stanger_missle

I bought my 2015 TC in March of this year with 108k miles on it. The windshield is absolutely sand blasted. There is a 4 ft crack due to a rock strike. I think the shape, size and angle of the windshields in these vans makes them vulnerable to rock strikes. The only other vehicle I have owned that suffered from numerous rock strikes was my Jeep Wrangler. That thing was a rock magnet. I plan on getting the windshield replaced (Florida policy covers glass) and then getting it tinted with clear ceramic tint to try and control the heat. I'd like to get a tint strip on the top as well but I'm not sure if they can do it in conjunction with the clear tint.

About a month ago I contacted Crutchfield for advice on replacing the head unit in the TC. I have the same stock setup as you; no nav but with steering wheel controls and the 4" screen. I wanted to retain the steering wheel controls and keep the 4" screen for the backup camera so I could install a non-touchscreen double DIN head unit. The Crutchfield service advisor built a package for me that included the Maestro ADS-MSW steering wheel control adapter. He wasn't sure if the Axxess adapter would work. That's nice to hear from someone with first-hand experience that it will work. Did you have any issues with the Metra dash kit? I have read some reviews that stated that the vent ducts did not fit very well and kept falling off. As far as your issues; would it be possible to shim the head unit to where it would not be angled up? I was under the impression that the brackets in the dash mount kit held the head unit level. I can see how with it being angled up would cause issues with glare, especially with the huge windshield in these vans. The camera issue with the airbag plug is strange. I don't have my wiring manual with me at the moment but when I get off of work I can take a look to see if the camera or camera processing module gets power from that plug or harness.

I noticed one side on mine doesn't spray very well. I was looking at it trying to figure out how to remove it to clean the nozzle but it looks like you figured it out before I did. That is way easier than I was imagining ?. I wonder if you could change the nozzle to aim it straight back. You know, for those pesky tailgaters ?

I'm glad I found this thread since I'm dealing with high trans temps in my TC. My TC is a 2015 2.5L with 109k miles. I do not know the service history. I was tooling around a few days ago with Forscan on my phone and I noticed the trans fluid temp was over 200°F while cruising at 75mph on a flat interstate (it is Florida after all). It was about 95°F ambient air temp and I had the A/C running. Coolant temp was about 195°F. I got off the freeway and stopped at a fast food drive thru. They were backed up so it took about 20 minutes to get my food. I noticed the trans fluid temp was creeping up. All the way to 230°F! After I finally got my food, I took a 45mph road for about 3 miles to my house. The trans fluid temp went down to 208°F while moving but crept up to 210°F while stopped at stoplights. The engine undertray is gone. It fell victim to an errant tire tread in the road (Florida road gator). After that happened, I was crawling under the front to check for damage and I noticed the infamous left side axle seal leak. Its just seeping but the whole underside of the transmission is covered in fluid. So I know the fluid level was below where it should be. Today, I went to the auto hobby shop to drain and refill the transmission. I have a case of Mercon LV that I bought from Rockauto. With shipping factored in, it was still almost $3 a quart cheaper than I could get it for locally. Here is what the fluid looked like: Not terrible but still pretty dark. There was still a hint of red in it. It did not smell burnt. I filled the transmission back up using the method outlined in the factory service manual. On the way back to my house, I took the same freeway and 45mph road as before. The trans fluid temp hit 205°F. Ambient and coolant temps were within 3°F of the previous readings. I still need to do 2 more drain and refills on the transmission. I also have another engine undertray and lower bumper tray on order. I'm still worried that the temp is indicative that something else might be wrong. The 2-3 upshift is a little jerky at times and I swear I'm noticing some slippage or shift flaring in 3rd. I don't know if the valve body is leaking or the clutches are worn. I did order a Sonnax ZIP kit just in case. Its a lot cheaper than a new valve body ($$$) or a reman transmission ($$$$). Things that have crossed my mind: - valve body bores are worn and leaking causing poor shift quality and slippage which is contributing to the high fluid temps. - clutches are worn from poor maintenance from the prior owner(s). Not much to do about this other than a rebuild/reman. - oil to water heat exchanger is clogged with clutch material. The part (Ford part # CV6Z7A095A) is only about $60. If I pull it off to inspect, I'm just going to replace it. - axle seal leak caused low fluid level which coupled with poor maintenance by the previous owner(s) means the transmission is hurt and on borrowed time. Its making me nervous to drive the van on my 55 mile daily commute. Something is going on but I don't know exactly what it is.

The 6F50 used in the Explorer, Edge and MKX have a dipstick. I know the 6F35 and 6F50 are pretty similar but I don't know if the physical dimensions are close or what. I wonder if its possible to retrofilt a 6F50 dipstick to a 6F35?

@i86hotdogs Thanks! I was looking at that Sony since I'm not a huge fan of touchscreen head units but I want Android Auto, which kind of necessitates it. The Alpine I was looking at; the ILX-W650 with the KTA-450 has a nice, big, capacitive touch screen and Android Auto but is significantly more money for the head unit and amp. The other Sony I was looking at, the single-DIN MEX-XB120BT, also has the built in Class D amp. That would allow a small cubby in the center stack but I would have to forgo Android Auto as well. I'm kinda shocked that there are no tweeters behind the A-pillar trim. Those should be relatively easy to install. With running 2 speakers on your Sony head unit, did you have to do anything special to only run 2 channels? Thanks!

Thanks Windguy. Trying to improve the soundstage in these vans looks like it will be a challenge. The front door speakers are mounted very low, which is not ideal. I wonder if I could mount some angled boxes to the roof just behind where the headliner ends? I think that would fill out the sound pretty well. I regret that I didn't take the time to install some sound deadner material while I had the entire interior pulled out. I underestimated the amount of road noise that enters the cabin. Its a loud roar on worn asphalt. I'm thinking Kilmat 80mil and Noico Green 170mil on top of that for the floor and sides. I might do something else for the roof. I'd like to install a roof vent first though.

Cool (pun not intended). I was wondering when they were going to release a shade for the second row. You can request a pattern making set and they can make a shade to your specifications. I was going to order a kit to have them make a second row shade but it looks like somebody already did. EDIT: It looks like they only have the second row shades for the wagon, not the van. Bummer. I really liked my front set I had for my Wrangler but it was kind of fruitless due to having a soft top. At least it kept the steering wheel and shifter from being nuclear hot in the summer. One question though is when you are ordering a front shade through their website, you can choose "no sensor" or "with sensor". The rain sensor is under the plastic cover under the mirror. The generic pic on the website shows a sensor above the mirror. Does it really matter if you order a shade with a sensor option or not? I'd like as much windshield coverage as possible and I'm thinking that if you check "with sensor", there will be a cutout for the sensor. Thoughts?

You might of posted it and I missed it but what head unit did you end up going with? I'm looking at this Alpine that has the optional amp that mounts to the rear of the head unit and gives 45w RMS. Its a nice compact package (but spendy!). I also have a cargo van with only 2 speakers. If you pull the interior door panels off of the sliding doors, there is a plastic (foam?) film over where the rear door speakers would be. I was thinking about putting speakers there or even in the rear doors. My concern is that while keeping only the front door speakers would be the easy button, would sound volume suffer due to how low those speakers are mounted? Couple that with the increased road noise the comes with driving an uninsulated cargo van, I'm worried that I would not be satisfied. I've even thought of finding some UTV speaker pods to mount up the rear corners in the van to help improve the soundstage. But I'm probably just overthinking things haha.

I posed this same question to Crutchfield when I was chatting with one of their sales advisors. I want a double din head unit but not one that necessarily is a touch screen. He basically said that he didn't know if I could keep the 4.2" display just for the backup camera. I did some digging on the wiring/conversion harness manufacturers websites and all I can find is maybe? Nothing really stated that you can keep or eliminate the small display when installing an aftermarket head unit. My guess is that if you get an aftermarket head unit that supports a backup camera, you can adapt the head unit to use the factory camera using a harness or wire. Without the steering wheel controls, I'm not sure what all you would need. All the extra stuff that Crutchfield recommended was for keeping the steering wheel mounted controls. You might want to just ask them either through the online chat or over the phone. They are nice people and will really try to answer your questions without being pushy.

I put Anchor mounts in my 1986 Honda CRX and noticed that they allowed more vibration than the old mounts. My guess is that they use a higher durometer rubber in the cheaper aftermarket mounts. The OEM engine mounts are carefully engineered to control NVH but I'm sure the aftermarket use "close enough" engineering. Its especially noticeable on 4 cylinders which are inherently unbalanced. It sucks because the OEM engine mounts are stupid expensive but you might get better results with them.

I finally got around to looking at this. I pulled the shift cable off of the transmission and moved the gear shift lever through all of the positions. The gear shift lever moved to each detent with no issues. Next, I moved the shift arm on the transmission through each gear. I verified each position on the gear display on the dash and watched the reverse lights come on in reverse. I left the gear shift lever in Sport and moved the shift arm on the transmission fully clockwise which is Sport. The hole in the cable bushing was almost 1/4" off of the pin on the shift arm. That is why I couldn't get the gear shift lever to move all the way down into Sport. I also noticed when I was moving the shift arm on the transmission that there was probably about 1/2" of slop once in was in Park. I left the gear shift lever in Sport and adjusted the shift cable end by sliding the green tab towards the end of the cable. Its spring loaded so you have to keep pressure on it. Next you have to pull the white plastic part straight up while holding the green part towards the end of the cable. I used a pick with a hook on it to pry it up. Once the white plastic part is popped up, the end of the cable can slide in and out. I moved the cable end to each end of its travel to make sure the adjuster wasn't broken. It was fine. Next, while the adjuster is unlocked, pop the shift cable back onto the shift arm on the transmission ensuring the gear shift lever and shift arm are in the same gear. Make sure its seated all the way. Then simply push the white plastic part down until it snaps, making sure there is no gap between the green and white parts. I verified that the van will only start in Park and Neutral and that the reverse lights came on only in Reverse. Next, I road tested it using Forscan Lite on my phone to make sure the indicated gear number matched what the transmission range switch was reporting. Success! I don't now why I still couldn't get the gear shift lever into Sport after following the Ford procedure to adjust the shift cable. I even did it twice. Ford wants you to adjust it while in Drive, which is about in the middle of the lever and arm travel. I did it in Sport and it worked. Who knows? But now I can finally use Sport mode ?

On my 2015 XLT van, the rear cargo doors do not unlock when I use the fob. I can hear and feel the solenoid click when pressing the unlock button but the doors do not unlock unless I crawl into the back and use the yellow door handle to open them. Is this normal? Its a PITA to go through the side doors every time the doors lock, either from using the fob or when they autolock above a certain speed.

Huh, I haven't noticed this being a huge issue on the TC. You could try to pull the housings and seal them up but they are pretty complex units. My van was used as a commercial vehicle and lived outside in Florida before I bought it. I haven't noticed any indications that water has gotten into the headlight housings but the lenses show serious UV damage. I'm going to end up eventually replacing the housings but they are $400+ a pop, even used. Even the tail light lenses show UV damage.

I think I'll try to pop the cable off of the transmission and then move the shifter through all the gears to see if I can narrow it down to either the cable or shifter mechanism itself. A new cable is like $48 but according to ALLData it's about 3.5 hours to remove and replace the cable. Ugh. This is such a weird issue.

Sadly, I do not. I bought the van used and it has 108k miles.

A few days ago, I was able to start driving my 2015 XLT on a regular basis after fixing a title issue that prevented me from registering it (that's a tale for another time ?). In the few days that have passed, I have noticed that I cannot move the shifter all the way down to "S". I have tried while driving and while sitting in the garage. The shifter detents felt a little weird too. When shifting from Park to Reverse, the shifter didn't really seem to "fit" into the detent very well. I have an ALLData subscription and I found the shift cable calibration procedure. I performed the procedure twice. The shifter feels alot better when shifting through the gears now but I still cannot get it to move into Sport. Before calibrating the cable, I was able to get it to display Sport on the electronic range display by slamming the shifter down from Park with considerable force but I had to hold the shifter down otherwise it would spring back to Drive. I also checked the transmission while the cable was off and was able to easily shift the transmission into Sport (its part of the cable calibration procedure). I beginning to think that the shifter mechanism itself is the issue. One other thing, is it normal to have to hold the shift button down to get from Neutral to Drive? I can shift from Reverse to Neutral without using the button but not from Neutral to Drive. Thoughts?

When I started looking for a FTC, I wanted a van with no side windows and the solid barn doors in the rear. My plan was to install sliding horse trailer style windows in the blank panels. I found a 2015 XLT van for less than I was expecting but it had windows in the sliding doors and rear barn doors. I wasn't too sure I'd be willing to compromise having the windows but after driving it, I'm glad that they are there. I can always install a sliding, screened horse trailer style window in the rear side panels if I want opening rear windows. That install looks good JackGrimshaw! And for a good price as well!

I bought a 3 piece set (windshield and both front side windows) for my Jeep Wrangler from Heatshield. I got the gold color but these fit great and were very well made. The TC has such a huge windshield that a sunshade is a necessity. I see that they make shades for the back door (both styles) and the front side windows for the TC. My van turns into an oven here in Florida. https://www.heatshieldstore.com/

There are a few companies that cater to the TC commercial buyer for interior panels. I found this company offering an interior wall kit but you better hide your wallet ? https://www.inlad.com/product/insulated-duratherm-liner-kits-for-ford-transit-connect/

This is something I have thought about as well. The stock exhaust is nearly silent. Some sound would be OK. I wonder how much the tone would change if you cut out the resonator (#1 on the diagram) and replaced with straight pipe? I'm looking for just a little bit of growl. Aftermarket mufflers are pretty much nonexistent in the stock configuration. On an unrelated note, after I bought my TC, I was curious if it was allowed to rallycross. That's when I found your post on Oppo. That looked like a ton of fun, even if it wasn't competitive. Did you have any problems bottoming out? I was looking for a skidplate (under engine cover?) and discovered that the 12-14 Focus uses the same plastic cover. There are quite a few aftermarket companies that make aluminum skid plates for the Focus ST. From my research, those should fit the TC. I haven't pulled the trigger yet but its on the list (along with about a million other things).

The second gen FTC looks quite nice in blue: I'm very familiar with eastern Washington. I lived most of my life in Western Idaho; just across the Snake River.

I don't know if you've bought lowering springs yet but I found the Eibach kit on eBay for $257: Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs E10-35-028-02-22 Ford It ships from Poland LOL I'm looking at lowering but that will come after replacing a front strut that's leaking and some tired rear shocks.

And for the bumper cover removal:

Here is what I found for headlight removal: