Wirralian Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I have '57 reg Transit based van. During daytime it is difficult to read the instrument panel on the dash. I am wondering if there should be a back light there which is missing on my van. Any comments from other Transit owners. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 ...it goes with the territory (notorious for it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Wirralian - 2015-03-29 10:14 PM I have '57 reg Transit based van. During daytime it is difficult to read the instrument panel on the dash. I am wondering if there should be a back light there which is missing on my van. Any comments from other Transit owners. John There is a back light, but it's not very bright and only really helps at night. As Robinhood says, they are noted for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artheytrate Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 My last van was based on Mk7 Transit and was the same. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wirralian Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Many thanks for your responses. I am not impressed with my mk7 transit. When on low revs in second gear I have to slip it into first otherwise it will stall on me.......................and worse of all, I had to have a new clutch after 4 years and 8,000 miles!! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artheytrate Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 When we bought our 2011 Auto Roller on Transit base it used to stall regularly in Ist gear, I told the local Ford Dealership and they did a software download which cured this. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Never noticed the dash light problem on my mk 7 or the stalling issue. Mine was an 09. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Wirralian - 2015-03-30 8:26 PM Many thanks for your responses. I am not impressed with my mk7 transit. When on low revs in second gear I have to slip it into first otherwise it will stall on me.......................and worse of all, I had to have a new clutch after 4 years and 8,000 miles!! John I think (having waded through earlier postings) that your motorhome is a Hymer C-542CL, but I’m not sure that you’ve ever said which 2.2litre motor it has (130PS?) or whether the transmission is 5-speed or 6-speed. There’s no doubt that FWD 5-speed 2.2litre Transits could be tricky to get off the line and hill-start, particularly when new, due to their high 1st and reverse gear ratios and easy-to-stall characteristic. John’s Auto-Sleepers Broadway will be RWD and have a 2.4litre motor, but I know Brian Kirby’s 5-speed FWD Transit Mk 7-based Hobby Van with 2.2litre 130PS motor benefited from a Ford software revision. I note that, when your motorhome was brand new, you had a ‘moment’ when reversing off soft ground - "I tried to reverse out as gently as possible only to find white smoke billowing from under the 'van accompanied by the most dreadful clutch smell” - which would have done the clutch no good at all. That it managed to survive a further 4 years and 8000 miles could perhaps be considered a compliment to Ford’s engineering. My own Transit Mk 6-based Hobby, with 2.0litre 125PS motor and 5-speed box, was very stall-prone to begin with but improved over time. It has to be said though that it would still catch me out - usually at the worst possible moment - and I always treated its clutch with considerable care when hill-starting. I don’t recall ever stalling when driving in 2nd gear, which suggests to me that there’s either something odd about your motor or you are expecting too much of it. If, say, you believe the vehicle should be able to maintain progress in 2nd gear up hill at tick-over revs without changing down, it won’t. At tick-over revs the turbocharger will be doing nothing and, if the revs are allowed to drop further, the motor will stall abruptly. I was once told by a Ford specialist that this behaviour is deliberate to avoid a driver stressing the transmission by staggering the vehicle along in too high a gear: whether or not that’s true, a propensity to stall at low revs is a feature of FWD Transit Mk 6s and early Mk 7s and needs to be taken into account when driving one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artheytrate Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Derek Uzzell - 2015-03-31 9:12 AM Wirralian - 2015-03-30 8:26 PM . There’s no doubt that FWD 5-speed 2.2litre Transits could be tricky to get off the line and hill-start, particularly when new, due to their high 1st and reverse gear ratios and easy-to-stall characteristic. John’s Auto-Sleepers Broadway will be RWD and have a 2.4litre motor, but I know Brian Kirby’s 5-speed FWD Transit Mk 7-based Hobby Van with 2.2litre 130PS motor benefited from a Ford software revision. . Hi Derek, my Transit Mk7 based Auto Roller was FWD with 115PS 2.2litre. My new Auto Sleeper is also FWD 6 speed, 2.2litre 130 PS on Peugeot chassis (Ford Engine) John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 John My fault - I misread “Auto Roller” as “Auto-Sleeper” and then assumed that you were referring to the Broadway which (as you rightly say) is not Transit-based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 On my 2008 mk7 transit, I had a low turbo boost fault come up and this was remedied by a software update, cost was £140. As a by product of this update the computer adds 200 rpm when the clutch reaches the bighting point. this modification/software update has made the Motorhome much easier to drive especially when reversing onto a pitch. Although I was carefull with the revs and respect the clutch, there were a few occasions when the revs dropped to 600 rpm the engine just cut out. The Transit forum said the same as Derek, that the cut-out of the engine was to protect the transmission. So my advice is to go to your local Ford main dealer and ask them to check if your engine would benefit from this software update and therefor make it more pleasant to drive. Regards Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 On my 2008 mk7 transit, I had a low turbo boost fault come up and this was remedied by a software update, cost was £140. As a by product of this update the computer adds 200 rpm when the clutch reaches the bighting point. this modification/software update has made the Motorhome much easier to drive especially when reversing onto a pitch. Although I was carefull with the revs and respect the clutch, there were a few occasions when the revs dropped to 600 rpm the engine just cut out. The Transit forum said the same as Derek, that the cut-out of the engine was to protect the transmission. So my advice is to go to your local Ford main dealer and ask them to check if your engine would benefit from this software update and therefor make it more pleasant to drive. Regards Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wirralian Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 Derek You are quite right, I have a Hymer C543cl. It is based on the Transit 2.2 litre 130PS, 5 speed transmission. Just a correction - when I had that moment reversing in soft ground the van was new to me but in fact 3 years old. It had covered less than 5000 miles. I do not have that stalling problem in 1st gear but now understand why it is inclined to stall in 2nd as this is the gear it is in at tickover speed at, say, road junctions and rounabouts. I have had the van for nearly 5 years and am now coping with the 'problem' and don't embarrass myself too often these days by stalling at awkward moments! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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