ClutchTime

There's a section in the employee section of this forum for vehicle status requests but, there are several rules you have to follow in order to get a response and I can already tell you that you'll get ignored just by your post count. If you're on facebook, contact Jamie At Ford. Otherwise, jump through the hoops here or you won't get the information.

I know what kind of air pressure you run in your tires and I know what kind of difference that makes compared to the factory setting. I'm sure that helped out too. Glad you're alright.

My Explorer's reception has always been good but, I prefer the look of the fin. Did the VG antenna noticeably improve the reception and how much did it cost?

I've had an SE for 3 months and the warning has always started to come on at 50-51 miles to empty then again at 25, then 10 and finally at 0. GaryG, While trying to break 500 miles to a tank for the first time, I managed to get my Explorer to hit 0 MTE as I pulled into a gas station. It has an 18.4 gallon fuel tank and the pump didn't click until it took 18.54 gallons. Every single older Ford I've been in could go 20 miles or so past 0 MTE. I've been in a diesel F-350 that was pushed to 35 miles past 0 MTE. I've taken my '12 Focus and my Mom's '11 Focus about 4 miles past 0 MTE. As far as the Explorer is concerned, I'm not cutting it that close again unless I know I'll be at the station before I'm @ 0.

The problem is still around. Mid-May build date with 4700 miles and the passenger side began buzzing today between 70-75. Do the replacement pieces just thicker rubber seals?

Some years ago I saw a story about Robert Yates' engine program and how they built and serviced Cup engines for other teams to use. It was a yearly program but, it boiled down to a $58K + a week rental for an engine that was lock-wired shut so you couldn't open it up to find out it's secrets. Keep in mind, that was an old 351 Windsor based bottom end with Cleveland style heads and fuel wasn't nearly $4 a gallon. Heck, I know drag racers that would buy the mileaged out crankshafts from NASCAR teams. Those things cost five grand when they were new. I know of 306 cu. in engines with iron heads that still have over $30K in them. You couldn't machine and build a competitive 2009 spec Cup engine for anywhere near $50K and there are parts galore for those. Forget about an FR9. I'd be happier if they quit pretending and stopped putting stickers on the cars to make them look like a real production vehicle. The '97 Thunderbird was the last stock car that shared most of it's dimensions with the production body. Back to the engines. I just found this. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/189676-the-new-nascar-engines-a-quick-look#/articles/189676-the-new-nascar-engines-a-quick-look/page/11 Click on over to slide 11 for the cost of them. If you don't feel like it, it's 75 grand for the old style and 110 grand for the new ones. Ouch!!!

I thought about giving my view on the subject of premium fuel benefits, but decided asking Ford Motor Co. directly was a better use of time. Here's a copy of their e-mail response to me on the subject. Nothing has been changed other than the removal of my personal information. My question to them is at the bottom. Hi *****, I am Jane, a representative from Ford. I received your email inquiring about the premium fuel of your 2012 Ford Focus. You have certainly reached the right department and I am more than happy to assist you with this matter. I have consulted our Technical Subject Matter Expert (techSME) with regards to this matter and I was advised that the use of premium fuel is in respect to the quality of the fuel provider. Ford recommends the use of top tier suppliers due to the fact that most premium top tier fuels will include special additives which may or may not be present when using other fuel suppliers. Some of the additives used by top tier suppliers may inhibit the formation of carbon or varnish on the fuel system components and the intake valves and combustion chambers which will improve performance and fuel economy. Fuels lacking these additives can form carbon deposits which rob the engine of power and fuel economy. There would not be any performance gain from using fuel with an octane rating taht is higher than 87 octane and use of fuels less than 87 octane is of course not recommended. Additionally in some cases, the supplier may only include these additives with their higher octane fuels which may provide a benefit when used but not due to the increased level of octane. I hope this information helps and clarifies everything to you. Thank you for writing and have a great day! Sincerely, Jane Customer Relationship Center Ford Motor Company Sometimes e-mail communication does not allow us to gain additional information that may be helpful in responding to your inquiry. Should you feel that we have not adequately addressed your questions, please feel free to contact us via telephone at (800)392-3673 between the hours of 8am and 5pm, local time, Monday through Friday. Hearing-impaired callers with access to a TDD may contact 1-800-232-5952. For online support visit us at: www.customersaskford.com which contains answers to frequently asked questions and links to other key product and service information. Ford Confidentiality: -------------------- For security reasons, please do not submit any sensitive personally identifiable information, such as credit card numbers, driver license number, SSN, DOB, etc. Thank you. [THREAD ID:1-5UOOLL] -----Original Message----- From: ******************** Sent: 7/14/2011 01:22:50 AM To: Subject: Vehicle Service Issues Ford Motor Company Main Topic: VehicleServiceIssues Your Inquiry: I have a 2012 Ford Focus with the 2.0L GDI 4 cylinder engine rated at 160 hp. I am inquiring about the true meaning of the octane recommendation section in the owner's manual. It states the following: "Octane recommendations- Your vehicle is designed to use“Regular” unleaded gasoline with a pump (R+M)/2 octane rating of 87. Some stations offer fuels posted as “Regular” with an octane rating below 87, particularly in high altitude areas. Fuels with octane levels below 87 are not recommended. Premium fuel will provide improved performance." What is meant by "premium fuel will provide improved performance"? By it's placement in the paragraph some think it means premium fuel will provide improved performance over lower than 87 octane regular gas that Ford does not recommend. Others read it just at it's face value that premium gas provides better performance than 87 octane gas that the engine is designed to run on. Also, if this is the case what is the improvement. Which view is correct? Thank you for your time. Owner: Yes Vehicle Identification Number: 1FAHP3F2XCL******

Focusing, you may want to ask or wait for GaryG to chime in. I think I read somewhere that he got his kid a new Focus and I know he's big into the "hybrid thing". I've only driven an Escape hybrid for short jaunts at work since it's one of the company vehicles and it's completely trashed so I cant give any opinion on it.

Back to the original point of this thread(if anyone remembers)...

My dad ordered a red '73 Gran Torino GT from the factory. When news of my arrival came along, it was traded in for a (oh, how I hate to say this)Granada. Before I had any memory of it, that was traded for an '83 Escort which was later traded in on an '89 Escort that became my first car. The Escorts weren't embarrassing but, they weren't worth bragging about either. At least they weren't Granadas! My dad also had a '74 F-100 with a 302 and a three speed with a Hurst floor shifter. It was rusted out on the wheel arches of the bed and the paint was faded but I grew up loading it full of firewood level with the roof. I loved that old thing. I always remember my dad never driving over 45 when I rode with him. I never noticed any bad habits my mom had until I got older but, let's just say most of the family prefers for her to ride with them instead of the other way around.

Someone I work with had been telling me to get the weathertechs instead but, they are so much more expensive, I've never seen any group buys on those and the supposed benefits to them aren't possible with the Explorer's floor design. I finally left Andrea Coleman a message on the 5th and another lady called me back the next evening. I ordered the first two rows and the over the third cargo liner. I had been waiting to see if they would come out with a set for the '12 Focus and the girl said they just did so, I ordered a set for that too. She took $20 off the price of those. No more trash bags, dirty uniform shirts, or paper mats on the floors! That was the easiest ordering I've ever done. Thanks blwnsmoke.

If the Ranger offered an extended cab or four door version with the room of a Fiesta, I would own one now instead of a '12 Focus and a 20 year old F-150 along with maintenance costs on both of them. I haul a riding lawn mower fifty miles one way to cut my mother's grass. I can only get 15 mpg out of my truck so with gas the way it is, I've been spreading the trips out to once every three weeks or so. A full sized 8' bed is priceless when you need one and I love having it. But, the fact is, I know enough people that I could have three or more to choose from at the drop of a hat . I would love to have something that I could afford to drive to work, haul the trash and the lawn mower in the back when I needed to, and have room for the wife, dog, kid and luggage. It doesn't have to have best in class rear seat room. I'll work with what you give me, just give me a rear seat and some form of a door to get to it! I've said it for years. The Ranger is good for high school kids that want to ride one buddy around at a time and old men that need something to ride around in and get away from the wife. That's exactly what every Ranger owner I know is or was. Personally, I like the '95 Explorer dash. I like the rest of the truck too. It's the fact that you can't get a real back seat and you're stuck with that gas guzzling 4.0 boat anchor if you want something more than a 2 door or 4 cylinder that kills it for me. Ford should have altered the 3.0 Duratec for RWD use long ago and put it in the Ranger. I don't know what the other guy's definition of compelling is but, I would say something that makes you want it and nothing in the lineup does that. I hate GM and the Colorado/Canyon is as ugly us a toad anyway so it's out. The Dodge is hideous and I still don't trust their transmissions. Toyota had me admitting their supremacy in the class for awhile but, they're getting a bit ugly for my liking now and I despise anything with a Z-gate shifter. Nissan...I don't remember the last time I even saw a Frontier. They really still make those things? Either way, they're ugly too. What else is left? A Mitsubishi Raider? The best possible option for me out of those choices would be the Toyota but, I bleed Ford blue and I can't bring myself to do it. If I can't pull the trigger on a Taco, the rest isn't worth trying to think of. His argument may be grasping at straws but, I can grasp enough of them to make a straw broom and sweep all those choices into the trash. And about not getting 30 mpg, that may be true. But, If I can get over 25 mpg average with my current five liter Mustang, and never got worse than 22 running the crap out of my old one, I'd be willing to bet I can pull 30 out of a newer 2.3 or a 2.5 Ranger.

I always steer with one hand on the bottom center of the wheel in mine. I've never experienced what you're describing. It's really a simple thing to confirm if you're at the dealer and they're not sure if it's right or wrong. What's on the lot? Go take another one down the street and see what that one feels like.

I did take the car in for this but it was first thing in the morning and of course it was working fine since it hadn't warmed up outside. The dealer said everything checked out fine and they would leave the work order open through the weekend and to call them if it messes up again and that humidity is a big factor. It won't cool as well when it's humid. Yeah, yeah, save the speech for someone that doesn't have a clue. I spent the next hour or so walking around Lowes. It was 90 outside when I left and all the A/C could muster was warm air. I picked up a meat thermometer and made sure it was calibrated then headed back to the dealer with 70 degree air coming out of the vents. The service writer took it into the shop and when she brought it back, it was on Max and blowing about 50. She said they hadn't done anything to it and it was blowing warm because I hadn't set it to Max A/C. I had the recirculate button pressed and the A/C was on but, it wasn't on max. I told her that whether I had set it to Max or not, that 70 is a lot warmer than any A/C I've ever used or worked on could do without constantly running the compressor on Max. She set up an appointment for the next week to leave it. On the ride home, I turned it off for a few minutes to warm the vents back up. Then I set it back exactly like I had it before. It cooled down to 57 the whole way home. When I turned it to the max setting, it blew mid-40's. It still doesn't make me feel cold in the car like my Explorer does but I'm sure the blacked out windows have a lot to do with that. It did that the whole weekend so, I never bothered to take it back. Neither of us wanted my dash torn apart for no good reason. The service writer says they did nothing to the car but check the charge the first time. I can't fully believe that since it went from 70 to 57 but, whatever. It's worked exactly the way it should ever since then so I've left it alone. As long as the wife is happy with it, so am I. I have a tendency to turn it off and sweat just to see how high I can get the average fuel mileage up to. So far, that was 50.8 mpg over the 45 mile trip home from work.

The MTE reading in my Focus read 40 something when I pulled into a parking garage last week. When I got out of the garage it gave a 0 miles to empty warning.

How far past the "0 Miles to Empty" warning did you get before it stalled?

I have a base 4WD model with the towing package. Both my wife and I are deemed essential personnel and have to show up for work when the weather turns crappy so I wasn't going to buy something new without getting power sent to both ends. I may tow with it but, I have a truck so I may not. I just liked that it gave me the SelectShift feature for nearly $2,500 less than an XLT. By standard wheels, do you mean standard for the Limited 20" wheels or the standard 17"? Right now, I'll never get that much to a full tank since I haven't trained myself to get up early enough every day. I always end up having to run a few miles over limit to make it to work on time at least once a week but, I am trying to make changes. This run was on my way home from work after stopping for gas. There were seven miles of interstate driving at 60-65(speed limit is 70 and everyone runs near 80) and the rest were on rural roads where I kept the cruise set around 45 (55 limit). My best tank so far was 27.5 but, it would have been around 28.5 had I not overslept one morning. I'm very pleased that I can squeeze out numbers close to guys like you despite the extra heft of the 4WD.

My average fuel economy reading has never been off by more than a tenth. This is what's possible... http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1969638555202.171924.1070107420&l=5f3f91f084

There's no may about it. I'm hauling it in as soon as I can get it there. I just wanted to know it's not me. Thanks. Whoa there you 300 spec package people! I have an SE with the Convenience Package. You guys are talking about all kinds of fancy whatnots. I've got a dial that's red and blue for temperature and a button that say's A/C and lights up. That's all. Yes, it was turned on. I could tell a difference in the air from off to on but it wasn't much at all. I had the dial turned all the way to the blue side and when the MAX A/C button is pushed, it automatically recirculates. As for the temperature, it felt about the same as my house which is set on 72. And IF it was as low as 72 in the car, that's all it had. Max A/C, recirculating the air, and the fan on high. A whopping 9 degrees cooler than the outside air, but that's just a guess. I did stick a thermometer in my Explorer's vent today and figured out it was junk. The air coming out of the vent with the A/C off was comfortable and the thermometer read nearly 100 so I'll have to get another one before I know what I actually have coming out. Thanks for the input.

I made an hour long drive the other night. The A/C never got the inside of the car cool. On max, with the fan on high, the air coming out was simply cool, not chilly or cold at all. The outside temp was only 81 and I was running 70mph. I'm curious if the grill shutters are obstructing flow across the condenser. I haven't stuck a thermometer in the vent yet since my wife has the car and is working a different schedule than I am right now. My '11 Explorer began to show the same problem tonight and I'm going to get the vent temperature on it in the morning. I was just wondering if anyone else had issues with their A/C.

I appreciate your concern and advice. But, as a Michelin certified tire technician and an ASE certified mechanic, I'm well aware of how tire pressure affects wear. I'm also aware that sometimes the manufacturers recommendations are not the best. Remember the old 26 psi Explorer debacle? I never inflated tires in one of those vehicles to anything less than 30. Did they wear out in the center? No. Let's look at some other vehicles. I know a lot of older BMW sedans had a recommendation of 44 psi. What's the recommended pressure in a Ford Taurus? I'd bet it's a lot less than 44 even though a Taurus and those BMWs weigh very close to each other. Forget all about suspension tuning and drivetrain. If 44 is way too much in a Taurus and will wear out the center tread, why will it not wear out the tread of the BMW? Because of a placard on the door jamb? How about an F-150? They called for 41 psi in the rear tires for years. If your not hauling anything in the bed, why do you need the extra pressure when the front of the truck weighs so much more and only calls for 35? The F-350 calls for 80 psi in the back. Again, if the beds are empty, there isn't enough extra weight on the back of the 350 vs. the 150 to need twice the air pressure yet that's what the placard calls for. My grandfather's F-250s have both gotten 80K+ miles to each set of tires and I know he runs closer to max sidewall than the tire placard. Also, the recommended pressures are for a cold tire, on an unloaded vehicle. When you load up the wife, 2.3 kids, the dog and everyone's luggage for a road trip, whatever that tire placard says is now not enough. You may think I'm foolish for adding so much pressure while GaryG says he's been doing this for years and has only seen benefits from it. I don't know either one of you. Both of you could be valedictorians from MIT or crackpots from the alley behind the Piggly Wiggly. Since it doesn't sound like the ramblings of a nut, I wanted to give GaryG's advice a shot. I see your point about the extra cost of replacing the tires early but, I never said I would leave it this way for 25K to 50K miles. I am willing to try it and see what happens and I've got the tread depth gauge close by to see exactly how fast it wears out parts of the tread. I've spent years working in a shop that performs custom performance work so, I lean towards doing it better than the factory did it the first time. If the ride was so terrible, do you think I'm not able to figure that out myself unless you tell me so. I've never seen you drive my vehicle so, how would you know how it rides with a certain air pressure in it? And even if you did, that would be your opinion, not a fact. Fact is that the 2011 Mustang GT is quicker from the factory than my '95 mustang was when it rolled out. Most people's opinion of the new GT would be that it is a quick car but, my opinion is that it's slow. You say my Explorer rides terribly. I feel that except for a faster handling response, the ride wasn't much different and I've quickly grown accustomed to it. Now for the math on the tires. $1200 to $1600 is a pretty wide range for a set of tires. I have a base model, so that gives me the 17'' Forteras that are running just under $626 a set, shipped from Tire Rack. The 20" tires on the Limited come in under $853 after shipping. I realize that doesn't include mounting and balancing but, where does that cost $400 to $600 minimum?

So far, the wife and I have been swapping between the new cars so I hadn't driven an entire tank out of the Explorer myself until this week. I had bumped the tire pressure up to 51 psi halfway through the last tank. This was a drastic difference in handling compared to the 40 psi it came with. At first, I wanted to put it right back down but I got used to it quickly and left it alone. This time around, I managed a combined average of 27.48 mpg in a base model 4WD. My single trip best was 28.5 mpg over 65 miles.

Cool. I live near the Virginia Aviation Museum where tail # 17968 resides out front next to the last F-14 to trap on a carrier. You've made me think about heading over there for a pic with mine. I guess that will have to wait for me to wash it again after my wife gets back with it.

Anytime those planes go up, it's more experience for the pilots. Whether it's from the usual training hours or the recruiting budget, if they're in the air, it's already been paid for and the pilots are getting more seat time and experience. I'd rather have a fleet of older model jets operated by highly trained and experienced aviators than of top of the line, new aircraft flown by pilots that barely know how to get them in the air and back on the ground, much less actually use them in combat. There's no point in having a weapon system of any sort if you aren't skilled at using it.

My grandmother recently took a jug of pennies ($43 worth) to the bank to get turned into cash. She found out that some banks have a shortage of pennies since most people don't use them. Also, I saw a news story about a man that brought several hundred dollars worth of pennies to a bank to pay a bill with. They turned him away and sent him to another branch because they couldn't process so many pennies at that location.