Fifty150

There is a diagram of a 6F35 with OEM installed cooler. Comparing that to the parts diagram for 6F35 without the cooler, the only difference is in the placement of the cooler bypass valve. You should be able to install and route plumbing in a similar fashion. The thermostatic cooler bypass valve will prevent "over cooling". Fluid will flow into the valve, and back to the transmission, bypassing the cooler unless the fluid is hot enough to close the valve. I'm not entirely sure of what the preset temperature is. Most bypass valves close at 180 degree Fahrenheit. It appears as if in the stock Transit Connect configuration, the cooling line flows to a bypass valve, where it returns to the transmission, unless it's hot enough to require cooling. The transmission equipped with the auxiliary cooler has the cooling line flowing straight to the heat exchanger, then a bypass valve. So if the transmission fluid exits the heat exchanger, and it's at an acceptable operating temperature, it will bypass the cooler and return to the transmission.

I installed an LED light bar on the front of my van. Works great. Especially in inclement weather. LED light bar makes a world of difference in fog & rain.

Adding fluid is pretty easy. Just add through the vent cap. The check port on the side of the transmission is not hard to get to. But that's not what you want to do. You don't want to just add a little fresh fluid to top it off. You need to service the transmission. It sounds like you should set a couple of hours aside, and service the van. With that many miles, and considering that mail delivery is "severe service", plan to do a lot more than just an oil change. Do the triple drain & fill. You need to get as much of that old fluid out as possible. Factory fill in the sump is 4 liters. After the final drain, fill with 4 liters. Since the van is up on jack stands or a lift, change the oil, do the brakes, exchange the rest of the fluids, and change the spark plugs. Belts & hoses if you can. You get the idea. You bought the van used. It has over 100,000 miles. And it's your wife driving it every day. Make it safe for her.

There are several threads on this forum. You need a steering wheel with the cruise control buttons. You will also need to turn on the feature in the car's computer system.

Check the fluid level. It may by that simple. But if you are low on fluid, you have to wonder where it's going. Check for leaks. Power steering has a pump. Power steering pump should be working, since it does eventually "kick in" after 5 or 10 seconds. Check the electrical connection.

An aftermarket cooler should be installed inline with the return line. Never install an aftermarket cooler as a bypass or delete for the OEM cooling system. The best location on your 2015 will probably be behind the grille/bumper cover. You will need to fabricate mounting. You will need to splice into the transmission return line. You can do this yourself, with a few hand tools, basic mechanical skills, and probably a few hours. From what I've seen, not one transmission cooler is specific to the Transit Connect. You may be able to source an auxiliary cooler made for use with a similar vehicle like Ford Kuga, Fusion, Focus, or Escape. You may even find a cooler made for the Police Interceptor Explorer. The lowest priced coolers, tube & fin, are the least efficient. The advantage to the least efficient cooler is that with the tube sized the same size as your OEM transmission lines, it is least likely to clog and your fluid should flow freely. Tube & fin coolers have been around a long time, and were once very popular. Any extra cooling, even with tube & fin, is better than nothing. The plate & fin and stacked plates are known to be the most efficient design. Contaminants in the fluid can collect in the plates and obstruct the fluid flow. Stacked plates and plate & fin have been known to clog, and flushing out the cooler is maintenance which is suppose to keep the cooler clean. But once the cooler is clogged, you stand little chance of actually cleaning out the plates and restoring the cooler to new condition.. A lot of people simply replace the unit with a new one, as opposed to trying to clean it. I would look at a transmission cooler with an electric fan. There are very expensive models, with the fan already mounted, and a thermostatic switch installed. The real problem is that the expensive coolers have the ON/OFF set for about 180 degrees Fahrenheit. If the fluid has already passed through your cooling system, and it's still 180 degrees when it gets to your transmission cooler......you can only guess at how hot it must be when it exits the transmission case to the cooling line. With the 180 degree thermostatic switch, the cooler on my truck never turned on. Fluid was just a lot lower than that temperature in the return line. When I modified the cooler with a 140 degree thermostatic switch, I see the fan turn on occasionally. You can buy a cooler, buy a fan, and buy the fan controller for less than half the cost of an assembled retail unit. DeRale, B&M Racing, & Flex-A-Lite are known brands which offer good products with warranties. In today's market, there are a lot of similar items from sellers I've never heard of. I've tried parts from better known brands & unknown brands with varying results. Start looking around at Jegs & Summit Racing just to get an idea of what this may cost you.

You could always use a little epoxy. It's on the inside. Nobody will see or know. Only you. It won't be a problem until you have to replace it again - which may be never.

Take the door panel off. Check the connections. Sounds like a bad connection.

These are pretty good filters. Good enough for following OEM specified oil change intervals. Not recommended for 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 miles. Fair pricing for anyone wanting to save a few dollars. A little less per filter if you go through a distributor and order in bulk by the pallet. But none of us are operating a lube shop. A dozen of these will last you for years to come.

The price continues to drop. I received a case of the older red bottles. Apparently the same product. Old red bottle says "extra cleaning power and wear protection compared to our conventional oil". New gold bottle says "synthetic blend". Both are API Service SN. NOT API SERVICE SN+.

My pickup did not come with the towing mirrors either. So I stuck some blind spot mirrors on, and I've been driving it like that for over a decade. Still want them. Just don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a set of mirrors. The mirrors price out at more than a cold air intake, an exhaust system, underdrive pulleys, electric fans.......you get the picture. Performance mods cost less than a set of mirrors. Even the frame mounted tow hitch receiver was less than $100.

The larger mirror is a better mirror. Those mirrors should come on all trucks and vans. But as with everything which is better, they want you to pay more for it. Otherwise, you get something else, which isn't as good.

Heat sinks vs fan? I would choose the fan. Almost all LED on Amazon & eBay are from Shenzhen, China. One specific city, has a handful of factories, which produces lamps for several dozen labels. The brand name is just the name that a reseller sells under. In some cases, the parts are shipped to USA for final assembly. Which means that they get 2 pieces, snap them together, then claim that item is "Made In USA". Some sellers have been around longer, have a decent reputation, and will be there to send you a replacement or refund. The quality of LED lamps is now very good. There are less failures. Those warranties don't mean anything if the seller isn't around long enough to honor the warranty. LED technology has not improved, and will probably never get any better; when it comes to how the LED light wave spectrum reflects in a halogen housing. Your van has a headlight designed to use halogen lamps. LED lighting is most effective pointed in the direction you wish to illuminate. LED lighting is less effective pointing at halogen reflectors. LED drop in replacements are much brighter than halogen lamps. The beam does not "throw" as far, scatters, and a lot of people claim that there is more glare.

You will want a battery isolator to connect your second battery to the car's electrical system. Then add the solar panels to the second battery when you are at camp. This protects your car's primary battery for driving, and all of your auxiliary equipment will operate off the second battery.

As with most items sold at Harbor Freight, you can find something better. Something better will cost more. This may be a good "starter". Then you can figure out what you like, don't like, and whatever else you may want. This looks like you can throw the whole thing in your van, then set it up and plug it in when you get to your campsite.

What you want is a kit. There are different companies selling RV/Van solar panel kits. You get panels, they plug into a controller, which routes the power to your battery. Even Harbor Freight has solar panels and parts. Look around, and find one which best suits your needs. You will need to be handy enough to drill holes, and mount the equipment. Other than that, it's all "plug & play". Your big decision will be if you want to permanently mount these panels and drive around with them on your roof 100% of the time, or fabricate a system to set them up when you're at camp.

Size matters.

I've still got a sneaker phone from Sports Illustrated. Maybe I should put it on my dashboard. That will make those smash & grab thieves pause when they look into my car. I can see why they do it on the beach. You're in the water. Your wallet is in your car. No brainer. Almost makes you think that you need a pit bull in the car to guard your phone.

It is a good place. One of many good places. There will always be deals when you shop around. I always try to compare pricing and availability before I buy. Rock Auto always has a coupon for 5% off. Just look online. Advance Auto Parts always has a coupon online for 25% off. Most do-it-yourselfers will change oil. Rock Auto has good pricing on filters. It compares to Amazon's pricing on oil filters. I get in trouble when the price is too low. I buy too much. I still have Motorcraft FL820S, FL400S & FL1A filters for cars I don't own anymore. The new cars don't use those big filters. Same thread pitch and gasket diameter size, but can you imagine trying to fit that FL1A on the Transit Connect? Rock Auto also has good pricing on spark plugs. I just got some for the Transit Connect from O'Reilly's. Then Amazon lowered the price to where I had to buy a few more. Keep in mind that I also sent in for a $3 per plug rebate, which makes the price $1.16 from O'Reilly's, and about $0.52 from Amazon. But it's those irresistible prices, where you get spark plugs for less than $1, that has left me handfuls of spark plugs in sizes for cars I don't even own anymore.

Very interesting. As I drive around and see other Transit Connects, which are everywhere and mostly commercial versions, I haven't noticed one with the larger mirrors yet. Now I'm thinking that I want a set. Just have to frame into my mind, what I need to do to install. Remove door panel. Remove a coupold of bolts. Will harness plug and play? Total work time for both doors. I just wish there was a pop off trim piece to access the mirrors, as opposed to removing the entire door panel.

Just to help someone out who is ready to go out, buy some steel stock, and follow in your footsteps. What bolt should they buy? What is the size, length, and thread pitch?

Aftermarket entertainment units come with remote controls. So that is the easy part. If you replace your OEM stereo with an aftermarket, you will get a remote control with it. Most aftermarket radios today don't have CD slots. SD cars and USB drives are the norm. A lot of people just use them as bluetooth receivers for their phones. You stream music from your phone to the deck, and take your calls over the speaker system. Pretty cool to have the back doors open, and be able to talk on the phone or play music from your phone while working. If you really want to install a second stereo, I think you have enough room under the plastic interior panels above the wheel wells. It would take a little bit of work to self engineer the mounting brackets. Speakers could be set in those panels also. Or you could wire the speakers into your rear doors. The boom box sounds like a good idea. But those things aren't small, and you already have a lot of stuff. The benefit is that the boom box is portable, away from the van, if you want to light a fire, or roast some chicken on a hibachi, down on the beach.