thorne

46 minutes ago, Mr Polson said:

Having an issue with the rear wiper in my XG wagon.

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.

9 hours ago, Mr Polson said:

For FGII you have to visit a dealer for a map update. At least until the end of this year I'm lead to believe.

It's $300+ for the update, plus labour costs to install the update.

I gave up on worrying about it to be quite honest.

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. 

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.

My EF got 30-40 km more out of a tank running premium over E10 due (I think) to needing less throttle to do the same work.

 

On the other hand, I run E10 in my little clevo as it gets the best economy, and gets better still if I add a bit of E85. Must have something to do with better combustion efficiency on this particular engine.

 

Although I've had zero problems with it, I have a regular turnover of say a week and a half. I wouldn't keep it in the tank it for long periods as the ethanol absorbs moisture and that's what corrodes things.

 

If you're running LPG and are only flicking over to petrol for short periods is there really much cost advantage in switching from say 95?

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.

you'd save much more by filling up on cheap days than any fuel type i think.

i worked with a super tight bloke at work(got his daily food down to $1 a day for an "experiment") he used to stop in at the servo for $5 of fuel daily until it was cheap, then fill up.. i wonder if he saved $500 a year for that.. maybe, but i couldnt do it.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

Yep, like SPArKy Dave said, the whole assembly comes out in one piece, just get a replacement from the wreckers for your year,model,month.

 

Fix it yourself, they're not that hard to replace. Or ask on here, we;ll send you in the right direction, ....... maybe.

 

Look a bit like this...

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!

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.

Try some wax and grease remover to get the tyre stuff off.

 

How old and what condition was the tyre in?

Can you recommend a decent brand? Sounds strange but I don't usually have those sorts of things hanging around at home. 

Tyres looked ok but they must have been pretty old to let go like that, might be a good time to check the age of your tyres. Look for the date stamp on the side wall and it tells you the week and year that they were made. I bought some cheap tyres a while ago that were brand new but the local tyre fitter wouldn't fit them coz they were more than 7 years old. They said after 7 years air and sunlight can break down the rubber and make it unsafe.

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.

If your insured make a claim. Pay the 5-$600 excess. Will get the tyre replaced body work sorted and ABS fixed all in one go.

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 Dunlop tyre looks quite ancient.

 

Having those lines around the sidewall, often means the tyre is a re-tread.

 

Alternatively, being a 1tonne van, that tyre could be one of the originals.

Not many people kept the load rated tyres on the 1tonne vans, because they're grip poorly and are quite noisy.

Dunno that I'd trust Hifly brand tyres either, tbh.

 

The bosch part number for rear ef/el-series ABS wheel speed sensor, is - 0 265 006 230

The EF/EL genuine number is - 96DA 2C204 AA

and/or EL 2C204 A

 

The earlier numbers are - 91DA 2C204 AB

and/or ED 2C204 A

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.

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.

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.

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.....!

Thought I'd unearth this thread to compare economy runs, after I took the new XH panelvan on a long-distance drive through southern Australia.

My 1998 XH2 panelvan is stock-standard 6 cyl, 4.0lt OHC engine, grandpa-spec and completely unmodified, converted to LPG by the same showroom (Jeff Wignall Ford in Frankston was where the previous owner bought it, and it was converted with only 42km on the odo by Jeff Wignall Ford in Mornington). As mentioned previously, I'm not all that with mechanics (no idea of the diff ratio on a standard XH van, compression ratios, etc), only that it's all bog standard.

On city runs, a full 65lt tank will get me anywhere from 380 - 420km (17.1lt - 15.5lt/100km respectively). But out on the highway where I was able to stretch its legs, I was able to crack the 500km mark once or twice on the Barrier Highway between Nyngan and Broken Hill, 490 - 510km (13.25lt - 12.75lt/100km respectively) on a tank.

On petrol the percentages are around the same: just under 600km on a full tank (assuming a standard XH tank stores 65lt, 10.8lt/100km) for city driving, and about 700km (9.3lt/100km) highway driving.

I expect fuel efficiency has improved through the models: both my previous XFs (6 cyl 4.1lt carbies, both also standard and unmodified) rated roughly 320km per 65lt LPG tank city driving and max 400km highway driving.

Just wondering what other people's economy figures are?

I've always been a louvre fan: adds a touch of retro class to a vehicle and is far better cooling it down. Only problem is it acts as a leaf-catcher: you have to take it off from time to time to clean the bastard out.

If the roadworthy tester picks up on it, yes. Which he should, if he values his licence.

Also in Vic now, not everyone can roadworthy gas powered vehicles. Testers have to have accreditation to examine cars with gas. 

That was the delay in the RWC for my XH: the garage took an extra week as it needed to get their APA rep to inspect the LPG tank and hoses, then for him to come back again when the new tank was re-installed so he could sign off on it. However nothing was said about my pre-99 numberplate stickers....

So if understand right, if the car was put on lpg say before 1993 it doesnt need a compliance plate and if it meets current regs it doesnt need a plate?

Unsure about a compliance plate - I've never seen a converted car without one, to be completely honest, it's usually under the bonnet - but LPG tanks have to be inspected for re-stamping once every 10 years - or, in my case, when it was RWC'd - to ensure standards compliance and all the hoses and attachments are working correctly and haven't dried out or rotted away (or a tank replacement in my case). I'd've thought re-stamping each decade might check if the numberplates were also standards-compliant, but maybe it was enough it had the LPG stickers and not the plates.....? Can't really say.