Angrod

So.... my starter died on me two Thursdays ago. Had to resort to the good old "pop the clutch" method to get it rolling. I wasn't about to be crawling underneath in the cold so I let a local Ford dealer do it. Of course it happens AFTER the comprehensive warranty runs out, and the powertrain warranty doesn't cover the starter. Oh well. Picked it up this past Tuesday. $345 and some change, which was actually lower than what I was originally quoted. Car starts better than it ever has.

Changed the oil on Sunday at 7900 miles. Could have gone a bit farther but it was so close that I just decided to do it. Turns out the drainback valve in the old filter was bad. I wondered why I seemed to get extra valvetrain noise on startup.

Holy crap! I never would have thought the Sable would look good as a convertible, or with two doors. That's awesome! Too bad I don't have the money or place to store it or I would be all over it.

Heater core is probably plugged up. Common issue on these cars. You can try flushing it but it might be a lost cause. You can replace it yourself but it takes some work behind the dashboard.

Check the fuses under the driver's dash in the GEM (or SJB). You may have blown some of those.

AFAIK this affects all Mach RCU's from all years. Ford never seems to have addressed the issue. I don't have anymore info on it myself but I know I encountered this more than once in my bull. Ford doesn't seem to have learned their lesson either. My Fiesta has trouble sometimes remembering my EATC settings when I switch it off/on.

This is a known firmware flaw with the Mach RCU. The only way to fix is to turn the system off and back on like you already do. You can prevent this from happening at all by always turning the system off before shutting off the car.

The Feisty reached a milestone on Thursday. It had 31,1xx on the odo back in late February when I drove it off the lot. The miles sure do add up fast.

Ermahgerd, now I want this forscan tool so I can mess around with my Feisty and see if there is any features I can turn on. Like drl's, instant mpg's, etc etc.

After 7500 miles I performed the first oil change on the Feisty today. Managed to squeeze in all 5 quarts somehow.

Well the a/c in the Fiesty is a bit colder now that I've added maybe half the can of refrigerant. It actually cools down in the sun, it just takes a while. I might add some more at some point but now that the heat has passed I no longer have a pressing need. Also, the rad fan is very, VERY loud when on high. I can hear it inside over the noise of the blower running at max!

Doesn't matter if I'm in stop and go traffic or doing 75 on the highway. The air never gets beyond a mediocre cool. If I run the engine at higher rpm's for a minute or two it gets colder but still not as cold as it should imo. The Taurus at least would get cold after driving on the highway for a few minutes. The Fiesta just doesn't seem to want to cool.

I like it. Gives it some added class imo. Now about my Fiesty..... Just like my last Taurus the Fiesta a/c doesn't get cold. It gets cool but cannot bring the temperature down more than a couple degrees as long as the car is in the sun. Just like the Taurus I have to put it in the shade for 10 minutes so that the interior cools off. As soon as I go back into the sun it starts to warm up again. Anyone else can leave their car baking in the sun all day, we can go for a ride and within a couple minutes the air from the vents is ice cold and the interior cools down nicely. Can my cars do that? NoooooOOOOOOooooooo..... Of course, the a/c system charge is not covered under my CPO warranty, only the physical a/c parts. And you know Ford would want $$$ just to pull my car into their garage. So I grabbed one of those stupid recharge kits from Wally World and put some in the system. Now I just have to wait until tomorrow to see if it helps at all...... And we're in the middle of a serious heatwave too.

You can change the heater core yourself to save $$$. If yours is plugged as bad as the one in the video then you would need acid to flush it clean. I don't know if you have to drain the cooling system for this or not. I forgot that the struts can pop like that when they wear out (although 71k miles sounds premature.) The bearings might have gone bad which I believe is known to cause a popping sound or feel. And a manual from an '02 will be fine for your car. The 2002 and 2003 cars are both Gen 4 and there weren't any significant changes.

Hi there! 1. Is it a continuous popping or a single pop when the wheel is turned? My first guess by your initial description is tie rods, then ball joints. 2. Clogged heater core. This is a common issue on these cars. I would suggest flushing it but if it's clogged as bad as it sounds then it would be easier to just replace it. But that won't be possible just yet because of #3. 3. Not sure how to help with this one. The latch is definitely frozen but I have no idea how to get it loose. Maybe spraying penetrating oil on it through the grille if you can get a good angle? 4. Warped rotors. 5. Might be a bad strut or the strut mount broke. To change either you will have to remove the carpet from the parcel shelf which I will explain with #7. 6. Most likely a dead window regulator. I have no idea how to change these. 7. If the seat is not the split folding rear seat then you will have to remove the seat bottom to expose the bolts holding the seat back on. Push in and up on the corners of the seat bottom to detach the latches, then pull the bottom out. The bolts for the seat back are now accessible. Remove them, then lift up and pull forward to remove the seat back. If the seat is the split fold type it is easier to remove. Just fold the rear seat down and the four bolts holding it in will be exposed. Remove them, then lift up and pull forward to remove the seat back. The carpet is held on with two plastic push pins. I put the nail puller of a hammer under the carpet and pry them out. You will probably have to disconnect the CHMSL (Center High Mount Stop Light, the brake light in the window) to remove the carpet. This should give you access to the seat belt and will also give access to the top of the strut towers.