Common Problems with the AU??

[Casper]

Based on some suggestions from Bucknaked, this thread is to share your experiances with problems that have occured with your AU.
Be them common (like the shock mounts on the IRS models) or not so common (a dead MAP sensor making the car run rich and lose power), share it all here

The problem, the solution, the cost.


This is not a "I have a problem, need advice" thread, it is purely for those that have had a problem, found the cause and got it sorted. These experiances may save us all a lot of time, headaches and money.

[Racecraft]

Item:- Front Power Windows
Problems: Slow to go up, Going up slighty sideways and/or tilting
Cause:- THe window slides inside the rubber and after time the rubber section starts to close and binds on the window glass
Fixes:- Always keep the rubbers on the inside of the door frames slighty lubed with silicon spray or graphite powder. A bit of this should be added to your detailing pack and everytime you give it a polish apply alittle to stop the window binding up
Cost:- $10/$15 for a large can of silicon spray

Item:- Front Window switches
Problems:- window won't go up or down occasionally, or switch will not reset itself to neutral.
Cause:- The the switch somehow fill with ash, dust or lint. Eventually reducing the contact points
Solutions: With a large flatblade s/driver pop the whole insert from the door, unplug then tap out the switch.
Then using a small flatblade remove the switch button from the housing, tip it upside down and wait for the contact strip and the two small acuator spacers to fall out.
Grab some cotton buds (cue-tips i think they are called) and poke around getting all the loose dirt out of the housing. Give the contact strip a wipe and light scuff with some paper, the head of the small s/driver will do, a drop of dry lube if you have it then reassemble.
Cost:- $2 for 100 cue tips and $5 for some dry lube
(maybe a photo tutorial would be better)

[Au2falcons]

I've got a 2000 series 2 S-pack. Things that have gone wrong for me in the 3 years i've owned it.

- O-ring seal leaking on rear of water pump @ 40000KM (fixed under warranty)
- Radiator tanks cracked @ 40000KM (fixed under warranty)
- Transducer (speed sensor) shat itself @ 55000KM (car out of warranty)
- Brake discs warpped @ 60000KM (replaced with slotted rotors) $200 to 300
- Transmisson rear oil seal replaced @ 65000KM $60
- Steering rack recall
- IRS shock top mounts replaced @ 76000KM (i'm writing a letter of complaint to ford about this one, will let you know how i go. A suggestion for other AU owners if your top mounts need replacing, don't go near ford!!! They quoted me $420, i got it done for $260)
- Today i got the drive pinion oil seal on the diff replaced @ 77000KM $110

I'm damn happy with my AU,a few of these things shouldn't have happend at low k's, though there is no reason to cry over spilled milk. I'm getting a BA company car this month but i'm keeping the AU cause i love it ....AU's Rock! :sm_headba

Cheers,
Adrian.

Originally Posted by Racecraft

Item
Cost:- $10/$15 for a large can of silicon spray

Is Sillicon Spray WD40?

I have this issue with my windows, mainly noticable when I'm coming back from the gym at night (9pm, semi-cold, windows down, highway driving..).

I've used WD40 numerous times, but it doesn't seem to fix it (it always reappears)

[b2tf]

Nup, silicone spray is different to WD40. Should be able to find it at Bunnings etc, i think that 'Australia Export' company (the one that makes all the cheap spraypaint) make it, but not sure. Youd definately be able to get some either ther or Repco though.

Diff whine - ive heard of some AU's having it but not many. Perhaps a trip to a diff specialist will help you work out what is causing the noise (if it is the diff).

[passout2000]

Originally Posted by Racecraft

Item:- Front Power Windows
Problems: Slow to go up, Going up slighty sideways and/or tilting
Cause:- THe window slides inside the rubber and after time the rubber section starts to close and binds on the window glass
Fixes:- Always keep the rubbers on the inside of the door frames slighty lubed with silicon spray or graphite powder. A bit of this should be added to your detailing pack and everytime you give it a polish apply alittle to stop the window binding up
Cost:- $10/$15 for a large can of silicon spray

Item:- Front Window switches
Problems:- window won't go up or down occasionally, or switch will not reset itself to neutral.
Cause:- The the switch somehow fill with ash, dust or lint. Eventually reducing the contact points
Solutions: With a large flatblade s/driver pop the whole insert from the door, unplug then tap out the switch.
Then using a small flatblade remove the switch button from the housing, tip it upside down and wait for the contact strip and the two small acuator spacers to fall out.
Grab some cotton buds (cue-tips i think they are called) and poke around getting all the loose dirt out of the housing. Give the contact strip a wipe and light scuff with some paper, the head of the small s/driver will do, a drop of dry lube if you have it then reassemble.
Cost:- $2 for 100 cue tips and $5 for some dry lube
(maybe a photo tutorial would be better)

I dont know if this is the correct place to respond to but to cure the sticky window problem ford sell a lube that will make the windows work almost forever. Costs about $60.00. It is much better than any other type of lube.

cheers

[Stav]

Thermo fans should cut in at a slightly lower temperature.The eseries fan is a much better system despite its parasitic power losses.its on from the word go!!

[emptyoz]

Item:- CD Player
Problems: CD won't eject - Starts to but gets stuck before exiting the front slot.
Cause:- Slippery CD
Fixes:- Remove complete stereo. Remove lid. With a small flat blade screw driver, carefully turn the small white gear on the left side of the CD player towards you. Eventually the CD will come out. Test loading/unloading with a different CD.
Cost:- $0 if you do it yourself. Less than an hours work.

[tracka]

:

Originally Posted by Racecraft

Item:- Front Power Windows
Problems: Slow to go up, Going up slighty sideways and/or tilting
Cause:- THe window slides inside the rubber and after time the rubber section starts to close and binds on the window glass
Fixes:- Always keep the rubbers on the inside of the door frames slighty lubed with silicon spray or graphite powder. A bit of this should be added to your detailing pack and everytime you give it a polish apply alittle to stop the window binding up
Cost:- $10/$15 for a large can of silicon spray

Item:- Front Window switches
Problems:- window won't go up or down occasionally, or switch will not reset itself to neutral.
Cause:- The the switch somehow fill with ash, dust or lint. Eventually reducing the contact points
Solutions: With a large flatblade s/driver pop the whole insert from the door, unplug then tap out the switch.
Then using a small flatblade remove the switch button from the housing, tip it upside down and wait for the contact strip and the two small acuator spacers to fall out.
Grab some cotton buds (cue-tips i think they are called) and poke around getting all the loose dirt out of the housing. Give the contact strip a wipe and light scuff with some paper, the head of the small s/driver will do, a drop of dry lube if you have it then reassemble.
Cost:- $2 for 100 cue tips and $5 for some dry lube
(maybe a photo tutorial would be better)

My Left Hand window switch hadn't worked for months but I could operate the passenger window from the drivers side. Thanks to your tips I pulled the left hand switch apart cleaned it and it is working fine....... Thanks so much it was so easy.

[mercury39]

[QUOTE=Racecraft]Item:- Front Power Windows

Item:- Front Window switches
Problems:- window won't go up or down occasionally, or switch will not reset itself to neutral.


Not quite sure if this is where I need to be, but 1st thank you very much to those who shared their power window problems and fixes, you saved me a lot of hard work and possible unecessary expense, my AU futura would not wind up the LHF window, only done 43,000 kms, so having the LHF door trim stripped down and just about to try and remove the motor / regulator, which almost seemed impossible as the glass was bottomed, and seemed impossible to get up without more dismantling, looking around this forum found the solution, I removed the switch LHF, cleaned the contacts, which had a light brown stain, all non smokers in this car, smokers either don't smoke or they walk, anyway sprayed CRC into it, not attempted dismantling, but still no go, removed the switch from RHF drivers side window, did the same procedure, and great joy every thing was back to normal, all windows wound up or down no problem, it must be the RHF was the one that had resistance somewhere, and wasn't feeding power to the LHF side, so thanks again everyone.

[JC]

Dash lights dull - fitted blue LEDs.
AU1 brakes ineffective - fitted DBA slotted rotors.
AU2 I6 hesitated badly at WOT - replace leads #3 & #6.

[RspecAU]

Porblem: Cluster Gears on T5
Cost: $1200 depending on who you know or where u get it fixed

When this happened in my car I called all the Ford wreckers in the Melb metro area and they all told me this was a common problem. Most of them had a gearboxs but they all had broken clusters in them 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears.

Originally Posted by JCXR8

Dash lights dull - fitted blue LEDs.
AU1 brakes ineffective - fitted DBA slotted rotors.
AU2 I6 hesitated badly at WOT - replace leads #3 & #6.

[QUOTE FREDWAH] where can you get the blue LED's from and how much are they.

Originally Posted by JCXR8

Dash lights dull - fitted blue LEDs.
AU1 brakes ineffective - fitted DBA slotted rotors.
AU2 I6 hesitated badly at WOT - replace leads #3 & #6.

[QUOTE=FREDWAH] where can I get those blue LED's from and how much are they and how do I fit them?

[StevenAu2]

Originally Posted by JCXR8

Dash lights dull - fitted blue LEDs.

How many of the blue LEDs did you have to buy? Also does it come out the same as the blue dash of the BA's? Apart from the speedo,tacho,fuel,temp section did you also do behind the air con section,the panel around the cd player?

[nob92@]

Originally Posted by JC

Dash lights dull - fitted blue LEDs.
AU1 brakes ineffective - fitted DBA slotted rotors.
AU2 I6 hesitated badly at WOT - replace leads #3 & #6.

how did u install the blue leds?

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by nob92@

how did u install the blue leds?

Refer aufalcon.com workshop section.

[fairmont au]

hi, how did you do the blue led dash lights? thanx

[fairmont au]

Originally Posted by JC

Dash lights dull - fitted blue LEDs.
AU1 brakes ineffective - fitted DBA slotted rotors.
AU2 I6 hesitated badly at WOT - replace leads #3 & #6.

hi how did you fit the blue dash lights in your au falcon?

[fullysick1]

Originally Posted by fairmont au

hi how did you fit the blue dash lights in your au falcon?

try this guy on ebay ... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PAIR-12v-T5-W...QQcmdZViewItem

[Tornado]

T3 TE50 auto
Petrol surge at 4500+RPM and 1/3, or less tank of petrol.
Replaced sock and rotated fuel pump 180 degrees, fixed under warranty.

[12]

Common problem. Climate control display unit with missing segments on the numbers being displayed. All AU Fairmont's, Fairmont Ghia's, Fairlane's, LTD's, TE50's (series I and II), TS50's and TL50's are effected. Don't know exactly what causes this, but have heard it's due to heat breaking down the contact points on the PCB at the back of the unit. Sorry folks, I only know of the problem, and have no solution, or idea on how/cost to fix it.

I bought a rebuilt unit (with lifetime warranty) for my TS50 and it's in 100% working order. Noticed some melted plastic type material on the back where the "strip"(?) of wire that comes off the LCD screen, meets the PCB on the back.

[LG]

Originally Posted by AUGZMK

Common problem. Climate control display unit with missing segments on the numbers being displayed. All AU Fairmont's, Fairmont Ghia's, Fairlane's, LTD's, TE50's (series I and II), TS50's and TL50's are effected. Don't know exactly what causes this, but have heard it's due to heat breaking down the contact points on the PCB at the back of the unit. Sorry folks, I only know of the problem, and have no solution, or idea on how/cost to fix it.

I bought a rebuilt unit (with lifetime warranty) for my TS50 and it's in 100% working order. Noticed some melted plastic type material on the back where the "strip"(?) of wire that comes off the LCD screen, meets the PCB on the back.

There is a guy on ebay, that puts his service up for sale to fix the screens. And i've heard of quite a few that have done this and the screens have been fixed with no problem.

Here is the add: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....515112631&rd=1

Or his actual site: http://www.geocities.com/liquidxtal/index.html

He is in Victoria for those who wanna know.

[kjau99]

Originally Posted by LG

There is a guy on ebay, that puts his service up for sale to fix the screens. And i've heard of quite a few that have done this and the screens have been fixed with no problem.

Here is the add: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....515112631&rd=1

Or his actual site: http://www.geocities.com/liquidxtal/index.html

He is in Victoria for those who wanna know.

That is awesome, thanks for that!! I need to get mine fixed cos it drives me up the wall looking at it like that! When Ford said I needed to replace it at $800 I thought yeah right, but now I can fix it at last!!

[last fairlane]

Originally Posted by kjau99

That is awesome, thanks for that!! I need to get mine fixed cos it drives me up the wall looking at it like that! When Ford said I needed to replace it at $800 I thought yeah right, but now I can fix it at last!!

Hi had mine done by the melbourne mob on ebay cost $120 had no a/c for a week waiting for c/o unit to arrive easy to remove just use screw diveron far left of unit prise off cover and unscrew the philips screw and slide unit out
hope this helps JOHN in QLD

[Arch]

Originally Posted by LG

There is a guy on ebay, that puts his service up for sale to fix the screens. And i've heard of quite a few that have done this and the screens have been fixed with no problem.

Here is the add: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....515112631&rd=1

Or his actual site: http://www.geocities.com/liquidxtal/index.html

He is in Victoria for those who wanna know.

Thankyou for this recomendation. I now have a climate control unit where all the LCD bits work. I live in SA and they gave me a loan unit while they fixed mine up. When my fixed unit came back I simply posted their one back to them in Melbourne.

All in all it cost me $117.00 all up ( labour, postage etc..) and is a much cheaper option than buying a new or secondhand hand one.

Thanks again
Arch

[pond]

Originally Posted by LG

There is a guy on ebay, that puts his service up for sale to fix the screens. And i've heard of quite a few that have done this and the screens have been fixed with no problem.

Here is the add: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....515112631&rd=1

Or his actual site: http://www.geocities.com/liquidxtal/index.html

He is in Victoria for those who wanna know.

AU 1 Fairmont Ghia

I have just had my Message Display Center LCD screen changed over by the above people and am very happy.

I was initially quoted around $250 by Repco for a changeover unit (self install), but after a quick bit of search work on this forum I found the above.

The changeover cost me $150, total, that included installation.
The new unit is bright and VERY readable in all conditions, and as I have never seen a new one, I am assuming this might be what they were like when new.


A couple of points.
I had trouble getting contact on the mobile number on the website.
http://www.geocities.com/liquidxtal/index_ford.html
So after a couple of days of voicemail and no return calls, I tried the Fax. number out of curiosity, and got a result. (03) 9553 1376.

The installation took all of 5 minutes.



*does happy dance*

[bratwurst]

Originally Posted by AUGZMK

Common problem. Climate control display unit with missing segments on the numbers being displayed. All AU Fairmont's, Fairmont Ghia's, Fairlane's, LTD's, TE50's (series I and II), TS50's and TL50's are effected. Don't know exactly what causes this, but have heard it's due to heat breaking down the contact points on the PCB at the back of the unit. Sorry folks, I only know of the problem, and have no solution, or idea on how/cost to fix it.

I bought a rebuilt unit (with lifetime warranty) for my TS50 and it's in 100% working order. Noticed some melted plastic type material on the back where the "strip"(?) of wire that comes off the LCD screen, meets the PCB on the back.

Mine has the same problem.Had 2 replaced under warranty,but now on my own.Reluctant to pay about $800 for replacement,where did you get your unit and how much?

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by 012

Common problem. Climate control display unit with missing segments on the numbers being displayed. All AU Fairmont's, Fairmont Ghia's, Fairlane's, LTD's, TE50's (series I and II), TS50's and TL50's are effected. Don't know exactly what causes this, but have heard it's due to heat breaking down the contact points on the PCB at the back of the unit. Sorry folks, I only know of the problem, and have no solution, or idea on how/cost to fix it.

I bought a rebuilt unit (with lifetime warranty) for my TS50 and it's in 100% working order. Noticed some melted plastic type material on the back where the "strip"(?) of wire that comes off the LCD screen, meets the PCB on the back.

Just had my AU fairmont LCD display repaired by a guy in Melb called Ayhan. He runs a business repairing LCD screens, and specialises in AU fords.

You can contact him via his web site http://www.geocities.com/liquidxtal/

Cost is $50 plus postage (all up worked out at $70 for mine including express post) I mailed it on Tues arvo and got it back before I went to work Fri morning

I can't speak highly of this guy, it;'s not often you get good service at a decent price these days....and fully guaranteed

Mine has only been back in the car for 2 weeks but so far works a treat

Also repairs other LCD devices, and willing to have a look at ones he hasn't seen before (currently looking at Harley Davidson speedo LCD odometer)

No I'm not related to him, just giving good service a plug

Cheers

Buzz

[6T]

Had the manual TE about 5 months, from 58k to 63.5k. So far it has needed an exhaust leak sealed (warranty), replace a split leather gear lever dust seal (about $60), alternator failed (warranty eventually thanks to a top dealer), water pump leaked and cracked heater/bypass hoses replaced (about $280), crankshaft position sensor wire pulled out (due to rough work when the water pump was replaced by a supposed FPV mechanic - not the car's fault but bloody dangerous having an engine cut in busy traffic $#%&*!! Cost about $80 to get a mobile sparky), driver's side door lock failed (warranty), a weird shrieking noise at open road speeds traced to the windscreen top rubber vibrating (!) and fixed by squelching sealant under it (warranty).
A couple of things I haven't worried too much about yet are 1: the boot lid lower edge rubs on the rear "bumper", 2: the front passenger window is sticky (but improving with liquid wax and silicone applications when I wash the car), and 3: I notice a fair bit of drive-line shunt and clunk around town but I'm learning to drive around this.
This is my third AU V8 and the most troublesome. The other two were utes. The AU1 ute was built tight as a drum in the body but had a very rattly engine eventually replaced under warranty. The AU2 XR8 ute warped its front discs slightly but otherwise was completely trouble-free. I did 90k in the AU1, 80K in the AU2. Good cars, good-looking I reckon and reliable in the main. Hope I can get the TE up to scratch too!