Ford Falcon 2001 Problems

Getting 103,000 km out of a set of pads is quite remarkable, and probably due to the car being used in the bush without the stop-start traffic. It's quite normal today to be replacing pads every 50,000 km or so and replacing discs every second pad change. Country cars can be good buys because of the less stressful life they tend to lead. There is no replacement time set down for cat converters, when they go they tend to collapse internally, and when it happened to a car of mine a while back it
blocked the exhaust and brought the car to a halt.

The sort of surging you talk about suggests it isn’t getting the cold enrichment it needs to run smoothly during that first phase of driving. It’s probably that the computer is not being told by a sensor to deliver more fuel to the engine, so check the sensors on the engine, and you could check for a faulty connection in the wiring loom.

It’s not getting the cold enrichment it needs. In the old days it was a sign that the choke wasn’t working properly. It’s probably a faulty temperature sensor, which should show up on a diagnostic check.

It's clearly running hot and could be a sticking thermostat. These Falcons are renowned for having problems with the auto transmission oil cooler, which is located in the radiator. When it goes coolant gets the auto transmission and can affect the transmission if not caught in time, so have that checked.

A random spark in the inlet manifold usually causes backfiring and the most common cause of that is a faulty spark plug lead. The mechanic would struggle to find it if it only happens occasionally, and when he’s not around. I would fit new spark leads, and make sure they are a good quality, even though you say you have fitted new ones.

Take it to a brake specialist and have it adjusted, it's a common problem with the hand brake on that model.

THE V8 engines came from the US, which is where the problem started. It amazes me that Ford engineers couldn't see this problem and do something about it before the engine went into production, but having let that slip through, the company should have been responsible enough to cover the cost of replacing broken spark plugs when they started showing up in service.

THE Jackaroo should be OK, but I'd look at a Pajero, which I think would be a better choice. As for the Falcon, the cars you are looking at have to be seen in isolation because of their age and kilometres. The Falcons are generally tough, but are known to have problems with radiators and head gaskets. At that number of kilometres I'd have the auto transmission carefully checked, particularly if you intend to tow.

I RECALL test-driving an XR6 cab-chassis last year and being horrified by the rust I found on the chassis under the tray. It was probably never going to be a problem, but it sure looked ugly -- and this was a new car, supplied by Ford. There are so many reports of rust in Falcons and Territories that you'd have to think there is a production problem, or perhaps Ford is cutting corners with the painting and rustproofing to save money.