vehicle applications, rebate and account details. Expires 12/31/2016 LOW PRICE TIRE GUARANTEE* Why buy tires anywhere else, when your Ford Dealer offers all of this: • 13 major brands • 30-day price guarantee • All makes and models Print *Valid on Dealer-installed retail purchases only. Requires presentation of competitor’s current price ad/offer on exact tire sold by dealership within 30 days after purchase. See participating U.S. dealership for details. Expires 12/31/2016 THE WORKS® $39.95 OR LESS.* • Synthetic Blend Oil Change • Tire Rotation and Pressure Check • Brake Inspection • Multi-Point Inspection • Fluid Top-Off • Battery Test • Filter Check • Belts and Hoses Check Print *Up to five quarts of Motorcraft® oil and oil filter. Taxes, diesel vehicles and disposal fees extra. Hybrid battery test excluded. Offer valid 10/01/16 to 12/31/16. See participating U.S. dealership for exclusions, rebate and account details. Expires 12/31/2016 LIFETIME BRAKE PAD GUARANTEE.* Print *Eligible Motorcraft® brake pads purchased after 7/1/14. Nontransferable. Requires copy of original repair order and completion of any other necessary brake service, such as brake rotor service. Replacement Motorcraft brake pads must be installed by a U.S. Ford or Lincoln Dealership or Quick Lane® technician to be eligible. Labor costs not included. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See participating U.S. dealership for details. Expires 12/31/2016 HAVE YOUR BRAKES INSPECTED. FREE.* Performed by an expert technician. Print *Inspect brake friction material, caliper operation, rotors, drums, hoses and connections. Inspect parking brake for damage and proper operation. See participating U.S. dealership for details. Expires 12/31/2016 MOTORCRAFT® BRAKE PADS INSTALLED, $99.95 OR LESS* *Per-axle price. Pads or shoes on most vehicles. Exclusions apply. Taxes extra. Print See participating U.S. dealership for details. Expires 12/31/2016 MOTORCRAFT® COMPLETE BRAKE SERVICE, $179.95 OR LESS* • Brake pads or shoes • Machining rotors or drums • Labor included Print *Per-axle price on most vehicles. Exclusions apply. Taxes extra. See participating U.S. dealership for details. Expires 12/31/2016 MOTORCRAFT® TESTED TOUGH® PLUS BATTERIES $99.95 MSRP* With 84-month warranty. Print *With exchange. Taxes and installation extra. Warranty includes FREE towing on dealer-installed battery. See participating U.S. dealership for vehicle applications and limited-warranty details. Expires 12/31/2016 HAVE YOUR BATTERY TESTED. FREE.* Be sure you have the starting power you need. Print *Visually inspect and test battery using Rotunda Micro-490 tester. Hybrid battery test excluded. See participating U.S. dealership for details. Expires 12/31/2016 MOTORCRAFT® TESTED TOUGH® MAX BATTERIES STARTING AT $119.95 MSRP* With 100-month warranty. Print *With exchange. Taxes and installation extra. Warranty includes FREE towing on dealer-installed battery. See participating U.S. dealership for vehicle applications and limited-warranty details. Expires 12/31/2016 MOTORCRAFT® PREMIUM WIPER BLADES WITH WEAR INDICATOR $19.96 MSRP* Print *Per pair. Taxes extra. See participating U.S. dealership for installation, vehicle applications and details. Expires 12/31/2016 GET A $25 REBATE BY MAIL WHEN YOU USE YOUR FORD SERVICE CREDIT CARD TO MAKE A QUALIFYING PURCHASE OF $250 OR MORE (BEFORE TAX).* Print *Subject to credit approval. Rebate valid on qualifying purchase before tax; not valid on prior purchases. Complete purchase must be made on the Ford Service Credit Card. Offer valid 10/01/16 to 12/31/16. Submit rebate by 1/31/17 by mail-in rebate form or online at fordowner.com. Limit one $25 rebate per visit. Rebate by prepaid debit card. Cannot be combined with other Ford Service Credit Card offers. Valid at participating U.S. Ford Dealerships. Expires 12/31/2016 FORD PARTS WARRANTY: TWO YEARS. UNLIMITED MILEAGE. INCLUDES LABOR.* Ford parts are original equipment for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles and can help restore new-vehicle-like performance and reliability. And now they’re covered for a full two years with unlimited mileage. Even labor costs are included. Print *Limited labor costs. See your U.S. dealer for a copy of the limited warranty. Expires 12/31/2016 MOTORCRAFT® WARRANTY: TWO YEARS. UNLIMITED MILEAGE. INCLUDES LABOR.* Motorcraft parts are original equipment for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, and can help restore new-vehicle-like performance and reliability. And now they’re covered for a full two years with unlimited mileage. Even labor costs are included. Print *Limited labor costs. See your U.S. dealer for a copy of the limited warranty. 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Amazing that the current generation, according to the owners manual, can go up to 10,000 miles in between oil changes. Dealerships have to be competitive with pricing. People realize that a local lube shop can do the same job for a lot less, and those savings add up. Especially in your case, with an oil change every 3K. Why are you changing your oil so often? Is 3K the recommended interval in your manual?

The seat has a sensor, which you unplugged. The sensor tells the vehicle's body control module if there is enough weight in the seat for your air bag to operate. It's only the air bag for that position. In the last generation of Econolines, there was actually a switch on the dashboard to turn the airbag off. Everyone at my job had theirs turned off, in case the boss wanted to hop in the van with you. The joke was that if he wanted to ride along, and you crashed, then too bad for him. You should be fine in the driver's seat.

Unbolt your seat. Unplug the harness on the bottom of the seat. Remove the seat. You should be fine. As for your TPMS, that is another conversation. Put the correct air into your tires. Follow your owners manual to reset the TPMS. Have the sensors replaced if needed.

After having used different GPS units, in-dash and portable, my preference is for Garmin units. Obviously, in-dash units cannot be removed if you need to walk around. 20 years ago, there was the worry that someone will break into your car to rip it out of your dash. And it's not as easy to update the maps, so as roadwork is done, you're getting the wrong information. Not perfect. Nothing is. But when your GPS loses signal, shows that you're 100 yards in the water as you're driving along the waterfront, shows that you're in the middle of the water as you're crossing a bridge, has you off by a block as you're driving through an alleyway, routes you into turning left where there's no left turn, instructs you to make 4 right turns to go around the block in order to get 80 feet behind you, brings you the wrong way down a one way street, tells you to turn left when you should turn right.......... The real disappointment with Garmin is that the batteries are terrible. So if you're looking for something that you can walk around with, it won't work with a dead battery. For mos of you, it won't matter, but I like the Garmin trucking features, and the multiple languages. Almost every Garmin also offers Bluetooth so that it operates as your car's speakerphone. For my Transit Connect, I'm using a tablet computer with a free app. The tablet also functions as my music player over the OEM speakers, monitors my OBDII port, and even makes phone calls.....again, all with free apps. In addition, I can surf the web anytime I want, all at my fingertip and mounted to the dash. Then I simply put it in my pocket as I exit the vehicle......no worrying about break-ins.

Every car forum needs to have a lengthy topic, which goes on forever, and often strays off topic. Can we trust the onboard oil change light? Is the algorithm sophisticated enough to truly know if I'm a regular driver, or if I am a severe duty driver? Who does their own oil change? What do you use? Who is allowing the dealer to do it? Anyone going to a "lube shop" like Oil Can Henry's, Jiffy Lube, Pep Boys, Oil Changers? Who is using only Motorcraft? Anyone like "boutique oil", K&N filters, and fancy magnets? Let's hear it all.

Yes. You can do that also. PayByPhone Making it easier to pay for parking helps people avoid parking tickets. PayByPhone enables customers to add time without returning to the meter (subject to time limit restrictions), receive a reminder message when time is almost up, and download receipts online. The service provider does not add any additional fee per transaction. How PayByPhone works Call 866-490-7275 or download the PayByPhone app at paybyphone.com. After registering, enter the meter location number and desired length of stay. Meter display will not change (e.g., if the meter was expired, it will still flash “expired” after PayByPhone payment). Parking Control Officers see the payments on their wireless handheld devices. What it costs PayByPhone is provided at no cost to the City. The service provider no longer adds a per transaction to cover costs. Paying by NFC Customers with Near Field Communications (NFC) capable smartphones can simply “tap” the NFC logo on the meter to initiate streamlined payment. Once installed at the 28,000 SFMTA and 1,000 Port of San Francisco car and motorcycle metered spaces, this will be the largest single NFC deployment in the world. Installation Schedule PayByPhone is now available at most SFMTA meters, and citywide implementation at SFMTA meters is expected by December, 2012. Customers should look for the PayByPhone decal on the side of the meter. Have questions about using PayByPhone? Please visit http://paybyphone.com/faq/

Go for broke. Install this unit into your sun visor, then all you would need to do is flip the visor down to see it, With the visor up, nobody will even know that you have it, and you won't have to worry about someone breaking into your car to steal it.

You didn't have to fabricate that 2X2 block with velcro. There are other options. This folding monitor would sit nicely with a little velcro. This could also velcro onto your dash. Or the rearview mirror monitor could have worked.

A couple of these power ports would have made your installation a lot more worthwhile. I installed my extra power in the OEM location, using the OEM wiring harness.

Considering that over half of the Transit Connects in The U.S.A. are a part of some company's fleet, you're simply waiving at someone's employee. They don't know, or care, why you're waiving. Very few privately owned and operated Transit Connects. Which is why so many are on the road, and so few people are on this forum. Day to day Transit Connect drivers don't care. It's not their car.

The OEM license plate holes are threaded. Part No. W702222-S300 It is actually a rivet nut which is 6 sided. The OEM hole is a 6 sided hole.

The OEM license plate holes are threaded. Part No. W702222-S300 It is actually a rivet nut which is 6 sided. The OEM hole is a 6 sided hole.

A friend of mine has a Dodge with a loading ramp on the passenger side. The driver's seat and second row bench are removed so that he can wheel into position. Special tie downs installed to secure the chair. Throttle and braking are hand controls. As an adult, he does not need to be transported. As opposed to people who do need to be transported.......like a child who can't drive. And unfortunately, some people have disabilities which limit being able to operate a motor vehicle. So for some, there is still the "we" element required to get around.

Or, I might opt for a cab-over Ford Pronto.

A lot of things that aren't on The U.S. market. If it were here, I might have bought a Honda StepWGN.

I can see that CM5Z-13E003-A is the bracket, and HS1 & HS2 are fasteners. Once those parts are removed, then the rest of the headlight assembly is probably just held in by pop in tabs.

Okay. Let's see if this helps a little.