Yeah but none of them are the specialist tools needed to work on the vehicle! That's a bit shortsighted I feel.
Having said that we made the same comment when Toyota brought out their line of accessory tools in Toyota branded chests.
As far as the ute, ran 400 odd k's in it today. Went bloody well actually - right up until it got to my favourite corner on the matamata side of the Kaimais about 4 or 5 corners from the 'Summit Lookout' and it popped a check powertrain light with the generic diagnostic code. Now, I smell a rat here - 400Km or so to the north of Auckland - and yet it does the same fault on the same corner that it has for the last 5 times. That's an indication of a wiring loom failing, a clockspring behind the steering wheel not liking the right-left-right motion or body roll tweaking something else which is referring the fault to one module which is then triggering the generic code. This is what was wrong with the cruise control - the throttle body has a little motor in it that controls the position of the airflow flap and the original one fitted to the vehicle was damaged from what we think is the power supply problem with the faulty powertrain control module. Replaced the throttle body and hey presto the cruise control works again - but no fault code indicated that the throttle body was not serviceable. And this is the issue in a nutshell with computer controlled engine management systems and sensors - there is not enough diagnostic equipment fitted to them to actually tell you what component caused the issue. When I say it's popping a generic code, that code could relate to apparently more than 26 different fault conditions - which is a bit of a limiting factor. As I said - this isn't actually a Ford issue (but haters gunna hate) as the engine management on these vehicles is Bosch gear (the newer model is Seimens gear apparently) so potentially this failure could happen with any vehicle fitted with this brand of engine management.
The problem this leaves me is the vehicle is not really saleable without the issue resolved as it will just boomerang so I'm kinda stuck with either option A which is fix it, or option B which is take the hit and sell it for or wreck it for parts myself. It does not appear to be a mechanical fault - it's the engine management and control system with one or two parts that we have yet to find giving the issue.
Next problem, the people in the know tell me that 3500Kg towing with the new gen utes is not something they are keen to experience as the gear is lighter than the generation I have now in the pursuit of better fuel economy/less emissions tax/more profits etc etc. I'm not particularly keen on buying the same version as I have already used and with a list of false promises, and don't really want a Dodge Ram or a light truck which have the same issues as the new utes (everything in them is so light weight now) so what to do... Maybe the solution is avoid that corner of the Kaimais
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