Angrod

Just gave the Feisty its 75,000 something oil change. Inspection runs out end of September and I just discovered a huuuuuuuuuuuge exhaust leak. I blocked the tailpipe with a rag and the engine didn't even slow down a bit. Leak appears to be by the muffler. I will take it to a local shop and see what they want for a custom job hehe 😈. Also discovered that the elbow for the windshield washer hose broke off the passenger side nozzle so now i need the elbow and nozzle, and only Ford seems to have them. Small coolant leak where the hose from the turbo goes into the coolant bottle. Replacement hose

Sounds like the PCV to me. For some reason Ford designs their engines to pull most of their air through the crankcase whenever the throttle is closed. Any leaks in the PCV system (hoses or plastic connections, maybe a bad valve) cause the engine to run poorly. My last Taurus would cold start rather hard in warm or hot weather. Stumble and miss for the first few seconds. In the middle of winter when it was very cold I would have to hold the accelerator down a bit or the engine would stall right away. Never did get it figured out and my PCV system was fine.

Check the 8th character of the VIN. If it's a U then you have the 3.0 OHV (pushrod) v6.

Heater core is probably plugged. Common issue with these cars.

So I'm still alive and the Feisty is too. Been doing regular oil changes. Other than that nothing new with the car. It runs great and I have learned how to use the turbo so that I don't need to downshift on hills! I'm trying to drive tractor trailer for my job (UPS) and I plan on going for my permit next week. I hope I pass all the training and get in as I will be converted to full time which will give me a massive pay boost at the expense of having a life. But at this point I would rather have the money.

Two Thursdays ago I changed the oil "early" in the Fiesta. It was deep amber after only 5000 miles. The last two changes went for 7-8000 miles before the oil was that color. Either the engine was dirty inside or Valvoline is crap.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, I wanna go for a ride!!!!!!

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.