I own my cars for 10 to 15 years, and have not had service access ever be a significant enough issue to care about it when buying the next one.
1 Like
Car companies don’t own the dealerships nor do they set prices the dealers charge. They don’t build them just to make you pay more to repair them. They have no profit motive for that.
Ford only profits on the repair parts. The parts Ford sells are pretty reasonably priced in my experience. There is no way you are getting an ABS ECU for $400 for an Audi or Mercedes.
Again I ask… What help were you asking of Ford (or the dealership)? Seems like your answer is, if I read your comment correctly, is “a cheap repair.” You clearly did not get that but why should you expect it? Clearly that’s is a big reason you work on your own cars.
1 Like
That’s why you remove it yourself, bring it to a specialty shop to have it rebuilt for around $300 . . . and since YOUR module was rebuilt, it will be plug-and-play with no flash programming required
4 Likes
My grocery store prices their products as low as they can afford to sell them and still stay in business. If they didn’t they’d lose customers to other stores. I don’t have to do anything to cause that to happen, other than go to a competitor if I think the prices are too high. OP is there a reason using a competitor shop is not possible/practical in your problematic ABS module case?
Thanks for the tip. The customer’s Fusion that I work on is still depressurized after an accident. I need to make sure the ABS is fixed before doing that.
When said Ford Fusion, I had to say you’re going to be doing a lot of repairs whether they are easy to do or not. Here’s what has been done so far involving me with a 2012 fusion and a 4 cylinder, from about 140k miles to 175k:
1)Front springs broke and suspension sunk down. Had to be fixed.
2)Inner tie rod boot rubbed through touching the chassis and and got a hole in it. It touches when the suspension is all the way down. Water contamination damaged an inner tie rod and it had to be replaced. They can be rotated to like you do when you move rope to prevent rope chafing.
3) Cabin fan electrical contacts on speed control and motor burnt and failed. It is a design flaw where the connectors can’t handle the current from the fan on full. It affects the Focus too I believe.
4) A/C won’t come on since outside temperature sensor broke off, but that was from an accident I think.
5) Both upper engine mounts failed. Exhaust flex joint is broken.
6) Battery to chassis ground connection started to fail. Engine would stall at idle. Voltage difference between engine and chassi. Looks like a previous owner had relocated it though.
7) Passenger window regulator failed. Replacement requires drilling out rivets. A fair amount of work. Inner door handle needed replacement.
8) Replaced radio, had to find one with the premium Sony audio option. Not Ford’s fault, someone had put coins in the CD player. Got about 31 cents back to help with the repair cost.
9) Broken wire in the HS can bus down on the sub frame going to the power steering disconnected the ECU from the rest of the car. Car will not start if the ECU cannot talk to the cluster to read the chip key code. Diagnostic connector stopped working, unless you have a Ford specific one that uses the alternate ECU connection.
10) Belt tensioner bent and the belt come off. Water pump stopped working. Customer kept driving. Fortunately it has a limp mode, but it did blow out some coolant and I had to buy more Ford specialty orange. The Autozone or Advanceauto made in Italy whatever belt has shallow cuts and could not be put back on. Struggled for over 2 hours. Had to get an expensive one from Oreilly that had deeper cut grooves and it worked fine.
11) Some oil leaks at both ends of the engine seem to be getting started. Still minor, but it’s a 12 year old car.
12) The parking brake cable now has water in it and it will stick on if the brake is on when it freezes out.
13) The catalytic converter has failed. There is a code for it.
14) One headlight adjustment broke and the headlight is pointed all the way down. The accident took care of that though.
15) The plastic pieces that cover the hood hinges have plastic phillips screw heads and they are UV damaged and must be replaced. Need to get those.
16) Now the door open chime is starting to sound at random times while the door is closed. Another job to do!
17) The ABS wheel speed senors are failed on both sides in the front. Something must have damaged the sensor wire on one side. On the other side the wire harness may be damaged. It might have pulled out and pulled a wire in the harness.
18) I painted the transmission cooler lines to protect them from rust, when I got a new radiator support assembly from the junk yard. At about 14 years of road salt exposure a leak will start typically.
19) The horns are not water proof. Driving with the right fender molding off exposed them to water and they had to be replaced.
20) Broken rubber on rear brake caliper. Corrosion occurred. Caliper would not push back in. Had to replace.
21) Wheel bearing had to be replaced, but that’s because it looks like in the past the wheel must have fallen off and it took the protective dust cover with it. Brake dust and such contaminated the bearing.
Issues:
A) The transmission drain plug is not recessed like on Toyota and driving over something could break the aluminum transmission. The 6 speed transmission does not have an oil pan. The cover is on the side on the front side of the car.
B) The bumper is narrow (like most cars today), and rather thin as far as how far it is from top to bottom. Easily damaged in an accident. But it does have a crumple area behind it before it accaches to the unibody frame. The car can be repaired from a more severe accident, it’s just that all the platic parts will cost a lot. If the bumper pushes in it will take the radiators and the whole plastic radiator support with it. The platic engine intake manifold may even need to be replaced. I think they designed it to maximize profits after an accident.
C) Airbag sensors are right up front behind the plastic grille. A deer hit can deploy the airbags. There is no structure in front of them. This is dangerous.
D) Too many digital electronics. Two CAN busses, HS and MS. A special scan tool that is wired (or has a switch) so that it can talk on the MS CAN bus may be needed for some diagnostics like climate control.
Your 3.5L Fusion has the dreaded internal water pump. The engine has to be removed to replace it, and it can contaminate your oil if you don’t catch it in time. Someone on the bobtheoilguy forum insists that the thin 5w20 synthetic oil causes premature timing chain wear and it puts extra load on the water pump bearing.
Probably the biggest issue with these was the electric power steering failures.
You may want to sell the car now if you’re not prepared for an engine removal for the water pump some time in the future.
I see that you now know that at least the ABS module is paired with the VIN. The free version of FORscan can’t fix this.
What do you have against the 1992-1995, which has the exact same drive train (except got rid of the distributor)?
If they could make cars even 6 inches longer in the front, it would have a significant positive impact on safety and it would make things so much easier to work on.
2 Likes
I have nothing against the 1992-1996 generation. Nor do I have anything against the 1987-1991 generation, which remains one of my favorites. But they aren’t easy to work on, and finding a scan tool which will work with the 1987-1991 models is not easy. Parts for these models will generally have to be ordered, no one will have them in stock.
The 1997-2001 generation remains one of the most common cars on the road, which means that aftermarket parts and professional service are readily available for this model. For the average person, this is an important selling point.
Eight years ago I looked under the hood of a 2006 Jeep Liberty. I was impressed with how nicely the engine compartment was configured. The V6 engine was positioned in the traditional way, not transverse-mounted. The water pump, alternator, electric cooling fan and drive belt looked accessible for easy replacement. It looked liked the Jeep engineers designed the engine compartment to accommodate the DIYer.
1 Like
And the DIYer would need FREQUENT access to that Jeeps’ engine compartment.
3 Likes
The old British MGs, Triumps, and Austin Healeys were tinkerers delights.
I’m confused by this. My Corolla is a similar OBD I era. While there’s a testing connector in the engine compartment where various signals of interest are routed, there’s no provision for connecting anything to the ECU’s bus system. So an OBD II type of scan tool (which connects to the PCM’s bus system) isn’t an option. Are you suggesting some OBD I cars provide a connector to access to the ECU’s bus system?
My '93 Saturn had an OBD1 connector that allowed connection to the car’s internal network. I don’t think it was CANbus, but an earlier protocol called a serial data bus… You could flash error codes by jumping the 2 upper right terminals. But there wasn’t a consistant standard at that point.
hmm … well then some OBD I manufacturers included a connector which allowed another computer to access the ECM directly, interesting. Could you display the engine coolant temp sensor output then? My Corolla has the code flashing function too, but connection to the entire computer bus isn’t necessary for that.
Chrysler’s DRB II from the late 1980’s shown below. The display shows live sensor data. Actuator tests can command computer outputs to switch on/off.
There are separate cables to connect to the engine or Transmission/ABS/Body computers. A cartridge allowed for annual updates or to adapt to Mitsubishi, Jeep/Eagle vehicles.
The DRB II is 100 times better than the Actron scan tool I own.
I had the old Snap on Brick (MT2500 scanner) with the 2 cartridge slots, and a whole bunch of cartridges and cables plus a couple of generic cables, it was a great scanner way back when…
I remember getting the new OBD2 cartridges and cable for it, the 1st vehicle I used the OBD2 stuff on was an E150 and I laid the scanner on the wiper arm and put it in the key on self test thingy mode and was half paying attention to it when the wipers started working and I caught it before it hit the floor, I was thinking WTH was that… lol… Haven’t left a scanner on the windshield since… 
Picture from eBay…
1 Like
My 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis (71000 miles) is very reliable but as my brother says it won’t break down in my driveway. Previous 93 Crown Vic LX 150000 miles very reliable. Easy to work on these Panthers with so much repair help online.
Agree Fords are reliable. Buy my batteries at Costco with low price and great warranty. But they don’t install them. But how difficult is it to install a battery?
Battery replacement is one of the easiest jobs there is.
Your car is 25 years old, but only 71,000 miles?
Yes and no rust as it was sprayed with oil every year.
Original owner was a retired gentleman.When he could no longer drive, he gave the car to my brother who used to do oil changes and maintenance for him. So he got the car at 31000 miles.
I inherited the car in 2015 and now it is at 71000 miles.
I did not have the space to keep two cars or the energy to self maintain two cars so I let the better equipped Crown Vic LX go.
That depends on the vehicle. Replacing the battery in our 2003 Olds Silhouette was difficult, or at least tedious. I had to remove a strut attached to the wheel well and radiator mount, then wiggle the battery into the right position to lift it out. There is some disassembly of the air system required on our 2019 Odyssey to pull the battery. These aren’t the kind of job you are likely to do away from home, like at COSTCO or a parts store. I did the Olds at home, took the battery to a parts store, had a test done, then bought a new battery if needed. Then I took the old battery back for a core refund. That’s an afternoon’s work.
2 Likes
I guess you are unaware of certain BMW vehicles that need the battery paired to the vehicle . Also even though they replace batteries bought from them for free there are some vehicles they will not work on . The place I buy batteries from has a sign that while free install there is a 20.00 charge for some vehicles . So yes, it can be difficult to replace some batteries.
2 Likes