thorne

You mean "Follow Me Home" headlights, the BA onwards had that function. Leave your headlights on when you left the car, and the headlights would stay on for a set amount of time (between 2-5min) before turning off automatically, or the owner could trigger it themselves by hitting the lock button on their fob. My FGX has it: despite my not actually having a driveway it's still handy. Unsure of they are any conversion kits for older vehicles, as many older cars tend to complain (ie: play an audible alarm) if you intentionally turn off the engine with the headlights still on (or could be upgraded to do so, providing on of those Jaycar kits); a conversion kit would have to bypass all that and then still power the headlights off the battery on a timer before killing them. An autosparky might know more, but there's the danger of letting the headlights drain your battery if something doesn't work right....

It's one of the reasons I actually keep the LPG system on my XH panelvan: it's great for long-distance travels (650km total on full tank of petrol, plus 500km on full tank of LPG), and as someone already mentioned, should the fuel pump seize you can still at least continue onwards. Okay, so you shouldn't tow on LPG and you don't have as much power on LPG than on petrol, but if you're doing highway/freeway driving without the city stop-start habits, having another fuel source is handy. Really it comes down to the price of the fuel and operating costs. Even with the price of LPG going up recently, it's still cost-effective to run on LPG compared to petrol. Most of the time, money saved in daily operation will easily outweigh the price needed for re-inspection/tank re-stamping. Then again, I specifically looked for a Ford panelvan that was already converted because the advantages of another cheaper fuel source still trump the alternatives of it without. Ultimately it depends on what you want out of your vehicle. If you want more performance from your engine and eliminate wiring, converters and the tank to save on weight, then trash it. Otherwise it's too handy. Yes there are performance panelvans, but most of them (like mine) are still being used for dailies or work purposes where having LPG is still advantageous even today.

XGs came in wagons?

Just picked the FGX from Ford 1hr ago, and thought I'd ask about it. For Sync1, yep, it's as you said. However, the guy I spoke to had to check with two others, um'ing and uh'ing, and the verdict still wasn't 100%, so clearly even they are a bit uncertain of the process. They don't get a lot of FGs/Sync1 Nav updates I guess.....? Sync2 is covered for the next 7 years, either via dealer or online USB flash-key downloads. Sync3 is different still, as apparently Ford suggests connecting the system to the Internet via wi-fi and it updates itself in the background, including maps apparently.

Erk, kinda surprising saying Sync2 Nav update is completely free (via dealership) for the next 7 years....but not the Sync1? I assume Sync1 and Sync2 Nav maps are owned/designed by different companies? I wonder what arrangement they have with Sync3? I put the FGX in for Ford diags earlier today, might ask them tomorrow when I pick it up.

Jeez, and to think I got the maps in my FGX (running Sync2) updated so easily! Details in my FGX Showroom thread if interested. Ford Australia guarantee free map upgrades for 7 years (on regular servicing of the car, one free map update a year) until September 2024 at the latest....but only those runnnig Sync2 ICCs. After a quick check I can't find any such agreements for those running Sync1 systems, and even the Ford Navshop are only offering AU v19/NZ v8 for FG Falcons (doesn't specify MkI or MkII), but AU23/NZ12 for other non-Falcon models. WTF? It might be possible that Ford dealerships may update Sync1 maps like they do Sync2, but probably only if you bring it to them for servicing, which really doesn't answer your question. Sorry.

Considering the price of petrol these days, and the fact E10 in Melbourne is usually 5-8cpl cheaper than standard 91 RON unleaded, I was considering whether or not to run the panelvan on E10 these days. Does anyone run E10 regularly in their OHC engines? How safe is it? Are these engines capable of running E10 without too much sacrifice on power/economy/range/etc? My uncle runs a EL Fairmont wagon (virtually the same engine in my XH) and claims he's been using E10 as his daily fuel for years with no discernible issues. Granted, I run mostly on LPG and switch to the occasional tankful of petrol to re-lubricate the engine, but I was wanting a comparison and input from those that use it regularly. Cheers! t.

I was always taught when running a converted car on LPG - even if the engine is tuned for it - because LPG burns hotter and drier, run the engine on unleaded from time to time to re-lubricate it. Plus, you should avoid starting a cold engine on LPG: flick the fuel selector to petrol and flick it back to LPG once you're on the way. That and always leave a little fuel in the fuel tank regardless, as converted cars won't know to stop the fuel pump when you switch to LPG, and having to replace a seized fuel pump due to an empty tank can be quite an expensive lesson. Granted, I learned these tricks while learning to drive in my old man's converted XB-XE work-horse station wagons, and again when I owned my XF with a carby engine. My current Ford has an OHC engine in it now, but I still stick to these habits because, in all honesty, no one has taught me otherwise and I thought it was better for the engine to run on the fuel it was originally made more every now and then to keep it running sweeter. Yes, taxis run all day on LPG, but I also thought they had hardened valves and hoses to better tolerate it, and these days you can get dedicated LPG-only cars (the EcoLPI systems) which can only run LPG, which is why I differentiate between dedicated and converted engines when it comes to LPG. I've no idea how tolerant an OHC engine is, but I learned you could run a carby engine ragged on LPG and it would still continue to go as long as you took care of it while on LPG (including switching back to petrol occasionally). It's these tricks and habits I have in mind when I consider running the panelvan on E10, but it sounds with my driving habits, it appears better to stick to plain 91 unleaded and not bother with E10 unless I plan to empty out the fuel tank quickly.

Fair enough. I tend to use petrol more and at a quicker rate if I'm doing long-distance or interstate runs, as LPG tends be be more costly - and more scarce - outside of SE Australia. If I was to fill with a tank of E10 and use it all in one drive (so to speak), it wouldn't remain in the tank long enough to damage it too much, I expect? Otherwise, if it's going to sit in my tank for a few weeks (like city driving while on LPG), I'd probably be better off with ethanol-free fuel, I guess....? I've never experimented with 95 RON unleaded as I usually can't afford the extra cost. Yeah, I figured as much. I was too slack and missed the end of the Melbourne fuel cycle, where E10 was down to 97.5cpl and unleaded was 102.9cpl (oddly enough LPG has its own fuel cycle that only occasionally corresponds with petrol), and now everything's +20cpl more expensive again. Grrr. As money is a little tight - why else would I run on LPG as often as I do? - I was wondering if I can start to afford petrol over LPG, if there were other drawbacks using E10 over standard 91 or 95 RON unleaded. I've had the panelvan for nearly 1.5 years, but I've never had a full run and gone through en entire tank of petrol in one go; it's always a 100km run here with a $10 fill there, usually between empty tanks of LPG. I usually tend to keep about a 1/3- to 1/2-tank of petrol in the car anyway for "emergencies", but as mentioned before it doesn't tend to get used much unless it's a long-distance run.

Something I'll keep in mind for next time, this car is the first I've ever owned with ABS. It was still attached at the other end: I was careful to fold everything away that night when I got home, and was only charged for labour to reconnect everything again. Or so I understand it, there was no replacement ABS parts I was charged for when I paid and looked at the receipt. Then again, that garage has a working relationship with my workplace: we get our fleet cars repaired there, so they're more than happy to look after our personal vehicles. They even came out to pick my car up during work hours, drive it back to their garage, fix it, and deliver it back again before it was time to drive home. Saves me having to book five Saturdays ahead!

While doing 110kph down the Hume Freeway, my driver's side rear tyre suddenly decided to shed its grip without warning: there was a surprisingly loud bang, quite a bit of smoke, and a sudden determination not to plow sideways at speed into the semi-trailer in the other lane as I struggled to control the vehicle into the emergency lane without suddenly losing control. The force of the explosion - or the speed of which the grip left the tyre - appears to have completely severed the wiring for that tyre's ABS, which is why when I'd finished jacking up the car and putting on the spare there was a "Check ABS" lamp now illuminated in my console. A subsequent look at the suspension located the cable. Taken when I got home last night: The tyre exploded with such force it even dented the body work: The tread flew out of the wheel-well and nearly took off my wing-mirror: you can see grease and tread-marks halfway down the car: What's left of the tyre: So, two questions: 1) How easy is it to reconnect the ABS for that tyre? Is it something I can do with a soldering iron? 2) What's the best way to get all that fucking tyre-grease off the bodywork? That shit appears quite difficult to budge! Cheers, t.

Just to bring the thread to an end, I had to book her into the garage for a front-end re-alignment earlier this week, so I asked the resident auto-sparky about it, and he took care of it for me. He suggested it was better a professional did it (ie: him) as he had the experience and also the tools to ensure ABS would trigger correctly once it was all fixed (which I guess I didn't initially consider, I figured as long as the console didn't say "CHECK ABS" all would be fine). He even drove an XG ute. Best to leave it in the hands of professionals I guess!

After leaving my keys in the car one day and forcing my arm through the minuscule gap, I busted the mechanics in the driver's side window on my panelvan: currently I've got it permanently wound-up and the winding arm removed to remind myself not to touch it (or the glass will drop back down into the door). Took the car for a quote for other work it needs and they said they can fix it, only they need me to get the part as the car is old enough that they have no replacement parts for it. Stupidly, I didn't ask precisely what exactly I needed to hunt down to fix it. Here's where I reveal my complete lack of knowledge on car windows, so bear with me. It's a manual window system - no power windows - that grinds when I wind the winder in any direction. It wasn't the plastic pins that busted when I forced my arm through the window gap: apparently the regulator? actuator? needs replacing. Does this sound right? Apologies if I sound like a simpleton, I'm desperately trying to learn all I can to get this fixed. What precisely do I need to look for? Can anyone recommend any decent Melbourne wrecker yards or ebay retailers to get it? It's an XH, so can I find what I need off an E-series driver's door or a late X-series? TIA, t.

Excellent, good to know I'm doing something right. Cheers all. Okay, so without destroying my fingers, is there any easier way to force the white plugs through the winder rail and into the window's rubber mounts? I have a mallet, but I'm too afraid of cracking the window if I hit too hard, and the angle is all wrong as I'm doing this inside the actual door. On the other hand, I'm getting the panelvan to a garage on Monday to a front-end wheel alignment. Surely they wouldn't charge too much more to install a bloody window if I fuck this up?

Right, here's where I'm currently at: I've managed to remove the driver's window - made things easier. I assume the black rubber seals slip into the holes in the bottom of the windows, larger halves on the internal side of the window, lining up against the corresponding holes on the window-scissor rail. The white plastic plugs thread through the rail holes and black window rubbers, and the white pegs slip through the plugs to hold it all together. At least, that's what I assume, given the left-over parts and washers retrieved from the bottom of the door. Is that correct? If so, I'm having a bitch of a time getting the white plugs through the window rail into the black rubbers: I've nearly destroyed my finger-tips attempting to force everything through, and gave up annoyed and a little pissed off when I tore off a finger-nail about 30min ago. It's quite difficult to do this while the window is delicately balanced on the point of falling back into the door, while doing everything through the door itself. Any ideas? Am I doing this right?

Aha. As it's the weekend and I've got some to myself, I took SPArKy_Dave's advice and investigated this further. Without any real idea what I was doing I was able to get the driver's door-card off - well, nearly.....the door-snib didn't want to come out of its socket, and that seemed firmly anchored into the door-card, and I didn't know how to gently prise it out - and past the plastic dust cover, to the internals of the driver's door. It appears the scissor mechanism and door-winder gear still works perfectly, but the upper rail that's usually bolted onto the bottom of the window had fallen off; it was resting on the bottom of the door. I suspect when I forced my arm in when I locked my keys inside, the pressure popped the plastic pins holding the window to the rail. The rollers that usually slide within this rail were now resting directly against the bottom of the window, now the only things holding it up and into place within the window-frame. With broken pins and odd washers everywhere, I wasn't entirely too sure how to put it back together. So, I spent most of this afternoon at the local Dandenong U-Pull-It wrecker yards, cordless drill and tool-box in hand, where I was lucky enough to find some XGs and XHs (nothing earlier, not even any XFs!) with manual winders. Once I saw how it was put together internally in other cards, the pieces fell together; I took many pictures on the camera-phone to add my memory. Once the temperature drops and the car cools down, I'll have another go at getting it working again. It sounds stupid, but finally drumming up the courage to take things apart to find out what was wrong was the hardest part. I'm not really good with my hands to be honest - I'm in IT, it's my mind that's the sharpest - but I take pride in my car and if something is wrong with it I don't mind learning how to fix it myself. I didn't want to damage things further trying to take apart something without any previous knowledge....but then how else do you learn? Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it.

Sweet, the picture actually means a lot as I know what to hunt for now in the local wrecker yards That's actually a very clean picture: did that come as a kit or NOS or similar? Although there's very few XH hulks in my area, hence my question do I go for an E-series or a late X-series to cannibalise parts from? Thanks again for your help and advice!

Can you recommend a decent brand? Sounds strange but I don't usually have those sorts of things hanging around at home. Current wheels were fitted nearly a year ago as part of the RWC when I bought it, but that doesn't tell me the age of the tyres themselves. I'll check them as soon as I can. That might be worth looking into, only I'm not too sure I can afford the excess at the moment. First priority is a new spare, second is ABS, third is panelbeaters. If this means I can get then done one at a time as I can afford them, then I guess that's the way I'll have to do it. That's the first thing I considered as I was yanking the shredded Dunlop off my rear axle on the side of the Hume, but it wasn't until I took a photo of it later that it sank in. I've never had a normal tyre release a grip like that before, and at high speed on a warm day on a busy highway with small bits of god-knows-what on the road must have melted the glue/bonding agent holding the tread to the retread/remould tyre. The annoying thing is the Dunlop was my spare: I had a puncture earlier (drove over a fucking tech-screw at the carpark at work, grrrr), put the Dunlop on, and only got the original back a few weeks ago; this is what I get for not immediately swapping the spare back in. I hadn't even noticed the Dunlop was a retread, to be honest: had I known earlier, I wouldn't have left it on for so long. I know, the Hifly tyres I've got on at the moment aren't ideal (see above regarding new tyres by previous owner for RWC), but they haven't been too bad so far after a few long-distance drives, and all four typres are matching at the moment. Once I can afford to swap them over with a decent brand I probably will - I was considering replacing the original 12 slotter rims with some FTRs in the near-future, and I'd need new tyres then - but I can't afford to at the moment.

If I remember correctly, seatbelts became law in Victoria in 1971, and in the rest of Australia in 1972. That puts it squarely in the roll-out of the XY. So I suspect the two seat-belts might have been factory-fitted, but as the XW was released before seat-belts officially became legal in Australia, there was no legal requirement to fit any more at the time it was released.

This document outlines the legal requirements about marking your vehicle to signify installation of an alternative fuel (such as LPG and CNG) in Australian and New Zealand vehicles (originally from the earlier http://www.ozfalcon.com.au/index.php?/topic/4407-lpg-numberplate-stickers/ (LPG numberplate stickers) thread. If the vehicle was converted after 1 February 1993, an approved AS1425 LPG compliance plate must be fitted to the vehicle at the time of the conversion/installation. Vehicles fitted with LPG systems are required to have red LPG stickers attached to the vehicle's number plates; red metal plates riveted to the number plates have been required since 1999 in Australia. Quoting AS1425:2007 (similar) 7.4.3 Vehicle identification In Australia, to indicate that a vehicle is equipped to use LPG as a fuel, it shall carry permanently attached to the front and rear registration plates, an approved, external metal plate not less than 1mm thick affixed with a label complying at least with the following requirements: 1) The plate and label size shall be not less than 25mm square mounted as a diamond. 2) The label colour shall be retro-reflective red, complying with AS/NZS 1906.1, Class 2. 3) The label shall have only the letters 'LPG' in white at least 10mm in height. Where a vehicle is fitted with more than one container, the vehicle shall carry an additional plate and label as above. In New Zealand, to indicate that a vehicle is equipped to use LPG as a fuel, it shall have affixed as close as possible to the registration/number a plate and label complying at least with the following requirements: 1) The plate and label size shall be 80mm square, mounted on a diamond. 2) The label colour shall be retro-reflective red, complying with AS/NZS 1906.1, Class 2. 3) The label shall have only the letters 'LPG' in white at least 20mm in height. This is an Australian-wide standard for cars running LPG (also for cars running CNG - and legislation was updated in 2007 to include hybrid vehicles). Previously all vehicles with an LPG system installed before 1999 must have had a red retro-reflective sticker affixed to the numberplate, as below: As of 1999, the sticker advertising running on LPG must now be mounted on a diamond metal plate, and then this must be pop-riveted onto the number plate itself. This is due to the dangers of fire damage: if the fire melts the sticker, the presence of the pop-riveted plate will still alert emergency services to an alternate fuel (or electrical dangers, concerning a hybrid) within the vehicle. Vehicles with multiple tanks need one tag per tank (plates need 2 LPG tags for 2 tanks, etc). The result should look like this: notice the raised edges of the plate behind the newer-style LPG sticker: This also means that anyone in Australia with personalised plates and on LPG/CNG will end up needing to deface their plate to conform to standards, as attaching them to the car body, as opposed to the numberplate instead, is a no-no: oddly enough, this appears to be fine in New Zealand. Absence of LPG tags is a offence in Australia and in Victoria can lead to a fine starting from $150, if the cops are in a good mood. Tags must also be affixed to bike rack number plates, if applicable. It appears however not a lot of people appear to know of this updated standard (including myself before I started further investigating): my XH recently passed RWC before I bought it in February 2015 - ironically, my LPG tank didn't pass muster and I needed another tank installed and restamped by an APA representative - and not a word was said about my plates with the old square/black LPG stickers on them, either by the APA rep or the RWC tester. Admins: with your permission, could this post please be pinned for future reference, as there are a lot of converted (and E-gas) Fords out there who should be aware of government standards regarding the labelling of their vehicles. If anything, it may prevent over-zealous cops looking for more excuses to fix a canary sticker to the car.

There's no real model I out-and-out hate to be honest: it's a subjective thing, I guess. Styling-wise, I may like the front-end of a model but dislike the way the rear-end is shaped. Everyone seems to dislike the AU.....and yes, I'm one of them, especially the first series. The grill was awful, and I never really liked the rear-end design, even though the overall shape was appealing. The XR was the same for me, but I don't mind the XY, probably because the design had matured and sequential minor changes I found a little more appealing; I have the same reaction with the XA and the XC. The NF/DF rear-end I don't like either, which is a shame because I quite like the design of the NF/DF/EF front-end (my XH has one after all!). Conversely, not a big fan of the EL front-end (reminds me too much of a distended nostril). The XM I'm a big fan of. The P6 is so glitzy and chunky I can't help but like it. The clean-cut lines of a ZL also turns my head every time I see one. The FGX is also one, but I'm unsure it's because it's brand-new and quite different or another reason. Just my 2 cents.

Three-and-a-half grand? Srsly? (....sometimes I'm glad I drive a simple grandpa-spec car....)

Straight petrol or dual-fuel?

It looks like Tintacar is offering 20% off all vehicle window-tinting during Easter. http://www.tintacar.com.au/car-tinting (top-of-the-page advertising). https://www.facebook.com/TintACarAus (check entry on April 4). Considering borrowing against pay to get my panelvan finally tinted with some 5%.

Yeah, was both surprised and impressed, considering it's not a specialised conversion. Maybe the previous owner got it specifically tuned on LPG, unsure (he never mentioned it), but then running it on petrol isn't too shabby either. A decent engine, I guess.....!