Ford Falcon 2009 Problems

Before you jump to any conclusions I would do an old-fashioned fuel economy check by actually measuring the fuel used over a distance, which would give you a pretty good guide to what your car is really doing. Ford claimed a combined average of 10.1 L/100 km. Now, I wouldn't assume that your car would get the same, as the Ford figure is established in a laboratory and yours would be a real-life number, and they could easily be different. But you should get a figure that is reasonably close to Ford's. If you get more than 14 L/100 km on your test I would suspect something is wrong. When doing your test take the car on a reasonably long run, your short stop-start driving cycle might be the reason for your apparent poor economy.

We have had reports from the trade of the coolers splitting, and also the plastic fittings cracking. As your son's car is just out of warranty I would suggest you approach Ford about covering part of the cost of the repairs.

I doubt that the clunk on stopping is caused by petrol sloshing around in the tank. The clunk on changing gears is a common one. I reckon both clunks are caused by harshness in the transmission and could be improved by a software tweak.

I doubt that the clunk on stopping is caused by petrol sloshing   around in the tank, and the clunk on changing gears is a common one.   I reckon both clunks are caused by a harshness in the transmission   and could be improved by a software tweak.

It's usually a sign of a problem with the catalytic converter in the exhaust, but before doing anything else I would change the brand of fuel you're using and see if that has any effect on it.

We haven't had any specific reports about the diff in the FG, although we had plenty about the diff in earlier models. If you've given it a hard time you might have cooked the oil in the diff, so have it changed.