aaronmihe

I've just had the latest fix applied to my car (after a minor shudder was fixed at the 30000km service, I managed to get really bad shudder back within 3000km). The new fix included skimming front and rear rotors and new pads. So far brake feel is OK and actual stopping power much better from high-speeds than ever before. The 'new' fix was released around mid-April A.

Grass - what do you mean... If you're talking about the NV portion then yes... If you're talking about V then yes it shoudl clear but it's not unheard of to have the volatile area mildy corrupted post-flash... (it's not a Ford thing, just an ECU reflashing thing in general) A.

Warranty after l;oading a 10psi map, caning the crap out of it and admitting it was detonating (pinging its *beep* off etc). that's crook - real crook, every time one of you fools does that, or encourages someone to make that kind of claim you're making it harder for everyone with legit problems to get claims through. Do you think that Ford is going to honour driveline claims in the future if half of them are morons running high-boost maps/piggys returned to stock? Pull your head outa your bum, if you play, be prepared to pay. Take responsibility for your actions and live with them. *ponders* I wonder if there's a reward system for dobbing warranty fraud like there is for insurance fraud...... A.

Agreed on the team at Gregories Mitchell. I've always managed to get either a fix or progress towards a fix. Yes there's been a few hurdles along the way but nothing like the three attempts Braddon tried and failed to achieve anything. Overall thumbs up for the Mitchell team, and if you go past you'll probably see my very gutted Blueprint in the workshop..... A.

Don't bet on it... Diff 1: Whining like crazy at 4000km - Replaced at 15000km Diff 2: Whining louder than first within 3000km of install - Replaced at 30000km Diff 3: Whining louder than Diff2 after install - The car didn't even leave teh dealership except for their test drive. Replacement on order. I suspect within 5000km diff 4 (when it arrives) will be stuffed. A.

There are enough Ford people on the forum to give a sort-of answer.... But the problem is that if they were to say something and it was outside of FoMoCo policy to say somethign about the problem then they're going to get the shaft. I don't want any of the people working at a dealership I use to cop sh!t from HQ over somethign like that. They're only given scant information in the bulletins and most of the times it's just enough info for them to match a customer complaint to a flash revision... ie the original over-boost one had somethign like "customer may report "overboost" condition exists" and a few other ways of saying "cut-out" "hesitation" "stalling" etc.... In all seriousness Fords probably released a couple of updates since the original over-boost fix in Jan and they may indeed have had an update that was down on power... On the other hand the flash that's down on power may not have had the volatile memory clear properly and well that could cause issues (like it does with signal benders) If it's down on power post re-flash why not try disconnecting your battery for a day.... You may get lucky.... A.

Dealership based falshing is "Upgrade" ONly. Unless the WDS is reset with a lower version (not easy) it's not possible. Remember this gear is designed to be rugged and EASY to use when doing the job, Mechanics these days need a lot more computer skills than they used to, but that doesn't mean they need boxes that say upgrade, downgrade, etc that is so classically apparent in the "Toxic Option Syndrome" world of IT. As the only customer to have his name mentioned in the press whinging about overboost (and the subsequent fallout from FoMoCo etc due to it) I've grabbed the reflash with open arms. At least my car can be safely driven to work each day. It doesn't cut out at 100km/h, it doesn't stall in the carpark after accelerating up the hill into the car-park etc. To top it off fuel consumption is back to "normal" with a 10% drop in usage compared to the overboost-prone April 2004 Flash I previously had. As others have noted the new flash is a lot smoother in power delivery, and while I suspect I may be not holding peak boost at higher RPMs/speeds it's definately as quick in normal use. At 160km/h it seems to taper off a bit compared to before, but actually in Performance Mode the performance comes back. So perhaps there's a subtle difference in mapping strategies between the 'box and the boost mapping compared to before? Overall until someone actually pulls down the code and has a real look at it back-to-back we won't know. And I'd be guessing that people with the tools to do it aren't interested unless they can use the info to make a quick and dirty buck with it. My new CANBus gear should be here in few weeks (fingers crossed) so when the car is back together (at dealership with dash out at the moment) I'll get some base-line son what the ECU thinks it's doing, and then hopefully get a local who hasn't flashed and doesn't have overboost to do the same logging run. Rresults may be interesting. A.

What I find interesting is that when I went through the whole Overboost thing Ford publically said there were under 100 cars affected .... *ponders* A.

The cars will probably be sitting around waiting to be collected and re-borthed. Sure there's been some people having fun with them in the interim but... I've heard the system works like this: 1. Pinch a bunch of easy to unload cars (Jap imports in 15 year category are great becuase you can have a dodgy re-spray, some minor panel damage and all that and they're still moving into cash nice and fast... 2. The cars get spread around parked in carparks, visitor parking etc for days/weeks/months waiting for the heat to go but also waiting for step 3. Spreading the cars around spreads your risk and exposure, you may get caught with one car but not a shedful of them 3. Cars are re-birthed in the convetional manner or fake import documents used. It's even possible if they're stolen at the correct time to use legit import documentation and not have the actual vehilces appear on any normal registers of stolen vehicles. DOTARS has no interest in the status of the vehicle except it's import category and so on. 4. Then simply sell the car claiming it's fresh off the boat Probably a bit rough around the edges, maybe with some new panel damage or hokey colour change re-spray that put soff someone from saying "hey that's the car I imported from japan and had stolen".... There's one case where an importer once claimed to have a certain car on the wharf in Japan... cept the pic was identified to show the car as being in AU at the time... Imports are great for this becuase if you get a inexperienced buyer and claim all the paperwork is in order and have reasonable copies of everything they won't pick up on things, and often the cars are sold rego'd witht he false documents etc A.

$1300 + for the edit on an otherwise stock car just for this would be overkill. You're right though those goign edit who want this should ask A.

I know this has been mentioned in past threads, but I'm looking for an update on the concept and discussion. Would people be interested in a small device that automagically turned the traction control OFF whenever the car is started? The TC button would still work exactly like normal - as would the warning light, except by default the TC would be off when you turn on the ignition. There are also posibilities to activate (or deactivate) when certain parameters occur, including triggering the on-off with a Piggyback or EMS style ECU... A.

Lumpster! Having driven past the shop, and looked into the windows etc on a few occasions I have to say the display is impressive, the glass looks great - and heck even your location is damn good. So what's going wrong? You're probably getting people walking into the door who are siumply not prepared to fork out becuase A) They're not spending money until at their holiday destination or B) They broke after holidays. It would be interesting to know the reach of your walk-in-walk-out people who return and buy either over the phone or later on. If you are considering moving the shop - consider the costs and risks of managing the stock. More people means more handling and more risk of breakage. The relative cost/value of stock probably means insurance for it would be a nightmare in the city - but needed. Overall I think you'd have to stay int he business, maybe goign to weekends only and weekdays by appointment will work better - especially if you can find some work for your good self in town. It can take years for a business to get strong enough to make ends meet reliably - you're nearly there - don't give it up before it's really had it's chance! (Says me who's been working for 3 years to only just get to break even point) A.

I dunno about the products listed by there's a guy in the US I know of from my Chrysler days who does a lot of interfacing gear. He's doing a CAN/OBDII device for about USD200 I think...... I've got sitting here in a folder on my PC a bunch of code that includes all the BlackOak stuff I can get my dirty evil hands on... All for "diagnostic" purposes ofcourse, but really what it comes down to is havign the tables that information from the sensors etc is matched back to. OK so I don't have Ford Australia ones, but I doubt there's much difference - the concepts are the same, and Ford being a global means the tools Ford AU use woudl be the same as Ford US use, and well they'd be smart if they followed much the same convention wouldn't they? Once you know the tables (and the memory registers) well the world is anyones oyster. From my understanding there's about a number of (Aussie) companies out there with Edit type products in testing, that are not CAPA or SCT related. They're all doign it in this same basic manner. Dig info out of CAN in the diagnositics mode. Then, calmly walk into a friendly Ford dealer with a logger wired into the car behind the dash. Get friendly dealer to plug into WDS.... Once you've sniffed handshaking and can reproduce the handshake, then you do a reflash from the WDS, again log it and well you get the picture. Car electronics are very smart, but ultimately their interfacing is very dumb It has to do becuase it's got to be compatible with different versions of the WDS hardware and software globally. Ask your dealer about the price of the WDS and you'll understand why they don't replacement everyyear.... And why they like to charge $$ for using it. Ofcourse (stepping onto a limb here) They're unlikely to sell you a Modified-Ford-Copy-righted piece of code in a box. This is where I personally believe CAPA are sailing close to the law, unless they can prove thatt he Code stored inside their box is completely derrived from their own work and doesn't purport to be a Ford code to a probing WDS, nor meet other rules to show that the code is no longer protected by Ford copyright...... Ofcourse this is for another thread (that currently exists elsewhere) A.

Mine are donig that too - well one is. I was told not warrantable... *shrugs* Not the first time a maker has passed of faulty tyres as being my responsibility to replace due to product defects..... Not good form but what do we expect from a company that claims 100 cars only ever sufferered "Overboost" A.

Ofcourse that's what people talk about......Not being able to use existing hardware... Except the hardware is compatible (CAN Bus is quite well documented et al) and it's the software used to talk tot he ECU that is complex. I'd wager a SCT box from the US could be programmed by a Edit Customer Tuner here without a worry.... Ofcourse that means you'd be able to buy teh SCT programming kit from the US and use it on your BA right? Nup - becuase the software they ship with it wouldn't have a clue about the configuartion of the Falcon motor (Boost parameters etc etc). You wouldn't get a pretty working interface etc etc..... That's where CAPA etc had to put their money..... the Software, and that's why they're very keen to protect it - unlike the GM Edit which is running rife around the place. This is ofcourse pure supposition.... I have a new bit of CANBus access/interface gear coming in a month or twoish and I think it will be fun to see how it goes.... Like Macka it's not about the end result but about the journey A.

I haven't yet, but will do A.

bdennis makes good points about SMB. I've not had a problem with them except att eh quoting stage.... I do less than 20Kkm a year and leasing still works for me, so remember to investigate your individual options thoroughly. ie Leasing the XR6T for under 20Kkm /yr works for me, but leasing a ClioSport didn't work witht eh same equation. Overall leasing companies know their sh!t and just seeing their cost caculations change at end of warranty etc can give you an idea about potentials traps cost-wise when you're payign for the car HP... A.

I'm told that tuesday before Public Service Payday (ie Tomorrow) is the cheapest day. Somethign to do with the following theory. Sales Volume is higher on late Sunday/Monday as people come back from weekend away. On Tuesday before Payday most people don't want to fill up unless they _have_ to. A lot of people get paid on Wednesday for Thursday prompting sales volume increasing again. Demand then goes up.... Apparently the off-payweek Tuesday is also good, beucase most Non-public servants get paid late in that week (if Fortnightly) Personally I don't quite follow the theory but have noted that it's generally true that tuesday is a 'cheaper' day.... BTW, Been getting Vortex 98 from Braddon Caltex for botht eh MX5 and the XR for the last few tank fulls. Definitely runs better in the MX5 than optimax ever did and in the XR it seems smoother but I've also finally got the reflash (and no more overboost! - but it does get a flat in performance above 180)... A.

What about the second generation of PWR coolers? You know the one that supposedly doesn't have the problems of the first generation one OK Maybe not for extreme power, but if they'd be good for people looking for a steady 240-300rwkw then perhapos $880 ain't that bad? From my understanding an intercooler will not make power Only affect your ability to generate power through management of intake temp. With sustained low intake temps allowing power levels to be sustained. Ofcourse flow restriction will limit total power or control it... ie stock cooler that has a pressure drop of about 4 psi according to some? A.

BlackWrx.... I lease through SMB as part of my employment package (so we're talkign playing with pre and post tax $$ etc) but The only way I found I could make sense out of their numbers was to get a RRP for the vehicle, then compare that to everything they list. I found for example their insurance allowance (if you arranged insurance with them and not just had them pay another company) was about $300p/a high. How many kms a year are you looking at running up? Also consider ditching it within 3 yerars as the moment you go outside of the warranty period the numbers start a pretty steep incline. A.

The Dension system will NOT work in an XR on standard or Premium SOund. The Best option I've found is: AUX input (Ford or DIY) Belkin Charger/Amp unit for ciggy lighter port small cable to link the two. You get a higher audio signal level through the Belkin unit and you get to charge the iPod. A.

mmmm My 17" stocko SP3000s are wearing on the outer edge of the front, been aligned at least once.... Thinking it's about time I invested some time into suspension settings and mods.... A.

Cool... I'm a beliver in Electronics of mechanical as well so whent he time comes Autotechnique it will be... Thanks A.

Mine does it too. It's not hte belts as it only does it in reverse on the first start of the day after sitting overnight. (I parked nose out to drive forward to test theory).... It's a gearbox noise for sure in mine.... But I also get an intermittent problem when hot of the gearbox not engaging reverse until about 1500rpm+ is dialed up (can make parking manouvres interesting) and some erratic down shifting as well... A.

Am I right in understanding the GuageWorks is a mechanical Guage and the Autotechnique one an Electronic? I saw a brief mention on another thread and never got around to asking... A.