Hoser768

You can bet they will take it out on the supplier. We supplied hydraulic hoses for a large ag/construction customer, and one of my brain dead co-workers forgot to crimp the end on an assembly, During testing it blew off and spewed oil all over the hot exhaust manifold and started a fire. We got charged for the entire destroyed machine ($60-70K) cleanup, and downtime for the assembly line. It was close to six figures by the time it was over. Whoever scored that hose is going to pay for it.

I don't think of them as big hose suppliers, I'd lean towards someone like Goodyear, Aeroquip or Parker. They could have supplied Bosch or Cooper with the hose that went onto a subassembly supplied to Ford. I still wonder what happened during assembly/manufacture to cause this issue. ( My username doesn't have anything to do with fact that I liked "Strange Brew" )

In related news, ice cream is creamy and delicious, but just too cold.

The wife's 99 S-10 Blazer is sitting in the garage waiting for me to transplant an engine, since the Dexcool rotted 4.3 puked itself at 110k miles, but it still has valid registration, so it helps count as "the most dependable"? ( I know it's not a 1/2 ton, but you get my point.)

I'm not understanding the criteria. Worst to own? Worst to try to sell off the lots? Lost the manufacturer tons of $$$? The Aztek was ugly, but worst ever? 74 Mustang? Not where Mustang fans wanted it to go, but where fuel prices forced it. Not much worse than the other dreck spewed out by Detroit at the time. I could go on but don't feel like typing. That new Mustang in 74 must have been an old 73, or new 75, because the 1974 model year was the only year the Mustang did not have a V8 option. Not a high point for the model, but certainly not the 2nd worst car ever.

I still drive a 2.3 Turbo that doesn't disappoint me and makes 146hp at best, when it rolled off the line almost 30 years ago. Today's engines surpass that with less displacement and no boost. Color me impressed.

I'm not liking the crease from the front fender, through the door handles back to the tail light. It looks too much like the Sonata, and I find the Sonata goofy-looking because of it. I actually like the Kia Optima better. I hope that's not the direction Ford is going.

I haven't even found anything that says the 1.0EB is an interference engine. The interference designs were more likely in high strung N/A designs. Turbocharging usually results in a compression ratio that doesn't require the valves being open so wide that it causes interference. But with DI, that could be different now. Most often, belt breakage causes no damage, The 1.6 Chevette is not an exception, the interference designs are the exception. My only timing unit failure I've had was the 76 LTD (400) with 174K miles that wore the timing gear so bad the chain jumped a tooth or 2.

As a former employee of a major hose and belt manufacturer, I'd say the quality of the belts and hoses have made great strides in the last couple decades as well. These are not the same belts you got on a 1.6L Escort. I changed the belts on my 2.3 OHCs well after (2x) the recommended mileage, and even though it's not an interference engine, the belts never broke, or left me stranded. The belt on a 1.0L made today wouldn't cause me a second thought.

It's not even a price issue with me. I alternate DD duties between the Thunderbird and Ranger, and did some work on the '83 F250 to get it ready to pull the camper around, since I grenaded the wife's 4.3 Blazer towing it the last time. Everything I see shows the new F-150 is heavier, longer, and within an inch of being as wide as this F250 I'm driving. It's freakin huge! I'd never consider something that size as a daily driver. It's a chore to drive. If my Ranger burned to the ground tonight, I'd be looking for another Ranger tomorrow. If the f250 burns to the ground, I'm probably going to be looking at something like a Sport Trac. The Ranger will do 95% of what I need a truck for, I don't need to drag around 2 tons+ of truck every day for the other 5%. The V6 F150 options can get up to low 20s mpg. big deal, my Ranger still does 28. I'll consider something TC/Focus based, but if my option is the current sized F150 and nothing else, I'll be driving used Rangers until somebody else comes up with something that can do about 30mpg hwy and tow about 2000 lbs. when needed. Manual transmission preferred, but auto would be more acceptable to the wife. (She can work the clutch but prefers not to.)

Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner. And now that he's spent who knows how long grinding up the synchros, He may actually have a trans issue by now.

I smelled that rat from the first show when Rutledge, (somebody who is supposed to know something about cars from what I've heard, but not what I've seen) diagnoses the Turbo-Tbird with a stuck thermostat "It's dry as a bone" and then goes to find a pen from the trunk to puncture it (when there's a screwdriver 2 ft. away.) Why not just take it out? And if it really is dry it was just going to meltdown, because there's no coolant to hit the coolant temp sensor to send an overheating reading. Then he blows up the transmission on the final challenge doing a neutral drop, which everyone knows is the fastest way to launch a car. I see drag racers doing it at the strip all the time. Just like TG UK, it's an entertainment show, not a car show. The points don't matter.

My Five Hundred with the CVT shifts great. Slamming? Clunking? Mine has never done that. It has a little whine when temperatures get around 10F until it warms up, but nothing serious. No hunting between 5th and 6th, it can handle 5.523145663th gear. It's one of the most vilified features of the car and one of my favorites.

The only transmission issue I've had with my Five Hundred CVT (50-100rpm "wobble" until fully warm) was fixed with a reflash. When software does most all the control, the hardware has one job and is along for the ride.

If I had a crystal ball and could tell what engines were going to be in the Mustang in 2015 in 1985, 1995, or 2005, and the answers were 5.0 or Turbo 2.3, in each decade I would have been

I love the CVT on my Five Hundred. Only problem I've had with the CVT was fixed with software under warranty. I had a lunging problem once. It was my fat right boot hitting the brake and gas at the same time. Overall I've heard of more problems with the Aisin 6spds on the forums, But I guess I don't know how many of each were sold, so I can't make an accurate determination of failure rate. I too find it strange the Five Hundred/Montego wouldn't be included with the same powertrain.

Pretty much as I understand it, it means it's scheduled, and parts are allocated. Basically the last step before it starts moving down the assembly line.

I had the same issue with the 3650 in my 03 GT. I changed the fluid to Royal Purple and it helped. Many people had good luck with GM Syncromesh as well. After I saw the horror stories of people that had the same problems, only to take it in to the garage and have a multitude of things changed, and just make things worse, I decided to do the fluid change and live with it. I wonder how many of these problems are worse after the garage finishes with them.

I leave the keys in Thunderturd on a regular basis. It's always sitting there waiting for me. I don't worry about door dings or where I park it. I'd laugh if the tailgate was missing from the Ranger. "I guess somebody needed it more than I did." . The beater is the key to auto nirvana.

I see the new 2.3 is rated 143HP. That's only about 3 HP less than my Lima 2.3 Turbo was 28 years ago. Engine design has come a long way.

Nice! :happy feet: Sounds about exactly like I'd order mine. Might be some indecision about the color, but the DSG would be top 3 if not the winner. If it's anything like my new Ford experiences, the EPA numbers are low once they get 20-30k on them.

Actually, they did. My link It was Five Hundred, not 500. It was ruled a while ago that you couldn't trademark a number, which is why AMD and Intel both made "486" chips, and Intel changed to "Pentium" on the next series, because they couldn't get trademark on any of the #86 names. It's all about the lawyers and defending a trademark. If Ford let Ferrari get away with making an F150, then Toyota would come out with a Tundra F150 model next year and argue they could call it that, because they let another automaker make an F150 and didn't object, so it must be OK.

Co-worker just took his Duramax/Allison w/50k miles in to the shop for a replacement trans. cooler hose. Estimate on the work was $900. He pitched a fit and got GM to cover half even though it was out of warranty. I haven't spent that in total maintenance cost on the Ranger in the last 10 years / 85k miles of it's 165k mile history.

Real usual Hwy only MPGs from some of my vehicles. 3800lb. Five Hundred CVT 3.0 Duratec AWD - 28mpg 3400lb Thunderbird 2.3T 5spd 27mpg 2970lb Ranger 2.3 5spd 28 mpg So what I'm seeing is a AWD full size sedan can match mileage with a compact pickup that weighs 800 lbs less from 10 years ago....

The CVT has been pretty trouble free from my understanding. The CVT in my 05 Five Hundred is one of my favorite features and it works great. The only hicccup I had with it was fixed under warranty with a computer reflash.