New Ford Transit problems

[Jackal]

Just returned from my local Ford Dealer after having taken in our four month old Transit 2.2 TDCi 130 BHP for its front strut recall.

 

Asked them to look at a problem that we were experiencing with the instrument panel backlight at the same time.

 

Basically after one or two hours of night time driving the panel begins to flicker. It does this so much, that eventually you cannot make out the messages part of the instrument panel.

 

The upshot is that Bristol Street in Stafford have tried to palm me off by saying that they would have to see the fault for them to rectify it. As this is practically impossible unless they're open at some ungodly hour, I intend to take it further by calling Ford Customer Services tomorrow.

 

I was almost tempted to mention that I'm not too happy about the performance of the clutch having also noticed what others have noticed in the way of stalling/having to over rev the engine to pull away.

 

Anyone experience similar difficulties with their instrument panel or Ford in general when it comes to rectifying things under warranty?

[booboo]

Hi jackal ,just logged on and read your post cant beleive it ive got the exact same problem with my transit its a 2.4 140bhp on a roller team 600 , bought new in december ,we drove to freinds in essex at new year and after about 2hours of driving the flickering would start to happen it done it going and comeing home to scotland,thats the only long distance weve done and hadn"t used the motor again until the weekend past when we went to coldingham for the weekend but this is only a 75mile round trip so it didnt do it.I havent heard of any recalls for the strut on my motor and because im a total begginer at this i was waiting to see if the flicker was just a one off,but it doesnt look like thats the case,if you dont mind id love for you to keep me posted on how you get on. CHEERS KEITH.

[Jackal]

Hi Booboo,

 

Exactly the same scenario on ours. Only happens after about 2 hours driving at night. The only other thing I've noticed is that the courtesy light doesn't always work properly.

 

The guy who palmed me off reckoned there isn't a bulb and that it could be any of seven things that could be faulty, therefore he wasn't willing to do anything.

 

Interesting!

[skottle]

Hi,

We have experienced the same "flickering" problem on ours when we went to Scotland. We had our heaters on full heat and noticed that it was very hot behind the dash, turned the heating down and the flickering stopped after a few mins (not sure if this is related or not). I would be interested to see how you go on with the dealer to rectify this.

We have not had a recall letter, but I have had it checked at a local garage and they said it was fine.

[Jackal]

Skottle/booboo,

 

Overheating was my gut feeling as well. I often put my iPod in the small pocket-type container underneath the radio and it is practically molten when the heating has been on for a while. I also wondered whether the flickering was down to some sort of overheating of the dashboard, as it has only happened after a long period of driving at night with the heating on full.

 

The recall I was referring to was the one for the front struts which I received through the post directly from Ford. Have you not had yours yet?

[booboo]

HI GUYS. yeah i agree the first thing i thought was it was something to do with temprature because it was like it wasnt doing it until the engine was at a certain temprature ,that was very amusing what the dealer said to jackal about needing to see the problem before rectifing it ,what they going to do send the mechanic away for the weekend wi you !BALLOONS.there was time when these guys were mechanics and could source a problem now there just fitters half of them in main dealers anyway,cant tar all mechanics i suppose with the same brush,funny thing is ive got a 2006 new shape transit for my work and had no problems with that and its almost the same motor. CHEERS KEITH

[handyman]

how about videoing the fault occurring, so they cant just brush you off

[booboo]

hi sorry i ment to say i hadnt had any word on recalls on struts but im going to look into this,i think they forget sometimes the money your spending on these motors, well ill own it out right in 10years anyway :-D CHEERS KEITH

[Brian Kirby]

I'll be interested to hear how you get on.  I wasn't very impressed with their knowledge when I phoned them, and if you go to the technical department, who you might think would know the answers, the cheeky sods charge you for the privilege.  Their main response seems to be, you've guessed, talk to your dealer!!  They will reply to letters, and they do read what you say, but they won't commit themselves to anything in writing.  Don't know why Ford pays the salaries really, it's a very expensive way to make their customers even more frustrated.

Oh, and if you ask about the sharp clutch and the stalling, and they say they've never heard of it, tell them there's a chap named Keith Barlow in their Technical Information Centre, in Walsall, who has, because you know someone who wrote to him about it.  His reply was that Ford "are unaware of any abnormal stalling concerns on drive away with the Transit", so there!!  Can't say that again now, can he?  :-)

[Jackal]

Doesn't sound too promising Brian to be honest.

 

The electrician I spoke to, had the audacity to say "Show me the fault and I'll try and fix it!"

 

Do they really think I'd make something like this up and lose use of my vehicle and waste my precious time?

[cronkle]

Yep. coming back from the NEC last week it happened in our van- the dash started to flicker just as you describe. The heater was on full and the dash was very warm. At the time I was concerned enough to stop the van to check that it wasn't happening with the head-lights as well.

Got home and after about half an hour I started it up again and the fault had disappeared as had the heat from the dash.

I had intended playing around with the heater settings on the next long journey to see what the reaction is. We are of to the north of Scotland next month so that should be a good test.

Looks to be a common fault that is only coming to light with the cold weather.

[cronkle]

...oh, and I've just remembered. The courtesy light in our cab stopped working a couple of weeks ago. I got all technical with it. Clobbered it. It now works fine BUT I will now keep a bit more of an eye on it. *-)

[rupert123]

Oh dear not just fiats then.

[Peter Pan]

I have not experienced flickering dash lights but I have only made two long journey at night. One was last summer and the other in October so I probably did not have the heater on full blast. I shall watch out for the problem.

 

Regarding the 'clutch' problem, I seem to have adjusted my driving style to suit pulling away in first without any problem. It seems to be a balance of maintaining the revs between 1500-2000. Above 2000 you can get wheel spin. Mind you, it has taken 4000ml of driving to get used to it.

[MandyAndy]

Hi,

 

Snap!!! same problem here, we have had ours 12 months just and had the same problem with over heating dash and dodgy lights on display. Also told the dealers but they had not heard of it and it is difficult to explain if you are not there. They ran the engine for 2 hours they said but dash did not get that hot, I did trust them at the time but think I will go back and try again. They have been great with us so may just get somewhere if I explain many others have suffered in the same way.

 

Try touching the CD when you take it out of its slot, ours are almost too hot to hold the dash gets so warm. We have just been away and did a 6 hour journey, not a problem with the lights as it was during the day but the dash was cooking by the time we stopped.

 

Just had its first service yesterday, not compulsory but we decided to have one anyway, only 2 problems one was the key fob packed in and isn't recharging as it should while on the move so they are replacing it under warranty, and the tracking on the front tyres is very off so got to get that checked.

 

Interesting to see which one of us gets a solution first.

 

Mandy

[handyman]

Jackal - 2008-02-26 9:20 PM

 

The electrician I spoke to, had the audacity to say "Show me the fault and I'll try and fix it!"

 

 

Video it and show him that, therefor you have shown him the problem

[Derek Uzzell]

The Transit recall relating to the front suspension-strut knuckle-joint has been mentioned on the forum before. Not all Mk 7 Transits will need attention and some Mk 6 models also seem to be involved. If you haven't had a recall notice from Ford, check your Vehicle's Identification Number to confirm whether or not it is affected. The following 2 forum links contain more information:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=9518&posts=1

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=10347&posts=17

 

The Transit stalling characteristic has also come up previously - see the following:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=10091&start=1

 

I've discussed this matter with one of the gurus on the Ford Transit-related forum and he advised me of the technique he adopts to minimise the chance of stalling. My response was as follows:

 

"Personally, I do exactly as you do - blip the throttle, then let the clutch up just as the revs begin to drop back. The method seems rational as (at least in principle) it's going to spin up the turbo and reduce the chance of the motor dying as it comes under load. This is the sort of thing one does with tuned small-capacity petrol engines with socking great carburettors on them, but it's surely undesirable that drivers of common-or-garden commercial vehicles should need to adopt 'racing' techniques to deal with a power-train's performance characteristics.

 

Most of the time I can move my Transit off the line without having to give it bucketfuls of revs. Where the beggar catches me out is when I've lowered my guard and dropped my concentration level - that's when I find myself static at some rural T-junction with a dead engine. I would have expected that, nowadays, with ever increasing traffic density, each revised version of a vehicle should, in every way, be at least as easy to drive as its predecessor. That doesn't seem to be the case with Transit, as Mk 6s/7s are decidedly tricky when moving from rest unless one employs a plenty-of-revs technique that can't be good for the vehicles' transmissions (never mind the environment!), whereas the Mk 5 was foolproof. It's perhaps worth saying that every person who has driven my vehicle and isn't already habituated to Transits has immediately stalled it initially on moving off."

 

Front-wheel drive Mks 6 and 7 Transits have a high bottom gear and the engine-management system includes a load-sensor that kills the motor stone dead if its rpm drops not far below tick-over. Add in a clutch-pedal action that's a tad on the abrupt side, plus (on Mk 7s) an accelerator-pedal action that's short but far from sweet, and the chances of stalling the vehicle when moving from rest are high. Experienced, mechanically-sympathetic drivers will automatically adapt their driving technique to compensate for vehicle characteristics that are less than optimum, but this becomes increasingly difficult as the unwelcome characteristics increase in number and/or are technically un-drive-aroundable.

 

It's impossible to 'drive around' an overly-high bottom gear: all you can do is accept the inevitability of having to ride the clutch hard if you are faced with the situation where the vehicle needs to be moved from rest on a steep slope. You can do as I do and actively seek to avoid getting into that situation, but that's clearly not always possible. In fact, my own opinion of the Mk 6 and 7 Transit in FWD form is that it's basically an unsuitable platform for a motorhome (particularly larger coachbuilt designs) purely because of its high bottom gear. I'm sure this view will be seen as controversial and alarmist, especially as the Mk 7 Transit has received plaudits in motorcaravan magazines, but it needs saying that motorhome journalists won't be paying the £700-£1000 bill if the clutch/flywheel assembly on the Mk 7 Transit-based motorhome they are testing needs replacing after being 'cooked' during a harsh hill-start. Common sense dictates that a motorhome needs a low first gear and, if the base-vehicle it's built on doesn't have one, then that factor needs bearing in mind.

 

Can't comment on the instrument-panel flickering back-lighting problem but, as several people have got it, it's plainly not just a one-off. If it's due to the heater producing high temperatures behind the dashboard, then it may be unfixable unless the complete instrument-panel PCB is replaced with one that's engineered to be heat resistant. It would be worth checking the Ford Transit forum (see below) to see if it's been mentioned there and, if not, to ask about it.

 

http://fordtransit.org/forum/

[Jackal]

Hi all,

 

Just calmed down after an unsatisfactory experience with Ford.

 

Rang their Customer Relationship number 0845 841 1111 and spoke to a Mr Kevin Wilson who initially sounded very helpful and rang Bristol Street Stafford.

 

A brief resumé of what was said is that; i) If they can't trace the fault they cannot and won't diagnose it, ii) The Dealer doesn't have to honour the warranty and iii) I should try another Dealer who may be willing to try "a bit harder"!

 

I'll let others draw their own conclusions about the quality/validity of Ford's warranty!

 

Meanwhile, I've tried another dealer who, on the face of it sounded much more interested in trying to, at least look into the problem on behalf of me, Ford and others.

 

I'm booked in for the 10th and 11th of March, so will let you know how I get on.

 

In addition, I have warned Ford that they may well be getting other complaints of this type so feel free to contact them (please!).

[Brian Kirby]

The main problem is that all these vehicles are run by computers, so that if a fault is not immediately visible, and doesn't show as a fault when the vehicle's computer is interrogated, it is almost un-traceable. 

For example, an overheating pcb that expands and begins losing contact with its feeds, but then shrinks back to normal again, would take far more time to track down than any dealer could reasonably expect Ford to pay them for.  They just won't take the risk unless specifically authorised to investigate.

I'd suggest the best thing to do is for all those with affected vehicles to write to:

Ford Technical Information Centre

PO Box 300

Walsall

WS5 4QH

Describe the symptoms, and the conditions under which they arise, but then PM each other to confirm you all have done this. 

When you get your replies, in around 10-14 days, see what they say and then compare notes.  Then, based on the response, decide whether you need to do any more. 

They all tend to be very adept at saying words to the effect of "we've never heard of that before", but this becomes more difficult to sustain when a number of people are telling them about the same fault, and they all know each other!

[booboo]

HI THERE EVERYBODY, just a quick post to let this forum know ive took brian kirbys advice and wrote to FORD, winging its way first class hope others all follow suite,see what happens from here. CHEERS KEITH.

[Jackal]

If I don't get anywhere with the new dealer I will indeed put pen to paper.

 

Have also searched extensively on the Transit Forum but to no avail.

 

 

[colin]

This is not a post explaining your problem, but just to say what can be resolved throu Ford if you are persitant.

A friend had one of the first Mondeo diesel auto's, after owning it some time a intermitant fault developed with the dash display, eventualy he relised it was on very cold mornings, dealer did all sorts including replacing dash, to no avail, eventualy a message went round to all ford field engineers and one came up with the answer, the battery was too small! IIRC this took at least two years to resolve

[icdsun]

Hi

 

Does the problem with the display effect the visibility of your roadspeed or any other safety related warning light, sorry I run a Fiat, if it can impact on any safety related warning then contact VOSA and ask for a complaint form, they have been helpful with the scuttlegate saga on Fiats.

 

The idea of videoing the display is likely to be the only way you can prove the fault is there, most mobiles have the ability for short video also.

Warranty work is less lucrative to the dealers so you are likely to get very little from them apart from the initial interest, they won't dig too deep unless Ford sanction it.

 

I wish you well in your quest

 

Chris

[DonYates]

Just registered on the forum so be gentle!

We purchased our first motorhome last year after caravanning for around 20 years. It’s a LHD Hobby Van and generally have been very pleased with it. Yes I had problems pulling away, but initially put this down to me as previously had used an automatic vehicle for towing. Though the Transit is a pleasure to drive I think it would benefit from having a 6 speed gearbox as there seems to be a big gap between 4th and 5th gears.If they did this then perhaps they could also put in a lower first gear.

 

I’ve not experienced the problem with the LCD display though I’ve not done any long trips with the heater full on. However can I offer a possible explanation for the problem.

I would say the problem is due to the actual electronic components getting overheated. Components used in the automotive industry will be of a similar standard to those used in PC’s and have a very limited temperature operating spec, something like -20 to +50degrees C or even less. When they exceed their temperature limits they will probably continue to work for a while and then at some temperature start to give unstable behaviour. These components are manufactured by the billion and cost only parts of pennies to make, at the other end of the market are components used in the safety critical aerospace applications and can cost hundreds of pounds each but have a working temperature range of something like -50 to +150degreesC. Thus the problem probably is not a fault as such but a design error ie. using components likely to exceed their temperature capability. That is why the people at Ford Information Centre are unlikely to admit liability as retrofitting all new transits with a fix is likely to be quite costly. With the nature of the ‘fault’ it is unlikely that the local dealers can help since fitting a new module will have no effect if it’s a design fault. I’ve not had a poke round under the dash but perhaps a possible DIY fix might be to wrap some insulation around the heater ducting. Hope this helps the current debate

 

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

The area behind the instrument binnacle is, actually, quite reasonably clear of bits and pieces.  Just behind the steering wheel, and above the binnacle, there is a lidded tray which contains a 12V DIN type socket.  If you remove the screws holding the hinges for the lid in place, you can lift away the lid.  Then remove two further screws at the front of the tray and the tray can be removed. 

It is held in place with spring lugs into the surrounding dashboard at the sides and at the back.  You have to start the lift at the front, where the tray bends somewhat alarmingly, and once you have a secure grip of the edge of the tray, a sharp, upwards, but very controlled, tug should loosen the first spring lug.  Then, work your way around the edges of the tray, making similar short, sharp, tugs to disengage the remaining lugs one by one.  The wiring to the 12V socket is fairly short, so do not allow any carry through on your tugs, or you'll break sommat!  When all the lugs are freed, detach the wires from the back of the 12V socket (simple plug in connection) and remove the tray complete with socket.  Reassembly is the above in reverse, but don't forget to re-connect the socket first.

These are reasonably well engineered plastic locating lugs, that extend vertically down from the tray around its edges, and pass through corresponding holes in the supporting rim of the dash, and have spring metal retaining clips.  They are not those silly all plastic "snap in" clips that just break when tugged at.  The tray is designed to be removable, as is the one the passenger's side.

The van can be driven with the trays out, so go for a run, with the heater on full chat, and see if there is much in the way of hot air leakage from the two holes where the trays used to be.  If there is, that may be the problem, but if there is not, this test should pretty well eliminate stray heat from behind the dash as a cause of any overheating.  If the back of the binnacle, exposed when the tray is removed, remains cool during your drive, it may indicate that heat is not the problem.  There is one multi-pin connector at the back of the binnacle, that carries all the feeds to the binnacle.  It may be worth giving that a very gentle wiggle to see if movement in the wiring causes similar symptoms, and it may be worth giving the connector a little push to check that it has been fully engaged into its socket. 

Whether you subsequently admit this degree of interference to your dealer is entirely up to you, of course, but if you find the cause of the problem and fix it you won't need to, and if you can find the problem but can't fix it, but can then show him what's wrong, he'll probably be grudgingly grateful!