Double Nickels

Quite a job. You will need everything that you can find and strip from a donor vehicle. Mounting brackets, carpet kit, seat belts...... you should be able to do it.

You can do it with FORScan.

Probably. Instructions are in the owners manual. Warranty is governed by law. Check your local laws. The USA has separate bumper to bumper, power train, and paint warranty. I don't know what you have in Norway.

Those are actually pretty nice. Maybe I should click on the link. Support this forum's advertising revenue.

Based on spyware loaded on your computer. AI is spying on the web browser, and using your device microphones to listen to your conversations. AI advertising thinks that I want Florsheim shoes. What I really want is to buy a used car in The 1950's.

Sorry for your loss.

Instead of spending a lot of money on a big tool set, to lug around 2/3 of the tools which I won't use - I want to assemble a set of necessary tools. Tools only relevant to the van. Tools I will use for service work, and roadside repairs. I already have a big box of tools at home, for when I have the luxury of trying different tool sizes to find the right tool. I thought it would be nice to have just the right tools in the van, and a list of what that tool will fit. On the Harley forums, there are tool lists for different bikes. Harley even sells a road kit, with just the few wrench sizes, so you don't carry around 30 wrenches when you only need 6. I have a ratchet handle. I have a breaker bar. I have a torque wrench. I have socket extensions. I have adjustable wrenches. I have locking pliers...... I also have a bunch of fuses, tape, zip ties...... I have a ton of sockets and wrenches. I don't want to carry tools that I will never need in the van. Which size sockets, and wrenches? Any specialty tools recommended like flare nut, crows foot, long wrench, dog bone, thin wrench? In no particular order: 10mm for the battery terminals. 13mm for the battery negative body ground bolt. T27 for the under body shield. 11mm for the transmission drain plug. 14mm for the transmission fill plug. 15mm for the engine oil drain plug. 5/8" spark plug socket. T25 for tail lamp mounting screws. Was the lug nut 3/4"? Was the seat rail bolt a T45? What other sizes for which functions? What about tension pulley, water pump, alternater, or other things that may break on the side of the road?

I don't think a front where drive with a small engine is engineered for towing. I wouldn't tow with a Ford Maverick either. After all, these vans are really just bigger versions of an economy car.

What actually broke on your 2014 that is not worth fixing?

What are you doing? Installing a new radio?

It sounds like you need to scan the computer for codes. Radio, speedometer, gauges, heater..... Possibly related to the body control module. Refer to the owners manual. Check the fuses for the body control module.

This is exciting. Real progress!

Engine air filter is a must. Cabin air filters are suggested. While you have the belt off, look at the water pump and check the pulleys. If you are already in there, it wouldn't hurt to replace the thermostat. If you still have the OEM brakes....... I would change the pads, resurface the rotors, and bleed the lines. It would also be a good time to refresh the suspension components. The front should be okay. Although you never know. You could find a leak or something. If the van was used for cargo, maybe rear shocks. I doubt if you will need new coil springs. And with that many years & miles...... new tires. Maybe buy a new battery. It could very well be the OEM battery. Add some new wiper blades before winter.

I would replace the radio. Get something more modern. You can listen to XM with an app on your cell phone. A modern radio will use Apple Car Play and Android Auto. The newest radios connect to your phone without wires. Your van radio is fairly simple to remove. The plastic trim panel pops off with trim removal tools. Remove the wire harnesses at the top, The radio is held in place with 4 bolts. Disconnect the wire harness and antenna at the back of the radio.

Some are also lazy. They don't want to do the work. They would much rather do simple things like oil changes with a coupon. Some mechanics just don't know how to do it, and they know that they don't know how. I'll admit that I don't know enough and that a customer should try to find someone with training in automotive electronics to troubleshoot and look for parasitic power loss. Good point. A lot of people leave things plugged in the 12V ports. Radar detectors. CB radios. Dash cams. It may not be the battery. The battery could be fine. The alternator could be fine. It could be the starter. Bad solenoid. It could be wiring at the battery terminals. Or a bad ground. Maybe check the starter's connections. My Dad used to say check the battery first, but then look for more. Fuel pump? Fuel pump relay? Are the spark plugs okay? Where do they get their "spark"? The coils. Where do those wires lead? It's a lot of work. There have been a few posts with bad starting, or similar.

Somewhere along the line, you have to set the price point for feasibility. The value of a van which has been out of production since 2013, vs how much money and time you are willing to invest. If you had an open budget, you could experiment. Go out and get a bunch of different things that might work, and try. Most people aren't comfortable with that. If you had an open budget, you could re-engineer the van. It's a front wheel drive van. You could cut and weld to heart's desire. Remove the entire rear end. Replace everything. Get a rear end from another vehicle with disc brakes. But at what cost? This project does sound like you can make it work. Not like the guy who tried to put in a Ford Focus engine and stick shift. If anyone remembers that build, with all the years and who knows how much money. Just for fun, look at what these guys did with a little van. They didn't make it stop better. They made it go faster.

A microfiber wand helps. Sprayway is a popular product.

That dealership ripped you off. According to the Ford website, orange coolant is changed at 100,000 miles. However, that coolant change is not your problem. If the dealership technician did anything wrong, those problems would have happened 30,000 miles ago.

The moral of the story is to mark your gas cans, use different colors, and only fill your van from gas station pump hose. Stay in the habit of only adding fuel at a gas station. Never fill your van from a can. Reserve the cans for things like your lawn mowers and motorcycles.

Why are you eating in the driveway? Is that like sleeping on the couch? Coolant does not burn off. It's not like an old car burning a quart of oil every 1,000 miles. It's very common for the coolant to go 100,000 miles and still be at the same level. And in today's modern vehicles, some people do not flush the cooling system for 100,000 miles. Coolant has to be going somewhere. You may have a leak somewhere. I hope that it's not mixing with the motor oil in the engine. Hopefully, you just had pockets of air, and that has now been corrected when you added more coolant.

The cooling system is pressurized. The Transit Connect's cooling system uses input from a series of sensors to electronically open and close different valves which route the coolant. Sometimes when you do a fluid exchange, you drain the system, fill it, and then you have pockets of air which need to be "burped" out. Those pockets of air can cause problems with the cooling system.

I know who they use. That shop does most of the work for local area dealerships. It's a weird arrangement. That shop doesn't actually do any of the work. All the dealerships call that 1 shop. Then that shop subcontracts the work to other affiliated shops. And the dozen shops in that network all order parts through that one shop, so that the shop is able to renegotiate pricing for the parts, and they all split the difference. It's not a scam. Just smart business. Shop A is getting every dealership's calls by hook or by crook. Shop A can't possibly do all of the work. So he goes to shop 1, shop 2, shop 3, and so forth. In return for the "business to business" exchange of labor, Shop A offers to get all of their parts, at a discount. Shop A goes to the glass distributor and says, "I order 10 times the volume of any other shop, I want a volume discount on invoices" Shop A gets $100 worth of glass for $95, then sells it to his affiliated shops for $97.50. And all of those affiliated shops exchange "business to business" labor when 1 shop gets a little busier. If shop 12 has too much work, shop 5, shop 6, shop 7, will send over a few guys with their service vans and tools. Safelite is the 500 lb gorilla. They have franchises all over the country. They have an advertising campaign of print media, radio, television, online, physical billboards, et cetera. There are other chains. There are other franchises. None as well known. And then there are independent shops, who can charge less, because they aren't supporting corporate shareholders' dividends. Safelite quotes are the bar to measure by. A lot of shops tell you how much cheaper they are, compared to Safelite. I compared what I paid, to the Safelite quote.

Every day in America, I see trucks with all sorts lights on bumpers, grilles, A-pillars, on the roof, on the roll bars........ I believe the spirit of the law, and usually the letter of the law, applies to how you use them. If you're just driving down a public street or highway, and you have them on, then there may be cause for a traffic stop and conversation. Every state has different regulations in regards to how you mount them, aim them, and when you can use them. In some states, if the lights are not higher than the headlights,, and the beam is aimed so that the useable portion of the light beam is on the road surface, the lights could be driving lights or fog lights. Driving and fog lights are always aimed on the ground, so that you can see the road. The problem usually is with high powered lights pointing straight, or slightly upward, directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic. Any light mounted above the headlight level is definitely an offroad use light. You don't aim these on the road. You aim these into the horizon, so that you can see above the road level - trees, animals, people on the street, down a dark alley, etc. Common sense tells you not to use it on a public road. If you really want the police to leave you alone, don't turn the lights on, or cover them. Different types of covers are produced for light bars. You may even have seen police cars with the rooflights covered. Or you can make your own. Some fabric and velcro. Or a t-shirt with zip ties. Or you have a tailor make a professional looking cover with straps and snaps.