When I totally left the local dealership in 2000 Ford customer service would bend over backwards and back up the customer before the dealership, I went back to that dealership in 2005 to get a big surprise, BA's were piles of s**t with Ford customer service doing s**t, it appeared because the BA's were selling well compared to ugly but reliable AU's they didn't give a fly fig about them.

My biggest gripe was filling out warranty returns, you couldn't write that the part had failed due to poor design or manufacture, basically you had to lie, customers didn't see this so I couldn't see the point, if you wrote the truth the warranty would be rejected and the dealership was expected to cop the cost, Ford Australia is run by toss bags.

Don't you wish Ford reps actually read these posts.

I don't know what you guys think, but since BA's have been released especially with the XR6T we have been getting more toss bags driving Fords, the ex Holden toss bags we wouldn't piss on if they were on fire in the gutter, after owning Commonwhore's I supposed there is less to complain about.

I changed a lot of seat belts over the years on near new EF, EL and series one AU's, but I think I changed nearly as many BA seat belts in only a few months LOL.

Let me think of a small quick list of things I noticed in a few months back as a casual mechanic (yeah I am very casual).

Brake shutter (This isn't going to improve until Ford change the front hubs, most of this is cause by incorrect fitting and tension of wheel nuts, the hub is crap)
Rear handbrake (Reminds me of EF/EL door actuators, they couldn't fix them)
Diffs
Endless failed BTR autos, and never repaired properly by BTR.
Crap plastics, hard not to break them, especially the seat bolt covers.
Weird ECU issues
Front seat belts failed.
Blend door failures.

With my poor memory I know there was heaps more, just these ones came to mind

My ELs got a lot of little niggling issues,
but hearing all of this about BAs makes me feel a whole lot better

G'day all,

OT sorry,
Can anyone tell me the "trick" or "how to" to remove the B pillar to clean the lint etc as I too have the sticky seat belt prob on my BA.

To get back on topic I have also had the rear door seal prob and a pair of pliers squashing it fixed that.

cya
EFfutura

Am I the only person in the world who has a trouble free run with my BA's?

LoL no, everyone has the biggest whinge I rekon.

I haven't had one problem.

I had the seatbelt problem, but thats when I first bought it, after driving it for a while, it went away. So I wouldn't really call that a problem.

Rear trims, big deal.

Ummm, yeah, had to adjust my handbreak, that's what was on my rac full inspection, and that's the only problem I have had had.

The old mans Mk1 XR6T hasn't been tooooo bad, its done alot of ks (cant remember how much, think it's over 100k now?).

He had the overboost problem, reflash fixed it.
Handbrake is s**t.
Auto trans surround has bubbled up and looks s**t.
His XR6 badges on the skirts bubbled and looked s**t (he got new ones).
It had a rough idle for about 10 seconds after startup going on for awhile, service fixed it.

Biggest thing for him has been s**t paint quality, spoiler mismatched when he bought it, got that fixed, was apparently a problem with black when they first came out.
And it got stonechipped very easily, the bonnet looked like s**t, so he had the front bar and bonnet sprayed.
Oh, and turbo loose on manifold (why is my car going slow, and whats that rattle?), but thats more of a service problem I'm led to believe.

Hes never had the brake shudder, and no he doesnt have premium brakes.

Still got less rattles then an ED, and thats even when they have less kms then the BA lol.

I don't think it really counts as a 'problem' even though my wording was crap

as a ford mechanic let me clarify a couple of things.

handbrake:
when adjusted properly (IE removal of the wheels, rotors etc and cleaning the crap from the handbrake shoes/drum etc, and readjusting to the right specs, they never come back with an issue.
Yes they need adjusting probably every 30000km, but magnas (sorry 380's), and commodores use the same system and are just as bad.

brake shudder:
new callipers towards the end of 2003 sorted 99% of the brake shudder problems, and cars built after this time only show brake shudder as often as any other car with floating front discs. Also, overtensioning and uneven tensioning of the front wheels can cause this issue. Wheels should be 135nm.



Couldnt be more true. Its part of every scheduled service to retension exhaust manifold/turbo and intake manifold bolts.

The different lights are simply one XT/GHIA light, and one Futura/Fairmont light. Not one BA and one BF or anything like that...

Diffs, we see a few of them, but probably only a handful a month, less then 1% if the cars we see a month.

Seatbelts just need cleaning as stated above. Its not the worlds best design admittidly, but its not because the seatbelts fail..


Heater issues were mostly caused by early air mix shafts not being strong enough (only plastic), but updated ones were fitted to cars from sometime in 2004, and id be suprised if theres any left out of warranty that hadn't had the new ones fitted in warranty...

and what ECU issues are your speaking of letting BA's down?

Exactly, service problem, eg. not done on his car.

Yes but how are the Cup Holders Handling?

ive had no real probs at all, there was a rattle in the engine bay just days after i bought it, i took it back and they fixed the problem (removed the spanner) no s**t they even let me keep it , how nice of them.
great car all round the only thing that kinda ticks me off is that the front seat belts cut into the plastic trim,
Has This Happened To Any Of Your BA's?

Dunno, he got the smokers pack, so one has an ashtray in it, and the other has his keys lol

what a waist of talent

play with the adjustment of the seatbelt height, and youll find one that works for you and doesnt drag on the trim..