Fifty150

What is stopping you from a test drive. Go drive some cars. Tell the salesman exactly what you said here. Take your family with you. See what they think. Drive the Mercedes. Drive the Ford. Tell the salespeople that you are considering both. See if one of them is motivated to make you a better deal.

Road noise and comfort will be an issue. It's not all that comfortable. Fit & finish is not a selling point. You will not be considering this in comparison to a luxury car. Road Trips will be fine. With the 6 speed transmission, you will be able to drive 70 - 80 mph on long stretches of highway. Tint the windows, and you will be comfortable enough with the A/C on. But air conditioning and fans are loud. With the roof rack, you could easily add a rooftop carrier. Tow capacity will allow you to pull a small trailer. Your friends will probably laugh at you. Mine laugh at me. But they will still ride with me. A lot of utility. You sacrifice luxury and bling.

Makes sense. Other than people on this forum, nobody buys these cars. Every one I see is commercial use.

Or any brand. Go to hardware store for Liquid Nails.

My dad would just epoxy that back on.

Commercial use requires more maintenance. It all depends on who is driving. But believe that no transmission is maintenance free.

I have a 2nd generation XL. Power locks, power windows, and air conditioning. Backup camera was easy to install. Long wheel base is what you want for sleeping.

New cars are nice. Every advantage of being the 1st & only owner, the warranty, the new car smell. Only good if you can afford it. $4,000 to $5,000 may not be much of a difference to one person, but from another perspective, it could be a lot. I bought used cars most of my life. I got to spend a lot of time and money on keeping those cars running. The lesson I learned after several decades....When you spend $5,000 to buy the car, then spend $10,000 to keep it running.....is everyone done laughing yet? But I get it. I still like buying used, if it's a good deal, the car is in good condition, and it serves the same purpose for a lot less money. Ultimately, it's your decision to spend $$$XXX on that particular car, knowing that you see obvious issues. I like used cars. I would hold off for a used car with lower miles and less wear. Either way, you will be saving the depreciation lost by anyone who drives a new car off the lot. I suspect that with as many Transit Connects sold, there will be a lot more of them turning up on the used car market.

Congrats on the Major Surgery! The docs were able to fix whatever went wrong, and you're still alive! That's actually good. How many drive-through buckets of chicken have you gone through? You got any friends or family around there that can help you out a little? Maybe we should look for volunteers from this forum to give you a hand.

genius!

Livery, delivery, patrol, and towing all qualify as "severe duty". This follows a different maintenance schedule. For some, it is measured in engine hours. A patrol car could sit with the engine idling for extended periods. A delivery vehicle or service vehicle, could go all shift without ever turning the engine off. It used to be that if miles were low, such as a patrol car which sits more than it drives, then drives at wide open throttle......200 engine hours. 10 hour patrol shift sees about 8 hours of engine time. You can do the math with the car being turned over from shift to shift, 7 days a week. Your delivery van could have been driven like that. My company car starts in the morning, and I don't turn off the ignition until the end of my shift. Wherever I go, I simply leave the car running......because I am selfish, the boss pays for the gas, and i want that air conditioning to keep the ride comfortable for me.......just kidding.

60,000 miles puts you right near the point of major maintenance on just about every car. Usually what shops like to call a "major tune up". All fluids.....engine, transmission, brake, steering, coolant. All filters.....engine, air, cabin air. Tires. Brakes. Spark plugs. Coils. Delivery vehicle, depending on what they were hauling, would have more wear on axles and suspension. Spark plugs are cheap. Coils are expensive. A lot of people will tell you that you don't have to replace the coils. I agree that the coils are probably still good. By that same point of view, the spark plugs are probably still good. Why replace either until you get a misfire, the coils & boots are damaged, and the spark plug breaks as you are trying to remove it? I like doing things like that before there is a problem. When the plugs will still ease out and new plugs can be installed with anti-seize. Fresh dielectric grease, fresh boots, and fresh coils will optimize your driveability. Same amount of labor and effort not to replace coils. Some have been known to wait until 100,000 miles. Water pump, thermostat, belts, and hoses could be right around the corner. These wear items can be changed prior to failure. Better to install a new water pump, thermostat, belts, and hoses, so that you don't break down on the side of the road with your engine overheating. But that's probably a little further down the road when you notice more wear on the belts and hoses. This is usually how corner shops make a lot of money. For the doupon price, good shops will at least install 4 new spark plugs. Maybe not the right plugs. Usually something like a copper spark plug that only cost them $1 or $3. Not a double platinum or iridium that you would want. They will actually pull the coils and plugs, look at them, and put the old parts right back in......then recommend that you replace them for an additional charge. Then they will actually pull out the thermostat, look at it, and reinstall it. Then "recommend" that you replace the part before it fails. I like how they pull the air filter for inspection, to show you a dirty air filter. All air filters are dirty, unless they are new and just came out of the package. The shops distribute those coupons for "tune-up" work, where mostly what they do is an inspection. Best done with a customer waiting in the lounge. That way, they can bring in the old parts, show you the wear condition to scare you, and advise how this could fail and be dangerous. Next thing you know, you are paying them whatever the coupon says, and all that they are doing is upselling you for additional service work. The worst scam is the oil change coupon. Fine print will say something like, "4 cylinder car, 4 quarts 10w-40, standard filter". In today's world, every car uses more than 4 quarts. All extra oil is charged at $XX per quart. No car uses 10W-40 oil. Using the correct oil will cost you extra, at $XX per quart. Better shops will offer you a choice of "you can save a few dollars with standard conventional oil, pay $XX for OEM grade synthetic blend which is what most cars came from the factory with, or upgrade with premium full synthetic". Then they will ask you if you want something better than the $1 bulk oil filter. Good shops will upsell you to OEM or factory grade, and premium such as Mobil 1 or K&N. Then they pad the bill further with disposal, regulatory fees, shop supplies, et cetera. I change my own oil. I dispose of my oil at the local hazardous material collection site. Never once, have I had to pay a fee to any government agency for this. As a matter of fact, the shops who sell oil & perform oil changes are suppose to accept your oil, and they get paid for this. When the oil is collected, the shop gets paid by the gallon for the oil, which they just charged you a disposal fee for. I can only imagine that "state regulatory fee" is them charging you for their Bureau of Automotive Repair license. Next time I have a drink, I'll check to see if the bar is charging me for their liquor license.

Girlfriend has smaller hands. Make girlfriend crawl under ven, and insert tube into fill plug. I will turn the bottle upside down, until she screams that fluid is spilling out of hole.

That's a lot of miles for a 2 year old car. I think that you should keep looking. The oil on top may be the valve cover. On the bottom, it is hard to say. That is the lowest point, oil could be coming from anywhere, and collecting there by way of gravity. It doesn't look fresh in the photo. Have the dealership fix everything before you buy it. Or consider a new car with a warranty. Since depreciation hasn't brought down pricing much in 2 years. You surely have a good negotiation advantage.

From my recollection, MotorCraft plugs are not platinum or iridium. What I also recall is that Denso is OEM for MotorCraft. So far, the E3 work. I can't say that there's any gain in performance or mileage, which is claimed in advertising. And E3 spends quite a bit on promotion. But they work. I would buy it again for the right price. I would not spend more for them.

Drive until your transmission fluid is warmed up, then check the level with the fill plug. Add fluid until it starts coming out of the fill plug. I'm beginning to think that I may want to drain the pan & fill, with every 2 or 3 oil changes. The more you drain & fill, the fresher the fluid will be. It's better to perform a complete fluid exchange. But I don't have a machine for that in my living room.

Don't hold your breath. The current F-150 uses a 6R80 transmission 6 speed, filled for life with Mercon LV.. BCA is already building them to heavy duty specs, as a replacement for where the OEM Ford transmission is weak. Maybe if enough of you guys call over there, jam up their phone lines, and flood the e-mail inbox.....they may consider building a 6F35. BCA ULTIMATE 6R80 TRANSMISSION SKU: BCA-6R80-ULT Price: $2950.00 $2950.00 Exedy Stage 2 frictions Billet intermediate shaft Proven to 1200whp and above Latest OEM internal components and electronics OEM gaskets, filters, and seals 2 year parts and exclusive BCA LIFETIME labor warranty $1250 refundable core charge (refundable on return and inspection of core)

Tires wear at a different rate depending upon your driving. My OEM Continental tires look great. I do not tow, carry heavy loads, drive only on paved city streets and freeways with no sudden acceleration or braking. But there are better tires for handling, stability, traction, comfort......You can spend more and get better. I will be looking the other way. I want to spend less. I could buy a cheaper tire and it probably wouldn't affect me at all.

In 10+ years, the 6 speeds have had issues. Now 8 & 10 speed transmissions are around the corner. I wonder how those will turn out. After decades, the 4 speeds are still out there. Aftermarket has stepped up with mods and shift kits to fix what the engineers designed poorly. Remanufactured 4 speeds are better than the original. Perhaps a transmission builder will find a solution.

Ford transmissions are usually what fails. PCM is extremely rare. I don't blame you. Chevy lost me decades ago with a Chevy S10 Tahoe Blazer, and I went to the Ford Explorer. The brand I like for service is Honda. But Honda does not offer a 1/2 ton truck. And I am not paying that much for a minivan.

Sounds about right. I've heard 9 ft lbs. I've heard "just a little past tight". Which plugs are you guys using? Common wisdom was that with Ford engines, you are suppose to use OEM Ford MotorCraft parts only. For whatever reason, most people insist that any other brand of parts, and you will have problems. Coils, wires, plugs..... Then you get the guys who insist on using only "performance part" brands. I just exchanged the plugs, wires, and ignition coil on my truck after owning it for 12 years. I went with economy. $0.88 spark plugs from E3. $16 Autolite wires. $75 MSD ignition coil. In theory, the E3 is a performance part. OEM Ford MotorCraft spark plug wires are 7mm, and the Autolite wires are 8mm. The OEM ignition coil was about $50 more than the MSD. I don't believe much in superstition. Truck fires right up and runs fine. No issues. All parts are supposedly "upgrade" parts, even though I got them for less money. So now I'm wondering about Transit Connect tune-up parts. I guess the wires and coils do not need to be replaced unless there is visible, unacceptable wear, or you're experiencing misfires. Has anyone tried other brands of spark plugs, coils, in their Transit Connect? NGK, Denso, MSD, Bosch, Champion?

Don't try this @ home:

Post pics. You might get the mod of the week award.

I don't see why not. It's like shifting any other automatic while in motion. People downshift all the time. Surely, the engineers anticipated that people would downshift while in motion, and the transmission must be designed to be able to do that. The engineers anticipate more than you think. What if you are in full motion, at freeway speeds, and you accidentally shift into park or reverse? What if you are fighting with your romantic partner for life, and the lever is bumped "accidentally"? What if your dog bumps the shift lever? Or you have a mischievous child in the car who thinks that you need help driving? On MythBusters, they took a Crown Vic, with the old 4 speed 4RXXX style transmission which was common in a lot of Ford Lincoln Mercury Mazda products, and shifted into "P" at freeway speeds. Check engine light came on. But car did not come to a grinding halt. Then with the car at freeway speeds, they shifted into "R", with the same results. Transmission did not grind gears, blow up, and fall off. Car kept moving forward. MythBusters did not get an estimate at a transmission shop to tell everyone how much it would cost to fix the car.

Is that like "self serve"?