G'day all cant beleive i stumbled across a great Ford community ,

I Bought an ed falcon 3 weeks ago, shes been a top car since i've had her but theres a couple of issues starting to arise, First is the power steering. Since i bought it She turns fine But when on full lock it used to squeal and carry on, Since about a week ago it doesnt squeal on full lock anymore, The power steering works quite well its just sometimes When your backing out of a park or the driveway the power steering wont kick in until you get moving ( real struggle for the missus to try and get out of a park when it plays up) It does it quite often now?? I've inspected the belt looks fine? fluid is topped up hasnt used any?

Other problem at the moment is a terribly high idle 3 days ago i disconnected the battery, removed the stock radio and installed a cd player, done it correctly i beleive as the cd player works fine but instead of a idle around the 600 its at about 1250 now, Before i installed the cd player i did fill up with premium for abit of a change, I have been doing abit of reading around since i joined and maybe the ecu needs to be reset? ( or i didn't have the battery disconnected for long enough )

My drivers side window stopped working on the 4th day of owning the car, i haven't thought to much of it as it really p****d down for a good week with rain....i jiggled the window around abit while playing with the button i can manage to get it about an inch down with abit of force, then i click the window to go back up..gos up without a problem?? started to pull the screws out to inspect behind door sill, after removing all the bottom screws the threads are showing signs of rust/corrosion and while pulling the door trim back abit to have a look i can smell a 'wet' smell and feels wet/moist inside

Apart from that no other problems at all, i really cant complain for the amount i paid for it, I used to own a ED manual a couple of years ago but unfortunatley it was t-boned and written off

just abit concerned about the powersteering and high idle at the moment Girlfriend is finding it hard to park the car at school time and i think the high idle is wearing on the gearbox abit really dont like the sound of the clunk when going from park to drive or reverse

Cheers all appreciate your input

Welcome to fordmods! I'm sure you'll find lots of useull info and nice mods to do to you're falc!

Power steering issue could be a issue with the pump, they do wear out but they often leak before they fail. Next time its doing it put it I neutral and give her a few revs and see If it kicks in. squealing would have been the belt slipping, double check the belt is still there and not heaps loose, it could be slipping without a noticeable noise. A tight belt should only be able to be pushed down about 1-2 cm in the middle of the longest stretch.

For the high idle does the car have the same power and fuel economy just idles high?
A few things with these cars is they stretch the accelerator cable and stick at idle (bind up) when it's next idling high lift the gas pedal up and see if it drops.
They also leak at the isc gasket, pop the inlet manifold gasket and split vacuume hoses, but these cause poor ecconomy and power.
When you disconnect the battery and re connect they usually hunt at idle "fluctuate up and down" for anything from 5mins to a few days because the car basically has to learn how to idle again. It shouldn't sit at 1200 rpm steady. Try disconnecting leave for halfa and re connect.
The power windows can suffer from a few issues like all early power windows.
Sticky switches, failing regulators, motors, the window runners inside the door bend or wear and make it hard for the window o work, since it's wet in there I'd start by pulling the trim off and have a good look at all the electronics to make sure nothings soaked.
As for the auto check the fluid level whilst in park and check the fluid condition, it's ment to be red and clean like power steer fluid, if it's dark and smells burnt I'd get a auto trans service.

Hope this helps and good luck!

for starters, welcome to fordmods, you come off as a smart man, as you write in paragraphs, and havent mentioned anything about doing burnouts and wondering why your car keeps blowing engines

now power steering issue could be the high pressure line could be blocked? or check the hard parts of the line for any crimps from things being dropped on it or bashed against it which will contstrict the line, im not sure what else to check other than that or the belt.

as for your idle problem, there are a few minor things you can at least check /clean to eliminate the offending part causing this problem, check your base timing, this means you need a timing light, and need to put the car into diagnostic mode, will have to ask somebody else how to do it on the ed as its slightly different proccess on the el which i have.
you can check for vaccum leaks, any hoses coming off the inlet manifold could be cracked or have come off, you could try cleaning the idle control solenoid on the throttle body and replacing the gasget when you reinstall it, and clean the throttle body, you can use throttle body/carby cleaner on these parts, and you can adjust the base idle(i know you can do this via a screw on the throttlebody on the el so ed should be similar) it should be located near where the throttle cable goes onto the t/body.

as for your driver side window, it could need the mechanical workings of the window lubed, or the rubber the window runs up in could be dirty and jamming the window, or it could be your button as i had a problem with my ef where the window could wind up but not down off the button, i replaced the centre consol buttons and it fixed my problem,

and also keep the services up to the autotragic transmission and it should shift nice and smooth, altho the higher idle sure doesnt help. this is just a handfull of things i can think of off the top of my small brain.

This should help.
Had a xh in today, high idle and temprimental power steering. Faulty switch was the cause. It also made it run rich. Wich is strange, but the switch was the issue.

ahh yes never thought of the p steer switch, on the 6 cyl it bumps the idle up when you move the power steering at idle

Funny we basically wrote novels and forgot the basics of the system.